Olympic chiefs Thursday said they had reprimanded a female Russian ice hockey player for a doping offense, a day after announcing that more than 30 athletes had been banned from competing. Svetlana Terenteva – the first competitor to fail a drug test in Vancouver – tested positive for tuaminoheptane after a pre-competition urine test but has been allowed to compete due to the circumstances around the “special case.” The athlete told an IOC disciplinary commission she had used a nose spray under prescription to treat a head cold in January but had stopped using it on Feb. 3 as she knew the substance would be banned during the Olympics. The commission ruled that Terenteva, tested on Feb. 6, had committed an anti-doping violation as the prohibited substance – found in the nose spray Rhinofluimucil – was present in her body regardless of when she took it. Tuaminoheptane is a prohibited substance “in competition” but not “out of competition.” IOC deputy president Thomas Bach said the athlete had been “very open and cooperative.” “The disciplinary commission concluded that there was a violation of the rules on the one hand,” he said. “But with regard to the consequences, we thought it would be fair just to issue a reprimand for this very special case rather than sending the athlete home and disqualifying her from the Games, which seemed to be too severe for the individual circumstances.” Russia has been dogged by drug scandals with Alena Sidko, one of the country's most experienced nordic skiers, the most recent to be exposed. Meanwhile, Winter Olympics organizers were sweating over deteriorating weather and the host nation's homeground gold medal jinx, just 24 hours out from the start of the multi-billion dollar Games. After a month of warm temperatures, which decimated snow stocks, officials were now looking at an opening weekend plagued by heavy rain and dense fog. Despite the worries, John Furlong, the chief executive of organizing committee VANOC, said the Games, which have cost in the region of two billion US dollars, will be an occasion for all Canadians. “We have a lot of tension in our stomachs just like you'd have before a big game,” said Furlong. “Vancouver has a smile on its face. We have all worked so hard to get to where we are today.” But the mixed-bag of weather was causing frowns rather than smiles. High up at Whistler Mountain, which will host the blue-riband skiing events, snow and poor visibility forced the cancellation of women's downhill training after just two skiers had left the starting gate. One of those was America's Stacey Cook who crashed heavily into the side netting at speed before being airlifted to hospital. The second training run of the men's downhill was completed with Austrian Michael Walchhofer topping the charts in a run which was brought forward because of low-lying cloud and snow. Meanwhile, the problems at Cypress Mountain on the edge of the city, which will host the freestyle and snowboard events, piled up. After a lack of snow meant helicopters and lorries had ferried in snow from the higher ground in a round-the-clock operation, the site was confronted by torrential rain and thick fog. Organizers insisted that there was room in the competition schedule to cater for delays.
