Bäckström to receive silver medal

[canuck4life16]

what does Backstrom grandma think of him getting a silver medal!

 

[Petri1981]

What a disgrace.

NHL player gets caught from doping = No problem, lets just forget it.

Imagine if it was a skiier from belarus who used pseudoephedrine, would he get his medal? No ****ing way.

What an absolute joke.

 

[Reddawg]

Bitter much?

 

[FinPanda]

I have read enough stupid things what finnish people have said about this thing.. It happened, we can't do anything anymore. We were third and we should be proud of it. Bäckström played well and deserved his medal like all the others in team Sweden. I think he has suffered enough.

 

[Urbanskog]

As far as ice-hockey goes, the Nordic Bronze Age never ended.

 

[Petri1981]

I have read enough stupid things what finnish people have said about this thing.. It happened, we can't do anything anymore. We were third and we should be proud of it. Bäckström played well and deserved his medal like all the others in team Sweden. I think he has suffered enough.

Even if it was Selänne who got caught from using doping, i'd still stand my ground and say that NO medal for him. Its simple as that.

The IOC just made a fool out from itself and lost all its credibility.

NHL player and a random skier should be on the same line but obviously they are not, because IOC needs to lick NHL's butt so hard and try to guarantee that NHL players will attend the olympics in the future also.

 

[Davebo*]

Will they be handing out medals to others from past Olympics who failed their drug tests? Fair's fair, right?

 

[stator]

What a disgrace.

NHL player gets caught from doping = No problem, lets just forget it.

Imagine if it was a skiier from belarus who used pseudoephedrine, would he get his medal? No ****ing way.

What an absolute joke.

Well, I would not have put it that way, but it does damage the credibility of the games with an exception to a drug infraction. Goes to so that the winter Olympics relies on hockey for much of it's revenue.

 

[capebretoncanadien]

He deserved his medal more than say tavares or subban

Get a grip.

 

[WarriorofTime]

Get a grip.

Backstrom played in the semifinal game that clinched the Silver Medal. It's a nice little souvenir to receive a medal when you don't play but I have a tough time saying guys like Tavares and Subban "won" medals.

 

[capebretoncanadien]

Backstrom played in the semifinal game that clinched the Silver Medal. It's a nice little souvenir to receive a medal when you don't play but I have a tough time saying guys like Tavares and Subban "won" medals.

Well they were a part of the team that won. Why haven't you brought up Mike Smith?? He didn't get a sniff of action and still goes home with a gold medal. It goes the same way in the NHL. If you're a part of the team you get your name on the cup.

Subban and Tavares played. Diminish their role all you like but they played a part in capturing that medal.

 

[WarriorofTime]

Well they were a part of the team that won. Why haven't you brought up Mike Smith?? He didn't get a sniff of action and still goes home with a gold medal. It goes the same way in the NHL. If you're a part of the team you get your name on the cup.

Subban and Tavares played. Diminish their role all you like but they played a part in capturing that medal.

Well, not exactly, there's a minimum qualification requirement but teams can petition on crappy or injured players that are popular in the locker room like Mayers.

 

[InfinityIggy]

Good, id say its only fair.

 

[Canuck21t]

such BS that he was suspended, doubt he cares about it that much

So the IOC should just do nothing even though the tests were positives? What's the point of testing if you're not going to enforce your rules?

 

[saskriders]

Does this mean Finland gets their 1974 bronze medals?

I assume you mean 1976? But looking at the Wikipedia page for those Olympics, I can't understand why Finland didn't get bronze. The tournament was a straight round robin, Finland and West Germany tied for third, Finland had a better GF-GA difference, and won the game between the two teams, but West Germany got the Bronze. The only thing I can think of is that West Germany got it because of more goals, but nowhere online seems to say anything

 

[Uncle Rotter]

I assume you mean 1976? But looking at the Wikipedia page for those Olympics, I can't understand why Finland didn't get bronze. The tournament was a straight round robin, Finland and West Germany tied for third, Finland had a better GF-GA difference, and won the game between the two teams, but West Germany got the Bronze. The only thing I can think of is that West Germany got it because of more goals, but nowhere online seems to say anything

Nope, 1974

For the first time in ice hockey World Championship history, two players were suspended for doping. They were the Swede Ulf Nilsson and the Finn Stig Wetzell who tested positive for the forbidden substance ephedrine. Both players were suspended for the rest of the tournament. Nilsson tested positive after Sweden's game against Poland, which Sweden won 4-1. The game was awarded to Poland as a 5-0 walkover. The Finn, Wetzell, tested positive after Finland's match against Czechoslovakia, which Finland won 5-2, which was also awarded to Czechoslovakia as a 5-0 walkover. The Finns were able to defeat the Czechs again on the last day, which would have earned them their first medal in history, if not for the positive drug test.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1974_World_Ice_Hockey_Championships

 

[Uncle Rotter]

Will they be handing out medals to others from past Olympics who failed their drug tests? Fair's fair, right?

Pospíšil received his Silver in 1976 after testing positive for Codeine. In fact, he played in the final game against the USSR.

 

[saskriders]

Nope, 1974


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1974_World_Ice_Hockey_Championships

Oh, I was thinking Olympics.

But now I am curious about 76

 

[stv11]

I assume you mean 1976? But looking at the Wikipedia page for those Olympics, I can't understand why Finland didn't get bronze. The tournament was a straight round robin, Finland and West Germany tied for third, Finland had a better GF-GA difference, and won the game between the two teams, but West Germany got the Bronze. The only thing I can think of is that West Germany got it because of more goals, but nowhere online seems to say anything

When three or more teams are tied, they use points and goal difference in the games between the teams involved as a tie breaker.

In this case:

FIN 5-3 GER
USA 5-4 FIN
GER 4-1 USA

GER 2 pts, 7-6 GD
FIN 2 pts, 9-8 GD
USA 2pts, 6-8 GD

Then the next tie breaker was the "goal average" used in English soccer at the time, goals scored divided by goals against (this is of course no longer used, with modern rules Finland would have won the bronze medal by having scored more goals).

 

[Lempo]

Does this mean Finland gets their 1974 bronze medals?

I assume you mean 1976?

And yet people still ask why the Finns are so into getting all those damn Bronzes.

Btw, I read the full judgement by the DC. Essentially they seem to have taken everything the player and the doctor had to say for the face value which is at least curious regarding that what the doctor had to say about the matter took a complete 180 degrees turn between that Sunday night and the following Monday: "This is extremely weird if everyone is speaking truth" on Sunday vs. "Completely my fault" on Monday.

For the general anti doping work from now on, isn't this pretty much throwing the 'strict liability' rule out of the window, if everything is just peachy as long as the suspected sportsman can bring a doctor with him and their stories about it being the doctor's fault match? An obvious massive moral hazard.

Though, quoting the ruling:

The IOC Disciplinary Commission wishes to stress that the above outcome is based on the very specific facts of this case and should in no way be considered as either detracting from the personal duty of athletes to ensure that no prohibited substance enters their system or minimizing the consequences of any failure to meet that duty.

To be cynic with it, is the continued NHL presence such very specific fact? Because they haven't come out with any sort of actual explanation why Bäckström's test was above the limits that already are supposed to take normal medical usage in consideration or announced that the limit is to be raised because it is currently too low. Prolonged usage adding up? Dehydration just after the game?

Bäckström told he took the Zyrtec-D on the test day two and a half hours before the game, but shouldn't such use be expected to be within the allowed limit? Or should it not, because they tell they very explicitly have forbade taking the medicine 24 hours before the game and if the team doctor yet allows taking it isn't that such show of "unprofessional doodling" on his part, to quote a doping-associated term, that it just can't be taken as an unintentional gaffe?

I really am not trying to establish here that Bäckström is a cheater, I'm just saying that when the IOC-DC goes on to clear him of these blatant cheater allegations, shouldn't they actually have tried to clear him with some hard facts how exactly it came to happen that he was above the limits in the test without his own fault. "Because the team doctor cleared him to take the med in an explicitly forbidden fashion" seem to be what they are offering now.

 

[Uncle Rotter]

It should be noted that overturning results based on a drug test was a lot easier in a round robin format.

 

[Jussi]

When three or more teams are tied, they use points and goal difference in the games between the teams involved as a tie breaker.

In this case:

FIN 5-3 GER
USA 5-4 FIN
GER 4-1 USA

GER 2 pts, 7-6 GD
FIN 2 pts, 9-8 GD
USA 2pts, 6-8 GD

Then the next tie breaker was the "goal average" used in English soccer at the time, goals scored divided by goals against (this is of course no longer used, with modern rules Finland would have won the bronze medal by having scored more goals).

Also Finland scored a perfectly legit tying goal against the US but the Soviet ref Viktor Dombrowski for some reason saw from very far away that the puck when it off of Hannu Kapanen's leg while it was very clear it went in off of his chest. Just as a reminder why those of us over 30/40 have bitter memories of Eastern block refs from the 70's and 80's. Kapanen would have gotten physical if his team mates hadn't stopped him.

 

[KaseMeOutside]

So the IOC should just do nothing even though the tests were positives? What's the point of testing if you're not going to enforce your rules?

ya i bet you'd have the same tune if crosby was suspended for taking medication because he was sick

 

[Canuck21t]

ya i bet you'd have the same tune if crosby was suspended for taking medication because he was sick

If that's the rule, so be it. Other athletes have gotten worse in the past with a similar infraction. Why is Bäckström treated differently?

 

[Lempo]

ya i bet you'd have the same tune if crosby was suspended for taking medication because he was sick

It's an old record now really, but he was not suspended for taking medication but for being above the limits with a controlled substance. Even if the medicine thing is the truth still it was the wrong medication to take on a game day, which is a thing that the team doctor really should have known because it was explicitly told to everyone beforehand and for which they came down hard on the doctor and anyway with strict liability rule it doesn't even matter.

If they didn't suspend people that were just taking the medication, there would in no time be any amount of sportsers who are "just taking this medication for medical condition". Just look at the cross-country skiers; they have special allowance for specific asthma medicines for skiers with an asthma diagnosis, and what do you know there are countries whose every skier has asthma.