Pocketing 11 pieces of gold, 12 in silver and 6 bronze medals, the powerhouse nation of Germany rankled in top honours on the tally for the XX Olympic Winter Games at Torino. Slim in at seconds, the United States with 9 gold, 9 silver and 7 bronze. Closing out the dais on totals, Canada on 7, 10 and 7 in the medal shines.
Throughout the entirety of sixteen days of competition, over the 800 urine tests and misplaced light beer samples and 362 blood samples, only one athlete managed to score marks on a drugs test.
Biathlete Olga Pyleva of the Russian Federation, tested positive for Carphedon after winning silver in the 15 km Individual event. Slipping by the authorities with a disappearing act not part of her biathlon training, Pyleva had already made her way to Moscow when Italian police took to the Olympic Village in Turin.
Early hopes of another nation embroiled in the dunking were dashed after a raid on the Austrian team was blank. Despite the discovery of a blood transfusion machine and litters of syringes and needles, authorities raining down on the Austrian team did not turn in a positive result.
Written on Tuesday, 28 February 2006