August 15, 2008 11:25 AM
Azerbaijan, Ecstasy and Field Hockey
The next 400 words are about Azerbaijan, two positive tests for ecstasy, players becoming ill due to poison released via a hotel room's ventilation system and the Spanish women's field hockey team.You might need to sit down for this one.
Tomorrow, Spain's women's field hockey team plays its fourth game of the Olympics against South Africa. The Spaniards are 1-2 so far in qualifying.
But members of the Azerbaijan field hockey team don't believe that Spain should even be playing in the Olympics. They believe that they were wrongly denied a spot during the games.
The dispute stems back to April, when Olympic field hockey qualifying matches were held in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan. Per Reuters:
[Spanish officials] said four members of the team had collapsed in the hotel prior to their match against Kenya having inhaled gas that had escaped from the air conditioning system.
They also complained that players were unable to sleep after being bombarded by telephone calls in their hotel rooms. Others felt ill after drinking water given to them by organisers during matches.
But Spain still managed to win the tournament, including a 3-2 victory in the final over Azerbaijan, and earn a spot in Beijing.
Then in May, the International Hockey Federation ruled that two players had tested positive for ecstasy use, according to Spanish sport daily Marca.
FIH "rules state that a country must be disqualified from a tournament if more than one team member tests positive." Azerbaijan was due to take Spain's place in the Olympics.
But the federation ultimately decided to suspend only one player for the Olympics. FIH said that the second, Gloria Comerma (above right), was allowed to play because "there was no fault or negligence on her part" for her ecstasy use.
Azerbaijan filed a protest on Aug. 8, the opening night of the the Olympics, but it was denied.
So tomorrow, check out Spain's women's field hockey team as they take on South Africa. They've been poisoned and harassed. One of their active players was on ecstasy during qualifying matches, but her sport's governing body said that it wasn't her fault that she was on drugs. They've defeated repeated appeals from the Azerbaijan team.
That they're even here in Beijing is pretty incredible. That they could still medal defies explanation.
August 15, 2008
11:14 PM
Natalia writes:
If they had been poisoned in Azerbaijan, why didn't they complain? These are ridiculous accusations. They don't even have proofs.
August 15, 2008
11:32 PM
Daniel Oshinsky writes:
Apologies for not making that clear. In the link provided, they did complain.