Latest Turin Stories

By Nelson Graves TURIN (Reuters) - On the podium of Olympic languages, French takes bronze. Third place is not good enough for Lise Bissonnette, who has come to Turin to see if the mother tongue of Moliere gets the respect it deserves. "It's a constant battle for French," says the Canadian writer, dispatched by the International Francophone Organization to monitor the Olympic commitment to her lingua franca. French ranks with English as one of two official Olympic tongues. If two...

By Pritha SarkarTURIN (Reuters) - Sasha Cohen opted to catch up on some precious beauty sleep ahead of her late night date at the Winter Olympics on Tuesday.Cohen, who is the United States' best hope of capturing a medal in the women's competition, failed to turn up for a scheduled practice session at the Palavela rink on Tuesday morning."It's a timing issue. Sasha skates very late this evening and will not be able to sleep in the afternoon like other skaters can," her coach John...

By Steve KeatingTURIN -- It has an Italian name, will get more ice time than any hockey player or figure skater at these Olympics and nobody knows its name."I don't know," said Chiara. "It looks funny.""Is it a Fiat?" asked Giancarlo.It is a Zamboni, a plodding machine used to resurface the ice at Olympic venues that has inspired a cult-like following in Canada but remains an odd curiosity for Italians watching these Winter Games despite the fact it is an...

By Steve Ginsburg TURIN (Reuters) - The flourishing rivalry between American speedskaters Shani Davis and Chad Hedrick resumes on Tuesday with the chase for the Olympic 1,500-meter gold medal. The two Turin Games champions are refusing to speak to each other nearly a week after Davis spurned an offer to take part in the team pursuit that might have cost the U.S. another gold. "Davis is a great competitor," Hedrick said. "I hold the world record over this distance. I will go out, skate...

By Sofia Hilden TURIN (Reuters) - The head of the World Anti-Doping Agency says he is disappointed with Austrian sports chiefs after Italian prosecutors found dozens of syringes and drugs in a raid on the Austrian Winter Olympics bases. Police seized over 100 syringes and 30 packs of drugs as well as devices for blood testing and blood transfusions on Saturday, Austrian state television ORF said, quoting Turin prosecutor Raffaele Guariniello. The raids were conducted in the mountain...

By Nelson Graves and Boris Groendahl TURIN/VIENNA (Reuters) - A former Austrian coach was charged with assault on Monday and admitted to a psychiatric hospital as a doping investigation sent shockwaves through the winter sports power and the Olympic Games. Police found more than 100 syringes and 30 packs of drugs, including asthma drugs and antidepressants, in the Saturday night raids on Austria's mountain bases, an Italian prosecutor told Austrian television. But Austrian Ski...

By Ossian Shine TURIN (Reuters) - Three Austrian Winter Olympic golds provided a perfect counterweight to the extraordinary doping saga which continued to rock their team on Monday. Michaela Dorfmeister, who won the women's super-G, and men's giant slalom winner Benjamin Raich brought the smile back on to Austrian faces with the Games entering its final week and a team win in the ski jumping gave them a further fillip. Yet the biathlon and cross-country skiing coach, whose presence in...

By Pritha Sarkar TURIN (Reuters) - Sasha Cohen has become the mystery woman of the Winter Olympics. Michelle Kwan's early departure from Turin left Cohen as the United States' only realistic hope of a medal in the women's event. For over a week, Cohen trained in relative obscurity in Courmayeur, about a 90-minute drive from Turin. When she returned to the Olympic city on Monday, she found herself firmly in the spotlight but chose to give little away during a practice session ahead of...

By Jane Barrett TURIN (Reuters) - Austria's Winter Olympic team, rocked by an extraordinary doping saga, finally had reason to celebrate on Monday when Benjamin Raich and Michaela Dorfmeister stormed to gold on the ski slopes. Dorfmeister seemed not to realize she had clinched her second gold of the Games in the super-G until silver medallist Janica Kostelic came across to hug her. She then fell to the ground and kissed the snow. Raich had earlier shot down the men's giant slalom...

By Jane Barrett TURIN (Reuters) - A doping row blighting the Austrian biathlon and cross-country teams dominated the Winter Olympics on Monday but skiers were able to return to the slopes after a day of heavy snowfall. Doping rather than sport took center stage over the past two days after a drugs raid by police, a car crash, an arrest and two athletes disappearing into the night. Two Austrian biathletes, Wolfgang Perner and Wolfgang Rottmann, were banned from the Turin Games after...