Sports

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has rejected a request from the United States, which called for Katie Uhlaender, the skeleton athlete at the center of an Olympic qualifying controversy, to be given a discretionary place at February's Winter Games at Milano Cortina, to "preserve" her Olympic dream. Uhlaender, a two-time world champion, says she was unfairly denied the chance to reach her sixth Winter Games during a qualifying event in Lake Placid, New York, earlier this month. She accused Canada's skeleton coach, Joe Cecchini, of deliberately pulling his female racers out of the event, in a move aimed at depriving her and other athletes of vital Olympic qualifying points. In a letter addressed to Kirsty Coventry, the president of the IOC, the US Olympic and Paralympic Committee...

The US Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC) is calling for Katie Uhlaender, the skeleton athlete at the center of an Olympic qualifying controversy, to be given a discretionary place at February's Winter Games at Milan-Cortina, to "preserve" her Olympic dream. Uhlaender, a two-time world champion, says she was unfairly denied the chance to reach her sixth Winter Games during a qualifying event in Lake Placid, New York, earlier this month. She accused Canada's skeleton coach, Joe Cecchini, of deliberately pulling his female racers out of the event, in a move aimed at depriving her and other athletes of vital Olympic qualifying points. In a letter addressed to Kirsty Coventry, the president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), the USOPC said that Cecchini's actions had "circu...