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Friday, August 25
Witty keeping silent until hearing
Associated Press
FRISCO, Texas -- Speedskater Chris Witty said she had "very good reasons" for
skipping an Olympic cycling team rideoff Sunday in Texas.
Her lawyer said Witty never told an arbitrator her side in a
dispute stemming from Witty's appointment to the cycling team. The
situation has put the American lineup in disarray less than a month
before the Sydney Olympics.
Tammy Thomas of Yazoo City, Miss., who challenged Witty's
appointment to the track cycling team, rode alone Sunday in a
500-meter time trial at the Superdrome track in Frisco, Texas. She
was clocked in 35.497 seconds.
Earlier this month, an arbitrator ruled the rideoff was needed
to help determine a spot on the Olympic squad. But Witty has filed
a counter-complaint and, citing the pending litigation, she skipped
the showdown.
"I had very good reasons for not going. Unfortunately, I can't
talk about it until the hearing," she said from Colorado Springs,
where she traveled Sunday to train with the cycling team.
Her lawyer, Jeff Benz of San Francisco, said the hearing is
tentatively scheduled for Saturday in Denver.
"Chris was subjected to a renegade arbitrator who chose to not
make her a party to the Thomas proceedings," Benz said. "Nobody
asked Chris for her side of it before the arbitrator issued a
ruling directing the rideoff.
"In the United States, we have a right to due process. Chris
had no due process," he said.
Sean Petty, director of athlete performance for U.S. Cycling,
said the spot on the Olympic team remains unsettled.
"Chris is planning to have her day in court, and we'll have to
see how it plays out with the arbitrators," Petty said. "Nothing
has been determined as of right now."
Witty, who won two speedskating medals at the Nagano Olympics,
was appointed to the 14-member track cycling team in July. She was
considered a potential medalist at Sydney in the 500-meter time
trial.
Witty, who lives in Park City, Utah, is trying to become the
first American woman, and only the fourth person ever, to win
medals at the summer and winter Olympics.
Petty said the month-long legal tug-of-war, meanwhile, is
becoming a distraction for the track cycling team, which has been
training in Colorado Springs, Colo.
"What's really frustrating is that it's affecting the team, the
morale," he said. "Everybody is thinking about it, talking about
it. Today, we have a coach and support staff in Frisco, Texas, when
everyone else is in Colorado Springs."
Thomas couldn't be reached for comment; Petty said she was
returning to her training camp in Trexlertown, Pa.
Witty won the silver medal in the 1,000 meters at Nagano and
bronze in the 1,500. The next summer, she placed fourth at the
1998 world cycling championships in the 500-meter time trial.
To choose this year's Olympic team, U.S. Cycling used a
subjective selection process based on two years of international
racing results. Petty has said the goal was to take the most
experienced top-level riders to Sydney.
Thomas placed third last year at the nationals in the 500 time
trial, but she beat Witty at the Olympic trials in April at the
Frisco track. Thomas finished that race in 36.349, narrowly beating
Witty's 36.374.
At that time, Witty had returned to cycling less than a month
after her speedskating season ended. Both riders attended a World
Cup race in Mexico City in June but didn't compete against each
other.
Petty said he doesn't know how the situation will play out.
"We followed the arbitrator's decision," he said. "There was
no other stipulation for what winning meant or what it would mean
if a rider didn't come. We simply did as we were ordered by the
arbitrator."
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