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Canadian national team skeleton coach Joe Cecchini has spoken out about the sudden national controversy surrounding his team's decision to withdraw athletes from an Olympic qualifier, costing American Katie Uhlaender a chance to make the Milan Cortina Winter Games. Uhlaender has responded to his claims.
Cecchini told CBC News "there's nothing wrong" with his team's decision to withdraw four athletes from the North America Cup earlier this month, which reduced the total amount of points the event could award.
The International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation (IBSF) determined this week that the decision was "intentional and directed to reducing the points available," making it mathematically impossible for Uhlaender to qualify for Milan Cortina. But no penalties or score revisions were made by the IBSF despite the findings.
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"This is all within the rules. There's nothing wrong with those things. And people can be strategic in the races that they participate. And she was doing that, and other nations were doing that, because you want to put your best foot forward," Cecchini said. "This is a system flaw, if anything. But we were within the rules."
Cecchini also took aim directly at Uhlaender, saying she isn't a "top-tier athlete."
"I don't really wanna speak negatively about Katie, but Katie was not on the World Cup team. She wasn't a top-tier athlete in that program anymore. She was at the end of her career. I would personally would rather race against Katie. She's not as competitive as the other athletes," he said. "It's probably really unfair to say and not really where I want to go with this but that's where we are with that."
Uhlander, who competed in the previous five Winter Olympics, fired back at the coach for his comments.
"If I were Canada, I would be concerned in how this coach is representing the Olympic values for his country," Uhlaender told Fox News Digital. "He hurt a whole field of athletes, all with dreams, and this sends the message that they don't matter unless they are number one. All athletes matter, and we all deserve to compete fairly, with integrity, and respect. He did not respect anyone in that field.
"This is not about my resume or how good the athletes were in the race. This is about the fact that he intentionally manipulated the competition to hurt myself and 13 other countries because he felt it necessary to eliminate all possibility. That is against the spirit of sport and not what the Olympic movement represents."
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Uhlaender won two world-championship gold medals in 2012. While she has never won an Olympic medal, she has made the final in all five appearances.
Meanwhile, Cecchini, as an athlete, was originally a member of the Canadian skeleton team. He narrowly missed out on Olympic qualification in 2014. He later switched to the less-competitive Team Italy, and clinched qualification for that country's Olympic team for the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Games. He finished 27th in men's skeleton in Pyeongchang for Italy.
Now, as a coach, Cecchini finds himself at the center of a global controversy ahead of Milan Cortina after his team's decision earlier this month.
So far, 15 other nations have signaled their support for Uhlaender's bid to be granted an Olympic spot in response to Canada's decision.
Bobsleigh Canada Skeleton (BCS) originally said the decision to withdraw the athletes was made "after careful evaluation of the program's needs and in consultation with the IBSF" and "careful consideration of athlete health, safety, and long-term development."
However, the IBSF has found evidence that Canada made a conscious decision to withdraw athletes to manipulate the potential points at stake.
"Although Canada subsequently attributed its decision to order four athletes not to slide in Official Training to concerns about the athletes involved, substantial evidence supports Ms. Uhlaender's contention that the move was a deliberate effort by Canada to reduce the points available at the final Lake Placid NAC so as to protect its own Olympic quotas," the IBSF's verdict said.
Cecchini added that the situation has been "horrible" for him.
"On me personally, this has been horrible. I never expected a decision like this within the ruleset at a development circuit to cause such a scenario," he told The CBC.
"I feel really bad for the athletes in trying to understand why people are so potentially angry. There's a voice from an athlete who's been in multiple Olympics and is carrying a certain clout. And it's been really hard, and it has challenged myself, my staff."
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