Alex Forsyth: What a Shame!

Hi!To start off, yes I'm a Canadian. Please don't hate me. I'm a student of Russian history and politics becasue I'm rather fond of you guys. However, I'm afraid that I must take some issue with your article entitled "What a Shame". The lead-in to the article is rather misleading. IOC President Jacques Rogge called the 2002 games "superb games", but not the best in history. That was what the previous IOC President liked to call his games. The CBC reported that Dr. Rogge had said he did not want to back himself into a word trap like that and would never use such a description of any games during his term in office. I feel that I also just voice some objection to your website's constant cries of conspiracy against Russians. The argument that North American referees in Hockey will automatically make for biased games is, I feel, a weak one. Especially seeing, as I understand it, that there was only one non-NHL player on the Russian team, as well as 4 American citizens. I don't deny that there were bad calls made during the hockey games of all countries, but there didn't seem to me to be much outside of the usual. I can't recall an Olympics were there weren't complaints against the Refs, be they NHL or IIHL. I have been tryng to find the standings from the major sports over the last year, and I must admit Ive found that Russians are not doing as well as they used to. I do welcome any standings that would prove me wrong. Is it then a global conspiracy or simply a down-time in the Russian sports programs? I'm certain that this year's results will inspire harder working and training by Russian atheletes. The USSR was an undoubted powerhouse in winter sports especially, but from what results I've been able to find there has been something of a decline during the past 4 years. Thank you for your time in reading this. Yours truly, Alex Forsyth Toronto, Canada