février 2006

The people responsible for picking the proper skis and the right wax admit they let down Scott, Renner
To their credit, our skiers took the high road and didn't start finger-pointing

Beckie Scott knew she was in trouble when she took her first strides in yesterday's race. So did Yves Bilodeau.

Bilodeau is the lead technician on the six-man crew which prepares the skis for Canada's cross-country team. It's a role that was more important than ever in yesterday's women's 10-kilometre race because rain and snow made choosing the right skis and wax trickier.

As he was the first to admit, Bilodeau and his crew blew their assignment, leaving Scott to slip and slide away to a dismal 30th-place finish. Her day got even worse later when she was disqualified for racing in the wrong track in the finishing stretch.

"Obviously I'm unhappy but those guys (the technicians) take it almost harder than we do in a way," said Scott. "They could see right away they hadn't done an adequate job on the skis. I know they're having a meeting right now. There's going to be some frank and open discussion, I'll say."

The 31-year-old from Vermilion, Alta., took pains not to point the finger at anyone.

"It's just tricky and we haven't had these ski conditions yet this year," said Scott, who won silver in the team sprint here on Tuesday with Sara Renner, who was a solid eighth yesterday behind winner Kristina Smigun of Estonia. "It was ski selection, it was partly wax. We made some last-minute adjustments to my skis. I know that happened in a panic."

Bilodeau, who competed for Canada in the Olympics, wasn't as forgiving of their work.

"We (screwed) up," said Bilodeau, who actually used a harsher word. "For sure, the criticism goes to us for not doing the right job on her skis. When I showed up this morning, I thought there was going to be five pairs for her to try and there was only two ready and the skis were really slow. It went wrong from then and we could not adjust."

There wasn't much to say to Scott after the race.

"We didn't even have to talk," he said. "I looked at her and she looked at me. She said, `I think we're not going to talk about it now.' I said, `Don't worry, Beckie, we know it's not you.'"

Renner, who uses a different brand of skis, encountered no problems and enhanced her growing reputation as more than just a pure sprinter. She led for the first seven kilometres of the race before running out of steam. She posted a time of 28 minutes, 33 seconds, well behind Smigun, who crushed the field with a winning time of 27:54.1 to become the first double winner of the Games.

"For me, I have to start as hard as I can and see how long I last," said Renner, second in the World Cup 10K race in Davos, Switzerland, recently. "Sometimes I last 10K and today I think I lasted seven and the last climb was really, really difficult. I caught a German who was 30 seconds in front of me. She actually pulled me up that hill because I was seeing stars."

Scott has come back strong from disappointment at these Games before after opening with a sixth in her strongest event, the 15-kilometre pursuit. She and Renner both have a shot at the podium in the women's sprint next Wednesday.

"I'm going to just come back like I did after the pursuit and refocus, regroup," said Scott, "and come back and try to finish with at least one more medal."

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