Topic: Editorial: Casey at Bat- The Innocent Punished

[Mike Wittmer]

Mike, I hear you but I don't think it is totally irrelevant. It carries benefits. And, Mike Burgener mentioned it to me and seemed positive about the possibility.

He did not get to lift, but if they place him on the "team" now, what are the benefits?

[Chris Ⓐ LeRoux]

Mike,

It basically means he was an alternate- my own words. If you had the option, would you chose to be an alternate on the Olympic Team versus having no claim on the Olympics? He can put on his resume that he is an Olympian. There are health care, career assistance, college financial aid, and other USOC programs for Olympians- within a certain time frame. They used to apply for the Pan Am Games as well. They promised them to me due to the 1991 Pan Ams but they have forgotten that promise now and/or policies have changed last I was told. So, he wouldn't have these benefits without being named to the Team as far as I know.

Cheers

[Mike Wittmer]

Mike,

It basically means he was an alternate- my own words. If you had the option, would you chose to be an alternate on the Olympic Team versus having no claim on the Olympics? He can put on his resume that he is an Olympian. There are health care, career assistance, college financial aid, and other USOC programs for Olympians- within a certain time frame. They used to apply for the Pan Am Games as well. They promised them to me due to the 1991 Pan Ams but they have forgotten that promise now and/or policies have changed last I was told. So, he wouldn't have these benefits without being named to the Team as far as I know.

Cheers

Chris, that is all well and good.  I hope Casey gets anything he can.  He certainly deserves it.  Still, that does not excuse what happened.  But, again, what did happen?  We don't really know.  There has been no official statement and I feel there should be one.  My concern is that as time moves on and with the bylaw reform and subsequent new BOD there will be so many things to deal with that this incident will be lost in the shuffle.  Could you see this happening if it were in T&F or gymnastics?  I don't think so.  I, for one, am not willing to let it go, not that there is anything I can really do about it.

I just think that this was a disaster of huge proportions.  We held an Olympic Trials, announced a team, and only a couple days later one of those on the team was listed as an alternate on the USAW web site.  And, with no explanation. 

If whatever you know is not forthcoming, do you still intend to put it out?  Thanks.

Mike

[Chris Ⓐ LeRoux]

I asked Dennis Snethen for an update on Casey being officially named to the 2008 Olympic Team. Here is his response verbatim:

The athletes have asked the USOC to handle the votes. The first and most important vote to make Casey an Olympic Team member and two to pay him the USOC placement dollars taking his Olympic Trials total and placing that total into the final results that would pay him $10,200. We at USA Weightlifting are waiting on the results from USOC.

[Chris Ⓐ LeRoux]

Link

Peers vote to make U.S. weightlifter an Olympian
By BRIAN GOMEZ

Three months after disputed qualifying procedures for weightlifting cost Casey Burgener a berth in the Beijing Games, he might earn the right to call himself an Olympian.

USA Weightlifting, in disagreement with the International Weightlifting Federation over the number of quota spots it received, wants the U.S. Olympic Committee to recognize Burgener as an Olympic team member.

Six Olympic weightlifters, including Burgener's fiancée, Natalie Woolfolk, participated in a secret-ballot vote to determine the status of the former resident of the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, now working for the San Diego State University strength and conditioning department.

The results were forwarded to the USOC athletes' advisory council, said Dennis Snethen, interim executive director of Colorado Springs-based USA Weightlifting. If approved by the council, the USOC probably will make a ruling on Burgener's standing.

"Casey did not do anything wrong," Snethen said. "He did everything he was asked to do. It's time we did something for Casey."

Burgener, 26, of Bonsall, Calif., thought he qualified for Beijing in the 231.5-plus-pound division at the world championships last September and then at the Pan American Championships in March.

The IWF revoked Burgener's spot after the U.S. Olympic trials in May, certifying only Kendrick Farris and Chad Vaughn because positive drug tests - none by American lifters - forced a reconfiguration in points from the 2006 and 2007 world championships.

"The (IWF) decided to pull the rug out on us," Snethen said. "You can't be penalized for doping positives without having any. It doesn't make sense. ... Everybody thinks when doping happens, something good comes out of it when you're clean. Something bad came out of it."

Snethen demanded IWF officials "fix this problem so it doesn't happen again. ... We earned those slots. We're in a chess match, and you tell me my pawns don't count? We had to work to get those points, and we got them. Don't take it away."

The USOC met with the IWF about Burgener, although Snethen figures the USOC hardly pressed IWF president Tamas Ajan, an International Olympic Committee member who will help pick the 2016 Olympic host - Chicago is a finalist - next October.

"When you have an IOC member in charge of weightlifting," Snethen said, "you have to walk on your toes."

Woolfolk said Burgener "doesn't blame anybody. He doesn't call anybody names. He takes the best of any situation."

Added Farris: "I can't imagine what he's going through. He has worked as hard as anybody else. Casey is an Olympian."

[Chris Ⓐ LeRoux]

Unfortunately, Casey was turned down for Olympian status, the money, etc.

[Chris Ⓐ LeRoux]

Dennis Snethen sent the attached USOC letter on this matter along.