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The unheralded heroes of the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics
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Meanwhile, another Biathlon competitor, Stans Von Stuppled, was heading for a 
medal-scoring finish when he coughed while firing his rifle and shot Desmond 
O'Franahugh from the Irish team and was allowed to place in the standings despite 
having four flasks of whiskey found stuffed in his uniform. Desmond finished his 
run bleeding but Von Stuppled was disqualified.
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Snowboarding on Feb. 15 saw Wheaton Lunge, a cocky 16-year-old from Upton, G.B., 
complete one of the more difficult self-created moves successfully, though he 
did not even place in the standings. Lunge performed a "double quad slide bending 
turn-around twist-o-matic flip" with the ease of a moth flapping wings. However, 
a judge disqualified the move on the basis that it was "ridiculous".
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The judge, who remains anonymous, said (in disguise), "No slide-bending 
turn-around move can include a twist-o-matic flip and be taken seriously. Slide 
bending with a flip- flap twist or a screwball halt or a dip drop or a kickstand 
tumble are all acceptable. But we have to draw the line with twist-o-matic 
movies".
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There were other judges-opinions-related incidents.
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In the Nordic Combined, two teams delivered sterling performances but were 
dismissed by judges for not being as well mixed as is necessary to be 
considered "combined".
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In the Ice Hockey series, the Italian team was deigned "unfit for competition" 
when members refused to wear athletic supporters as part of their uniform.
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In the women's bobsleigh events, the team from Sweden was terrible but even the 
judges admitted the members were so beautiful the night before at an ad-hoc 
party that no one timed their runs.
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In figure skating, two judges held up point cards that read "9" only to find 
out later that they held up the "6" cards upside down.
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And there were other great performances that may never make the history books.
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In women's curling there were so many events that the team from the Republic of 
Cordolina (ROC) forgot their schedule and, though they played brilliantly, 
defeated four teams they were not meant to play in the opening rounds. Also, 
during one match, the ROC gals became disoriented due to a mix up in their 
medications (these were allowed by Olympic laws because the gals were under 
doctor's supervision for terminal illnesses) and still won by many points.
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Finally, in Figure Skating, the one-time Australasian champion Cicero Bonafacto 
and his sister Cicerino managed to skate magnificently but were not given credit 
for the results of their performance. It looked, many thought, rather ordinary 
when they slid around to the sound of music by Robert Avalon and when they were 
done the crowd applauded. However, the Bonafactoes were pointing to the ice after 
their performance but no one looked until after the team was scored. As it 
turned out, the duo's dancing routine resulted in writing the complete works of 
Italian poet Dante Gabriel Rossetti on the rink ice with their skates.
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    Frank 
    Cotolo can be found hosting the talk and interview programme 
    Cotolo 
    Chronicles.  |  
   
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