Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, February 27, 1994 TAG: 9402270127
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: D-10 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: HAMAR, NORWAY LENGTH: Medium
Cathy Turner, the American short-tracker called "the dirtiest skater" in the sport, was disqualified from the 1,000-meter race Saturday after illegally cutting off another competitor.
It was the first time Turner had not won a medal in her five Olympic races.
Turner's tossing came two nights after her skirt-the-rules style resulted in her second 500-meters gold medal and created a controversy that reached the International Olympic Committee's highest office.
"The judges were just waiting for me," Turner said. "The Chinese made a big deal that I beat them and I was just waiting for something to happen."
With Turner out, South Korea's Chun Lee-Kyung surprised world champion Nathalie Lambert of Canada to win the gold medal in a world-record 1 minute, 36.87 seconds.
It was Lambert who called Turner "the dirtiest skater in short-track" after Turner won the 500-meters gold.
Despite losing a likely medal when Turner was ejected, the United States earned its fourth short-track medal of the Winter Games when former long-tracker Eric Flaim anchored the second-place 5,000-meters relay team.
Turner, 31, the recipient of angry hate mail on the Olympic electronic mail system after Thursday's race, ends her Olympic career with four medals: two golds, a silver in the 3,000-meter relay in 1992 and a bronze in the relays Tuesday.
"I watched the videotape and I couldn't believe it," Turner said after the disqualification. "I didn't do anything wrong.
"I felt I had a great Olympics and this doesn't hurt me at all. But what they're doing here with all of the controversy . . . is really hurting the sport."
by CNB