July 27, 1996
Dubnicoff shattered by protest
CANADIAN CYCLIST IN DUTCH FOR BEING OVER-AGGRESSIVE
By KEN FIDLIN -- Toronto Sun
STONE MOUNTAIN, Ga. -- Heartbreak comes in packages of all different shapes and sizes at the Olympic Games. The only common denominator is that the athletes never see it coming.
Canada's Tanya Dubnicoff got blind-sided in the worst possible way yesterday afternoon at the Olympic Velodrome. Her Olympic medal hopes were dashed by the dreaded protest committee.
"You put everything you have into this one race," said Dubnicoff. "Sure, it's a big disappointment. It took me two hours afterward to figure out it's just a bike race."
It was a brave front, but so transparent. It's safe to guess Dubnicoff had never wanted anything so badly in her life. Just a bike race? She didn't rededicate herself to her sport this year just to win a bike race.
For a matter of seconds, maybe even for a minute or two, Dubnicoff owned a berth in the cycling sprint semi-finals. Two shots at a medal. Then it was taken away, first by a protest committee and then by her opponent, Ingrid Haringa of the Netherlands.
Dubnicoff had won the opener -- three laps around the 250-metre oval -- of the best-of-three quarter-final in decisive fashion. Haringa never got close. In the second race, Haringa was lingering behind and to the right of Dubnicoff's back wheel as they pedaled slowly out of the final turn of the second lap.
Suddenly Haringa made a move to the inside, flying down off the banked portion. Dubnicoff reacted immediately to cut her off. Though no contact was made and no one went down, both bikes ended up on the track apron and Dubnicoff held her opponent at bay.
On the third lap, twice Dubnicoff drifted out of her line to block a passing attempt.
Immediately after Dubnicoff crossed the finish line, apparently having advanced to the semi-finals, Haringa signaled that a protest would be filed, based upon her being cut off and driven almost into the infield.
"She closed the door," said Haringa. "You can close the door normal or you can close the door hard. She closed the door hard. It was not sporting."
The Canadians immediately filed their own appeal, contending that since the sprint portion of the race had not yet started, Dubnicoff was not required to hold her line and was perfectly within her rights to cut off Haringa.
Members of the protest committee agreed, but when they reviewed the race tape, they decided Dubnicoff was guilty of additional aggressive behavior when she moved off her line later in the race.
"You do what you can to win," said Dubnicoff's Canadian teammate and friend Curt Harnett. "Sometimes you get away with it, sometimes you don't. We don't have our separate little lanes laid out to make it clear. It's not that cut and dried. It's not easy to accept, but it's part of the game.
"You have to be able to switch the channel."
Instead of turning the channel, Dubnicoff turned the TV set right off.
In the third and deciding race, Haringa outmanoeuvred Dubnicoff and won going away, startling the Canadian by making a move earlier than anticipated.
"Haringa took control and Tanya didn't counter," said Dubnicoff's coach, Richard Young.
Later, Dubnicoff went though the motions of the consolation race to decide places five through eight, coasting home eighth.
"Once I lost (the quarter-final) there really wasn't much on the line," she admitted. "The placing doesn't mean anything.
"I tried to be aggressive in the second race and (the committee) didn't like that."
The truth of the matter is Dubnicoff earned her disqualification. Her infraction clearly was beyond the broadest interpretation of the rules as they apply to sprint.
Had she not won the race, she probably could have gathered herself for the third go-round with Haringa. But when the protest snatched defeat from the jaws of victory, Dubnicoff lost her focus.
"I came here ready," she said, her feisty nature showing in a brief post-race encounter with the press. "But you don't get second chances. We're going to go to the worlds (next month) and win a gold medal."
Dubnicoff is nothing if not a street fighter. She is tough as nails, but not even that hard veneer could mask the disappointment she felt.
"One of the things that makes it so difficult is that she was so ready," said Harnett. "She was ready to ride here."
She was ready to do whatever it took. This day, it was a little too much.
