Controversy Jeopardizes U.S. Bobsled Program

The U.S. Olympic bobsled team gained raw strength with the addition of NFL running back Herschel Walker and former professional tight end Greg Harrell.

But it may have lost momentum going into next month's Winter Olympics in Albertville, France, and beyond because of the way Harrell made the team and Todd Snavely did not.

"Controversy wracks the bobsled world," a bemused Chuck Leonowicz, driver of the No. 2 four-man sled, said in the midst of the latest flap involving the U.S. bobsled program.

Less than a month away from trying to end a 36-year Olympic medal drought, the U.S. team was reshuffled physically and emotionally last weekend in a new round of pushoffs in Altenberg, Germany, that followed a tense week of arbitration and court battles.

Harrell, who spent five weeks on the Los Angeles Raiders' developmental squad last season, earned a spot by finishing third in the pushoffs. Snavely, who had been a member of national and World Cup teams since 1988, finished ninth and missed the team.

The pushoffs may have hurt Snavely, 25, the most. He could be back in 1994, or he may have been turned off by the legal wrangling.

"I have nothing to say. I'm all through," Snavely said.

That's a scenario Leonowicz had feared. After an arbitrator in California ordered the new push trials, Leonowicz called it "probably the darkest day in the history of bobsledding.

"The future of bobsledding is definitely jeopardized," Leonowicz

said. "I don't see a lot of people taking time out, taking two or three years off college, and have an arbitrator take their dreams away. I don't see guys making the commitment."

Snavely was on a three-man team that defeated Willie Gault, Los Angeles Raider wide receiver; Harrell and hurdler Edwin Moses by one-hundredth of a second at the Olympic trials last July at Lake Placid, N.Y.

Gault, Harrell and Moses claimed they weren't properly informed of the schedule and regulations for the original trials and filed a grievance.

On Jan. 11, an arbitrator ordered new push trials. Three days later, Moses said he would not participate in the trials because he was concentrating on training for the Summer Games.

A New York state judge reversed the arbitrator's ruling, but the Appellate Division of the New York State Supreme Court ordered the second round of trials.

Even before the court battles, Walker knew he would have a pushoff with alternate Tom Allen. Walker received a competition waiver because the NFL season kept him from an October training camp and early season World Cup competition. Allen filled the spot during World Cup competition.

But the legal action meant that the eight pushers already on the team, plus the two alternates, had to compete for spots again, along with Gault and Harrell. The four drivers were not affected.

Walker posted the best time, 7.0394 seconds. Gault finished eighth and missed the cut, as did Allen.

Things had been going well for the U.S. team up until the arbitration filing, Leonowicz said. The drivers were taking advantage of sports psychology and hypnosis, and had practiced on the world's only bobsled simulator.

"We had great training in Albertville that ended Dec. 22 and a week on the simulator, which was terrific," Leonowicz said. "We have so many positives and so many great athletes on the team as it is. We have such a good shot at winning a medal, I just hope it doesn't affect us at all."

Off the track, being part of the U.S. bobsled program has been as helter-skelter as sledding down an icy chute at 80 mph.

The U.S. Bobsled & Skeleton Federation is still recovering from allegations made in 1990 that it misused funds. All 17 members of the board of directors resigned last March.

The U.S. Olympic Committee audited the federation, the FBI is investigating a reported shortage of $200,000 to $400,000 in the federation's accounts, and the IRS has filed liens totaling $14,587.12 against the federation.

The July trials occurred while the federation was being restructured, said Ray Pratt, the federation's acting executive director. A new board of directors wasn't seated until October.

Pratt said the failure of Gault, Harrell and Moses to receive the schedule and regulations was "probably one of the things that fell through the cracks. It happened in the transition period. There was some confusion. Everyone else got what they needed."

When Gault, Moses and Harrell didn't make the team in July, promised corporate sponsorship of between $200,000 and $500,000 never materialized.

And following the arbitrator's ruling, federation chairman Neil Richardson was suspended in an action initiated by two athlete members of the board.

There was a setback and a gain on the coaching staff. Driving coach Peter Kienast, a former Austrian Olympian, had to resign last year because of cancer. He died in December. His replacement is Meinhard Nehmer of Germany, bobsledding's only three-time Olympic gold medalist.

The United States has been shut out in the Olympics since 1956.