Dionne’s Appeal Is Turned Down

Michael Dionne was removed from the Olympic team after his drug suspension was upheld by an arbitrator, who urged that the athlete stay in Nagano because he was guilty only of carelessness and further punishment would be “distasteful.”

Dionne, a pusher on the No. 3 four-man sled, was moved out of the Olympic Village and into a downtown hotel by the U.S. Olympic Committee, which gave him an official’s credential so he could watch the games.