Elicit Photos Mean Early Exit For Scotty Lago In 2010 Winter Olympics

Sports News - February 20th, 2010 - Written By John Ritter

American snowboarder Scotty Lago, who took surprisingly took bronze for the men's halfpipe on Thursday, is leaving the Winter Olympics early after elicit photos of him popped up online.

Lago was seen in a picture after winning the medal, hanging it below his waist as a female bent down to kiss it. Another photo of him sticking the medal in the woman's mouth was also obtained by TMZ.

Lago left voluntarily, but certainly didn't help the Americans' cause after dominating the podium through the first week of competition.

"Scotty Lago is a great athlete, but with that comes a responsibility of proper conduct, and his involvement in this situation is not acceptable," U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association President and CEO Bill Marolt wrote in an e-mail obtained by the Associated Press. "Scotty realizes his conduct was inappropriate. He has formally apologized and also made a decision to leave Vancouver today."

Lago will keep his medal, which maintains the United States' overall lead with 20 medals, as of Saturday morning. Canada, which started a "Own the Podium" marketing campaign is in fourth place with eight. Germany, which was favored in most Olympic Betting Odds at Online Sportsbooks to win the race, is second with 13.

The United States Olympic Committee has been preaching good behavior to the raucous winter athletes. Most are extreme sports athletes, which intrinsically make them a little more rowdy, but the U.S. is hoping to quell their behavior publicly. In 2006, skier Jeret Peterson was dismissed for several incidents.

American athletes are required to complete the "Ambassador Program" before being allowed to represent their country in the Olympics.

Lago was a surprise medalist in the half pipe, and was the second American on the podium after Shaun White's breathtaking run at gold. White had the best score after only one run, but decided to take a victory lap with some of his toughest tricks to please the crowd.

He pulled off what he calls The Tomahawk, a spinning, flipping McTwist 1260 that included three full spins and two front flips before landing.