An athlete who previously won a bronze medal at the Winter Olympics was forced to apologise before leaving the Games after racy photographs of him were leaked online.
With the 2026 Winter Olympic Games currently ongoing in Milan-Cortina, the attention of the sporting world has turned to the icy mountains of Northern Italy.
Most athletes who compete at the Winter Games are relatively unknown to the wider public, but will be allowed to make a name for themselves during the event.
At the 2022 Winter Games in Beijing, China, Norway topped the medal table with a total of 37, followed by the Russian Olympic Committee, Germany, Canada and the United States, while Great Britain managed just one gold and one silver.
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Norway also lead the all-time medal table with 148 golds, followed by the US with 113 golds.
Before the 2026 Games got underway, the Scandinavian nation had also secured 405 Winter Games medals compared to the US’ 330.
And one of the 330 medals secured by American competitors was won by Scott Lago back in 2010. The snowboarder from New Hampshire, who was competing at his first Olympics, won bronze in the snowboard halfpipe event in Vancouver 16 years ago.
However, just 48 hours after finishing third, TMZ released photographs of him with a woman who appeared to be kissing the medal, which was placed below Lago’s waist while he pulled up his shirt, according to The New York Times.
Another snap showed the woman biting the medal while Lago and US teammate Greg Bretz looked on.
Upon the photographs’ release, Lago apologised to the United States Ski and Snowboard Association, branding the incident “a lapse in judgment”.
“I’m sorry for the pictures,” he said. “I’m sorry to the American public that I offended. I was out celebrating. It happened so quick.”
Lago voluntarily left the games after the photographs surfaced, while U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association President and CEO Bill Marolt issued a statement in which he deemed the athlete’s behaviour as “unacceptable”.
"Scotty Lago is a great athlete, but with that comes a responsibility of proper conduct and his involvement in this situation is not acceptable," Marolt said.
"Scotty realises his conduct was inappropriate. He has formally apologised and also decided to leave Vancouver today."
Lago, now 38, never appeared at a Winter Games again following the incident.
Luke Davies