Whipped Cream Difficulties

Judging scandals have upended high-profile sports like figure skating and gymnastics before, but this possible cheating episode serves as a reminder that even in the confines of obscure sports, the competition is every bit as cutthroat.
The fallout has been swift, with one top Olympic official already expelled and six others suspended. They include Caroline Hunt of the United States, along with officials from Egypt, Japan and Russia. Dozens of judges who took the tests have been implicated and questioned by F.I.G. investigators.

The sport in question is rhythmic gymnastics.

Investigators found that Maria Szyszkowska of Poland, the former president of the governing body’s rhythmic gymnastics technical committee, interfered with the computer program that calculated the scores. As a result, Mrs. Szyszkowska was stripped of her membership and prohibited from “any form of participation in all F.I.G. events and activities.”

Obit watch: Eugene P. Wilkinson.

As commander of the 324-foot, lead-lined, dirigible-shaped submarine, Admiral Wilkinson made headlines worldwide when he steered the Nautilus, propelled by its onboard reactor, out of a shipyard in Groton, Conn., into Long Island Sound on Jan. 17, 1955, and uttered his first radio message: “Under way on nuclear power.”

(94. Damn, that was a good run. Also: “He received the Silver Star for valor in the Pacific.”)

Congrats to Lawrence on his winning the Grand Panjandrum’s Special Award in the Bulwer-Lytton Contest. Sadly, according to Lawrence, he will not be getting the complete set of Edward George Bulwer-Lytton’s novels, which is a shame, as I was looking forward to borrowing his copy of Paul Clifford.