Timothy Nardiello (born October 5, 1960) is an American former

luge A luge is a small one- or two-person sled on which one sleds supine (face up) and feet-first. A luger steers by using the calf muscles to flex the sled's runners or by exerting opposite shoulder pressure to the seat. Racing sleds weigh for s ...

r and coach. He competed at the

1984 Winter Olympics The 1984 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XIV Olympic Winter Games (Serbo-Croatian and Slovene: ''XIV. Zimske olimpijske igre''; Cyrillic: XIV Зимске олимпијске игре; mk, XIV Зимски олимписки игр ...

and the

1988 Winter Olympics The 1988 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XV Olympic Winter Games (french: XVes Jeux olympiques d'hiver) and commonly known as Calgary 1988 ( bla, Mohkínsstsisi 1988; sto, Wîchîspa Oyade 1988 or ; cr, Otôskwanihk 1998/; srs, Guts� ...

. He later went on to coach the US national

skeleton A skeleton is the structural frame that supports the body of an animal. There are several types of skeletons, including the exoskeleton, which is the stable outer shell of an organism, the endoskeleton, which forms the support structure inside ...

team.

Biography

Nardiello was born in

Lake Placid, New York Lake Placid is a village in the Adirondack Mountains in Essex County, New York, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 2,303. The village of Lake Placid is near the center of the town of North Elba, southwest of Plattsburgh. ...

, in 1960. At high school, Nardiello played hockey, and was on the team that won the New York State Championship. He took up luge, while working in a variety of jobs, including carpentry and fishing. In 1986, Nardiello and Miro Zajonc became the first team from America to win a medal at a

Luge World Cup The Luge World Cup season is a yearly competition first organized by the International Luge Federation The International Luge Federation ( French: Fédération Internationale de Luge de Course (FIL); German: Internationaler Rennrodelverband) is ...

race, finishing in second place. At the

Sarajevo Sarajevo ( ; cyrl, Сарајево, ; ''see Names of European cities in different languages (Q–T)#S, names in other languages'') is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a population of 275,524 in its a ...

, Nardiello competed in the men's singles event, finishing in 21st place. Four years later,

Frank Masley Francis Joseph "Frank" Masley (June 30, 1960 – September 10, 2016) was an American luger. He competed in the 1980, 1984, and 1988 Winter Olympics. He was the first Olympic flag-bearer in USA Luge history in the 1984 Olympic opening ceremonies. ...

and Nardiello were the first two to qualify to the American Olympic luge team following their qualification runs at the US national trials. At the

Calgary Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806, makin ...

, Nardiello and Miro Zajonc competed in the doubles event, where they finished in eleventh place. Following his luge career, Nardiello became the coach of the US

team. However, just prior to the

2006 Winter Olympics The 2006 Winter Olympics, officially the XX Olympic Winter Games ( it, XX Giochi olimpici invernali) and also known as Torino 2006, were a winter multi-sport event held from 10 to 26 February 2006 in Turin, Italy. This marked the second t ...

in Turin, Nardiello was fired from the team. Initially, he had been accused of the sexual harassment of members of the skeleton team. After no supporting evidence was found for the claims against him, he was reinstated a few weeks later. Despite this, the US Olympic Committee then fired Nardiello after they had found he was still working as a coach while under suspension.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Nardiello, Timothy 1960 births Living people American male lugers Olympic lugers for the United States Lugers at the 1984 Winter Olympics Lugers at the 1988 Winter Olympics People from Lake Placid, New York