No resolution in skate tampering case, investigators say 
 
 Suspended coaches, skater in tampering incident face disciplinary process 
 
 Investigators announced Friday they found no evidence to conclude definitively that U.S. short track speedskating coach Jae Su Chun had asked one of his skaters, Simon Cho, to tamper with a rival’s skates or that Chun or his assistant, Jun Hyung Yeo, had engaged in a pattern of physical or emotional abuse toward the athletes. 
 
 The problems within the U.S. short track speedskating program seem no closer to resolution. 
 
 But that did not mean the coaches will keep their jobs. Both are currently suspended. 
 
 And it does not mean US Speedskating is any closer to fixing the rift in the short track problem caused by the allegations against the coaches, made in the form of formal complaints under U.S. Olympic Committee grievance procedures. 
 
 But Greg Little of White & Case, the New York-based law firm that conducted the investigation, insisted its conclusions did not constitute exoneration of the coaches or a clear answer to what had led Cho to bend the skate blade of Canada’s Olivier Jean at the 2011 World Team Championships in Warsaw, Poland. 
 
 The investigation did find that Chun and Yeo were aware of the tampering immediately after it happened but did not report it to proper authorities. 
 
 That conclusion led US Speedskating to place Yeo, the interim head coach of the national team, on administrative leave pending a disciplinary hearing by the federation. Yeo had taken over as head coach when Chun was put on leave Sept. 16. 
 
 The federation also will begin disciplinary procedures against Chun for failing to report the tampering and against Cho, who admitted this week that he had engaged in the tampering but insisted he did so at Chun’s orders. 
 
 US Speedskating said it had no timetable for its disciplinary procedures but would decide by Monday who will take over coaching duties for the U.S. team at the first World Cup meet of the season, which begins Oct. 19 in Calgary. 
 
 “We do not believe there is sufficient evidence at this point to say coach Jae Su directed Simon Cho to tamper with the skate,” Little said during a Friday press conference in Salt Lake City. “There were conflicting and contradictory reports by at least three if not four critical players (in the incident). There was not sufficient evidence for us to say definitively what happened.” 
 
 "Coach Chun is very pleased with the findings of the investigators," said his attorney, Russell Fericks of Salt Lake City. "He is eager to help patch up the US Speedskating team ... .but he will wait for USS to work through its processes." 
 
 Cho's attorney, John Wunderli of Salt Lake City, said he expected the investigators, who had no subpoena power or testimony under oath, would not resolve the conflicting versions of the tampering incident. But Wunderli insisted it made no sense for Cho to have done the tampering on his own initiative, since he gained no competitive advantage from it. 

 Simon Cho, shown here in a 2011 file photo, said his coach pressured him into damaging a competitor’s skate. (Jens Meyer/AP) 
 
 Olympic bronze medalist Simon Cho has told investigators that he sabotaged the skate of a Canadian rival at the insistence of U.S. national coach Jae Su Chun, who was placed on administrative leave earlier this month following allegations of physical and psychological abuse by 14 elite athletes. 
 
 And in an interview with The Washington Post and Chicago Tribune, the 20-year-old Cho provided a detailed account of the circumstances, including the tool he used to inflict the damage and the cultural pressure he felt to obey his coach, a fellow South Korean native and elder; the remorse he felt the moment Canada’s Olivier Jean fell while competing on a damaged blade; and his hope of qualifying for the 2014 Sochi Olympics after serving whatever punishment awaits. 
 
 Cho, 20, who trained at Arlington’s Potomac Skating Club, called Jean to apologize Thursday night and expects to be disciplined for his actions by U.S. Speedskating. 
 
 “I’ve done him a horrible wrong,” Cho said during a conference call with the two newspapers. “I just want to apologize to Speedskating Canada, the Canadian team and most of all Olivier Jean. I have great respect for Olivier Jean as a person and an athlete.” 
 
 Chun’s lawyer, Russell Fericks, said in a telephone interview Thursday that the coach insists he told no athlete to damage a Canadian’s skate. 
 
 “It’s very disappointing, for whatever reason, that Simon Cho feels compelled to persist in this canard that his coach instructed him to tamper with another skater’s equipment,” Fericks said. “Simon Cho is a young and impressionable man, and he is under a lot of pressure.” 
 
 A reigning world champion, Cho won bronze in the 5,000-meter relay at the 2010 Olympics. But 16 months from the 2014 Games, he faces punishment that could range from a suspension to a lifetime ban from competition. 
 
 Cho said he provided a full, honest account of his actions during an hour-long interview Sept. 19 with the law firm White & Case, which has been retained by U.S. Speedskating to investigate the allegations of abuse against Chun, the U.S. national coach since 2007. 
 
 The skate-tampering, and Chun’s alleged role in it, is the most explosive episode detailed in a raft of documents filed by U.S. speedskaters over the past five weeks in three separate initiatives to oust Chun and his assistants. 
 
 U.S. Speedskating is expected to decide whether to reinstate Chun, and what disciplinary action to take against Cho, after the law firm submits its findings. That could come Friday, when U.S. Speedskating holds a news conference at 3 p.m. Cho has scheduled his own news conference at noon to air his version of events. 
 
 Cho’s confession is a rare admission of sabotage by a world-class Olympian. The peculiar twist is that it resulted in no competitive advantage for Cho or the U.S. men’s team. Whether on Chun’s orders or not, it occurred after the U.S. men had been eliminated from the 2011 world championships in Warsaw. The sole purpose, Cho believes, was vengeance toward Canada on the part of Chun, who felt the Canadians had manipulated the outcome by allowing a Japanese skater to beat one of its own in a preliminary heat and, in turn, bump the U.S. from medal contention. 
 
 According to Cho, when Chun first approached him about tampering with a Canadian’s skates, he was with his teammate Jeff Simon, and both athletes said they wouldn’t do it. Chun then spoke with Cho privately, recounted Cho, who said he again refused. But on the coach’s third instruction, Cho said, he relented. 
 
 “He came to me not only as my coach [but also as] an elder and fellow Korean,” Cho said. “In Asian culture, when an elder asks you to do something, it’s very difficult to deny their request, no matter how ridiculous it might sound at the time. I had a lot of pressure from that.” 
 
 Asked what Chun said, Cho replied, “If I had to translate into English, he told me to mess up somebody’s skates.” 
 
 Cho said he then pulled a roughly foot-long piece of metal used to bend blades from a coach’s bag and set out to damage the first skate he came across in a locker room shared by about 30 Canadian and American skaters. 
 
 “It was very difficult to be alone,” Cho said. “There was a window of time where I was able to do it. I was scared and panicking. I picked up the first skate I saw, and it happened to be Olivier Jean’s.” 
 
 Jean fell in the race that followed and was forced to withdraw. 
 
 “I felt extremely guilty,” Cho said. “I felt terrible for what I had done.” 
 
 U.S. Speedskating officials placed Chun on administrative leave Sept. 16. The skaters seeking his dismissal have refused to train with his temporary replacement, Chun’s top assistant, and now compete for a different team. 
 
 An arbitration hearing is scheduled for Nov. 1. 
 
 Asked how he would characterize Chun, with whom he has trained since he was 15, Cho said, “There is no such thing as perfect coach. It was my job to make sure that I took the best out of every coach and implemented that into my own training.” 
 
 Asked whether he had learned from the experience, Cho said: “I certainly learned a lot. I hope that younger generations of athletes are able to take away from this, as well, and learn from my example. Do what you believe it right.”
– The latest soap opera in sports is emerging from ... the US speedskating team? Yesterday, Olympian Simon Cho admitted that he bent the blade of a skate belonging to Canadian Jean Olivier at a world event in Poland last year, reports the Chicago Tribune. Olivier fell in competition, costing Team Canada a shot at gold. It's "the biggest mistake of my life," said the 20-year-old Cho, who now faces a disciplinary hearing, reports AP. Why did he do it? Cho says he was pressured by US coach Jae Su Chun, who denies everything. The strange part is that the US was already out of the competition at the event, notes the Washington Post. Cho says Chun simply wanted to get back at the Canadian team for a perceived slight earlier. The allegations come as current and former members of the team allege a pattern of physical and emotional abuse by Chun and seek to have him and his assistants fired. Investigators yesterday said they hadn't found evidence to back up the claims. Chun remains suspended, however, because at the very least he learned of Cho's tampering soon after it happened and didn't report it.