| Timothy Nardiello | |
| Sport: | Luge |
| Birth Date: | 5 October 1960 |
| Birth Place: | Lake Placid, New York, United States |
Timothy Nardiello (born October 5, 1960) is an American former luger and coach.[1] [2] He competed at the 1984 Winter Olympics and the 1988 Winter Olympics.[3] He later went on to coach the US national skeleton team.[4]
Nardiello was born in Lake Placid, New York, in 1960.[1] At high school, Nardiello played hockey, and was on the team that won the New York State Championship.[1] He took up luge, while working in a variety of jobs, including carpentry and fishing.[1] In 1986, Nardiello and Miro Zajonc became the first team from America to win a medal at a Luge World Cup race, finishing in second place.[1]
At the 1984 Winter Olympics in Sarajevo, Nardiello competed in the men's singles event, finishing in 21st place.[5] Four years later, Frank Masley and Nardiello were the first two to qualify to the American Olympic luge team following their qualification runs at the US national trials.[6] At the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary, Nardiello and Miro Zajonc competed in the doubles event, where they finished in eleventh place.[7]
Following his luge career, Nardiello became the coach of the US skeleton team.[1] However, just prior to the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Nardiello was fired from the team.[8] Initially, he had been accused of the sexual harassment of members of the skeleton team.[9] After no supporting evidence was found for the claims against him,[10] he was reinstated a few weeks later.[1] Despite this, the US Olympic Committee then fired Nardiello after they had found he was still working as a coach while under suspension.[1] [11] [12]