The Olympic skier known as 'spam king'

[DainBramaged]

Winning a medal at the Vancouver Olympic Games doesn't normally make you a target of derision from your fellow countrymen.

Then again, most Olympic athletes don't have the colorful background of Dale Begg-Smith, the former world-champion mogul skier who is almost as well known for reports about his involvement with adware, browser pop-ups, and other detritus of the seamier side of the Internet.

Canada's Globe and Mail described Begg-Smith as a "Lamborghini-driving 24-year-old who made a fortune peddling invasive Internet spyware." The Australian newspaper cited Begg-Smith's companies as "the origin of spyware programs that can redirect a computer to porn sites or install software that floods the computer with pop-up ads." A New Zealand newspaper reported that his nickname was "spam king," and Silicon Alley Insider dubbed him the "Hated Internet Millionaire Olympic Mogul Champion."

Begg-Smith may have just become the most hated Olympic-level athlete since figure-skater-turned-boxer Tonya Harding.

On Sunday night, Begg-Smith, who won the gold medal at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy, lost the men's mogul competition to Canadian Alexandre Bilodeau. Begg-Smith won the silver medal; Bilodeau won the gold with a time of 23.17 seconds and a score of 26.75.

Normally winning a silver medal would still be cause for at least some celebration. But Begg-Smith's change of citizenship from Canadian to Australian (apparently the Canadians weren't as happy with his extracurricular activities) has left his original countrymen famously peeved and the Australians less than enthusiastic.

After Begg-Smith's second place finish in Vancouver this week, one Australian news organization published an article calling him--in the headline, no less--a "sourpuss." Another, the Sydney Morning Herald, labeled the Olympic athlete as "Mr. Miserable" and speculated that he was "simply flying a flag of convenience" with no real ties to Oz.

Canadians were more direct. Facebook groups such as "Dale Begg-Smith is a sourpuss" and another calling him a "traitor" have popped up. Twitter messages after the mogul race have included "traitor," "fake Canadian and all-around jerk," plus other phrases entirely unsuitable for a family publication.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-10454774-38.html

[Berry Cool]

1. Yet more reason to be happy Bilodeau broke the "no gold on Canadian soil" drought.

If the Spam King had won again, it would have been like Dick Cheney won.

Edited: No, wait. The only Olympic competitions Cheney could win are Megalomaniacal Moguls or Men's Halfpipe Waterboarding.

[Burma Jones]

2. Oh, I don't know, Cheney is pretty good at short range Face Shooting

That could be at least an exhibition sport at the next summer games........

[Berry Cool]

3. True, true.

He could win the Buddy Biathlon. Go out on the course with a friend and a rifle, you can guess the rest.

Only thing is, we wouldn't know he'd won until several days after the race.