Nardiello back as skeleton coach

Tim Nardiello was reinstated as the U.S. women's skeleton coach Monday night, shortly after an arbitrator found no evidence supporting claims that he sexually harassed two team members - but it's still unknown if he'll coach at the Turin Olympics next month.

A U.S. Bobsled and Skeleton Federation board member, speaking on condition of anonymity because no formal announcement was planned until today, told The Associated Press that Nardiello was reinstated during a meeting Monday night.

"I hope it ends then," USBSF president Jim Shea Sr. said before the meeting. "We'll see what happens after we get a sense of the board."

The U.S. Olympic Committee will make the final decision on whether Nardiello coaches at the Olympics. They must make a ruling by Jan. 30.

- Top American skeleton racer Zach Lund will compete in next month's Olympics after the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency issued him only a public warning following a failed drug test.

Because he wasn't suspended, the U.S. Olympic Committee said it would credential Lund for the games.

Lund tested positive for Finasteride, a banned substance often used as a steroid- masking agent, at a competition in November and was barred from the past two World Cup races. Lund said the result stemmed from a hair-restoration product.

"I have learned my lesson," Lund said. "If this was God's way of telling me that he wants me to go bald, I get the message."

FLAME CONTROVERSY: Four protesters briefly grabbed the Olympic torch from Italian track star Eleanora Berlanda as the relay passed through the Italian town of Trento.

The protesters known as "the disobedient ones" - demonstrators associated with the anti-globalization movement - nabbed the torch and relay escort runners took it back, the Italian news agency ANSA reported.

More than 30 protests have marked the torch relay since it left Rome on Dec. 8, prompting games government supervisor Mario Pescante last week to express worry about the possibility of bigger protests.

SECURITY COSTS: Italy has spent $107 million on security for the Olympics and expects to spend more during the coming weeks, the interior minister said.

Italian officials are "reasonably optimistic" that they can thwart any terrorist threats during the Feb. 10-26 Winter Games, Interior Minister Giuseppe Pisanu said.

The $107 million covers manpower, including deployment of more than 9,000 extra officers for the Olympics. The extra security personnel have already been trained, he said.

DOPING TESTS: The Italian health ministry has backed down from a demand that it conduct doping tests at the Olympics.

The demand had clashed with reassurances from other Italian government officials that doping tests be left to the International Olympic Committee.

"The Italian Health Ministry intends to conform to the commitments taken by our government," said Olympic supervisor Mario Pescante.

Ministry undersecretary Cesare Cursi, who recently threatened to send police to conduct drug tests on athletes, indicated a compromise would soon be approved by the Italian premier's office.

Pescante said he will propose that Giovanni Zotta, head of the ministry's anti-doping commission, be included on the Olympic testing body. He said he will seek approval from IOC president Jacques Rogge today.