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Berezhnaya-Sikharulidze keep Russian pairs streak going
By Barry Wilner
AP Sports Writer
SALT LAKE CITY — With a collision, a close finish and a scoring controversy, the Russians once again won gold in pairs figure skating. The Canadians went home sore and shocked with silver.
Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze extended Russia's dominance Monday night by the slimmest of margins over Canada's Jamie Sale and David Pelletier. One judge, from China, favored the Russians in a tiebreaker.
It was clear whom the crowd thought won as it chanted "Six, Six" after the Canadian world champions finished their routine. And many fans booed as Pelletier waved his hand in disgust when the scoreboard showed Russia had won Olympic gold for the 11th straight games.
"When you skate your best and come in second, it is difficult," said Sale, who recovered from a collision with Sikharulidze during warmups. "It shook me up. ... It was kind of a nightmare. I just said, 'This is my ice, my time.' I went out and fought to the very end."
She said the collision "hurt my stomach." Pelletier was sore for another reason.
"I can't lie, it is disappointing to come in second," he said as tears rolled down his partner's face.
When Sikharulidze and Sale collided, it sent her sprawling to the ice on her hands and knees. But each team shook off the mishap to skate superbly.
China's Shen Xue and Zhao Hongbo won the bronze medal.
American champions Kyoko Ina and John Zimmerman finished fifth but said the performance was "the greatest thing we've ever done."
The Russians collected seven 5.9s for artistry, with the 5.9 from the Chinese judge making the difference — and ensuring a Russian or Soviet pair has won every gold medal since 1964.
"The accident before the performance didn't affect it," Berezhnaya said.
The winners made one error when Sikharulidze stepped out of a double axel. But their skill for skating in unison and the passion of their program, to "Meditation," won over enough judges — if not the crowd.
The Canadians, who had won their last nine competitions, then responded with a spectacular, mistake-free performance to "Love Story" that included two huge throw jumps.
They didn't, however, get the 6.0s the fans sought, and only four 5.9s for artistry, leaving them in second.
The gold climaxed a long, sometimes distressing climb for Berezhnaya-Sikharulidze, who finished second at the 1998 Games and then won two world titles.
In 2000, Berezhnaya failed a drug test, which she said was caused by over-the-counter cold medicine. They withdrew from the world championships, then were suspended for three months by the International Skating Union and stripped of their European crown.
The Russians also skipped last month's European championships because of his leg injury.
Far worse was a head cut in 1996, when her former partner, Oleg Shliakov, sliced her with his skate while they practiced a spin. Berezhnaya barely escaped injuries to her brain.
But now, she and Sikharulidze, who train in Hackensack, N.J., are Olympic champions, giving their coach, Russian Tamara Moskvina, four Olympic pairs gold medalists.
Moskvina also coaches Ina and Zimmerman, the three-time U.S. champions who had a magical night, even though they didn't win a medal.
Ina, who was ninth in the 1994 Games and fourth in '98 partnered with Jason Dungjen, leaped like a schoolgirl with straight A's on her report card when she saw the couple's marks. She and Zimmerman, who became her partner in 1998, flashed smiles with 30 seconds left in their routine. —
And Ina pumped her fist in the air as they entered their final spin.
But the highlight of their performance was their candle lift, in which Zimmerman carries Ina around more than one-third of the rink while she is upside down, her head resting on his shoulder.
"It was so much fun, in one way I wish it could last another four minutes," Ina said. "But I'm glad it ended where it did, because I don't think I could've contained my excitement anymore."
The other Americans, Tiffany Scott and Philip Dulebohn, finished 13th.
"The experience was incredible," Dulebohn said. "I just wish we could have skated better. You live and you learn and definitely we are going to take home a lot of experience from this and put it to use in the future."
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February 11, 2002
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