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Ice dancing today, or is it collusion part deux?
By Jenifer K. Nii
Deseret News Olympic specialist
If there is collusion between judges affecting the Olympic pairs figure skating and ice dance events, part two of the shakedown is likely to begin today.
Skategate 2002 began in the pairs competition, where Didier Gailhaguet of the French skating federation revealed that Marie Reine Le Gougne, its representative on the nine-member judging panel, was pressured to act "in a certain way" — presumably to support the eventual gold medal winners, Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze of Russia.
Though the French federation denied any collusion on the part of Eastern bloc judges on Thursday — and Gailhaguet later said his remarks had been misinterpreted — it has been widely rumored that Le Gougne traded votes in the pairs competition for a favorable result in the upcoming ice dance event.
Outrage over the victory by the Russians over silver-medalists Jamie Sale and David Pelletier of Canada has sparked an inquiry by the sport's international governing body and heated cries to revise the entire judging system.
But the immediate concern, at least for the athletes, is what effect, if any, the debacle will have on the ice-dance competition. The first phase of that event, the compulsory dance, begins today.
Other developments in the pairs controversy include:<>
- Sale and Pelletier have become more adamant in their public comments. "I know I did a gold-medal performance," said Pelletier to NBC's Brian Williams Thursday.
"If we would have made a mistake, OK you can put us second," Sale said in the same interview. "But the fact that we went out there and skated an absolutely perfect performance. . . . The commentators, the fans watching at home, our families and everybody, just couldn't believe what they saw."
- Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien, who happens to be visiting Russia, called Sale's and Pelletier's performance fabulous and said he was very disappointed in the competition's outcome.
Marina Anissina and Gwendal Peizerat, 1998 Olympic bronze medalists from France, came into the Salt Lake City Games as gold medal contenders in ice dancing. But, a surprising loss to Canadians Shae Lynn Bourne and Victor Kraatz at the ISU Grand Prix Final in December shook up the historically staid standings.
The medals, once so painfully predictable, are now up for grabs.
The United States will be represented by four-time national champions Naomi Lang and Peter Tchernyshev and national pewter medalists Beata Handra and Charles Sinek. Neither are expected to medal, though Lang and Tchernyshev have made impressive progress over the past two seasons.
Tchernyshev on Wednesday said he trusted that the event would be judged fairly.
"This controversy will not compromise the outcome of the ice-dancing event," he said. "I believe the judges will remember the oath they took in the opening ceremony. I am confident they will do the right thing. Ice dancing will be judged fairly."
Also this week, IOC Director General Francois Carrard said the question of whether the ice dancing competition could go on was raised during a meeting he had with ISU president Ottavio Cinquanta. According to Carrard, Cinquanta assured the IOC executive board that the "competition would proceed in the most regular way."
But Ida Tateoka, an former Olympic-level judge from Utah, expressed concern.
"I think it was, what happened, it created a lot of feeling, I think about the judging system," she said of the controversy. "European judges think alike and converse with one another. And we're told we shouldn't do that."
E-mail: jnii@desnews.com
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February 15, 2002
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