Posted on 02/12/2002 7:38:08 PM PST by RightlySo
Bob Costas just now reported that the French ice skating judge admitted today to "swapping high scores" with the Ukraine and/or Russian judges. The French judge was to give a high score in pairs figure skating to the Russian figure skating duo in exchange for a high score from the Russian judge in next Friday's ice dancing competition.
The French judge was one of the five that essentially gave the gold medal to the Russian figure skating pair over the Canadian pair. Those judges included China, Russia, Ukraine, France and Poland.
Also, a poll on NBC's web site, according to Costas, showed that out of 200,000 votes, 96% were in favor of giving the gold to Jamie and David of Canada vs. 4% for the Russian team.
The RIGHT thing to do would have been for the Russian team to walk off the podium at the medals ceremony and place the gold around the Canadian's necks. The looks on the Russian skater's faces told me, "We didn't win this and we know it." However, whoever said they would do the right thing?
With this bit of news from Costas, maybe that will move the investigation a little further, and put things right for the true winners.
Bias in the Olympics angers me to no end, these kids from all over the world work their entire LIVES for a chance to compete-- their spirit and discipline is heroic, and, they deserve to compete without obstacles such as politics and bribery, yet, the real world rears its ugly head.
1. The Canadians deserved it and belong owning that gold.
2. The French can never take any heat and always surrender.
Yeah, right. Remember where these skaters are from: Russia. Do you think they would have any future at all - maybe not even be alive - if they were to do such a thing?!!? Right now, they are innocent victims. If they became proactive like that, it would embarrass the Russians and they would be "punished".
Yes, it's true-- I was watching NBC just now at 11 pm Eastern.
Also Tom Brokaw reported that the IOC will investigate the judges decision tonight on the 6:30 pm news. That news made me feel better, and Tom went on to point out that in previous Olympics, there HAVE been judges fixing the ice skating events. In one such case, they showed footage of two judges waggling their feet, which were signals as to how to vote. They were caught, and I am unsure what the outcome of the investigation was. The news did not report that.
Ashland, Missouri
Look at non-olympic skating, the judges and announcers have their favorites and everyone else, no matter how good, can go hang.
The Canadian Olympic delegation on Tuesday requested an investigation into why Russians Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze won the gold medal when many observers feel that Canadians Jamie Sale and David Pelletier were more worthy.
Brennan, one of the world's leading authorities on figure skating, says that reliable sources within the ISU told her that a collaboration between the French and Russian judges did happen.
"When (figure skating officials) investigate, I think they're going to find out that the French judge worked a deal with the Russians," said Brennan, one of the world's leading authorities on figure skating.
"There's absolutely no doubt that the Canadians should have won. Their 'Love Story' program was just marvelous. The performance was perfect.
"The Russian pair made small errors including a small mistake on one jump. To me it's clear. It should have been crystal clear for the Canadians."
Brennan said she watched the tapes again and the Canadians' performance only gets better.
"I was shocked the moment I saw the scores and I'm still shocked," she said. "I ran into three international judges, all of them judging at the Olympics, within three minutes after the competition. 'This is an outrage,' they said in unison. I've never seen judges come up to a reporter -- as opposed to going away from them -- and say this is an outrage."
Until Monday, only a few diehard figure skating fans in North America knew who Sale and Pelletier were. That's all changed.
"Their agent told me he's had about a hundred calls," Brennan said. "I'm guessing they are now a household name, which never would have been if they'd won the gold medal with no controversy. I would imagine that they became millionaires in the last 24 hours. The sympathy factor is huge."
The scandal already is drawing comparisons to figure skating's most famous pair of all -- Tonya Harding and Nancy Kerrigan. The story could grow if the United States were to get involved because it's conceivable that if Sale and Pelletier should have won gold, Americans Kyoko Ina and John Zimmerman could have won bronze, Brennan said.
"This is really starting to remind me of Tonya and Nancy, but it's not there yet," Brennan said. "There's something about this that's starting to build and there's the sense that the pace with which it's starting is like it was with Tonya and Nancy. Now there's an investigation and the story has legs."
Cynthia Faulkner is the Olympics editor for ESPN.com.
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