Posted on 02/15/2002 11:42:28 AM PST by The_Victor
Snip of redundant material
...
"The council got enough evidence that this individual was responsible for misconduct. They (the skaters) were not judged equally."
Cinquanta said le Gougne had "practically admitted" she had been put under pressure during a meeting at which the American referee Ron Pfenning had been present. Earlier this week, Cinquanta said Pfenning had handed him a letter containing "certain allegations".
He added if a judge received pressure at any time the referee had to be informed.
RUSSIANS FURIOUS
"This did not happen in the case of Mrs. Le Gougne," Cinquanta said.
He said a council meeting on Monday would decide how long the suspension would last.
Pelletier and Sale told Canadian television after the announcement that justice had been done.
"Everyone knows what we deserve and we know what we deserve and we are taking that home with us and that's all that matters," Sale said.
"This is not about us and the Russians, this is about the sport we love dearly and justice was done, and that is a good feeling," said Pelletier.
"I hope it's not going to stop the cleaning of (figure skating's) house here," he added.
Sale said: "We just want the truth to come out and I think for the future of our sport this had to be fixed."
The Russian team reacted furiously to Friday's decision, describing it as a huge blow to the Olympic spirit.
Russian Olympic Committee official Rudolf Nezvegsky told Reuters: "By doing this, they just struck a huge blow, not only to the Olympic spirit of fair competition but also to the whole nature of sport.
"It went against any moral and ethical norms that exist in sport where athletes, not lawyers, compete against each other on the slopes and in the sports arenas and not in back rooms," Nezvegsky said.
"Mr Rogge, who has just become IOC president, probably does not understand what he has done for the sports movement for future Olympic Games (news - web sites)," Nezvegsky added.
No, you won't see some pretendant because in that event the skater who gave the two top clean performances won the gold medal. The skater who gave the second-best free performance one the silver. ....
I guess you didn't hear the American bronze medalist Goebel who said that the results of the men's competition were fair.
No participant will complain because it was not corrupt.
Whatever happened to Denise Rich? Now THAT was a topic worthy of infinite trashtalk and gossip.
Borderline. Fighters can be knocked out rendering judges unnecessary.
That brings a whole different set of qualifiers into play if you have to win by beating your opponent into unconciousness.
The judged "sports" like snowboarding, hot dog skiing and now figure skating really don't do anything for me in the first place. I for one wouldn't miss them if they were gone.
"Screw dem peoples in Canada!"
I haven't been following this scandal very closely. (I still miss Tonya and Nancy...) The only thing that struck me, really, was that the French judge who got in trouble was really beautiful.
If she was "pressured" to vote one way or another, how come SHE was punished, and not the people who were pressuring her?
Rather than punish her, shouldn't she be rewarded for being brave enough to speak out about being pressured to fix the event? (But I'll be honest, mostly I'm taking her side because she's so pretty...)
Mark W.
You better believe it. All that is left for them to do is to apply for entry as a Non-Government Organization (NGO), and they probably will be accepted.
Hey, your Russkie boy almost ended up on his arse. No? If you think your russkie bunch were technical I guess you really are still in the 19th century there in Russia. LOL! Hey, any time I see a Russian skater again I'll remember you get your medals by cheating. A little Russian mafia pressure? LOL!
That would be like stating " I was pressured into stealing that money". Ok, she coughed up but she should get her sorry arse back to France with the rest of those cheap eurotrashers. Actually she didn't look that cute to me looks like she had been eating too many french pastries.
I wasn't following this story at all until this afternoon. I was watching Passions and it got pre-empted for live coverage of the press conference. I kept hoping that they'd cut back to the soaps (after all, the cliffhanger episode is usually on a Friday), so I watched the Canadian skaters as they responded to questions from the media.
They both made a nice impression. David Pelletier has a mischievous sense of humor with a deadpan accented delivery. I'm not interested in skating, but I will be interested to see how the incident affects Pelletier's future. Perhaps he'll become a different type of performer?
Best holiday weekend wishes to everyone here on FR!
Speaking of which, I wonder how the IOC is going to handle the Taiwan flag flying in the summer games in China ('04 or '08?). THAT will be a fun political fight to see!!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.