Posted on 03/23/2002 10:58:49 PM PST by LarryLied
NAGANO, Japan - The sport of figure skating was reeling again Saturday Israel was accused of "buying" the ice dance bronze medal of Galit Chait and Sergei Sakhnovski at the world figure skating championships.
The Lithuanian team claimed that results were "pre-decided" and accused the father of Chait of mafioso-type behavior after the Israelis took bronze ahead of husband and wife team Povilas Vanagas and Margarita Drobiazko on Friday.
The Lithuanian delegation lodged an official protest with the International Skating Union (ISU) following the free program at Nagno M-Wave Arena, in which five of the nine judges voted for the Israeli couple.
"There is big money involved with the Israeli couple, and you cannot fight against that. What other explanation can there be for them finishing third?" Vanagas told a press conference.
He also revealed that 20 couples who took part in the ice dancing competition signed a petition protesting the result, which was handed in to the ISU on Saturday afternoon.
"When Boris Chait, the father of Galit Chait, heard about this petition he started threatening people, saying they should thank God if they reach America alive," said Vanagas.
"He even got physical and tried to start a fight with some coaches who supported us. It seems like he and some of the ISU think they are the Godfather."
Lithuanian team leader Sundeep Pandya said that the assistant referee had supported their protest on Friday.
"We have not had an answer from the ISU but two or three of the judges who voted for the Lithuanians told me that they were ashamed to be on the panel last night," he said.
The result gave the Israelis a first-ever world championship medal. The gold medal went to Russian pair Irina Lobacheva and Ilia Averbukh, while the silver was claimed by Canadians Shae Lynn Bourne and Viktor Kratz.
With his wife Drobiazko in tears beside him, Vanagas claimed that the ISU were "paying us back" for their protest at last month's Salt Lake City Olympics, when the Lithuanians were upset at finishing fifth.
"The ISU want to show the other skaters that they must stay silent. There is no order, there are no rules. Bad people are killing this sport," he said.
"We want to skate, not play political games. Every time, when you see which judges are drawn, you can guess the result immediately."
The drama took another twist, meanwhile, when a German reporter revealed that an Israeli skating official had told him in a phone call before the world championships that they would win a medal.
The latest controversy comes after a judging scandal in the pairs competition that dominated the first week of the Olympics.
Russians Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze were awarded the gold medal despite an obvious slip by Sikharulidze and a clean skate from Canadian pair Jamie Sale and David Pelletier.
Afterward a French judge claimed she had been pressured into voting for the Russians and, after she was suspended amid a furious row that badly damaged the reputation of the sport, the IOC awarded the Canadians a gold medal too.
I'm a big fan of Alexei Yagudin, he is fantastic.
I find it incredible that the judges did this after what happened in Salt Lake but the IOC and The Figure Skating Union are smaller versions of the United Nations in all ways.
Its a shame because I have become really turned off by subjective sports.
What I thought was interesting was that the commentators now candidly discuss the effects of possible judging deals in every event. There were also table showing how various cliques of judges may have connived.
I get the feeling that a lot of topics that used to be restricted to off-mike are now acceptable.
But these are the events which get TV viewers. Downhill skiing, which I like, didn't do so well. Wonder if there is any way possible to objectively score figure skating. Haven't been following this long. 10 years ago, were there controversies such as we saw in Salt Lake City and now in Japan?
With the pairs for this Olympics the presentation score was used to break the tie. Much more subjective then the technical score. Hence the Canadians would have won again had the technical score been used to break the tie in Salt Lake. That was why the outrage over the Russian pair faltering during their performance a few times.
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