In an attempt to end an Olympic figure skating controversy that has preoccupied the North American media, the International Olympic Committee made the unprecedented decision Friday to award a second gold medal because of a judge’s misconduct in a subjectively judged sport.
The decision means Canadian pair Jamie Sale and David Pelletier, who finished second by a 5-4 judges’ vote in Monday’s free skate final, will join Russians Elena Bereznaia and Anton Sikharulidze as gold medalists.
The affair has thrown into question the entire credibility of figure skating and, by extension, the credibility of the many subjectively judged Olympic sports.
“I don’t think this has created damage to the Olympic movement because it was resolved fast, in the best possible way,” IOC President Jacques Rogge said.
It may not mean the end of the controversy. Sources familiar with the situation have told the Tribune that International Skating Union President Ottavio Cinquanta has received reports of four other allegations focusing on attempts to influence the judging in the 2002 Winter Olympic pairs event.
Those allegations raised once again the possibility there was a deal to vote for the Russians in the pairs in return for a vote for French ice dancers Marina Anissina and Gwendal Peizerat, who led after Friday’s compulsory dance phase of their competition.
Through an ISU representative, Cinquanta declined to respond to a request for comment on the other allegations. Earlier Friday, he said the ISU’s investigation is ongoing.
One allegation came from a Canadian judge who reported representatives of the Russian and French figure skating federations made improper overtures regarding the Olympic pairs event to French and Canadian judges at the Skate Canada Grand Prix event last November in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.
The report said this Canadian judge was approached by a French official and that Russian judge Marina Sanaia asked French judge Marie-Reine Le Gougne to favor the Russian pairs team for the gold medal at the Olympics. Both Sanina and Le Gougne were among the five judges who placed Bereznaia and Sikharulidze first in the decisive free skate.
At least two of the three other allegations concern events that happened in Salt Lake City and involved pressure being applied to Le Gougne. Her failure to report the attempts to influence her before judging the pairs event, mandated by ISU rules for judges, was the misconduct that allowed Cinquanta to ask the IOC that a second gold medal be awarded.
“She acted in a way that was not adequate to guarantee both pairs equal condition,” Cinquanta said.
The IOC executive board, of which Cinquanta is a member, approved that request Friday morning by a vote of 7-1 with one abstention. Five of the executive board members did not attend the meeting, and Cinquanta recused himself.
Moving ahead
Cinquanta had maintained until Friday his federation would make no decision until its regularly scheduled ISU council meeting Monday. That changed after Rogge asked Cinquanta for a speedy resolution of the matter and the Canadian Olympic Association asked an international sports tribunal, the Court of Arbitration for Sport, to hear its request for a second gold medal.
The tribunal agreed to hear the case Friday and might have compelled skating judges to testify. Cinquanta called a special ISU Council meeting late Thursday night and received authorization to request a second gold medal. Canada withdrew its case once the IOC approved the request.
Cinquanta made the decision to ask for a second gold medal after interviewing Le Gougne and receiving a written statement from her.
In her written statement, Le Gougne maintained she had judged according to her conscience and admitted only to the misconduct of failing to report the improper approaches made to her, according to IOC director general Francois Carrrard.
“She said, `This did not influence my vote. I voted independently,”‘ Carrard said.
The ISU Council indefinitely suspended Le Gougne, an international judge for 14 years who had judged at the 1998 Olympics and three world championships.
`Too fast’
“I think this was too fast,” said Valentin Piseev, president of the Russian Figure Skating Federation, through an interpreter. “I think this was the quietest way for them to do this. They were not studying thoroughly all the possibilities. I think this could be a dangerous way.”
Piseev was referring to the possibility of setting a precedent by allowing a change in the results of a subjectively judged event.
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“This is not the first time the IOC has taken a similar decision,” Rogge said. “It has happened in the past. We hope it’s not going to happen in the future. But we took a decision that was one of justice and fairness for the athletes.”
This was the eighth time Olympic medals have changed hands, but the first involving a judge’s misconduct. The only other time two gold medals have been awarded in such an instance was October 1993, when Canadian synchronized swimmer Sylvie Frechette joined Kristen Babb-Sprague of the U.S. as champion because a judge made an error entering Frechette’s mark into a computerized scoring system.
Sale answered, “You bet,” when asked after Friday’s decision if she felt cheated of the gold-medal moment that she had hoped would take place before a roaring sellout crowd Monday night in the Salt Lake Ice Center. “I was cheated out of that, big-time,” she said.
Another medal ceremony at the Ice Center has been proposed for Thursday night, when the women’s free skate final takes place.
“We are now trying to turn a negative into a positive,” Cinquanta said.
Sikharulidze said he would warmly congratulate Sale and Pelletier at that ceremony but reacted with sarcasm to the awarding of a second gold medal. The Russian has endured a week in which, he said, “they made a scandal which was bad for us. It made my life and time here very tough.
“I’m happy and proud with my performance. I don’t care what they [officials] do now. I think they’re going to give another gold medal for the Chinese pair and the Ukraine pair. There will be a lot of gold medals going around.”
Officials of the Canadian Olympic Association and Skate Canada began to protest the pairs judging Tuesday morning. With support from most North American media, the Canadian officials turned getting a gold medal for their team into a crusade.
That Canadian Olympic team leader Sally Rehorick thanked the media for their help offended ISU council member Didier Gailhaguet, president of the French Ice Sports Federation. “This surprises me,” Gailhaguet told the French sports daily L’Equipe, adding that there is much more to be revealed in this affair. Some of it may involve the French federation.
“There is a [statement of] fact that pressure was coming from the French federation, as previously alleged,” Cinquanta said.
Le Gougne made that allegation during the event review meeting that follows each major figure skating competition, an admission that triggered the process leading to the award of the second gold medal. According to sources, she said: “You don’t understand the pressure I’m under from my federation. It came from my federation president.”
Gailhaguet said Thursday that Le Gougne had apologized to him for saying that, contending she did it only after aggressive questioning of her decision to vote for the Russians. The Chinese, Ukrainian, Polish and Russian judges also chose the Russians after a free skate decided by the presentation mark, which can boil down to preferring one style over another.