2002 Olympic Winter Games figure skating scandal

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The Canadian and Russian flags rising together during the second medals ceremony.

At the 2002 Olympic Winter Games held in Salt Lake City, the figure skating competition was the source of much controversy and one of the immediate causes for the revamp of scoring in figure skating.

1 The scandal
- 1.1 Breakdown of marks
2 "The French Judge"
3 Immediate aftermath
4 Post-Olympics aftermath
5 References

[edit] The scandal

In the pairs competition, Yelena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze of Russia had won the short program over Jamie Salé and David Pelletier of Canada. In the free skating, Berezhnaya/Sikharulidze made a minor (but obvious) technical error when Sikharulidze stepped out of a double axel. Meanwhile, Salé/Pelletier skated a flawless program, albeit one that many experts considered to be of lesser difficulty than that of the Russians.

The Canadians were the clear crowd favorite; they left the ice to a round of stormy applause. Former Olympic medalists Scott Hamilton and Sandra Bezic, who called the competition for NBC along with Tom Hammond, were certain that the Canadians would win the gold. When Salé/Pelletier started a throw triple loop toward the end of their routine, Hamilton said, "The gold is theirs." At the end of the routine, Bezic – herself a Canadian – cried, "Simply perfect!" As the Canadians left the ice, Hammond said, "And the Russian domination, nearly four decades, perhaps ended again by Canadians."

CBC Television's announcer, former pair skater Paul Martini, was almost as certain that his countrymen had ended the long run of Russian dominance. At the end of Salé/Pelletier's routine, Martini exclaimed, "Gold dust all over it – one of the great skates in Olympic history!"^[1]

The Canadians received three 5.9s for technical merit, while the Russians received none. However, for presentation, the Canadians received four 5.9s to the Russians' seven. Presentation was weighted more heavily than technical merit at the time; the Canadians needed at least five 5.9s to overtake the Russians for first. There was obvious disagreement from the crowd; loud chants of "Six! Six! Six!" gave way to a chorus of boos when the presentation marks came out.

As it turned out, this margin held until the end, giving the gold medal to the Russians. Salé/Pelletier accepted their silver medal with grace but open disappointment. It was the 11th consecutive time (dating to 1960) that a pair from the Soviet Union, the Unified Team, or Russia had taken the gold in the pairs competition.

The NBC announcers were stunned when it was announced that the Russians had won. Hamilton, who had predicted "some giant, huge, high, enormous second marks" for Salé and Pelletier, asked, "How did that happen?" He added that only "a few judges" thought the Russians had won. Bezic yelled "No!" several times.^[2] Right before the medals ceremony, Bezic said, "My heart breaks, and I'm embarrassed for our sport right now."^[3] On CBC, Martini and his former skating partner, Barbara Underhill, both exclaimed, "Unbelievable!" when the presentation marks came out, and Underhill added, "This is wrong!"^[1]

The reaction in Canada was extremely hostile. Among the headlines in Canadian newspapers were "Skategate" (from the Toronto Sun), "Outrage!" (from the Edmonton Sun), "Scandal on Ice" (from the Winnipeg Free Press), and "Ice Storm" (from the Calgary Sun).^[4] The American press and public were quick to take up the cause of the Canadian pair. USA Today's Christine Brennan claimed that the decision ruined "one of the great performances in Olympic history" and felt that "there's no defending figure skating anymore." ^[5] In an editorial, the New York Times called the decision "a throwback to the days of the Cold War."^[6]

[edit] Breakdown of marks

Berezhnaya & Sikharulidze	RUS	CHN	USA	FRA	POL	CAN	UKR	GER	JPN
Technical merit	5.8	5.8	5.7	5.8	5.7	5.7	5.8	5.8	5.7
Presentation	5.9	5.9	5.9	5.9	5.9	5.8	5.9	5.8	5.9
Placement	1	1	2	1	1	2	1	2	2

Salé & Pelletier	RUS	CHN	USA	FRA	POL	CAN	UKR	GER	JPN
Technical merit	5.8	5.9	5.8	5.8	5.8	5 .9	5.8	5.9	5.8
Presentation	5.8	5.8	5.9	5.8	5.8	5.9	5.8	5.9	5.9
Placement	2	2	1	2	2	1	2	1	1

[edit] "The French Judge"

Judges from Russia, the People's Republic of China, Poland, Ukraine, and France had placed the Russians first; judges from the United States, Canada, Germany, and Japan chose the Canadians. However, suspicion fell almost immediately on the French judge, Marie-Reine Le Gougne. When Le Gougne returned to the officials' hotel, she was immediately confronted by Sally Stapleford, chair of the International Skating Union's Technical Committee. Le Gougne had an emotional breakdown in which she confessed that she had been pressured by the head of the French skating organization, Didier Gailhaguet, to vote for the Russian pair regardless of how the others performed.

She repeated this confession at the post-event judges' meeting the next day. It was alleged that this was part of a deal to get an advantage for French couple Marina Anissina and Gwendal Peizerat in the ice dance competition that was to follow a few days later. However, in a signed statement, Le Gougne denied taking part in such a deal and also stated that she had truly believed the Russian pair deserved to win.

[edit] Immediate aftermath

In response to what had become an international outcry, ISU President Ottavio Cinquanta announced in a press conference a day after the competition that the ISU would conduct an "internal assessment" into the judging decision at its next scheduled council meeting. After many hostile questions from the press, Cinquanta also admitted that the event referee, Ron Pfenning, had filed an official complaint about the judging.^[7] Later on February 13, International Olympic Committee Director General François Carrard held a press conference in which he publicly urged the ISU to resolve the matter as quickly as possible.^[8]

On February 15, Cinquanta and IOC President Jacques Rogge, in a joint press conference, announced that Salé and Pelletier's silver medal would be upgraded to a gold. Berezhnaya and Sikharulidze were allowed to keep their gold medal as well, since there was no proof of impropriety on their part. Both pairs' point totals were thrown out. Le Gougne was suspended effective immediately for "misconduct."^[9]

[edit] Post-Olympics aftermath

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On April 30, 2002, Le Gougne and Gailhaguet were suspended by the ISU for three years and barred from the 2006 Winter Olympics for their roles in the scandal. ^[10] The ISU never made any serious investigation of the alleged Russian involvement in the incident.

On July 31, 2002, Russian organized crime boss Alimzhan Tokhtakhounov was arrested by Italian authorities in Venice on U.S. charges that he masterminded the fix. ^[11] Attempts to have him extradited to the U.S. in 2002-2003 failed. ^[12] As of February 2006, the case was still pending.

In addition to disciplining Le Gougne and Gailhaguet, in 2002 the ISU adopted a policy of "secret judging", in which judges' marks are posted anonymously, as part of the new ISU Judging System for figure skating. While the ISU has claimed this secrecy frees judges from pressure from their federations, critics have pointed out that instead of preventing judges from cheating, secrecy only prevents the public and media from being able to identify cheating.

In March 2003, a group of skating officials who were unhappy with the ISU's leadership and handling of the crisis in the sport announced the formation of the World Skating Federation, in an attempt to take control of competitive figure skating away from the ISU. This attempt to set up a new federation failed, and several of the persons involved with its formation were subsequently banished from the sport by the ISU and/or their national federations. These officials included Ron Pfenning, the referee of the pairs competition at the Salt Lake City Olympics, Sally Stapleford, Jon Jackson, and other witnesses to Le Gougne's outburst.