(no subject)
SALT LAKE CITY SCANDAL
The Salt Lake City Olympic pairs competition is probably the most important bit of figure skating history in the last 20 years, because it resulted in a complete overhaul of the judging system, and permanently changed competitive skating. So here is a mini history lesson on what happened...
The competition in SLC for gold was between 2 teams the Russians Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze (1998 silver medalists, 2 time world champions) and the Canadians Jamie Sale and David Pelletier (2001 world champions)
Some pre-olympic bits and pieces setting the scene:
Elena and Anton Olympic fluff
Click to viewJamie and David Olympic fluff
On to the actual performances:
Berezhnaya/Sikharulidze SP
Sale/Pelletier SP
Berezhnaya and Sikharulidze led after the short programme with a perfect performance, but Sale and Pelletier were not far off, meaning that everything rested on the free skate.
Even the warm up was hotly contested, with Sale crashing into the Russians - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=926UKxoOzl8 (sorry, won't embed)
Berezhnaya/Sikharulidze FS
Sale/Pelletier FS
The Russians were placed 1st by 5 out of 9 judges, and became the 11th consecutive pair from Russia to win Olympic gold.
Medal Ceremony
STOLEN FROM WIKIPEDIA LIKE YEAH~
"Public reaction to the competition results in North America was strongly influenced by the television coverage of the event. During the live broadcast, both the American and Canadian commentators covering the competition proclaimed that Salé and Pelletier would win as they finished their routine, and expressed outrage when the judges' marks were announced.
There was immediate suspicion of cheating. 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. 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 allegedly said 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 allegedly repeated this 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 later, 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.
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. Although at least one eye-witness to Le Gougne's outburst in the hotel lobby reported that she had specifically confessed to a deal with the Russians, Cinquanta claimed there was no evidence that the Russians were involved in the incident, and so the ISU never made any serious investigation of the alleged involvement.
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. He was released from Italian police custody without being charged, amidst attempts to have him extradited to the U.S. in 2002-2003.
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. And of course, the scandal led to the creation of the new COP system, which reduced the weight given to presentation and made the technical elements more quantifiable. It came into use in the 04/05 season.
An article which explains how it all went down in much greater detail, and another discussing the role of the media circus and NBC in particular.
TL;DR JUST WATCH THIS WHICH EXPLAINS IT ALL MUCH QUICKER
And finally, because _skating should run the ISU...
Poll