At the 2002 Olympic Winter Games, Figure Skating was the source of much controversy and one of the immediate causes for the revamp of scoring in figure skating.

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 their final programs, Berezhnaya/Sikharulidze stumbled during their double axel, while Salé/Pelletier skated a flawless program, albeit one that many experts considered to be of lesser difficulty than that of the Russians. Despite the Canadians being the crowd favorite, the results were a 5-4 split in favor of the Russians. 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. There was obvious disagreement from the crowd and Salé/Pelletier accepted their silver medal with open disappointment. The North American media was quick to take the side of the attractive and personable Canadian pair, and played up the controversy until it threatened to overwhelm the entire Games.

The French judge, Marie Reine le Gougne, when confronted after the event by Sally Stapleford and other members of the ISU Technical Committee, 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. It was alleged that this was part of a deal to get an advantage for the French couple in the ice dance competition which was to follow a few days later, although in a signed statement Le Gougne denied taking part in such a deal.

The International Skating Union announced a day after the competition that it would conduct an "internal assessment" into the judging decision. On February 15 the ISU and International Olympic Committee, in a joint press conference, announced that it would award a second gold medal to Salé and Pelletier, and that Marie-Reine Le Gougne was guilty of "misconduct" and was suspended effective immediately. Berezhnaya and Sikharulidze were allowed to keep their gold medal as well.

Post-Olympics aftermath

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On April 30, 2002, Le Gougne and Gailhaguet were suspended by the ISU for 3 years and barred from the 2006 Winter Olympics for their roles in the scandal. ^* The ISU never made any serious investigation of the alleged Russian involvement in the incident.

In addition to disciplining Le Gougne and Gailhaguet, the ISU adopted a policy of "secret judging", in which judges' marks are posted anonymously. 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.

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. Attempts to have him extradited to the U.S. in 2002-2003 failed. [http://www.boston.com/sports/other_sports/olympics/articles/2005/08/30/ex_russian_sports_official_said_killed As of February 2006, the case was still pending.

In March, 2003, a group of skating officials who were unhappy with the International Skating Union'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, and other witnesses to Le Gougne's outburst.

References

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• Goodwin, Joy. The Second Mark. ISBN 0-7432-4527-X.
• Jackson, Jon and Pereira, James R. On Edge : Backroom Dealing, Cocktail Scheming, Triple Axels, and How Top Skaters Get Screwed. ISBN 1560258047.

2002 Winter Olympics | 2002 Winter Olympics events | Figure skating at the Olympics | Sports scandals