35 replies to this topic

[Alexandra]

There will be a press conference at 1:00 p.m.  CNN just reported that the Canadians will be awarded a gold medal.  The Russians will not lose their gold. CNN's take is that the Olympic Committee just wanted this over.

[dirac]

The second medal is awarded.  Latest from the Associated Press:


http://seattlepi.nws.....ntroversy FIG

[ February 15, 2002: Message edited by: dirac ]

[Natalia]

And this from CNN:

CNN) -- The International Olympic
                                              Committee reversed a judges' panel
                                              decision Friday afternoon and awarded
                                              a gold medal to the Canadian
                                              figure-skating pair who initially won
                                              the silver in a hotly contested
                                              performance ruling Monday night.

                                              The Russian skaters who had won the
                                              gold in that free-style pairs competition
                                              will still keep their gold medal.

                                              The International Skating Union suspended
                                              French f igure skating judge, Marie-Reine
                                              Le Gougne, saying the body had evidence
                                              of misconduct, said Ottavio Cinquanta,
                                              president of the ISU, at a news conference
                                              Friday.

                                              The decision comes less than 24 hours
                                              after Canadian Olympic officials asked the
                 Court of Arbitration for Sport to award the gold medal to Canada's team.

[Colleen]

Unbelievable that there is a tie for gold. They really need to fix this system. I remember how difficult it was to get Sylvie Frechette, a Canadain synchro swimmer, her gold that was unfairly denied her after a judge mistakenly entered her mark (1992 Olympics maybe). The judge entered 8.9 instead of 9.8 and did not notice until the marks were posted on the screen. He then immediately notified the referee that it was a mistake (all of the other judges had marks in the range of 9.7-9.9) but the result was deemed final. In this case there was no question at all of which performance had won. Sylvie didn't get her gold for years after. But there was no international outcry, just Canadian displeasure. Funny how quickly things can happen with public pressure.

[dirac]

Perhaps the Olympic committee should investigate the possibilities in setting up a whining competition for unhappy losers.   smile.gif

[OttawaMom]

Wow!  I was just logging on to send this article from Dave Barry, the Miami Herald humorist and saw this scoop - what excellent news for S&P to get the gold!  There have been a lot of views expressed on this and I am sure the debate will continue.  Personally, I am no expert, just an armchair critic who thought their skate was beautiful and I have thought they have been handling it all with a lot of class and dignity.  On the lighter side of this controversial subject, read this for a good laugh:

http://www.miami.com...rry/2674512.htm

[Giannina]

How about the people who pressured the French judge?  I find them more at fault than she is.

Giannina

[sylvia]

I've just heard myself - a very WOW moment! So S&P and B&S will be co-Olympic champions. I'm happy for Sale and Pelletier - I truely think they deserve it. And I really hope this is a step in removing the shadow over Bereznaya and Sikharulidze - it would be a crime if they were remembered for this controversy rather than the champion skaters that they are. As for the judging, it doesn't solve a thing but to quote Sue Davies (BBC commentator) the one good thing to come out of all of this is that the judging well be more scrutinised than ever before.

[ February 15, 2002: Message edited by: sylvia ]

[Alexandra]

Tonya Harding must be weeping.  All that wasted effort kneecapping her opponent when it could all be settled through protests. Lose, scream, win. I thought the Russians have handled it very gracefully -- I haven't seen them.  (Now, I haven't been glued to the tube, either, and so may well have missed them.)  I haven't seen grace in the Canadian pairs' behavior, nor sportsmanship.  But I'll be glad not to have to see them again.

IMO, the synchronized swimming error was one thing; a typo.  This is quite different.  A judge's marks stand.  Afterwards, you can fire the judge, throw the judge in jail, fine the judge a lifetime's wages IF they're found to be corrupt.  The issue of whether one judge was pressured obscured the reasoning behind the votes of the other four. I think this will have a long-term negative effect, because the judging is so subjective. We've just brought the "yeah, well I landed four quads" "Yeah, but we are the true artistes" front and center, and it will be endless. There will be jokes about marks, judges will be afraid to give high marks for skaters from their own countries, etc. or second-guessing themselves and each other. I also agree with Giannina -- if there was pressure, then everyone involved should be booted off. But this isn't about truth, or getting to the bottom of anything. It's about solving a bad situation quickly so the games can continue and we can forget that all of this happened and make lots of money.

[Melissa]

I'm very happy for S&P having finally been awarded the gold medal they earned on Monday night. Now it's time for the ISU to clean house. Will they or won't they?

[sylvia]

[quote]Originally posted by alexandra:
I thought the Russians have handled it very gracefully -- I haven't seen them.  (Now, I haven't been glued to the tube, either, and so may well have missed them.)  I haven't seen grace in the Canadian pairs' behavior, nor sportsmanship.  But I'll be glad not to have to see them again.

---

I've seen the B&S on CNN and they said they were very upset for the first couple days (the misery this controversy has wrought over not one but 2 pairs makes me so angry). But they're quite adamant that they had the more difficult and artistic program and felt they deserved to win. As for S&P, I've read they're going to be on the cover of TIME magazine so I guess we have another month or two of this to swallow.

[dirac]

I saw the Russians briefly last night -- I don't know if they've shown up frequently, haven't been watching the news too much.  They looked and sounded stunned and beleaguered, as you might expect.  As I said on another thread, I'm sorry for them.

[Natalia]

Maybe it's time to revive that old professional competition "SKATE WARS - North America vs The World"! I can see a nice lucrative meet for the autumn's TV sweeps week - Berezhnaia/Sikharulidze vs Sale/Pelletier as The Main Event. NBC can charge $1,000,000 per 30-second advertisement spot.   biggrin.gif

"War & Peace on Ice: The Docudrama" will also be produced, undoubtedly.

[leibling]

If only ballet, or dance and the arts in general, got this much attention in the media!!!!  biggrin.gif

[Alexandra]

Oh, leibling, amen to that.  I think of that so often when watching local TV news.  We have one station here that does THREE HOURS of local news.  They cover the laundry better than they do the arts.  (There's a "lively arts" critic who covers TV and movies.  Wow.  When he does stick a stubby little toe into ballet, he's embarrassing, a real "I'm a real guy and drink beer and everything so I don't get this icky stuff" type.

Just think of turning on the evening news and getting two minutes of ballet, opera, dance, theater news.  Not just the competitions, or who got a grant, or new works.  I'm greedy.  How about "Vishneva was ravishing in "Rubies" last night, while Korsakov, subtituting for an injured colleague, once again nailed the "Emeralds" pas de trois."

Do you think if we picketed, it would help?