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FIGURE SKATING
Salt Lake Ice
Center
301 West South Temple, Salt
Lake City
Go Figure - washingtonpost.com graphic
The Salt Lake Ice Center in downtown Salt Lake City will host the figure skating and short track events at the 2002 Olympics. The venue, which was built in 1991, features a six-story indoor facility for sports and entertainment and is home to the Utah Jazz of the National Basketball Association. The Salt Lake Ice Center can accommodate more than 15,000 spectators for figure skating. The base elevation of the Salt Lake Ice Center is 1,305 meters (4,281 feet).
All was
tranquil on the Olympic horizon until the third day of competition,
when a judging controversy erupted in the figure skating pairs
competition. The Russian pair of Elena Berezhnaya and Anton
Sikharulidze received the gold medal on February 11. Four days of
around-the-clock negotiations and pressure politics later, the
International Olympic Committee awarded a second pair of gold medals
to Canadians Jamie Sale and David Pelletier. Conversely, the sport
cast a lovely image on millions of television screens on Day 14 as
Sarah Hughes of the United States landed two triple-triple
combinations to overtake Irina Slutskaya of Russia (silver) and
Michelle Kwan of the U.S. (bronze) for the gold medal. In the
meantime, Russia’s Alexei Yagudin swamped the field for the men’s gold
medal, and Marina Anissina and Gwendal Peizerat of France won ice
dancing gold.
MEN (FEB 14)
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Alexei Yagudin (RUS) |
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Evgeni Plushenko (RUS) |
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Timothy Goebel (USA) |
WOMEN (FEB 21)
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Sarah Hughes (USA) |
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Irina Slutskaya (RUS) |
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Michelle Kwan (USA) |
MIXED
PAIRS |
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Anton Sikharulidze & Elena Berezhnaya (RUS) |
David Pelletier & Jamie Sale (CAN) |
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(David Pelletier/Jamie Sale were originally awarded the silver medal on Feb 11th) |
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Hongbo Zhao & Xue Shen (CHN) |
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ICE-DANCING |
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Gwendal Peizerat & Marina Anissina (FRA) |
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Ilia Averbukh & Irina Lobacheva (RUS) |
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Maurizio Margaglio & Barbara Fusar Poli (ITA) |
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MEDAL TALLY |
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Total |
Russia |
2 |
3 |
0 |
5 |
United States |
1 |
0 |
2 |
3 |
France |
1 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
Canada |
1 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
China |
0 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
Italy |
0 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
Total |
5 |
3 |
4 |
12 |
GOLDEN JUSTICE: IOC awards gold to Canadian pair
SALT LAKE CITY, Feb. 15 - (MSNBC) The Canadian figure skating pair got their gold Friday, a victory denied them on the ice by a judge who was suspended in the biggest judging scandal in Winter Olympics history.
THE INTERNATIONAL SKATING UNION indefinitely suspended Marie-Reine Le Gougne, the French judge who says she was pressured by her own federation to give the Russian pair the gold medal.
“She acted in a way that was not adequate to guarantee both pairs equal condition,” ISU president Ottavio Cinquanta said. “We have declared misconduct. “The investigation is not concluded, but we have got enough evidence to take the first decision.”
The highly unusual move by the International Olympic Committee gives the gold to Jamie Sale and David Pelletier. But it also allows Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze to keep their medal, narrowly won during Monday night’s free skate program.
The French judge told the ISU she had been “submitted to a certain pressure” from her federation, and she has signed a statement about how she reached her vote, Cinquanta said. There was no evidence of Russian involvement, he added, without giving further details about Le Gougne’s motivation.
“This pressure resulted in putting this judge in a condition not to give the gold medal” to the Canadians, Cinquanta said. Cinquanta said he hoped to present Sale and Pelletier with the gold medal - they get one each - on Thursday before the start of the women’s long program.
“Justice was made,” Pelletier said. “It’s a good feeling.”
Sale said she hopes the investigation goes even further.
“For the future of our sport this has to be fixed,” she said.
“The truth still has to come out.”
She said she felt cheated out of her greatest Olympic moment when she and Pelletier weren’t able to stand on the top step of the medals podium Monday night. “That’s what every Olympian dreams of, and that’s all I’ve dreamt of my whole life,” she said. “I visualized being in the middle and hearing my anthem. I was prepared for it, emotionally and physically. You bet I was cheated out of that big time.”
The controversy began when Berezhnaya and Sikharulidze were awarded a 5-4 decision over the Canadians at the free skate, surprising many observers. Sale and Pelletier skated flawlessly while the Russians made a few technical errors. The victory allowed the Russians to extend their streak of winning gold in the pairs in every Olympics since 1964.
Russian Deputy Prime Minister Valentina Matviyenko said he was upset the scandal that has taken the luster off her country’s victory. The Canadians, meanwhile, were “heartened and encouraged” that the investigation is not over, Marilyn Chidlow, president of Skate Canada, said. Responding to a recommendation from the ISU, the IOC’s executive board voted 7-1 on Friday morning, with one abstention, to give the Canadians the gold.
“We took a position that is one of justice and fairness for the athletes,” new IOC president Jacques Rogge said.
Russian member Vitaly Smirnov abstained from the vote, while He Zhenliang of China voted against the recommendation, according to an Olympic source who spoke on condition of anonymity. The head of the Russian Figure Skating Federation criticized the IOC’s move.
“This is an unprecedented decision that turned out to be a result of pressure by the North American press, and turned out in favor of the fanatically loyal” fans, Valentin Piseyev told Russia’s NTV television. “You have seen how the public reacts to even the tiniest mistakes of our athletes, and how they absolutely don’t notice when the Canadians fall or when the Americans fall.”
Cinquanta acknowledged that “public opinion helped a great deal” in influencing the ISU’s action. “That’s a good thing,” he added.
The IOC decision was not unprecedented. In 1993, the committee awarded a second gold medal in synchronized swimming from the Barcelona Games to Canada’s Sylvie Frechette.
“We hope it doesn’t happen again,” said Rogge, who is at his first Olympics after replacing IOC president Juan Antonio Samaranch last July. The move came just hours before the case was to be heard by an international arbitration panel for sport. That hearing was canceled.
Since Monday, there have been reports that Le Gougne was pressured to cast her vote for the Russians. On Wednesday night, Didier Gailhaguet, the head of the French Olympic team, told The Associated Press that Le Gougne had been “under pressure, which pushed her to act in a certain way” when she voted. But he maintained the pressure did not come from his federation, which refused further comment on Friday.
The ISU had planned to review the scoring at a meeting next week, but the deal allowed the matter to be settled in the swift manner the IOC had urged. Canadian officials said all along they didn’t want the Russians stripped of the gold medal, but they believed Sale and Pelletier also should be rewarded if evidence of wrongdoing was uncovered. When the decision was announced a cheer went up at the Canadian Olympic Lodge that serves as a hospitality house in downtown Salt Lake City. Fans soon gathered to sing the national anthem. “Welcome to Canada and welcome to our gold!” volunteer Tom McAfee yelled to visitors as they entered.
In 1993, the IOC’s executive board agreed that Frechette was placed second because of a judging error and should be awarded a gold. The decision came after the Canadian swimming federation protested because a Brazilian judge was not allowed to correct the 8.7 score she mistyped into her computer. The intended 9.7 would have given Frechette the gold. The IOC’s decision did not affect Kristen Babb-Sprague of the United States, who was originally awarded the gold and kept her medal.
HUGHES WINS GOLD IN STUNNING UPSET
SALT LAKE CITY, Feb. 22 - (AP) Another American teen-ager is wearing the Olympic gold medal that was supposed to belong to Michelle Kwan.
Sound familiar?
Sarah Hughes, with the performance of her young life, soared from fourth place to win the free skate and the title Thursday night in one of the biggest upsets in Olympic figure skating history.
While Hughes played the same role as Tara Lipinski four years ago, Kwan made two major mistakes to fall to third, behind Russian Irina Slutskaya, who won the silver medal.
"I skated for pure enjoyment," the 16-year-old Hughes said. "That's how I wanted my Olympic moment to be."
It was a moment that stunned nearly everyone -- including Hughes, who was sitting in the dressing room when Kwan and Slutskaya fell out of the top spots with ordinary programs.
"I think a lot of people counted me out and didn't think I could do it," Hughes said. "I didn't even think it would be possible, so just to be sitting here with this medal around my neck, I didn't think it could happen."
When the final marks were announced, her coach, Robin Wagner, dragged Hughes off a bench onto the floor as both of them screamed and tears began flowing.
"We were both so shocked, because it wasn't even on the radar screen," Wagner said.
Hughes is a year older than Lipinski was at the Nagano Games. She also was a much longer shot to win because Lipinski owned a world title in 1998. Hughes' best was a bronze at last year's world championships.
And the 21-year-old Kwan is a far more accomplished skater now, with four world and six U.S. titles.
"I think I was a little more disappointed in Nagano, just because I skated much better," Kwan said. "Tonight it was one of those things. I don't know what didn't go my way."
Kwan lost again because a skater's final total is reached by adding "factored placements" for both the short and long programs. Until Slutskaya skated, Kwan's combined score would have been enough to beat Hughes. She was first in the short program (1 x 0.5) and (until Slutskaya skated) second in the long program (2 x 1.0) which gave her a Total Factor Point of 2.5 ahead of Hughes' 3.0 (4 x 0.5 + 1 x 1.0).
But Slutskaya's performance in the free skate earned her second and pushed Kwan into third for the bronze. Cohen slipped from third to fourth.
"I have experienced so much the last four years," Kwan said, "and I realized it doesn't matter the color of medal."
But then she showed off a plastic gold medal she was given by 1976 gold medalist Dorothy Hamill.
"I know it's not as heavy as this one," she said, comparing Hamill's gift to the real thing. Then looking at the elusive gold, she added, "This is the color of medal I would have liked."
That color belonged to Hughes, but it easily could have been Slutskaya's. She's now finished ahead of Kwan in seven of their last nine meetings, but she was too conservative as the final skater.
Slutskaya didn't bother with any triple-triple combinations that have become her trademark. She had a sloppy landing on a triple flip and her program lacked fire.
Still, she appeared stunned and angry she didn't win. The difference was a tiebreaker with the judge from Finland, who gave Hughes the edge in artistry.
She was more composed after the medals ceremony.
"I fight with my nerves and I skate good," Slutskaya said, "and I was so surprised after my free skating about my second marks. It's very interesting, every year I have good first marks and down second marks.
"But it is sport, but really a shame."
Hughes showed none of the tension of her short program, rollicking through seven triple jumps, five in combination -- a more difficult routine than the ones by Kwan and Slutskaya. Wagner leapt as high as her student after Hughes nailed a huge triple toe loop-triple loop combo.
The smile on Hughes' face grew along with the crowd's din, and she nearly doubled over in joy when she finished a captivating program. Wagner, meanwhile, practically jumped over the sideboards to hug the youngster, who responded magnificently in the biggest moment of her life.
"It's a good thing I am not taller," Wagner said. "Otherwise, I would have had a problem."
Kwan's problems came early. She two-footed a triple toe loop in combination and fell on a triple flip.
As she awaited her marks, Kwan sat holding the hand of her father, Danny. Kwan split with longtime coach Frank Carroll last October, so he wasn't anywhere nearby.
It was eerily reminiscent of how she lost to Lipinski.
"It's a bummer, but it is competition," she said. "I just had to remind myself, 'It's OK. It's OK.'"
Nerves seemed to get to Hughes on Tuesday night in the short program. But once she hit the ice Thursday and landed her first combination, she was flying to heights few predicted when she finished third at nationals last month behind Kwan and Sasha Cohen.
Cohen was fourth here.
"I didn't want to skate for a gold medal," Hughes said. "I went out and had a great time. I said, 'This is the Olympics. I want to do the best.'"
And she is the best, a spot Kwan and Slutskaya had in their grasp.
Nor was it meant to be for Cohen, who was third after the short program. The precocious 17-year-old two-footed a triple lutz and fell on a triple toe. Her routine lacked footwork, as well, and she seemed to realize her medal chances were gone as soon as she left the ice.
Hughes is the seventh American, third in the last four Games -- and the most unexpected of all -- to skate off with Olympic gold.
