#11
Moskovsky Komsomolets
February 14, 2002
Grabbing the Gold
Will the Russian pairs skating champions be stripped of their medals?
By Irina Stepantseva
(therussianissues.com)

It looks as if North America, as it were, has returned to the Cold War years with an inevitable witch-hunt. This time, the horrible creatures that deserve be burned at the stake are Russian figure skaters, the Olympic Pairs Figure Skating champions Yelena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze. The public is indignant that they have won by such a small margin: a single vote decided their fate.

According to "eyewitnesses," the Canadian pair skated an impeccable free program. Under pressure from "public opinion," the International Skating Union has promised to hold an inquiry into the controversy to see whether there were any mistakes in the judging. In other words, a scandal can hardly be avoided.

Local sports officials with grudges against the Russian delegation have got even more confirmation of backstage intrigue. The French judge has made a statement that the president of the French Figure Skating Federation forced her to give high marks to Berezhnaya and Sikharulidze.

Canadian Richard Pound, a member of the International Olympic Committee, said, "I was there and saw a gold medal performance, but they were actually awarded silver medals. It was a shock to them. They skated an impeccable program and the Russians did not. I saw it, we all saw it. Can the International Skating Union change the results? It is within their power to do what they think necessary."

Emotions are teeming. Rumors are buzzing around Salt Lake City that judges in other figure skating events have been bribed.

"We saw the marks, the award ceremony and the greeting of the champions. What else can we talk about?" the Russian pair's coach, Tamara Moskvina, replied to a foreign journalist who asked her to comment on the performance.

A news conference with the ISU President Ottavio Cinquanta is supposed to throw some light on the scandal. The sad question is whether the pressure from the Canadian-American public can deprive us of the only gold medal at the Olympic Games we have won so far…

Other Skating News

Russian figure skater Yevgeny Plyushchenko fell during his short program on a quadruple jump and is now in fourth place. He or his coach, Alexei Mishin, might explain what happened later. In the meantime, they are not available to journalists. Even the Olympic press service in charge of distributing athlete's personal commentaries after each performance got their firm: "no comment."

Another Russian, Alexei Yagudin, skated brilliantly. The stadium gave him a standing ovation. "It's just the beginning," Yagudin said. "I am glad that I managed to skate at such a high level. I didn't worry about Plyushchenko and was focused only on myself. Now, I have to relax and brace myself for another fight," he added.

But will there actually be a fight? There certainly will. Plyushchenko will do his best to return to the top three. It is theoretically possible if Plyushchenko wins the free program and Yagudin finishes third.

The confrontation between the two brilliant figure skaters has had a shocking start. However, don't count the chickens before they've hatched. Experience shows that short program results are not always final.

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