If figure skating isn't fair, get rid of it

STEVE WILSTEIN, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Originally published Wednesday, February 13, 2002

SALT LAKE CITY -- If athletes can get thrown out of the Olympics for doping, judges should be kicked out for dopey decisions.

And if it's worse than that, if judges are rigging medals while their federation winks and turns away, it's time to give those sports the boot -- even one as prestigious as figure skating.

The most suspicious decision so far at these Winter Games -- and there are 12 days left, so stay tuned -- came in pairs figure skating when Russians Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze stumbled and wobbled to gold over flawless Canadians Jamie Sale and David Pelletier.

Figure skating, like boxing, ballroom dancing and dog shows, has a long, mucky history of bum decisions and sore losers. Politics, pettiness and backroom deals have permeated the prissy world of skating so much that rumor-mongering has become a sport within the sport.

In the Cold War era, a quick glance at the judges' nationalities gave a good idea of who would win. The fix was in before the music started.

Those days were supposed to be long gone. Turns out, they may still be around. Judges from Russia, China, France, Poland and Ukraine voted for the Russians Monday night, while those from the United States, Canada, Germany and Japan gave the nod to the Canadians.

"It's still a countries thing," says Frank Carroll, whose 38-year coaching career has given him a view of what goes on behind the scenes. It isn't pretty.

Carroll, normally circumspect, boldly raised the question about whether the French judge, Marie Reine Le Gougne, voted for the Russians in a deal to avenge a loss by the French dance team to the Canadians at the Grand Prix in Canada in December.

"Does that mean now the Russian judge possibly is going to give the French dance team first?" Carroll asked. "Is it locked in that the French will get first from the Russian judge?"

Carroll speculated that the Chinese judge might have voted for the Russian pair to ensure that a Russian judge would boost the score for China in the men's competition. Or that one of the judges on the panel might be trying to get on the International Skating Union's technical committee, and was trying to secure support by voting for the Russians.

"This is the worst thing that's happened in a long time in figure skating," Carroll said. "People say figure skating shouldn't be in the Olympic Games because it's a play sport, it's not a real sport (and) -- you can almost see where they're coming from ... when you watch that on TV."

Any event that requires judges to decide winners based on subjective factors is going to have its share of controversy. Jonny Moseley wowed the crowd but not the judges with his innovative Dinner Roll jump in the moguls Tuesday, and all he got for his effort was a fourth-place finish.

The stink at the skating rink smelled differently. Especially when one of the judges who tipped the balance toward the Russian pair, China's Yang Jiasheng, suddenly withdrew from the men's competition Tuesday "due to illness."

That was moments after the ISU, which oversees figure skating, announced it was conducting an "internal assessment" of the judging, following a demand from Canada for an investigation.

"I believe our sport's credibility is being challenged here," said Sally Rehorick, head of the Canadian Olympic team, who has also been a skating judge for 25 years.

Some might argue that the Russians deserved to win, that their program was fresher, a tad more difficult.

Sikharulidze made the case for that line of thinking, adding that the couple's training sessions were clean and his biggest mistake in the final was a "minor flaw."

Sorry, but a stumble is still a stumble, and skating routines are supposed to be judged by what goes on with everyone watching, not in training and not behind closed doors.

If the judges don't get that, throw them out. If the sport doesn't get it, toss that out, too.

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