Report: French Official Admits Pressure on Judge
Feb. 14 -- The head of the French Olympic team reportedly said his nation's figure skating judge was pressured to "act in a certain way" when she gave scores to a Russian team that allowed them to take the gold medal over a Canadian duo who won the crowd's support.
"Some people close to the judge have acted badly and have put someone who is honest and upright, but emotionally fragile, under pressure," French Olympic team president Didier Gailhaguet told The Associated Press, referring to judge Marie-Reine Le Gougne. "She is a fragile person and I think she has been somewhat manipulated."
The revelation came after the referee who reviewed the judging of the controversial Olympic figure skating pairs competition told the International Skating Union that one of the judges told him that there had been pressure from the judge's national skating union to vote for the Russian pair.
The referee — American Ronald Pfenning — told ABCNEWS that the judge made the admission without any prompting or questioning about the scoring. He refused to identify the judge.
Though Gailhaguet said it was Le Gougne who made the allegation, he denied any wrongdoing on the part of the French skating federation, according to The Associated Press.
"Contrary to the accusations, there was no collusion with the Eastern Europeans," the Frenchman told the news agency.
The issue has raised once again questions about the place of figure skating, in which subjective judgments play as much a role in determining the winner as technical accomplishments, in the Olympics. The sport has a history of controversy over judges' decisions, particularly during the Cold War era when the romantic, dramatic style of the Soviet skaters dominated the sport.
A Second Gold Medal?
After International Skating Union President Ottavio Cinquanta vowed that if it was proven that there was any wrongdoing in the judging, the ISU would be "very, very tough," International Olympic Committee officials warned that the matter must be resolved quickly.
"The message is that it must be sorted out as soon as possible," IOC Director Deneral Francois Carrard said Wednesday evening. "It's our Games. We are concerned for the athletes. It is our concern that this be settled expeditiously."
Popular Reads
ABC News Live