Report: French Official Admits Pressure on Judge

Feb. 14, 2002 -- 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."

The Canadian Olympic Association has formally appealed the judging, and suggested that perhaps a second gold medal should be awarded to the Canadian pair, Jamie Sale and David Pelletier, if it is determined that there was wrongdoing in the decision to give the gold to the Russians, Yelena Berezhnaya and Andon Sikharulidze.

"We don't want to tarnish the Russian pair," COA President Michael Chambers said. "We don't want to pull anyone down to lift another up. If it turns out that the judges' decision was tarnished, if one or more acted inappropriately, I don't see why the [ISU] council cannot award a second gold medal."

A proposal has already been made by high-ranking skating officials to withdraw the French judge's scores and replace them with the scores awarded by the alternate judge, which would have given the Canadians the gold, according to ESPN/ABCNEWS figure skating reporter Christine Brennan, who cited officials and judges.

Cinquanta rejected the idea of using the scores of the alternate judge, Jarmila Portova of the Czech Republic, when the idea was presented to him on Tuesday, the sources told Brennan, who first reported the news in USAToday, where she is a sports columnist.

Cinquanta said during a tendentious news conference Wednesday in Salt Lake City that nothing has been proven about whether there was any wrongdoing.

"At the moment I have an allegation and I have a denial," he said.

‘Referee Made Certain Allegations’

After more than an hour of angry and aggressive questioning at the news conference, Cinquanta confirmed what ABCNEWS/ESPN.com first reported earlier this week: that one of the judges had told the ISU of being pressured to vote for the Russians over the Canadians.

Cinquanta let the information slip after steadfastly concealing the identity of both the accuser and the accused.

After referring to the referee as the person who made the allegation during a response in French that was translated for English-speaking members of the media, Cinquanta was asked in English if the translation was accurate.

"The referee had made certain allegations, yes," Cinquanta said.

There were also other allegations, he said, "but the most important is the one of the referee."

Sources within the ISU had told Brennan that a collaboration between the French and Russian judges helped spark the controversial decision.

Cinquanta's responses grew increasingly heated as he was asked again and again about who had been accused, but he refused to say.

"I am not a judge of the judges, I am the council president of the ISU," he said. "I have to report to the ISU, not to you."

‘Magnificent’ Skaters, Flawed Performance

The controversy arose after two-time world champions Berezhnaya and Sikharulidze won the gold medal on Monday, when many observers felt that Sale and Pelletier turned in a far stronger performance. Sikharulidze lost his balance on one jump and wobbled on another, while the Canadians were technically flawless.

The Russians, however, won the competition with their scores for presentation — the more subjective aspect of the judging — not for technical merit.

"I love the Russian team — they are absolutely exquisite. I can see why some judges maybe went for them. The Russian skaters are absolutely magnificent out there on the ice," American gold medal-winning figure skater Peggy Fleming said today on ABCNEWS' Good Morning America. "They skate faster, they make everything look bigger than Jamie and David. Their jumps, their throws, just their glide to the edge is much more powerful and bigger — but they were off the other night."

Brennan, one of the world's leading authorities on figure skating, said sources within the ISU told her that Le Gougne told ISU members she was forced to vote for the Russians by her nation's skating union.

It was allegedly part of a deal that would trade a vote for the French ice dancing team of Marina Anissina and Gwendal Peizerat, who will compete later in the Olympics, for a vote for Berezhnaya and Sikharulidze.

Vowing Tough Action

Cinquanta said, however, that the allegations made by the referee, who is responsible for meeting with the nine judges after the competition and discussing how they decided to score each performer the way they did, were denied by the "judge-slash-judges" accused of wrongdoing.

The issue will be discussed when the 11-member ISU council meets in Salt Lake City on Feb. 18, but Cinquanta repeatedly refused to speculate on what action might be taken, if it is determined that the judging was conducted improperly.

"The ISU has demonstrated in the past that it can be very very tough," he said. "When we find something wrong, we have shown that we can be very tough. If we find something wrong, you can be sure that we will be very tough."

When pressed for possible actions the ISU might take if the allegations were proved, Cinquanta bristled.

"It is almost impossible to respond to this question because it is hypothetical and therefore hasn't happened," he said. "If it happens, then we will deal with it."

‘We Have Best People in the World’

Cinquanta did not directly address the issue of the pairs competition judging in his prepared statement, and frequently responded sarcastically or angrily as the primarily North American journalists returned again and again to similar questions. He would not say what evidence had been presented to support or deny the allegations, would not speculate on what might happen as a result of the meeting, and scoffed at the idea that the credibility of the sport or the ISU was threatened.

"I would like to have you pass a test on judging to see if you are really qualified. No, you would not pass," he said to one woman who questioned whether someone other than the ISU should look into the matter. "I do not allow madame to put so strong a condemnation on the ISU. We have the best people in all the world who know figure skating."

The meeting on Feb. 18 was scheduled before the controversy arose, the ISU president said, and one issue already on the agenda was a proposal to revise the judging procedures to eliminate some of the subjectivity that leaves the outcome of competitions open to debate.

But the element of subjectivity and controversy will never be completely eliminated, he acknowledged.

"We cannot give the public the right to judge a figure skating competition," he said.