Skating’s New Gold Standard

SALT LAKE CITY —  Bowing to public pressure and determined to curb a media-fueled frenzy consuming the Winter Olympics, the International Olympic Committee’s executive board voted Friday to give pairs figure skating gold medals to Jamie Sale and David Pelletier of Canada.

The decision was made following a recommendation by the International Skating Union, which indefinitely suspended French judge Marie Reine Le Gougne on Friday. She said moments after the competition that she had been pressured by the French figure skating federation to cast her vote a certain way but said she resisted and voted according to her conscience. She has since signed a statement for the ISU.

The move marks the first time the IOC has reversed a judgment call to award a gold medal, although it has occasionally overturned results based on doping violations and technical errors.

It may also be a harbinger of things to come for the IOC under the administration of recently installed President Jacques Rogge. He appears to work much faster than his predecessor, Juan Antonio Samaranch, but the dizzying pace of developments here this week also left a rash of questions unanswered. In addition, Friday’s action raised concerns about future appeals of judge’s decisions.

For instance, asked NBC commentator and former Olympian Scott Hamilton, could similar disputes arise involving competitors who simply can’t accept losing?

“It’s not so much a can of worms as it could open a can of sour grapes,” Hamilton said.

But Olympic and skating officials were determined to put the best possible face on their actions.

“The evidence is that she is responsible of misconduct that is more than circumstantial, and she acted in a way that was not adequate to guarantee both pairs equal condition,” ISU President Ottavio Cinquanta said during a news conference crowded with hundreds of reporters from around the world. “And I think this is enough . . . . This was an extraordinary deliberation of the ISU in the presence of an extraordinary situation.”

The IOC’s Rogge agreed, saying: “I don’t think this has created damage to the Olympic movement, because it was resolved fast, in the best possible way, taking into account the interests of the athletes and the interest of sport. I am happy for the resolution.”

Sale, 24, and Pelletier, 27, said they were surprised at the uproar that followed their runner-up finish. They said their emotions were mixed Friday, in part because the controversy threatened to overshadow the rest of the Games.

“We feel not guilty but a little bit sad because athletes from around the world aren’t getting the attention they deserve,” Pelletier said. “We’re happy justice was done.”

Leonid Tyagachev, president of the Russian Olympic Committee, said through an interpreter that his organization will accept the Canadian pair’s new status in the spirit of sportsmanship: “We don’t protest this decision of the IOC. But we don’t think it’s [a] very good decision.”

According to ISU rules, Le Gougne was obligated to immediately tell Cinquanta and the referee of the judging panel, Ronald Pfenning, of the attempt to sway her vote before the competition.

However, she said nothing until after she judged the event, in which she voted with the 5-4 majority in ranking Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze of Russia ahead of the Canadians. That gave the Russians the gold and consigned Sale and Pelletier to silver-medal status.

Pfenning, an American, believed the outcome was unjust and said so in the customary judges’ meeting after the event. He was stunned when Le Gougne said she had been under duress, and he relayed his concerns about Le Gougne’s actions to Cinquanta in a letter Tuesday.

Cinquanta initially said his organization--which governs figure skating, speed skating and synchronized skating--would not act until next week. But with the integrity of its judges under fire and the Canadian Olympic Assn. preparing to go before the Court of Arbitration for Sport to argue Sale and Pelletier should be elevated to co-gold medalists, the ISU met Friday morning and devised the duplicate-medal remedy.

“Filing the complaint was part of our strategy to put pressure on the ISU to move on this,” said Pierce Brunet, a lawyer for the Canadian Olympic Assn.

Cinquanta said the ISU will continue its investigation into the imbroglio and said he is working on a new set of judging standards to help strip the sport of the subjective judging that can stem from cultural bias.

Figure skating has dealt for many years with rumors of deal-making and collusion by judges, although it has rarely been proved.

“We have got enough evidence to take the first decision, that I’ve pronounced,” he said. “Now, please, give us some more time.”

Sale and Pelletier stressed throughout the ordeal that they were not pitted against their Russian counterparts.

“It doesn’t take anything away from Anton and Elena,” Pelletier said. “This was not something against them.”

Sale thanked Canadian sports authorities for their support and added, “I sure hope the inquiry keeps going and the truth comes out.”

Pending approval of the Salt Lake Organizing Committee, Cinquanta proposed awarding the new medals before the gold medalist in the women’s competition is crowned Thursday at the Salt Lake Ice Arena.

“I hope we can raise the flag. I’d like that for the entire Canadian delegation,” said Pelletier, who learned of the reversal Friday morning in a call from the couple’s attorney, Craig Fenech. “But I’m not controlling this, and I know they’re going to give it the best way for everybody, and I will take whatever.”

Sale said she thought the controversy robbed her of a long-imagined moment: performing perfectly, being rewarded with a gold medal and ascending the medal stand to hear “O Canada” play while the crowd roars.

“That’s all every Olympian dreams of,” she said emphatically. “It’s all I dreamed of my whole life, since I saw [fellow Canadian] Liz Manley win her silver medal [at the 1988 Calgary Games]. I visualized my flag being in the middle and hearing my anthem. I was prepared for it, emotionally and physically. You bet you’re cheated of that, big time.”

Sikharulidze said he did not feel cheated by the elevation of Sale and Pelletier.

“This is up to the ISU,” he said. “We feel we won the event. We deserve the gold medal. Maybe now, they deserve one too. We are just athletes. We don’t make these kind of decisions. We only skate. And we did our best.”

But other Russians wondered if the ISU and IOC had been pressured to act by the North American media’s unabashed support of Sale and Pelletier.

NBC helped start and sustain the controversy, with commentators Hamilton and Sandra Bezic declaring the Canadians’ romantic “Love Story” routine indisputably superior to the Russians’ elegant performance to “Meditation” from the opera “Thais.”

The decision to award another set of gold medals was welcomed by skating insiders.

“I think it’s solving half the problem,” said John Nicks, a two-time British Olympian and 10-time Olympic coach who coaches women’s singles competitor Sasha Cohen of Laguna Niguel. “I was very pleased to hear it . . . . But I think they solved the easy part of the problem. There hasn’t been enough disclosure to try and assess complete blame and culpability.”

He added he’s not afraid of a similar controversy in the women’s competition: “I’m very confident the sort of transparency that has been indicated by the media will mean everybody will be under a microscope.”

Frank Carroll, coach of men’s bronze medalist Tim Goebel, also applauded Friday’s decision. “I think it’s a very good thing. But I also think they should keep investigating.”

Said Hamilton: “This is a set of extraordinary circumstances. The French judge stepped forward and the IOC was able to act decisively . . . . I feel badly that the skaters were dragged into this whole mess. The ISU has got some serious issues to consider.”

Tyagachev, the head of the Russian Olympic Committee, said the decision has caused some to wonder about results of past contests.

“Many people thought Alexander Karelin won in Sydney [where he lost the Greco-Roman wrestling gold medal to American Rulon Gardner], but we did not protest this decision; we accepted it as part of sport. Some of my advisors have come to me this morning and asked that we ask for a review of the Karelin decision, but I say, ‘No, judging is part of sport and we accept the decision of the judges.’ ”

Friday’s events also gave U.S. Olympic Committee President Sandra Baldwin reason to hope the IOC will reconsider Roy Jones Jr.’s loss to a South Korean opponent in a gold medal boxing match at the 1988 Seoul Games. It was later revealed the judges had accepted money from boxing officials from the host country.

“Roy was an individual athlete, victimized by judgment that was flawed,” Baldwin said. “We now have a precedent that we didn’t have before.”

Regardless of that outcome, one thing is certain after Friday’s decision: ISU judges will face closer scrutiny than ever before.

“The case is solved for us,” Pelletier said. “The case is not solved for skating.”

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Times staff writer Randy Harvey contributed to this report.