Skating judge says results pre-determined Published 2/13/2002 9:51 PM
SALT LAKE CITY, Feb. 13 (UPI) -- Simon Ammann of Switzerland and Ole Einar Bjoerndalen of Norway both became double gold medal winners at the Winter Olympics Wednesday while the sport of figure skating, with its future as a major player in the world of athletics on the line, sunk deeper in controversy. At the midway point of the first week of the Games, the United States inched closer to its all-time medal record, Norway claimed two gold medals to run its total to five and Germany enjoyed a sweep of the women's luge. Much of the day's attention, however, was focused on what turned out to be a tense, standing-room-only, 75-minute news conference involving International Skating Union President Ottavio Cinquantana of Italy -- who did little to restore public confidence in his sport. Cinquantana admitted a figure skating judge had alleged to him that the results of Monday night's Olympic pairs competition was fixed. Although he would not name that judge, it was reported that American Ronald Phenning, who refereed that competition, sent a letter to Cinquantana saying he believed there were irregularities in the judging. NBC-TV reported Wednesday that Phenning wrote that letter because he heard French judge Marie Reine Le Gougne say during the regular post-competition judges' meeting Tuesday that she voted for the Russians in the pairs event because she had been pressured to do so by her national figure skating association. Despite what most skating experts felt was a weaker free program than the one produced by their Canadian rivals, the Russian pair of Enela Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharuildze won the gold medal Monday night. That has touched off a furor, which Cinquantana was unable to calm Wednesday. Cinquantana said at various times during the news conference that, "I do not have the power to change the results," and that changing the results would be, "very difficult." Finally, he said: "I would be a liar if I said it (changing the results} was impossible and I am not a liar. But there is no precedent." Figure skating has long lived with allegations that judges trade their votes, but such a scandal in the midst of its most high-profile event could have long-term implications. There are those within the Olympic movement, former IOC vice-president Richard Pound among them, who have called for ice dancing to be banned from the Games because of past scandals. Revenue from television networks could begin to dry up if those networks decided they did not want to be associated with a sport that has repeated controversies. There was no controversy, however, at the ski jumping and cross-country venues, where celebrations were in order for double gold medal performances. Ammann, who won gold on the 90-meter ski jumping hill Sunday, grabbed another one on the 120-meter hill Wednesday. "I am trembling. There are no words for this," Ammann said. And at the Soldier Hollow cross-country venue, Norway's Ole Einar Bjoerndalen won his second biathlon competition of the Olympics. He added a 10-kilometer triumph Wednesday to his victory in the 20-kilometer race two days earlier. It was Norway's fourth gold medal of the Olympics and was soon followed by its fifth, captured by veteran Kjetil Andre Aamoot in the alpine combined. Aamoot, who has won 16 Olympic or World Championship medals, took the lead after the downhill portion of the event and then held off hard-charging American Bode Miller. Miller was 15th after the downhill, but moved up to fifth after the first slalom run and almost caught Aamoot, whose margin of victory after all that skiing was just .28 of a second. Miller's medal was the 10th for the United States, one more than any other nation had won and just three shy of the American record for a Winter Olympics. The other gold awarded during the afternoon Wednesday went to Germany's Kati Wilhelm in the women's 7.5-kilometer biathlon and then as the sun fell behind the mountains, Sylke Otto, Barbara Niedernhumber and Silke Kraushaar won gold, silver and bronze for Germany in the luge. Those were the last three of six medals won by Germany Wednesday, allowing that country to double its medal total to 12. The final medal of the night was to be awrded in women's 1,500-meter short-track speed skating. With the ice dancing event scheduled to start next Friday, the spotlight will continue to fall on figure skating. The Toronto Globe and Mail reported that sources had told the newspaper the pairs competition was fixed as part of a deal involving the ice dancing event. The newspaper quoted sources as saying the ice dancing results have already been determined and that the Canadian pair of Victor Kraatz and Shae-Lynn Bourne were slotted to finish fifth. Sources quoted by the newspaper, but not named, said deals were made for Italians Barbara Fusar-Poli and Maurizio Margaglio to win the gold in ice dancing ahead of Russians Irina Lobacheva and Ilia Averbukh. The story further said that French skaters Marina Anissina and Gwendal Peizerat were set to win a bronze medal as part of the deal. Chinquanta said the ice dancing judges would not be changed for the Olympic competition. In the pairs competition, judges from France, Russia, China, Poland and Ukraine voted for the Russians while judges from the United States, Canada, Germany and Japan gave the Canadians their first-place votes. The results were controversial because it appeared to most skating experts that the Russian pair struggled throughout their free program while the Canadians skated a near-perfect routine. The ISU president said no official protest had been filed, but the head of the Canadian Olympic delegation, Michael Chanbers, sent a letter to the ISU Wednesday asking for an independent inquiry into the judging of the pairs event. "In order to do justice to the athletes who have competed in this event and those who will compete in the future, an independent inquiry with the authority to review judging is necessary," the letter said. "We are very disturbed by the results in the pairs free program competition. It was apparent for whatever reason, themarks of the judges did not reflect accurately the actual performances. The sport of figure skating is too important a part of the Olympic Games to be put at risk through unfair judging." 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