In response to Canadian and American outcry, International Skating Union (ISU) President Ottavio Cinquanta announced in a press conference a day after the competition that the ISU would conduct an "internal assessment" into the judging decision at its next scheduled council meeting. The Canadians were awarded gold despite Salé falling on the triple toe loop in the short program and singling her double Axel in the long. Sikharulidze contrasted these events to the reactions to Salé/Pelletier's win at the 2001 World Championships, held in Canada. Some in the United States and many in Russia, however, felt that Berezhnaya/Sikharulidze had deserved their win, and that it should not be considered invalid by the alleged dishonesty of a single judge. NBC, in particular, continued to report on the story and support the Canadians' cause. The American press were also quick to support the Canadian pair. The Canadian press and public were outraged by the result. However, Le Gougne later submitted a signed statement in which she denied taking part in such a deal, and also said that she had truly believed the Russian pair deserved to win the gold.
It was alleged that this was part of a deal to get an advantage for the French team of Marina Anissina and Gwendal Peizerat in the ice dance competition that was to follow a few days later. She reportedly repeated this at the post-event judges' meeting the next day. Le Gougne was upset and allegedly said that she had been pressured by Didier Gailhaguet, the head of the French national skating federation, to vote for the Russian pair regardless of how the others performed. When Le Gougne returned to the officials' hotel, Sally Stapleford, chair of the International Skating Union's Technical Committee, confronted her. The French judge, Marie-Reine Le Gougne, quickly attracted suspicion. Judges from Russia, the People's Republic of China, Poland, Ukraine, and France had placed the Russians first judges from the United States, Canada, Germany, and Japan chose the Canadians. Īccording to ABC's Good Morning America and USA Today, suspicions were rapidly raised of cheating in the scoring. They expressed outrage when the judges' marks were announced. Judges and officials Judges and officials for the pairs event at the 2002 Winter Olympicsīreakdown of marks Berezhnaya & Sikharulidzeĭuring the live broadcast, both the American and Canadian television commentators ( NBC Sports' Tom Hammond, Scott Hamilton, and Sandra Bezic and CBC Sports' Chris Cuthbert, Paul Martini, and Barbara Underhill) proclaimed that Salé and Pelletier had won the gold as they finished their program, believing their performances to be superior to the Russians. Since they did not receive that many, the Canadians were ranked second, and Berezhnaya and Sikharulidze took the gold. Presentation was weighted in the total score more strongly than technical merit, so the Canadians had needed at least five 5.9s in presentation to overtake the Russians for first. However, the Canadians received only four 5.9s for presentation, versus the Russians' seven. īased on the 6.0 system of scoring in use, Salé and Pelletier received 5.9s and 5.8s for technical merit, while the Russians had received mostly 5.8s and 5.7s. They skated a flawless program, albeit one that some experts considered to be of lesser difficulty than that of the Russians.
WHO WON THE ICE SKATING GAME IN THE OLYMPICS FREE
Salé and Pelletier performed a free skate program to "Love Story" which they had used in previous seasons and that had been well received at the Grand Prix Final before the Olympics.
In the free skate, Berezhnaya and Sikharulidze made a minor, yet obvious, technical error when Sikharulidze stepped out of a double Axel. Because the fall was not related to a required element, however, it did not receive a deduction, but the pair were ranked second behind Berezhnaya/Sikharulidze. During the short program, Salé and Pelletier had tripped and fallen on their closing pose.
In the figure skating pairs competition, Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze of Russia won the short program with a higher score than Jamie Salé and David Pelletier of Canada.
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