Media "Sport-Express Internet" founder of JSC "Sport-Express" editor-in-chief Maksimov M. A. Dirty "gold". How Canada “knocked out” an Olympic victory for itself
In the "Stars of the Winter Olympics" section - Salt Lake City 2002. It was there that an unprecedented incident in figure skating took place, when two pairs rose to the highest step of the podium at once - champions Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze, whom the judges unconditionally put in first place, and the Canadian duo, who scandalously filed an appeal and challenged the jury’s assessments.
Our girls had no equal in biathlon!
“This was my first victory, and it immediately ended up at the Olympic Games. And then I was simply stunned with happiness. I jumped there and was so happy, I definitely didn’t cry. I only cried at the press conference, because they handed me the phone, and my mother called from Krasnoyarsk,” recalls biathlete Olga Medvedtseva-Pyleva, two-time Olympic champion in 2002 and 2010.
“Anxiety - in any case, it should always be present. Who can fight it in any way. They don’t sleep many nights, they even suffer, no matter what happens. I went to my winning number, without giving up, of course, but with such a feeling - I wish this Olympics would end soon. Because the races that I was counting on, they didn’t work out for me. And here it’s just contact wrestling, and my health is already so bad, my legs are getting weak, and the sun is hot, the start was at lunchtime, It's hot outside, and the snow is knee-deep, the snow is so damp in general, my skis are getting stuck. I already went out - just to get there, realizing that I don't have much strength, and I need to avoid going into penalty loops. I just worked for shooting,” says the athlete.
"Coaches always teach that you don’t need to set yourself up in advance. You need to set yourself up for work. You know how to train, you know how to run, you know how to shoot - and do what you can. You don’t need to hang a medal around your neck in advance. And the desire to win - it’s sometimes like times it interferes psychologically. And when you don’t expect it, only then does it work out,” Olga Medvedtseva-Pyleva is sure.
For Elena Berezhnaya, Olympic champion in figure skating in 2002, the Olympics in Salt Lake City began with trouble: “We arrived at the Olympic Games. I unsuccessfully went to the solarium, and there I burned. That is, it was impossible to touch me, not touch... God forbid we do some kind of joint element. I understood that I was letting the whole team down, these are the Olympic Games. In general, I was very ashamed, but one way or another, I endured."
“After the draw, Anton came, we got the third number, ahead of the entire locomotive that is possible. All our rivals were behind, this is more honorable, because it is much more prestigious to perform last, let’s say. And Anton also said - the worst is over, now everything will be fine And in fact, these words were very reassuring, they brought such confidence that in fact, it was much worse,” the figure skater recalls.
“The moment when the award ceremony had already happened, so many emotions were experienced that there was nothing much left there except sarcasm. The fact that we stood on the podium twice and our flag was raised twice and we sang the anthem twice - that’s cool " - the athlete talks about the story of the double award.
“I actually envy the guys because they will be performing in our country. This roar from the stands, when the country in which they are participating is sick, it’s a very strong feeling, like an earthquake,” says Elena Berezhnaya.
We open a new page of our album... 2002... How long ago it was, and at the same time - so recently...
The 2002 Olympic Games were held in the north of Utah (USA), near the Great Salt Lake - in Salt Lake City. This city was chosen as the capital of the “white” Olympics during the 104th IOC session in Budapest, and already during the first stage of voting. 2,399 athletes from 77 countries took part in the games. Norway became the leader in the team competition.
The 2002 Olympic Games were marred by numerous scandals. Some athletes were stripped of their medals for using illegal drugs. An event occurred in figure skating that had no precedent in the entire history of the Winter Olympic Games. I think all fans of this sport remember this well. The Canadian pair Sale/Peletier received their second gold medals. As a result, both the Russians Berezhnaya/Sikharulidze, who took first place, and the Canadians were awarded gold medals.
Well, now, in order.
Having skated their short program brilliantly, the Russian skaters took first place.
The situation on the ice escalated to the limit during the warm-up before the final performance of the strongest pairs. The figure skater from the Canadian duo collided with Anton Sikharulidze at high speed and fell. The ice palace of thousands gasped. Millions of TV viewers froze at their screens. “It’s amazing how she crashed into me!” recalls Anton. “At first I didn’t understand anything.” On the replay it was clear that Sikharulidze tried to avoid a collision, but only managed to push his partner out of danger, and he himself ended up in Sale’s path. Fortunately, there were only minor bruises.
Elena and Anton were the first to take to the ice after the collision.
After the announcement of the scores, all that was left was to wait for the performances of the main competitors.
The Russian team won its first gold thanks to Berezhnaya/Sikharulidze, who outlasted their opponents in a desperate struggle. The fate of first place was decided by one vote in favor of Russia. Everything is fair. However, the Canadians reported pressure on the arbitrators and challenged their decision. The world, which closely followed the course of events at the Olympics, froze in anticipation. No one really stood up for the Russian couple, and after a week of hesitation, Olympic officials decided to award the Canadians a second set of gold medals. This has never happened in the history of gaming. Having caught up with our pair, Sale/Peletier, in fact, “vacated” second place and silver, which remained vacant.
Alexey Yagudin became the Olympic champion in men's single skating.
Alexey's victory in Salt Lake City is the peak of his sports career, one of the most striking victories in the history of figure skating. The brilliantly executed short program “Winter” is still considered a benchmark in terms of choreography and creating an artistic image on ice.
The performance of the free program “The Man in the Iron Mask” brings Yagudin some kind of Olympic records - all nine judges award him victory; He becomes the first Olympic champion to perform two four-revolution jumps in a program, one of which is a cascade, and the first Olympic winner in the men's singles category to receive four 6.0 marks from the judges for artistry.
In the brightest men's duel "of all times and peoples" in 2002 - I rightfully think - Yagudin won.
In the ice dancing discipline, Marina Anisina/Gwendal Peizera become Olympic champions.
In this international duet, the partner, who undoubtedly played the role of first violin, was the bearer of the best traditions of the Russian school of figure skating.
Silver medalists in Salt Lake City are our wonderful couple Irina Lobacheva/Ilya Averbukh, who lost by one vote to the French duet. Their free dance, dedicated to the events of September 11, 2001, will forever remain in my memory...
2002 Olympic champion in women's single skating - Irina Slutskaya. No, that's not a typo. Champion in justice, in conscience, in right. But not in fact.
Having skated her short program brilliantly, Irina remained only second, although she should have won with a huge advantage over everyone.
The first judge was Michelle Kwan.
Third - Sasha Cohen, fourth - Sarah Hughes. Any figure skater from the top four has not lost her chance to win the entire Olympic tournament if she wins the free skate.
The strongest workout. States' top hope Michelle Kwan falls with a triple flip. Next is Ira.
And again, only one vote deprives Slutskaya of victory. She is the first in technique, but the feminine, radiant Ira’s artistry is lower than that of 15-year-old Sarah Hughes. Although a month later at the World Championships, Irina’s artistry will “recover” and for the same program she will receive grades of 6.0.
America needed a heroine that day. And Sarah Hughes was “made” as her.
The 2002 Olympic Games in Salt Lake City were twice gold and three times silver for our skaters. In four years, the balance will shift in favor of gold. But this is a completely different story - a new page in our album...
A lot happened at the Olympics - from doping scandals to political boycotts. But, perhaps, there was no story more shameful than the one that happened at the 2002 Salt Lake City Games during the figure skating competition.
The goal is to remove the Russians
The main favorites of the sports pairs tournament were, as during many previous Olympics, the Russians. This time, it fell to Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze, silver medalists of the 1998 Nagano Olympics, to defend the honor of the national figure skating school.
By the time of the Olympics in Salt Lake City, the Russians were two-time world champions, but not everything went smoothly for them - the athletes withdrew from the 1999 European Championship due to injury, and the next year at the same tournament they were tested for doping traces of a prohibited drug were found.
As it turned out, this was a consequence of improper treatment of the athlete’s cold, but the verdict was harsh - the couple’s results at the European Championships were canceled and the World Championships were missed.
This situation has caused a stir in the world of figure skating - it seems that there is a chance to end the hegemony of Russians in pair skating at the Olympics.
Little secrets of big victories
The main contenders for this honorable mission were athletes from Canada. Jami Sale And David Pelletier. This pair had in their arsenal a set of complex elements, but the skaters coped with them, as they say, every time. At the 2000 World Championships, in the absence Berezhnaya And Sikharulidze, Sale and Pelletier were considered favorites, but suffered a severe defeat, finishing only in fourth place. By the way, the Russians became champions then Maria Petrova And Alexey Tikhonov.
The “weak link” of the Canadian couple was Jami Sale. A former singles skater, she could not withstand the tension at key moments and broke elements, which threw the pair from the top positions.
The pre-Olympic World Figure Skating Championships in 2001 were held in Canada, the homeland of Jami Salé and David Pelletier. From the point of view of Olympic prospects, the Canadians needed to win the tournament and especially to get ahead of Berezhnaya and Sikharulidze, who had returned to duty. The local audience frantically cheered for their favorites, but even this did not help them skate their program cleanly - Zhami Sale once again performed the “butterfly” instead of a complex element. In addition, the Canadian program was clearly inferior in complexity to the program of Berezhnaya and Sikharulidze. However, to the considerable surprise of the experts, the judges brought the Canadians to first place.
And then the first loud scandal occurred in the confrontation between the Russian and Canadian couples. The Russian representative asked how the refereeing team ignored the Canadian athlete’s mistake. The judges stated that they did not see the error, since the element was performed in the corner of the rink, out of their field of vision. When they tried to watch the replay, all the referee monitors turned off for unknown reasons. Following this, the award ceremony was promptly held, and the title of world champions for Sale and Pelletier was, so to speak, secured.
Canadians are going to ram
After this, no one had any doubt that the pairs tournament at the 2002 Olympics would be especially hot.
On the eve of the Olympics in Salt Lake City, the story that took place before the 1980 Olympics in Lake Placid repeated itself, with the only difference that then it was about a confrontation between a Soviet couple Irina Rodnina And Alexander Zaitsev American athletes.
And this time, on the eve of the tournament, a campaign was launched in the media of the USA and Canada, the purpose of which was to convince everyone that there could be no other Olympic champions except Sale and Pelletier, and that Russian athletes were an order of magnitude inferior to them.
We must pay tribute to the Canadians - unlike their rivals Rodnina and Zaitsev, they still did not run away from the tournament. However, in the short program, Zhami Sale fell again, as a result of which the judges put the Canadians in second place, after Berezhnaya and Sikharulidze, who skated their program flawlessly. According to experts, with such a mistake, the Canadians received second place undeservedly, but if the judges had placed them lower, the fight for “gold” would have been completely forgotten.
Another point that should be mentioned is that in figure skating it is customary to present a new program every year. Canadians Sale and Pelletier had a very successful free program to the music from the movie “Love Story”, which they performed... for three seasons in a row. The reason was that attempts to deliver at least one more competitive program invariably ended in failure. For figure skaters competing for victory at the Olympics, this was simply embarrassing. But, as it soon became clear what shame was, Jami Sale and David Pelletier had no idea.
During the warm-up before the free program, something happened that no one expected: Zhami Sale went for the most natural battering ram of the Russian couple warming up next to her. All Sikharulidze managed to do was push his partner aside and take the entire blow on himself. Fortunately, there were no casualties; the Russian skater only slightly injured his hand. The organizers rushed to present the matter as a misunderstanding, but it became clear that the Canadians intended to snatch victory at any cost.
How they wave their fists after a fight
Berezhnaya and Sikharulidze skated in front of their opponents and made one small mistake - their partner landed on two feet after performing the jump. Sale and Pelletier skated relatively cleanly and after the end of the program began to kiss the ice, celebrating their victory. The public went wild, expecting the Canadians to triumph.
However, Sikharulidze’s mistake was not gross; otherwise, the performance of the Russians and Canadians was quite equal. In addition, Sale and Pelletier lost the short program.
Newspapers in Canada and the United States attacked the judges, accusing them of having “started a new Cold War” with their decision. The Canadian athletes themselves held a press conference at which they demanded to review the results of the tournament and give the victory to them.
“Authority” Stapleford and “disassembly by concepts”
However, these are also flowers. The French woman had it the worst Marie-Reine Le Gougne, who was part of the panel of judges and put the Russians in first place. An Englishwoman with a Canadian passport, the chairman of the technical committee of the International Skating Union, came to her hotel. Sally-Ann Stapleford, who asked: how did the Frenchwoman dare not give victory to the Canadians?
Sally Stapleford by that time had a very bad reputation as a person who underestimated Soviet figure skaters, as well as representatives of socialist countries, solely out of hostility towards them. Such legends of figure skating as the three-time Olympic champion - German - suffered from this lady. Katharina Witt and two-time Olympic champions Ekaterina Gordeeva And Sergey Grinkov.
It is not known whether Mrs. Stapleford beat the unfortunate Frenchwoman, but they heard selective abuse directed at her at the hotel. Later there were rumors that Ms. Le Gun was threatened that she might not see her native France at all, ending up in an American prison as an “accomplice of the Russian mafia.” As a result, the frightened Le Gun agreed to write a paper stating that she voted for Berezhnaya and Sikharulidze under pressure.
When the triumphant Staplefraud presented this confession, the supporters of Sale and Pelletier rejoiced. There was even talk about the disqualification of Berekzhnaya and Sikharulidze.
Rewarding sports racketeers
The Russian delegation was at a loss; there were no people who could firmly stand up for the athletes. Only the Russian judge of the figure skating tournament turned out to be not timid Marina Sanaya, who said that everything was exactly the opposite - American judge Ronald Pfenning tried to force the referees to lower scores for the Russians.
The four-day scandal ended with a press conference by the head of the International Skating Union Ottavio Cinquanta and head of the International Olympic Committee Jacques Rogge, at which it was announced that a repeat award ceremony would be held, at which gold medals would be awarded to both Zhami Sale and David Pelletier, and Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze. Sports officials still did not dare to deprive Russians of gold.
Most Russian fans and experts believed that Berezhnaya and Sikharulidze should not participate in the farce of re-awarding, but domestic sports officials, who were not distinguished by courage, decided otherwise, thereby giving the dirty “gold” of Sale and Pelletier a tinge of legality.
Despite the loud scandal, no real evidence of influence on the judges by the “Russian mafia” at the Olympics in Salt Lake City has emerged. Moreover, the unfortunate Marie-Reine Le Gun, having reached her native France, said that she would still put Berezhnaya and Sikharulidze in first place, and also spoke about threats and pressure from Sally Stapleford.
Jacques Rogge and remorse
However, Marie-Reine Le Gougne was suspended from refereeing for three years. However, God marks the rogue - a few months later, retribution came to Sally-Ann Stapleford. A group of sports officials, which included Stapleford and the aforementioned Ronald Pfenning, attempted to create an alternative organization to the International Skating Union.
The rebellion, however, was brutally suppressed by the leaders of the ISU, led by Ottavio Cinquanta, after which the rebels were “strung up” - deprived of all positions, removed from refereeing, and relegated to the category of spectators.
After the scandal in Salt Lake City, the figure skating rating system was radically revised, which, however, did not help completely get rid of accusations of judicial bias.
However, none of the skaters tried to beg for gold medals. Because the kind of “gold” that the Canadians Sale and Pelletier “won” for themselves is not needed by real athletes - professional beggary in big sports, thank God, has not become fashionable.
And IOC President Jacques Rogge, for whom the Games in Salt Lake City were the first, seems to have been tormented for a long time by remorse for his decision to give gold medals to Canadians and did not know how to make amends to Russian sports.
And in 2007, the Russian city of Sochi received the right to host the 2014 Winter Olympic Games. But that's a completely different story...
Figure skating scandal at the 2002 Olympics- disputes, revision of judges' scores and re-awarding in pairs figure skating, which led to significant changes in this sport.
Encyclopedic YouTube
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✪ ALEXEY YAGUDIN 2002 OLYMPIC GAMES IN SALT LAKE CITY!!!
✪ Winter O.I. 1980. Figure skating. Pair skating. Free program
✪ Lobacheva & Averbukh (RUS) Olympics 2002 FD
Subtitles
Competition and results
| Berezhnaya - Sikharulidze | RUS | CHN | USA | FRA | POL | CAN | UKR | GER | JPN |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Technique | 5.8 | 5.8 | 5.7 | 5.8 | 5.7 | 5.7 | 5.8 | 5.8 | 5.7 |
| Artistry | 5.9 | 5.9 | 5.9 | 5.9 | 5.9 | 5.8 | 5.9 | 5.8 | 5.9 |
| Judges' places | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 |
| Sale - Pelletier | RUS | CHN | USA | FRA | POL | CAN | UKR | GER | JPN |
| Technique | 5.8 | 5.9 | 5.8 | 5.8 | 5.8 | 5.9 | 5.8 | 5.9 | 5.8 |
| Artistry | 5.8 | 5.8 | 5.9 | 5.8 | 5.8 | 5.9 | 5.8 | 5.9 | 5.9 |
| Judges' places | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
Judging panel
| The composition of the refereeing team at sports pairs competitions | ||
|---|---|---|
| Position | Name | A country |
| Judge | Ronald Pfenning | ISU |
| Assistant referee | Alexander Lakernik | ISU |
| Judge No.1 | Marina Sanaya | Russia |
| Judge No.2 | Zhisheng Yang | China |
| Judge No.3 | Lucy Brennan | USA |
| Judge No.4 | Marie-Rene Le Gougne | France |
| Judge No.5 | Anna Siroka | Poland |
| Judge No.6 | Benoit Lavoie | Canada |
| Judge No.7 | Vladislav Petukhov | Ukraine |
| Judge No.8 | Sissy Creek | Germany |
| Judge No.9 | Hideo Sugita | Japan |
As a result, five of the nine first places went to the Russian couple, who were awarded gold medals. Canadians received silver medals.
The essence of the scandal
After this event, newspapers in the USA and Canada came out with headlines “Ice Storm”, “Scandal on Ice”, “Skategate”, thereby condemning the judges’ decision. One of the New York Times articles included the words “the days of the Cold War are back.”
On the same day, after the end of the competition, the French judge Marie-Rene Le Gougne, returning to the hotel, met the Englishwoman (who also has Canadian citizenship) S. Stapleford (chairman of the technical committee of the International Skating Union (ISU)), who had distinguished herself in the past, literally attacking her negative judging against skaters from socialist countries. Stapleford, using profanity, demanded that Le Gune explain herself for the “biased” judging, in her personal opinion. After this, Le Gun had a “nervous breakdown,” during which she allegedly admitted that D. Galagier (who headed the French Figure Skating Federation) put pressure on her. According to her, he asked Le Gun to put the Russian couple in first place, allegedly “in exchange” for the fact that the Russian jury member would give the highest scores to the French couple in sports dancing. In fact, the Russian judge in this event, A. Shekhovtsova, gave the Russian pair 1st place and the French pair 2nd place. Defense attorney Max Miller said Gun was subjected to verbal abuse and physical threats from those who did not share her assessment.
The next day, at the judges' meeting after the competition ( post-event judges" meeting) Le Gun allegedly repeated these words. However, in a written statement, she renounced these statements, explaining them under pressure from S. Stapleford, and also confirmed that she considers the victory of the Russian couple deserved. Russian referee Marina Sanaya stated that the referee of the judging team serving the pairs competition, the American R. Pfenning, put pressure on the judges, in particular telling them, contrary to all the rules, that they should not give Berezhnaya - Sikharulidze scores more than 5.8. The President of the Russian Figure Skating Federation, Valentin Piseev, said that R. Pfenning received a penalty from the ISU for these gross mistakes.
On February 13, a press conference was held by ISU President O. Cinquanta, the journalists asked accusatory questions and behaved extremely hostilely. Cinquanta (himself a speed skater and not versed in the intricacies of figure skating) said that R. Pfenning filed a complaint about the judges' scores, and this issue will be considered at a meeting of the ISU committee. IOC Director General J. Carrard called on the ISU to consider the issue as soon as possible.
On February 15, at a joint press conference between ISU President O. Cinquanta and IOC President J. Rogge, an unprecedented decision was announced for the first time in the history of figure skating: the Canadians would be awarded gold medals, the Russian pair also retained the gold medals, since it was the fault of the ISU and the IOC didn't notice. Le Goune's judge's vote was cancelled, and the final points were also cancelled. The decision to change the judges' scores undermined the interest of the audience and became one of the reasons for the crisis in figure skating [ ] . For the first time in history, an unprecedented re-award ceremony took place, in which Canadians' silver medals were replaced with gold ones. Berezhnaya - Sikharulidze agreed to attend the ceremony; a couple from China, Shen Xue - Zhao Hongbo, who took third place, refused, considering this action a farce.
Competition and results
The next day, at a post-event judges" meeting, Le Gougne allegedly repeated these words. However, in a written statement, she renounced these statements, explaining them under pressure from S. Stapleford, and also confirmed that she considered the victory of the Russian couple to be deserved Russian referee Marina Sanaya stated that the referee of the judging team serving the pairs competition, American R. Pfenning, put pressure on the judges, in particular telling them, contrary to all the rules, that they should not give Berezhnoy - Sikharulidze scores more than 5.8 .. The President of the Russian Figure Skating Federation Valentin Piseev said that for these gross mistakes R. Pfenning received a penalty from the ISU.
On February 13, a press conference was held by ISU President O. Cinquanta, the journalists asked accusatory questions and behaved extremely hostile. After which Cinquanta (himself a speed skater and not versed in the intricacies of figure skating) said that R. Pfenning had filed a complaint about the judges’ scores, this issue would be considered at a meeting of the ISU committee. IOC Director General J. Carrard called on the ISU to consider the issue as soon as possible.
Already on February 15, at a joint press conference of ISU President O. Cinquanta and IOC President J. Rogge, an unprecedented decision was announced for the first time in the history of figure skating: the Canadians would be awarded gold medals, the Russian pair was also retained gold medals, since it was her fault ISU and The IOC was not noticed. Le Gune's judge's vote was cancelled. The final points were also cancelled. The decision to shuffle judges' scores and points undermined the interest of the audience and became one of the reasons for the crisis in figure skating. For the first time in history, an unprecedented repeat award ceremony took place, at which Canadians' silver medals were replaced with gold ones. Berezhnaya - Sikharulidze agreed to attend the ceremony; a couple from China, Shen Xue - Zhao Hongbo, who took third place, refused, considering this action a farce.
