Word: berezhnaya
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Dates: during 2002-2002
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...Early on Tuesday morning, just hours after the gold medal had gone to the Russians, Yelena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze, the nine judges of the pairs event and two referees convened in a windowless basement room of the Salt Lake Ice Center. The door was sealed with thick tape that kept prying reporters from eavesdropping on the deliberations. It also prevented them from hearing the weeping of the French judge, Marie-Reine Le Gougne. Ron Pfenning is the U.S. referee who would bring Le Gougne's accusations to Ottavio Cinquanta, president of the International Skating Union. Last week he told...
...allegations go, pressure from outside sources was the reason "skate gate" judge Le Gougne voted for Russian pairs team Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze over the cleaner-skating Canadian pair Jamie Sale and David Pelletier Monday night. Didier Gailhaguet, head of the French Olympic committee, told a reporter that Le Gougne had been pressured to cast her vote a certain...
...While the crowd and the NBC commentators thought Sale and Pelletier were the clear winners, five judges, from Russia, China, France, Poland and Ukraine ranked Berezhnaya and Sikharulidze first. "It's an embarrassment for the sport, absolutely," says Lori Nichol, who choreographed the Canadians' program. Sale held back tears only long enough to receive her silver medal, and Pelletier broke down at the press conference minutes afterward...
...drama actually began in the six-minute warm-up before the competition even started. As Berezhnaya and Sikharulidze prepped for a throw jump, Sale collided chest first into Sikharulidze in a freak accident of timing. She had the wind knocked out of her, but as painful as it looked, no harm was done and when Sale and Pelletier returned, their names could hardly be heard over the roar of the crowd. They poured the emotional bond they share as an off-ice couple into their two-year old program, which still seemed as fresh and as passionate as the first...
...close-mouthed as Secret Service agents about their decisions, so we many never know what they saw in the Russian pair that they didn't in the Canadian duo. Five of them ranked the Russsians for gold, despite Sikharulidze's slip on the double axel jump and Berezhnaya's skittery landings on the throw jumps. Sikharulidze, for his part, defended their performance and their finish. "I try hard, I try my best," he said. "We don't make big mistakes. No falls, no big mistakes. The something with my jump, not a big thing, it's small detail. We tried...