Word: gailhaguet
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...said it was possible the results of the ice-dance competition would be recalculated. "We will rule out nothing," he declared. Yet the suspicion lingers that the skating establishment protects its own. One month after being suspended for his role in the disputed pairs result in Salt Lake, Didier Gailhaguet was re-elected head of the French skating federation...
SUSPENDED. MARIE-REINE LE GOUGNE, 41, and DIDIER GAILHAGUET, 48, French skating officials who, the International Skating Union ruled, colluded to fix the result of the pairs event at the Salt Lake City Olympics in February by ranking the Russian pair ahead of the Canadians; from any involvement with international skating for three years; in Lausanne, Switzerland...
...exchange for Russia's vote for the French team in the ice-dancing competition. One Olympic skating judge, who asked to remain anonymous, insisted to TIME that a deal had been struck: "The French have been trying to figure out how to win in ice dancing. I know Gailhaguet has been working for those votes...
...Gailhaguet denies those claims and suggests that pressure was brought upon Le Gougne from "left and right"--implying that it came from Canadian skating officials as well. Whatever the truth turns out to be, international figure skating and the Olympic movement itself have been shaken as never before. Even before Tonya Harding went gunning for Nancy Kerrigan, figure skating had an image problem. Not on the ice. On the ice it's all double Axels and triple Salchows and Kristi Yamaguchi twirling straight onto the Wheaties box. Say all you want about the smiley dudes on their snowboards, but when...
...denied them at first. But in the days that followed, he was presented with several affidavits from people who said Le Gougne had told them she had been pressured. A high-ranking member of the I.S.U. also told of reports about malfeasance in the pairs skating. On Wednesday Gailhaguet told a reporter for the Associated Press that Le Gougne had been "somewhat manipulated" by people outside the French federation. Though he later said he had been misinterpreted, A.P. stood by its story...