Word: skates
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...Until last week, only real fans of the sport knew the extent to which skate judging can involve intrigue, deceit and shady arithmetic. For them it was just mildly surprising that a flawless performance by the Canadians could get a silver medal while the gold went to a bumpier routine by the Russians. What was truly surprising was that the matter exploded. For that, credit is due to Jacques Rogge, the new president of the International Olympic Committee. It was Rogge who pressed on Cinquanta the idea to award a second set of gold medals to Sale and Pelletier...
...Russians did not skate their best. Berezhnaya and Sikharulidze had as many as six flaws in their program, notably Sikharulidze's stumble on the side-by-side double Axel. Berezhnaya's landings on the throw jumps were also not as smooth as Sale's. Though the Russians peppered their program with innovative moves--at one point Berezhnaya opened into a spread eagle with Sikharulidze clinging to her in a spiral--Sale and Pelletier were a miracle of unity...
...which Rogge and Cinquanta announced the dual-medal solution, Cinquanta refused to make public the evidence against Le Gougne or to offer details on just who had pressured her. It was reported that he has received four additional complaints of judging misconduct related to last week's pairs-skating event. One claims that at the Skate Canada Grand Prix in Saskatoon, Sask., last November, Le Gougne was allegedly asked by a Russian judge to vote for the Russian pairs team at the Winter Games...
...first, things were tense in Colorado—I can’t lie about that,” Biondo said. “It was a tough situation with the arbitration going on and all. It was tough to skate those first couple of days...
...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...