Anyone watch it ?. Good to see it's still fixed, no improvement with the judging since the controvery 4 years ago.


Clearly Canadian

Russia's victory stuns NBC broadcast team
Posted: Tuesday February 12, 2002 12:23 AM



SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- NBC's Olympic figure skating announcers were thrown for a loop by the judging in the pairs competition Monday night.

The network's Scott Hamilton, Tom Hammond and Sandra Bezic were certain they knew who had won the gold medal.

The trio made it clear to viewers that Canada's Jamie Sale and David Pelletier had outskated Russia's Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze -- and then were shocked when the gold went to the Russians by a one-judge margin.

"My heart breaks," Bezic said right before the medals ceremony, "and I'm embarrassed for our sport right now."

Berezhnaya and Sikharulidze collected seven 5.9s for artistry, barely enough for their nation's 11th consecutive pairs gold medal, dating to 1964.

After the Russians performed, with at least one noticeable slip-up, the Canadians went about impressing NBC's talent. Near the end of their 4 1/2-minute routine, Hamilton set the stage for a final key move.

"Throw triple loop, and the gold is theirs!" the 1984 men's Olympic gold medalist yelled.

After Sale landed cleanly, Bezic, a five-time Canadian national pairs champion, said: "Simply perfect. ... They did it!"

If there was any doubt in viewers' minds as to who was about to win, the announcers did their best to clear it away.

As the Canadians left the ice, Hamilton said: "There are going to be some giant, huge, high, enormous marks!"

And Bezic added: "Canada House is going to be jumping tonight!"

Only Hammond, the experienced play-by-play announcer, lent an ounce of measure, saying, "And the Russian domination, nearly four decades, perhaps ended again by Canadians."

As the Canadians' scores began to flash on the screen, Bezic was at it again: "Brilliant, brilliant skating, brilliant choreography -- tender, playful, accessible and perfect."

When it was announced that the Russians had won, Hamilton was adamant that it was a mistake.

"How did that happen?" he said, adding that Sale and Pelletier "won that program, there's not a doubt for anyone in the place, expect for maybe a few judges.

"That will be debated forever."

No kidding Cal. I watched it and I'm watching the late nite edition now. They were just saying that the judges are going to have a hard time defending their decision. The theory goes that the Canadian's routine was two years old and not really stretching their talents as much. Whatever man. What a rip off!

I gave up on figure skating eight years ago when Elvis got shafted in Lillehammer.

i feel they need to spice up figure skating a little...why not take a leaf out of wrestling???
make it into a semi-soapie, have some controversy (a la harding-kerrigan), do trash talking out the back...it'd be great!:lol:

seriously tho, i'm sticking to the snowboarding:D

Cal, the only reason the judges shouldn't be charged for robbery is they didn't use a gun. I heard Bob Costas report today that a French judge said he HAD to give a #1 rating to the Russian pair, in order to garner a #1 vote for the French ice dancing team!! (obstensibly this deal was made with the Russian judge). The fix was in as usual, only THIS time the judges were stupid enough to get caught! My wife, the bigtime figure skating fan in our house, is livid about it.
I really feel sorry for both the Canadian & Russian teams. What's worse a shaft for silver or a gold that everyone thinks you don't deserve?

Originally posted by nolanbuc

I really feel sorry for both the Canadian & Russian teams. What's worse a shaft for silver or a gold that everyone thinks you don't deserve?

The latter, because then I could do something about it by very publically offering a trade. Don't look for that to happen here, the only media quotes I've seen from within the Russian camp are claims they really believe they deserved it, even though the uneasy body language at the podium was more truthful.

Originally posted by Cartoon_Chris


The latter, because then I could do something about it by very publically offering a trade. Don't look for that to happen here, the only media quotes I've seen from within the Russian camp are claims they really believe they deserved it, even though the uneasy body language at the podium was more truthful.

I understand your point and it is well taken. But you are a better man than I if you could give back a gold medal you had worked half your life for and could reasonably convince yourself that you earned it (the Russian pair were Silver medalists in Nagano). I agree that what happened was blatantly and horribly wrong. But you don't just trade an Olympic gold medal like a baseball card. If cheating by judges is proven then I would favor the IOC revoking the Gold & awarding it to the Canadians, but competitors would not, and should not, take it upon themselves to exchange medals.

I'd also like to say that I am very impressed with the grace & restraint with which the Canadian pair have handled this obviously devastating travesty.

Well even if the judges all got up and said "sure we cheated" the medals won't be reversed, so thats not an option. From a personal perspective, I can't judge figure skating?, its just a bunch of jumps and twirls etc, yes I could tell Sale and Pelletier were clean while the Russians were shakey, but not knowing the degree of difficulty in each dance I probably wouldn't have questioned it. So I wonder how much US broadcasters had to do with the uproar. I watched the NBC feed ,cause I like getting the color commentating and views from a different country than the Canadian CBC channel, and all through it Scott Hamilton and the others made it clear that the the Canadian Pair had won (I take their word, I'm sure they know), they made it feel like a foregone conclusion to over 100 million viewing. I know the live audience and Sale and Pellitier also appeared to be sure they won but I wonder how the commentating affected the general masses like me.

Finally It looks like a happy ending to some extent fo the Canadian Pair, as they were asked today if they thought loosing the gold would cost them financially (ie through endorsment deals etc) their response was , that with all this controvery now , they are getting far more attention and publicity winning a silver than they ever would have winning the gold. They were even on Leno last night , so It looks like they will do okay

Yay! The Canadians will get gold medals after all.

As well they should! I hope this will start a "cleansing" process in the figure0skating community resulting in more impartiality in judging.

Originally posted by VioletFoxx
The theory goes that the Canadian's routine was two years old and not really stretching their talents as much. Whatever man. What a rip off!

I know everything has been settled and the games are over, but just a note. Didn't the a male skater from Ukraine(the same as Oksna)do the same routine for like 3 years. They called it perfecting his art. Am I right? And I believe he won a few times.

I'm no figure skating judge, and would have probably written the whole thing off to varying opinions about artistry, but then that Chinquanta dude, head of the International Skating Dictatorship (or something like that) gave a news conference. I've never seen anybody be more evasive in my life. The reporters must have asked him 40 or 50 questions and they were lucky if they got 3 straight answers from the guy. Ten reporters would have to ask the guy the same question ten different ways before he finally answered.

After seeing that, I was convinced they were covering something up. That Chinquanta guy is the sleaziest character I've seen in a long time. I bet his pockets are stuffed with so many millions in bribe money that he's looking for scapegoats anywhere he can find them.

Then when Sele and Peltier gave their news conference, they were a thousand times more mature than any of the people running their sport.

Really, really sad.