'Skategate' enjoys a golden end
All was sweetness and light once again in figure skating's luvvie land as the couples at the centre of the Olympic 'Skategate' scandal hugged and kissed each other atop the gold medal podium in an historic ceremony at Salt Lake Ice Centre.
Canadians David Pelletier and Jamie Sale and Russians Yelena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze both received an ecstatic standing ovation from a 15,000 fullhouse to mark Olympic chiefs' highly debatable decision to award two gold medals for the pairs event. It was the first time in Games history that such a step had been taken because of evidence of judging impropriety.
Six days after the competition sparked an almost hysterical outcry here, the Canadians, perceived by most but by no means all to have been robbed of gold, finally received their duplicate gongs from beleaguered International Skating Union president Ottavio Cinquanta while the Russians, who had already collected theirs, just made do with bouquets.
The International Olympic Committee had made the historic decision after after the ISU suspended the French judge, Marie-Reine Le Gougne, who cast the deciding vote in favour of the Russians, for misconduct.
On the clapometer, the Canadians, beneficiaries of the noisiest North American media propaganda machine you've ever heard here, naturally won out.
But, after the anthems and the flowers, couples echoed Pelletier's cry of: "I'm just glad the focus is back on the skating and no longer on us.
"I'm glad it's over." So say all of us but last night's love-in is bound to be far from the end of all the fuss.
Today, the ISU council meets behind closed doors to discuss the evidence of alleged vote-trading in the pairs and Le Gougne is ready to spill the beans.
Pairs referee Ron Pfenning told one US newspaper that Le Gougne had sobbed uncontrollably during the routine judges' meeting to discuss the pairs' marks and blurted out: "You don't understand. We're under an awful lot of pressure. My federation, my president Didier, I had to put the Russians first."
Leonid Tyagachev, Russia's Olympic chief, said they wouldn't protest about the IOC's decision but echoed his compatriots' opinion that "public opinion played the role of referee".
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Meanwhile, French ice dancers Marina Anissina and Gwendal Peizerat, alleged to have been the intended beneficiaries of any vote deal, enter tonight's free dance programme in the lead after winning the original dance section without any judging dramas.
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