The pairs figure skating competition at the 2002 Winter Olympics was held on February 9 and 11 at the Salt Lake Ice Center in Salt Lake City, Utah, in the United States. Originally, Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze of Russia won the gold medals, while Jamie Salé and David Pelletier of Canada won the silver, and Shen Xue and Zhao Hongbo of China won the bronze. However, after the event had concluded, a controversy involving allegations of vote swapping and buying of votes of the French judge culminated in the judge's scores being discarded and Salé and Pelletier also being awarded gold medals, with Berezhnaya and Sikharulidze being allowed to keep theirs. In a joint press conference on February 15, the International Skating Union (ISU) and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced that Marie-Reine Le Gougne, the French judge implicated in collusion, was guilty of misconduct and was suspended effective immediately. In 2004, the ISU voted to change the 6.0 judging system because it was considered too subjective. As a result, the ISU Judging System (IJS) was created, whereby skaters and teams were scored based on a technical grade of execution of the required elements, rendering a numerical, mathematical score.
| Figure skating pair skating at the XIX Olympic Winter Games | |||||||||||||
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Figure skating | |||||||||||||
| Venue | Salt Lake Ice Center Salt Lake City, Utah | ||||||||||||
| Date | February 9 & 11, 2002 | ||||||||||||
| Medalists | |||||||||||||
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Competition
In the pairs competition, Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze of Russia – the silver medalists from the 1998 Winter Olympics – were in first place after the short program, while Jamie Salé and David Pelletier of Canada were in second. Salé and Pelletier had tripped and fallen on their closing pose when Pelletier hit a rut in the ice. "I'm not even sure what happened," Salé said afterward. "It was the weirdest thing... I didn't even know it was happening until I was on the ice." Shen Xue and Zhao Hongbo of China were in third place.
Salé and Sikharulidze collided on the ice during their warm-up prior to the free skate, though neither skater appeared to have suffered any serious ill effects. Berezhnaya and Sikharulidze made a minor, yet "obvious", technical error when Sikharulidze stepped out of his double Axel, and both throw jumps showed shaky landings. Salé and Pelletier performed their Love Story free skate program which they had used in previous seasons and had been well received at the earlier 2002 Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final. They skated a flawless program, albeit one that some experts considered to be of lesser difficulty than that of Berezhnaya and Sikharulidze. Based on the 6.0 system of scoring in use at the time, Salé and Pelletier received 5.9s and 5.8s for technical merit, while Berezhnaya and Sikharulidze received mostly 5.8s and 5.7s. However, the Canadians received only four 5.9s for presentation, while the Russians received seven. Berezhnaya and Sikharulidze were awarded the gold medals, while Salé and Pelletier finished in second place, and Shen and Zhao finished in third.
Judges and officials
| Function | Name | Nation |
|---|---|---|
| Referee | Ronald Pfenning | ISU |
| Assistant referee | Alexander Lakernik | ISU |
| Judge No. 1 | Marina Sanaya | Russia |
| Judge No. 2 | Jiasheng Yang | China |
| Judge No. 3 | Lucy Brennan | United States |
| Judge No. 4 | Marie-Reine Le Gougne | France |
| Judge No. 5 | Anna Sierocka | Poland |
| Judge No. 6 | Benoit Lavoie | Canada |
| Judge No. 7 | Vladislav Petukhov | Ukraine |
| Judge No. 8 | Sissy Krick | Germany |
| Judge No. 9 | Hideo Sugita | Japan |
Breakdown of scores
The scores from the French judge, Marie-Reine Le Gougne, were officially discarded by the International Skating Union.
| Category | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Technical merit | 5.8 | 5.8 | 5.7 | 5.7 | 5.7 | 5.8 | 5.8 | 5.7 | |
| Presentation | 5.9 | 5.9 | 5.9 | 5.9 | 5.8 | 5.9 | 5.8 | 5.9 | |
| Placement | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 |
| Category | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Technical merit | 5.8 | 5.9 | 5.8 | 5.8 | 5.9 | 5.8 | 5.9 | 5.8 | |
| Presentation | 5.8 | 5.8 | 5.9 | 5.8 | 5.9 | 5.8 | 5.9 | 5.9 | |
| Placement | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
Controversy
Numerous Canadian media outlets were outraged by the result of the competition and began to raise accusations of conspiracy and bias. La Presse of Quebec featured the headline "Salé and Pelletier Victims of a Plot", while Le Journal de Montréal ran with "Salé-Pelletier, Some Judges Plotted Before the Competition". The Globe and Mail of Toronto quoted "sources" who had stated that the results of the pairs event were predetermined as part of a deal regarding the ice dance competition. Cam Cole of the National Post wrote the following:
"And by victimizing a North American pair, on North American soil, while reinforcing the belief that Russian political scheming trumps talent every time, skating has now raised the ire of the one continent where figure skating is big box office. North America fills world skating’s bank account. North America imports poor Russian coaches and gives them skating rinks for toys. And in exchange, it gets a frozen boot in the ribs? Not for much longer."
— Cam Cole, "This time they picked on the wrong people", National Post (February 13, 2002)
Members of the American media were also quick to support Salé and Pelletier. Christine Brennan of USA Today wrote, "The problem for those who run figure skating is that this was an event witnessed by millions of Americans on television. This didn't happen far away. It happened in Salt Lake City to a North American pair that has received more than its share of publicity on NBC." Sandra Bezic and Scott Hamilton, the retired skaters who provided the on-air commentary during the NBC broadcast of the Olympic figure skating competitions, were deeply critical of the judging of the pairs event. ''More than any other sport, figure skating commentators tell us whether what we just saw was good or not,'' said Robert J. Thompson, professor of media and popular culture at Syracuse University. NBC featured Salé and Pelletier in several primetime segments, including one with Bob Costas, NBC's primary host for their Olympic coverage, and one with Bezic and Hamilton.
Anton Sikharulidze spoke about prior competitions where he and Elena Berezhnaya had finished second to Salé and Pelletier, but never complained about their results or protested their silver medals. "It is very difficult to fight their television and crowds of aggressive, unfriendly reporters," Sikharulidze said in a telephone interview. "We do not have anyone backing us up." Tariel G. Sikharulidze, Anton Sikharulidze's father, said that "the Canadians have finally wrung the gold medals for themselves can only be explained by the unprecedented campaign in the mass media which presented the situation as if the Russian couple had robbed the Canadians."
In response to the outcry, Ottavio Cinquanta, president of the International Skating Union (ISU), announced in a press conference the day after the competition that the ISU would conduct an "internal assessment" into the judging of the pairs event. Cinquanta acknowledged that Ronald Pfenning, the event referee, had filed an official complaint about the judging, but did not offer further details. François Carrard, director general of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), publicly urged the ISU to resolve the matter as quickly as possible, and warned that if the ISU failed to act, the IOC might take action instead. Pfenning alleged that in a closed-door meeting with the event judges, French judge Marie-Reine Le Gougne admitted to having been pressured by the French Federation of Ice Sports, and federation president Didier Gailhaguet, to award the gold medal to the Russian team. "You don’t understand! You don’t understand!" Pfenning quoted Le Gougne as having said, according to The Washington Post. "The pressure is enormous! There is so much pressure that my federation, that the president, Didier, put on me to put the Russians first!" An arrangement had allegedly been concocted whereby Le Gougne was to award the gold medal to the Russian pairs team, while the Russian ice dance judge was to award the gold medal to the French ice dance team. Gailhaguet denied these allegations.
On February 15, IOC President Jacques Rogge announced in a press conference that Salé and Pelletier would be awarded gold medals, while also allowing Berezhnaya and Sikharulidze to keep theirs, since there was no evidence of wrongdoing on their part. Both pairs' point totals were discarded. Le Gougne was also suspended for failing to immediately report the intimidation she had received prior to the competition. The medal award ceremony was repeated upon completion of the ice dance original dance event on February 17. Berezhnaya and Sikharulidze attended, wearing the gold medals they had already received, but bronze medalists Shen Xue and Zhao Hongbo of China opted to not attend. Salé and Pelletier received their gold medals, and also presented Berezhnaya and Sikharulidze with a gift – a pair of hand-blown glass hearts – along with a handwritten note. Craig Fenech, agent to Salé and Pelletier, clarified: "They've said all along this was not about them versus Anton and Elena. This was a way to show them." Salé and Pelletier also had gifts for Shen and Zhao, who declined to attend.
Results
| Rank | Team | Nation | Points | SP | FS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Russia | N/a | 1 | N/a | |
| Canada | 2 | |||
| China | 4.5 | 3 | 3 | |
| 4 |
| Russia | 6.0 | 4 | 4 |
| 5 |
| United States | 7.5 | 5 | 5 |
| 6 |
| Russia | 9.0 | 6 | 6 |
| 7 |
| Poland | 11.0 | 8 | 7 |
| 8 |
| Czech Republic | 11.5 | 7 | 8 |
| 9 |
| China | 14.0 | 10 | 9 |
| 10 |
| Canada | 16.5 | 13 | 10 |
| 11 |
| China | 16.5 | 9 | 12 |
| 12 |
| Canada | 18.0 | 14 | 11 |
| 13 |
| United States | 18.5 | 11 | 13 |
| 14 |
| Germany | 21.0 | 12 | 15 |
| 15 |
| Ukraine | 22.0 | 16 | 14 |
| 16 |
| Ukraine | 23.5 | 15 | 16 |
| 17 |
| Slovakia | 25.5 | 17 | 17 |
| 18 |
| Uzbekistan | 27.0 | 18 | 18 |
| 19 |
| Italy | 28.5 | 19 | 19 |
| 20 |
| Armenia | 30.0 | 20 | 20 |
Aftermath
On April 30, 2002, the International Skating Union (ISU) announced that Marie-Reine Le Gougne and Didier Gailhaguet had both been suspended for three years for their roles in the scandal and also prohibited from any official involvement with the 2006 Winter Olympics. On July 31, 2002, Italian authorities in Venice arrested Russian organized crime boss Alimzhan Tokhtakhounov on U.S. charges that he masterminded the scheme at the Olympics. Tokhtakhounov, whose phone calls were being wiretapped by the Italian Guardia di Finanza, was overheard conspiring to fix the outcomes of two Olympic skating competitions: Le Gougne would vote for the Russian team in the pairs event, while the Russian judge would vote for the French team in the ice dance event. The Italians turned over this evidence to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). "He arranged a classic quid pro quo," then-U.S. Attorney James Comey said at the time of Tokhtakhounov's arrest. "'You'll line up support for the Russian pair, we'll line up support for the French pair, and everybody'll go away with the gold. And perhaps there'll be a little gold for me, the Russian organized crime figure.'" Tokhtakhounov had been friends with Marina Anissina, the French ice dancer, and her mother, Irina Cherniaeva. According to transcripts, Tokhtakhounov had assured Chernayeva that Anissina's gold medal in the ice dance event was guaranteed, "even if she [fell]." He was ultimately released from Italian custody; he then returned to Moscow, where he did not have to face extradition to the United States. Ultimately, Anissina and her partner Gwendal Peizerat required no assistance to win the ice dance event; they won overwhelmingly, even though they were placed second by the Russian judge.
In 2004, the ISU voted to retire the 6.0 judging system, because it was considered too subjective. As a result, the ISU Judging System (IJS) was created, where each skater or team was scored based on the technical grade of execution of the elements and given a true numerical, mathematical score. The ISU also adopted a policy of secret judging, where judges' marks were posted anonymously. While the ISU claimed this secrecy freed judges from pressure from their federations, critics noted that instead of preventing judges from cheating, the secrecy prevented the public and media from being able to identify cheating. Following the 2014 Winter Olympics, the ISU Congress changed this policy, ending anonymous judging to "increase transparency" in the process.
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