| Salt Lake City |
 |
 |
| GER |
12 |
16 |
7 |
35 |
 |
| USA |
10 |
13 |
11 |
34 |
|
| NOR |
11 |
7 |
6 |
24 |
|
| CAN |
6 |
3 |
8 |
17 |
|
| RUS |
6 |
6 |
4 |
16 |
|
| AUT |
2 |
4 |
10 |
16 |
|
| ITA |
4 |
4 |
4 |
12 |
|
| FRA |
4 |
5 |
2 |
11 |
|
| SUI |
3 |
2 |
6 |
11 |
|
| NED |
3 |
5 |
0 |
8 |
|
|
|
|
Canadians sore losers, Russians say
At Russian House, officials defend skaters' gold medal
By Jeff Oliver
Deseret News staff writer
HOLLADAY — The crowd of Russian Olympic officials and dignitaries that gathered at the home of Robert and Margarit Kireiev Wednesday night spoke in hushed tones.
"There is a gift to winning and there is a gift to losing," said Russian Olympic Committee Vice President Alexander Kazlovsky. "Canada is a country that does not know how to lose."
He said the controversy and upheaval surrounding Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze's gold-medal victory is unwarranted.
"If (the Canadians) don't know how to win the Olympics, it's no reason to turn the world upside-down."
Whispers of the controversy circulated throughout the room of dignitaries who were waiting for the arrival of the athletes themselves.
"Why should this take away from their victory?" asked Anatoly Khackuck, another vice president of the Russian Olympic Committee.
Considering the caliber of the other skaters and the fairness of the judging process, Khackuck said his athletes have every reason to be proud of their performance and their medal.
When the skaters finally arrived at the Russian House around 8 p.m., the crowded room welcomed them with quiet applause and quickly cleared a path to the center of the room.
The athletes, who accepted the applause with an equal measure of quiet respect, were accompanied by their coach, Tamara Moskvina, and several other dignitaries, including Russian Minister of Sports Pavel Rozhkov, Russian Figure Skating Federation President Valentin Piseev and Russian Olympic Committee President Leonid Tyagachev.
After a few brief comments and a short photo shoot, the crowd again parted to allow Moskvina and the dignitaries to enjoy a traditional victory dinner of soup and tea while the athletes went to another room to have their picture taken with sponsors.
"I feel very happy," said Moskvina, who has coached three other Russian skating pairs to Olympic gold, and several others to silver.
She said neither she nor the athletes are paying much attention to the controversy surrounding their victory.
"This is sport," she said. "When there is competition, there is always someone who is happy and someone who is not happy."
Sikharulidze and Berezhnaya skated a more difficult program with greater speed and artistry than their competitors, Moskvina said.
Her athletes agreed.
While Sikharulidze said he did not consider his Olympic performance to have been one of his best, he said he felt that he and Berezhnaya had skated with "enough level to be Olympic champions."
Despite the controversy, Berezhnaya said she is very proud of her medal. "It's been a hard road to this podium. You just can't believe it, you are flying," she said.
She and Sikharulidze were impressed with the quality of ice at the competition and with the quality of the Games in general, she said.
While everyone else present at the celebration seemed to be doing their best to avoid mentioning the controversy, the Olympic officials could not resist wondering what would have happened if the roles had been reversed and the Canadians had won.
"When the same thing happened four years ago in Canada, we said nothing," says Khackuck.
E-mail: joliver@desnews.com
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February 14, 2002
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