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'Skate Gate' not beginning of Olympic scandals
By John Robinson
Deseret News editorial writer
In a Solomon-like decision, the International Olympic Committee and the International Skating Union didn't split the baby but produced another one.
Canadians Jamie Sale and David Pelletier were upgraded from silver to gold on Friday and remain media darlings.
Throughout all of the bizarre twists and turns worthy of a freestyle skier in what has become known as "Skategate," the innocent victims have been Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze, the Russian skaters who were the original gold medal winners.
While Sale and Pelletier have been basking in adulation — performing onstage at the Medals Plaza for example — the Russians have been treated like the uncle nobody wants at the family reunion.
Skate Gate has put the Russian skaters in an untenable position. Instead of the focus being on their skill and the incredible comeback of Berezhnaya, who in 1996 during practice suffered a serious head injury that required emergency brain surgery, it instead has been on the judging.
Most of those at the figure skating venue for Monday night's pairs skating long-program final, including the NBC commentators, believed that the Canadian duo, not the Russians, deserved the gold.
Shortly after the Russians were awarded the gold, collusion rumors began circulating — the Russians would help French skaters out in a later event in exchange for the French putting the Russians ahead of the Canadians Monday night. By a 5-4 vote, Berezhnaya and Sikharulidze were awarded the gold, the French judge being one of the five judges favoring the Russians.
Exactly what happened is still being investigated. The fact that the French judge was suspended and a second gold medal awarded indicates something was and is clearly amiss.
Unfortunately, scandals have become a big part of the Olympic legacy. These Games are connected with a bidding scandal. Salt Lake City will be fortunate if Skategate is the only other one that occurs during the 2002 Winter Games.
For me, the Olympic ideal started crumbling at the 1976 Summer Games in Montreal. At the swimming venue, I couldn't believe the appearance of the East German women swimmers through my TV set. Could weight lifting really do that?
They won 11 of 13 events because, their coaches claimed, they trained harder and better than anybody else. What the coaches conveniently forgot to note was that their charges were walking pharmacies. East German secret police files uncovered following the unification of the two Germanys show that as many as 10,000 East German athletes — beginning at age 10 — were put on steroids and other illegal drugs beginning in 1969. No wonder America's top woman swimmer, Shirley Babashoff, couldn't win an individual gold.
Then, of course, there was the case involving Canadian sprinter Ben Johnson, who set a world record of 9.79 in the 100 meters at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul. When tests showed he had used illegal performance-enhancing drugs, he was stripped of his medal.
Johnson vehemently denied ever taking drugs. (Has anybody who tested positive for drugs ever admitted it?) Finally, his coach, Charlie Francis, under pressure from an embarrassed Canadian government, told a Canada commission of inquiry that he had been giving Johnson and other top Canadian track and field performers illegal performance enhancing drugs for years. He claimed he had to because everybody else was doing it — the same excuse elementary school kids give for cheating on tests.
At the height of their careers, Soviet Union track stars Tamara and Irina Press, who between them set 26 world records and won five Olympic gold medals, retired. The reason? David Wallechinsky, noted Olympic authority, speculates that "they may not have been women at all. When (gender) tests were instituted at international competitions, the careers of both Press 'sisters' came to a sudden halt" (page 144, The Complete Book of the Olympics).
Because of numerous abuses involving illegal drugs, blood doping, etc. the International Olympic Committee has made a considerable effort to make sure the Olympic Games are drug free.
Based on Friday's enlightening development, it appears the same type of effort is going to take place regarding deliberate judicial misconduct.
It's about time.
Deseret News editorial writer John Robinson can be reached at jrob@desnews.com
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February 16, 2002
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