Wednesday, February 13, 2002
Questionable judging as old as the sport
By GEORGE GROSS -- Toronto Sun
Don't call us crybabies, call them crooks -- the panel of international figure skating judges, that is.
The history of crooked judging goes back half a century and I had the displeasure of following the act of these people for that length of time. So, perhaps, I should know something about the sport and its behind-the-scenes manipulations.
The shenanigans didn't start in Salt Lake City on Monday night when the panel of nine judges awarded the Olympic gold medal to the Russian pair of Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharuldizde by a 5-4 margin over the flawless Canadian duo of Jamie Sale and David Pelletier.
The deciding vote was cast by a French woman by the name of Marie Reine Le Gougne, a name certainly not as well known as those of Joan of Arc or Bridget Bardot.
But what did surprise me was the presence of Yuri Balkov of the Ukraine, the very judge who was caught fixing the outcome of the dance competition at the Nagano Olympics in 1998, then was suspended and, obviously, reinstated.
Sickening, you say? Just as improper was the conduct of Tamara Maskvina, coach of the Russian pair, who was seen all week schmoozing with judges and skating officials. It didn't hurt her cause, either, that Vitaly Smirnov of Russia is vice-president of the IOC and Valery Borzov of the Ukraine is a member of that scandal-plagued organization.
But let's go back to 1951. Jacqueline du Bief of France was the best female skater in the world, but just like Sale and Pelletier, she had to be satisfied with a silver medal at the world championship in Milan, Italy where she finished behind England's Jeannette Altwegg.
"I was told before the championships in Milan that I wouldn't win, but officials said they would guarantee me that I would win the next year (1952) in Paris," du Bief recalled to me, as well as in her book which claimed figure skating judging is dishonest.
In her book, Du Bief recounted that she was approached by a coach of another skater and told that if she could convince the French judge to vote for the skater of her country, she in turn would do the same for French skaters. She turned down the offer, but won anyway -- on French soil.
It's not the only time that these approaches have happened. I was approached by a judge from a certain country in the 1960s, who made me the same offer, pleading with me that since I knew the Canadian judge, perhaps I could influence her to vote for the skater from his country.
I told the fellow where to go, sat down and wrote my story for The Toronto Telegram. The story was picked up by a Vancouver figure skating magazine and read by officials of the International Skating Union. The secretary general was George Hassler of Switzerland, who informed me that I would not be accredited to the world championships in Vienna for "damaging the reputation of the ISU."
The late John Bassett, publisher of the newspaper, didn't like it one bit and ordered me to go to Vienna, buy my tickets and report as usual. When I arrived in Vienna, Hassler obviously had changed his mind and my credentials were waiting for me at the stadium. It was funny, but the international media were interviewing me the first day rather than the skaters.
Otto Jelinek, former pairs world champion with his sister Maria and later Canadian sports minister, confirmed in The Telegram that backroom deals were indeed being made in figure skating and he stood by my story.
Incidentally, the Jelineks were jobbed out of a bronze medal in the 1960 Squaw Valley Olympics when they outskated the American couple of Ronald and Nancy Luddington, yet were placed fourth because, well, the Games were held on American soil.
Three weeks later at the Vancouver world championships, the Jelineks didn't skate nearly as well, but the crooked judges placed them second behind Canada's Barbara Wagner and Bob Paul. Of course, the championships were held on Canadian soil.
An almost classic case of fixed judging was introduced to me at the 1963 world championship in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy. Alain Calmat of France, Manfred Schnelldorfer of Germany and Canada's Don McPherson were considered the favorites.
Half of the judging panel wanted Schnelldorfer to win and placed Calmat, who later became sports minister of France, in third. Not to be outdone, the other half of the panel did the reverse. Both factions pushed McPherson into second place and the Canadian skater won the global title on the majority of second-place votes.
Space won't permit me to list other glaring incidents of downright dishonesty in the sport. Dick Pound of Montreal, the watchdog over fair play, suggested eliminating dancing from the Olympics, claiming that in singles and pairs there were no problems.
He may now change his mind after the Salt Lake City fiasco. And thanks to Marie Reine Le Gougne, Canadians may want to stop drinking French wine.
2002 Games Figure Skating Coverage
