'Not impossible'

Canadian officials ask panel to award second gold

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- Canadian Olympic officials asked a court of arbitration late Thursday night to award a gold medal to the figure skating pair whose narrow loss to the Russians touched off one of the sport's most heated judging controversies.

In an urgent appeal, the Canadians asked the Court of Arbitration for Sport to compel the nine judges involved in Monday night's pairs competition to testify before a CAS panel.

A CAS spokesman said a hearing would be held in Salt Lake City at 2 p.m., Friday, to rule on the Canadians' request for the judges' testimony. Until then, the arbitration panel ordered the International Skating Union to ensure that its referees and judges remain here and be prepared to bring along any records relating to their scoring of the event.

Canadians Jamie Sale and David Pelletier were beaten by the Russian pair after a 5-4 vote of the judges. Almost immediately, a controversy erupted.

The ISU has scheduled a meeting Monday to review the scoring. The International Olympic Committee, in a highly unusual move, told the skating federation to resolve the matter as quickly as possible.

Canadian officials had said previously they didn't want Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze stripped of the gold medal, but they believe Sale and Pelletier should be rewarded if any evidence of wrongdoing is uncovered.

In the appeal to the CAS, the Canadians asked that the gold medal be awarded "on the merits of the case."

The arbitration panel frequently handles Olympic disputes to keep the cases out of the courts. The ISU would be bound by its decision.

Earlier, the IOC wouldn't rule out the possibility that a second gold medal could be awarded to the Canadian skaters as a way to end the judging controversy.

"The IOC will consider any request from the ISU," president Jacques Rogge said.

IOC member Kevan Gosper said the committee hasn't discussed such a proposal, but added, "I'm not saying it can't happen."

The head of the skating union said it would be "very difficult, not impossible," to award a gold medal to Sale and Pelletier.

"Nothing is impossible," Ottavio Cinquanta told NBC Sports.

Earlier, he rebuffed pressure to speed up a review of the judging despite demands for action from the IOC and worries by skaters that the controversy might taint other events.

"We do not understand why we should be deciding something so important as a medal in one day," Cinquanta said later Thursday while at the men's final. "We want to make the proper decision. It is not easy."

French judge Marie-Reine Le Gougne has been at the center of the controversy almost since the start.

Didier Gailhaguet, head of the French Olympic committee and the country's figure skating federation, told an Associated Press reporter she was pressured to "act in a certain way" before she voted for the Russians on Monday night.

During an interview in French, he said she was "somewhat manipulated," but denied any wrongdoing by his federation.

"Some people close to the judge have acted badly and have put someone who is honest and upright but emotionally fragile under pressure," Gailhaguet said Wednesday night. "We cannot continue to let our judge be lambasted in this way. What is true is that Marie-Reine has been put under pressure, which pushed her to act in a certain way."

On Thursday, after saying his remarks had been misinterpreted, Gailhaguet addressed the subject again at an evening news conference.

"It is clear that Marie-Reine was approached by certain people who had an interest to see their couple win -- coaches, left and right. It is a classic thing in figure skating," he said.

Referring to the ISU, Gailhaguet added, "She wrote to the highest authority that her vote was not influenced and that she voted in honesty and with good conscience."

During the 40-minute session, Gailhaguet again denied that the French federation pressured her, or that there was any collusion with judges from Eastern European nations.

Le Gougne was one of five judges who favored the Russians despite the couple's obvious technical error. She voted along with majority, joining judges from former Eastern bloc members Russia, Poland, Ukraine and China.

ISU rules prevent judges from commenting publicly about decisions. Le Gougne refused to accept calls to her hotel.

The awarding of two gold medals in a single event has happened before.

In 1993, the IOC awarded a second gold medal in synchronized swimming from the Barcelona Games to Canada's Sylvie Frechette. The IOC's executive board agreed that Frechette was placed second because of a judging error and should be awarded a gold.

The decision came after the Canadian swimming federation protested because a Brazilian judge was not allowed to correct the 8.7 score she mistyped into her computer. The intended 9.7 would have given Frechette the gold. The IOC's decision did not affect Kristen Babb-Sprague of the United States, who was originally awarded the gold and kept her medal.

Some skaters feared that judges might now juggle their votes to avoid the appearance of fixing in ice dancing. That might hurt the chances of the favored French couple, Marina Anissina and Gwendal Peizerat.

"I think the judges are in big trouble if the French win," said Alexander Zhulin, who coaches U.S. and Canadian ice dancers and was a silver medalist in 1994. "Because of huge pressure on the Russian federation, they will try not to vote for the French. It's best for everyone if Lithuania will win."

German ice dancer Kati Winkler said the judges will have to be careful.

"What happened on Monday was wrong because it was so obvious," she said. "Now everyone will be watching what the judges do."

 

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