An Olympic injustice.Byline: The Register-Guard Figure skating figure skating Sport in which ice skaters, singly or in pairs, perform various jumps, spins, and footwork. The figure skate blade has a special serrated toe pick, or toe rake, at the front. is an Olympic sport in which subjective judgments, not objective clocks and measuring tapes, decide winners and losers. In such situations, controversy and disappointment are to be expected. So it was Monday night in Salt Lake City when the nine judges split 5-4 over which pair - Canadians Jamie Sale and David Pelletier For the American pair skater, see . David Jacques Pelletier (born November 22, 1974 in Sayabec, Québec) is a Canadian pairs figure skater, who is partnered with Jamie Salé. Early career Pelletier achieved early success as a pair skater with Julie Laporte. or Russians Elena Berezhnaya Elena Viktorovna Berezhnaya (Russian: Елена Викторовна Бережная and Anton Sikharulidze Anton Tarielyevich Sikharulidze was born October 25, 1976. He is a Russian pairs figure skater, currently professional and partnered with Yelena Berezhnaya. With Berezhnaya, he won a silver medal at the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano and a gold medal at the 2002 Winter Olympics in - should win the gold medal gold medal traditional first prize. [Western Cult: Misc.] See : Prize . The gold went to the Russian duo; the Canadians ended up with the silver medal. The decision has sent shock waves through the sport and the Winter Olympic Games. Anyone who watched saw an impeccable, fault-free performance by Sale and Pelletier, while the performance of Berezhnaya and Sikharulidze was uneven and, on occasion, faltering. Yet when the votes were counted, the judges from Russia, China, Poland, Ukraine and France opted for the Russians, while Canada, the United States, Germany and Japan chose the Canadians. So unjust was the judges' decision that figure skating's governing body, the International Skating Union The International Skating Union (ISU) is the international governing body for competitive ice skating disciplines, including figure skating, synchronized skating, speed skating, and short track speed skating. , will conduct an "internal assessment." Such an investigation is unlikely to change the outcome, but it could change figure skating. Here's longtime figure skating coach Frank Carroll's assessment of Monday night's results: "People say figure skating shouldn't be in the Olympic Games because it's a play sport, it's not a real sport. You can almost see where they're coming from when you watch that (the pairs result) on TV. The ISU ISU Iowa State University ISU Issue ISU Idaho State University ISU Illinois State University ISU Indiana State University ISU International Skating Union ISU International Space University ISU I-Shou University (Taiwan) has a lot of work to do as far as getting the judging system worked out." Amen. As a Canadian official noted, subjectivity in judging is fine "as long as the subjectivity is based on fair play and in the spirit of the Olympics." Should figure skating continue as an Olympic sport? Certainly, as long as the judges leave their nationalism, their politics and their you-scratch-my-back-I'll-scratch-yours attitudes at home. Judging such an elegant and complex sport should - must - be fair and honest and based on what occurs on the ice. Sale and Pelletier won the gold fair and square, but they go home with the silver. That's not fair. |
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