REACTION HOT TO COLD RESULTS PAIRS FINALE INVESTIGATED.

Byline: Steve Dilbeck Staff Writer

SALT LAKE CITY - Controversy. Fix. Back-room deals.

All the ugliness figure skating continually tries to avoid has reared its head at an international level again, and this time it's even acknowledging it.

The latest uproar comes from Canada, and most of the U.S. viewing public, which believe the Canadian couple in pairs skating should have rightly captured Olympic gold Monday instead of the winning Russian pair.

Canada requested an investigation Tuesday, and in something of an upset, the International Skating Union said it would conduct an ``internal investigation.'' ISU president Ottavio Cinquanta has scheduled a news conference this morning to address the controversy.

Sally Rehorick, chef de mission of the Canadian Olympic Association, demanded an investigation and said she never wanted to judge again.

``I feel like there should be pressure applied to investigate the results of this particular event,'' Rehorick said.

``I feel that the credibility of our sport could be negatively affected by the decision (Monday night).''

The Olympics have a long history of controversial decisions, though most harken back to the days of the Cold War. Although there has been protest before, this one was likely inflamed by NBC's coverage, when commentators Sandra Bezic - who is Canadian - and Scott Hamilton called it an outrage.

Doug Williams, a former international figure skater from Los Angeles and current judge, said he also felt Canada skated the better program, but was concerned by the one-sided national reaction.

``I personally would have given it to the Canadians,'' Williams said. ``But I believed when the Canadians finished skating, Sandra Bezic and Scott Hamilton went out on a limb by insisting there was no way they could lose. That disturbed me.

``I felt they were very slanted towards the Canadians, and so has been most of the press coverage. There was all this hype about the Canadians changing the course of history. They skated wonderfully, but based on what the criteria is for presentation, there was enough room that you could argue for the Russians.''

Russia and the Soviet Union had won the past 10 Olympics in figure skating, and Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharvlidze were favored at Salt Lake City.

But Sikharvlidze stumbled on his landing on a double-toe loop, and Sikharvlidze was slightly shaky on a later landing.

Canadians Jamie Sale and David Pelletier skated a clean program, but the Russians were awarded the gold on a 5-4 vote by the judges.

Russia, China, Poland, Ukraine and France voted for the Russian pair, while the U.S., Canada, Japan and Germany voted for the Canadians.

On Tuesday, the Chinese judge was ill and did not attend the men's short program. Skating enthusiasts quickly began speculating French judge Marie Reine le Gougne had sided with the Russians in hopes Russia would return the favor for the French in ice dancing, where they are favored.

Most of the skating community's reaction was firmly in Canada's camp.

``I completely disagree with last night's results, and I hope the ISU is able to straighten it out within their own organization and do something about it,'' said Frank Carroll, an American coach.

``We need to encourage people to want to figure skate and be part of this sport in the future, not to discourage young people from entering it because they feel like, `What's the point? Better I should speedskate against the clock, than to be judged by a group of people who really, probably are not getting the results right.' ''

Carroll was the coach of Linda Fratianne in the 1980 Olympics when she lost a highly controversial gold medal to East Germany's Anett Poetzsch, amid strong allegations of Eastern Bloc voting.

ISU secretary general Fredi Schmid said the outcry after Monday's decision prompted his organization to undertake the internal investigation to discover whether organization rules and procedures were followed.

Even if it's discovered something was improper, it's not expected the medal would be re-awarded to Sale-Pelletier, but that judges would be sanctioned.

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Russia's Anton Sikharvlidze and Elena Berezhnaya are unpopular gold medalists in Salt Lake City.

Amy Sancetta/Associated Press