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Wednesday, February 13, 2002

By Lori Shontz, Post-Gazette Sports Writer

SALT LAKE CITY -- It was difficult not to feel sad for them.

Canadian pairs skaters Jamie Sale and David Pelletier cast a spell over the Salt Lake Ice Center and a worldwide television audience Monday night with a flawless, emotional performance in the long program at the 2002 Winter Olympics. Pelletier knelt to kiss the ice, then pumped his fists and screamed for joy. Sale covered her face, emerged with an ear-to-ear smile and yelled, "Oh my God. Yes."

And then they lost ... to a Russian team that stumbled during their routine.

Which isn't all that unusual, actually. A list of figure skating competitions without a judging controversy would be far shorter than a list of competitions that ended in debate.

Two things this time are different.

The Canadian Olympic delegation called for an investigation of the judging, which appeared to be based on the old Cold War lines -- five judges, most from old Eastern bloc countries, voted the Russians first. The other four judges, all Western, voted for the Canadians.

And the International Skating Union, the sport's international governing body, is conducting an "internal assessment" of the decision.

"There should be pressure applied to investigate the results of this particular event," said Sally Rehorick, Canada's chief of mission, a former skater and a judge for 25 years. "We will request an investigation. I do feel the credibility of our sport could be negatively affected by this decision."

The fact remains that the competition in question was the long program, in which scores for artistic impression matter more than those for technical merit. (In the short program, the emphasis is reversed.) And although the Russian team of Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze made technical errors -- he stumbled on the landing of a double axel, throwing the skaters briefly out of sync, and she struggled to hold onto the landing of several jumps -- they still skated a lyrical, compelling program.

Whether that program was better than the Canadians' ... well, that's up for debate.

The Olympics, as the world's largest sporting event, are always fertile ground for controversies. Because the results are determined by judges rather than goals or times or distances, figure skating lends itself to debate -- which is part of the reason the sport is so fun to watch.

It wouldn't be a good Olympics without a good scandal, and with three figure skating events remaining, this one isn't over yet. So it makes sense to be sure you have the players straight:

Sale and Pelletier, the Canadian pair. The adage about pairs skating is that two must skate as one, which means that many of history's top pairs teams -- dating to 1964 and the legendary Soviets, two-time champions Liudmila and Oleg Protopopov -- have an emotional connection. Pairs tend to be married, or brother and sister, or at least dating.

Sale and Pelletier have an off-ice relationship, and they put that energy into the program they skated Monday night, to music from the movie Love Story. They consider it their signature program, and they skated it beautifully.

"My advice to them," said Lori Nichol, who choreographed the Love Story program, "is to live the rest of their lives knowing they gave a gold-medal performance at the Olympics."

Keep in mind that the Canadians first used that program two years ago, and they recycled it for the Olympics because this season's program fell flat with the judges. It's possible some judges simply refused to give the victory to a pair with a program that old.

Then again, maybe not.

Scott Hamilton and Sandra Bezic, the NBC commentators whose opinions -- and sound bites -- are helping to keep the controversy alive.

Hamilton, the 1984 gold medalist, said during the program, after Sale landed the throw triple salchow, that the Canadians had won the gold medal. Bezic, a noted choreographer best known for designing the programs of 1988 gold medalist Brian Boitano, reacted to the judges' marks by saying, "I'm embarrassed for our sport."

"I really felt Elena and Anton were struggling to keep it together," Hamilton said yesterday afternoon. "It wasn't their most solid program, and it wasn't what we were used to seeing them skate all week. ... I thought the way [Sale and Pelletier] skated was so free and carried with such flow, and with all of their difficult elements being delivered so beautifully, I didn't think there would be any debate."

Berezhnaya and Sikharulid-ze, the winners who gave Russia its 11th consecutive Olympic gold medal in pairs.

Through no fault of their own, they have become the villains in this story. Nothing could be further from the truth. Their story, in fact, is as compelling as the Canadians'.

In 1996, Berezhnaya was practicing with her old partner, and as they did side-by-side spins his skate blade accidentally pierced her skull. She needed emergency brain surgery. The right side of her body was partially paralyzed, and for a while she couldn't speak or write.

Sikharulidze was already dating her, and they decided after the accident that when she returned to competition, she would do so with him. Together, they have won three Russian national titles, two world championships, the 1998 Olympic silver medal and now the gold.

Their coach, Tamara Moskvina, resents any implication the Russians were handed a victory just because they are, well, Russian.

"Decision?" she asked Monday night. "What decision? The results are already published, printed and distributed."

The only thing certain, so far, is that the debate will continue for the next few days, probably further sapping the energy of athletes who had already expended so much to prepare for the biggest competition of their lives.

"So many sleepless nights," Pelletier said Monday night. "So many nightmares. It was so much of a build up to this. I'd go to the grocery store, and it was 'Bring back the gold.' I'd go to the hardware store, and it was, 'Bring back the gold.' I'm just going in there to buy a hammer. This was the toughest day of my life."