On Friday, February 15, 2002 at 2:51:19 PM UTC-6, NotDeby wrote:

I have a really, really bad feeling about this. I think two gold medals doesn't do anyone any good.

Things to ponder: Since the French judge's marks were thrown out (from what I understand) as a result of her misconduct (I understood the misconduct to be her not reporting to the referee immediately when others tried to sway/pressure/manipulate her vote), leaving a tie, don't Berezhnaya/Sikharulidze still get the win based on the tiebreaker? If that's true, why think it's correct to award a double gold? If there are more allegations that still need to be investigated that might lead to more judge's
marks being thrown out, why not wait to take the step of awarding a second gold
until the margin of winning swings to Sale/Pelletier, when and if marks 'are' thrown out?

Ottavio Cinquanta said that public opinion has definitely affected this decision. I think THAT'S what should concern everyone who cares about skating the most. If the public gets to decide, why have rules, why have judges (most of whom are honest and hard-working and are busting their butts to get the fairest result -and I 'don't' believe North American's have the lock on that ethic)? Why not judge by applause-o-meter? Especially considering that, while some of that public is quite knowledgeable, not only are others totally un- or
mis-informed regarding skating, but all suffer from the same kinds of biases (national/cultural) the judges suffer from?

Will anyone have the guts to admit it is possible Berezhnaya/Sikharulidze
are deserving champions? Does anyone in the American media, especially after all this furor, have the cachangas to say they jumped on the story prematurely
and with little facts; that they were just looking for a story with legs? Does
anyone realize this whole thing means that not only is t.v. money driving skating, but the entire, mostly uninformed-about-skating media, as well?

How is it that skaters can be so sure that they have won over other skaters, when they know they are being judged on a wide range of criteria, not
just if they skate clean and pretty? Why does there seem to be such a gap between the beliefs of the judging community, the community of skating officials, and skaters and their coaches (and any of their other "people" - including agents, who, I think, REALLY should not be on the press conference podium)? I think if these parties could all get on the same page (or within a chapter or two, at least), there might not be all the resentment and suspicion
and feelings of injustice, sneekiness, and wrong-doing. I think they're still living in an inherited skating culture that should have been left behind 40 or
fifty years ago, at least.

It'll be interesting to try to gauge how the rest of the skating world (outside of North America) sees this. It'll be interesting to see something of
Elena and Anton.

But I think it's going to get uglier, before it gets better. So far, nobody wins.

Dump the Grand Prix Final.
NotDeby
~~~~~~~~~~
Skating is Dance. Paul Wylie should be skating.
"I don't need your three pirouettes if they're messy. Give me two,
but very clean and precise." - Agrippina Vaganova

LURCH

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