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Russia blames media for gold medal

Sale and David Pelletier
Pelletier and Sale smile after being told they will share the gold medal with the Russians  


MOSCOW, Russia -- The Canadian media has been blamed for being behind the move to upgrade their figure skating pair's Olympic medal from silver to gold.

Russian television said its Canadian counterparts and press had used the controversy to boost its ratings and push the skating pair to gold.

The Russian skating community also believes the Olympic spirit has been damaged by the decision to award the gold to Jamie Sale and David Pelletier as well as the Russian duo Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze.

But Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien defended his country's athletes. He was quoted by Russian NTV station as saying he had watched the skating and in his opinion, Sale and Pelletier were the winners.

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The controversy began when the Russian pair were awarded the gold despite falling during their final routine last Friday.

The uproar was heightened after it was alleged a French judge had been influenced in voting for the Russians in a 5-4 decision.

CNN's Matthew Chance said in the Russian media, the tone of coverage has been indignant -- doubts raised over the original result, dismissed.

The accusations against the French judge are being played down in favour of Canadian manipulation, he added.

Russian sports commentator Vasily Solovyov said: "The Canadian pair wanted big scandal, to make big PR, public relations show for them because they can get now millions of contracts."

"It was a game and they won it."

A NTV television anchor said: "Such close attention to the international judges is seen by many athletes as an attempt by American television stations and newspapers to raise their own rating."

The unlikely turnaround has left some of Russia's young skaters, themselves future Olympic hopefuls, disillusioned with the Salt Lake City games.

Figure skater Ilya Klimkin said: "It isn't fair to give both of them a gold medal."

Some of the Russian skating establishment believes the decision was in response to its dominance of pairs skating during the past 38 years.

Valentin Piseyev, head of Russia's figure skating federation, was quoted by The Associated Press as saying: "If this happened to another pair...nobody would reconsider the decision."

Russian domination of world figure skating means championship golds are almost expected by coaches here, Chance said.

He added: "And the overwhelming opinion here is, despite the slip up, the Russian performance was stronger.

"There's astonishment, even bitterness the international Olympic committee decision has gone this way."

Alexander Kuznetsov, figure skating coach, said: "The Russians would never have brought up this issue.

"The Russians would have proven their right to victory at the next competition.

"As far as I know, Russia's never protested a result in the last several years."

Chance adds, the consensus in Russia is one of disappointment -- not because the Canadians now have a gold of their own -- but that this whole figure skating scandal is seen to have diminished the achievement of Russia's own medal winners.



 
 
 
 





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