The figure skating competition always looms large in the Winter Olympics, at that was certainly the case during the 2002 Salt Lake City games. But a larger storyline emerged that year: the pairs competition was fixed.
Two teams received gold medals that year. The Russian team of Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze were the original winners, and the scandal involved Canadians Jamie Sale and David Pelletier.
NBC Sports commentators Tom Hammond, Scott Hamilton, and Sandra Bezic broadcast the event live, reporting with Canadian commentators Chris Cuthbert, Paul Martini, and Barbara Underhill of CBC Sports. The commentators reported that Sale and Pelletier had won gold, but the Russians took home gold.
Suspicions were raised because scores didn’t add up on the scorecards. Judges from Russia, Poland, China, Ukraine, and France placed the Russians first, while the judges representing the United States, Canada, Germany, and Japan chose the Canadians. So, what really happened?
When French judge Marie-Reine Le Gougne was approached by Sally Stapleford, chair of the International Skating Union’s Technical Committee, Le Gougne said Didier Gailhaguet, the head of the French national skating federation, exercised pressure, telling her to vote for the Russians no matter how the other countries performed. Why? It was in exchange for giving the French team of Marina Anissina and Gwendal Peizerat an advantage in the ice dance competition. Once revealed, the scandal prompted a revamping of how figure skating is scored.
The story of the scandal and its aftermath is well told in a documentary entitled Meddling: The Olympic Skating Scandal That Shocked the World, which is available for viewing on Peacock.
