2002 Olympic Winter Games Figure Skating Scandal - The Competition

The Competition

In the figure skating pairs competition, Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze of Russia had won the short program over Jamie Salé and David Pelletier of Canada. In the free skate, Berezhnaya and Sikharulidze made a single minor yet obvious technical error when Sikharulidze stepped out of a double axel. Meanwhile, Salé and Pelletier skated a flawless program, albeit one that many experts considered to be of much lesser difficulty than that of the Russians. Previously, in their short program, Salé and Pelletier had tripped and fallen on their closing pose. Because the fall was not on an element, it did not receive a deduction, but it marred the program enough to land the pair in second place behind Berezhnaia and Sikharulidze. Final standings are made up of both the short and the long program marks and Salé and Pelletier had to perform substantially better than Berezhnaya and Sikharulidze in the long program to get gold.

The Canadians were the clear crowd favorite, as the Games were held in Canada. They chose to repeat "Love Story." A free-skate they'd skated to in previous seasons and getting well received at the Grand Prix Final prior to the Olympics. Sale and Pelletier had a flawless skate. They received 5.9s and 5.8s for technical merit, while the Russians received mostly 5.8s and 5.7s. However, for presentation, the Canadians received four 5.9s to the Russians' seven. The Canadians needed at least five 5.9s to overtake the Russians for first.

As it turned out, this margin held until the end, giving the gold medal to the Russians.