2002 Olympic Winter Games Figure Skating Scandal - The Scandal

The Scandal

During the live broadcast, both the American (NBC Sports' Tom Hammond, Scott Hamilton and Sandra Bezic) and Canadian (CBC Sports' Paul Martini and Barbara Underhill) announcers proclaimed that Salé and Pelletier would win as they finished their routine, and expressed outrage when the judges' marks were announced.

There was immediate suspicion of cheating, according to ABC's Good Morning America and USA Today. Judges from Russia, the People's Republic of China, Poland, Ukraine, and France had placed the Russians first; judges from the United States, Canada, Germany, and Japan chose the Canadians. Suspicion fell almost immediately on the French judge, Marie-Reine Le Gougne. When Le Gougne returned to the officials' hotel, she was immediately confronted by Sally Stapleford, chair of the International Skating Union's Technical Committee. Le Gougne had an emotional breakdown in which she allegedly said that she had been pressured by the head of the French skating organization, Didier Gailhaguet, to vote for the Russian pair regardless of how the others performed.

She allegedly repeated this at the post-event judges' meeting the next day. It was alleged that this was part of a deal to get an advantage for French couple Marina Anissina and Gwendal Peizerat in the ice dance competition that was to follow a few days later. However later, in a signed statement, Le Gougne denied taking part in such a deal and also stated that she had truly believed the Russian pair deserved to win.