Thursday, February 14, 2002
Skategate a ratings hit for CBC
By DIANA ZLOMISLIC and STEVE SIMMONS -- Toronto Sun
Figure skating is riding a ratings high in the wake of Skategate.
Millions of Canadians staved off sleep Tuesday night to watch Richmond Hill's Elvis Stojko put himself out of medal contention.
CBC recorded a peak audience Tuesday between 11 p.m. and 11:30 p.m. during the men's short program, attracting 3,196,000 viewers. For the entire night, CBC averaged 2,253,000.
In comparison, Jamie Sale and David Pelletier's controversial gold-turned-silver performance in the pairs drew an audience of 3,942,000, making it the most-watched 30 minutes in Canadian sports television since the 1994 Grey Cup game.
been there, done that: Somewhere, Jean Senft must be saying, "I told you so."
The Vancouver-based figure skating judge was all but banished from the sport for blowing the whistle on the impropriety of judging at the Winter Olympics in Nagano in 1998.
It was Senft, you may remember, who turned in a Ukrainian colleague who was attempting to pre-fix the order of finish in the ice dance. All Senft got for her troubles was banishment. The Ukrainian judge, for the record, is back judging the dance competition here at the Winter Games.
Volunteer injured: A volunteer track worker lost a piece of her finger while working at the luge track yesterday. Drake Self, 49, of Logan, Utah, sustained the injury while trying to stop a runaway luge sled belonging to a Venezuelan, Igninia Boccalandro. Boccalandro had fallen off the sled. Self was taken to LDS Hospital and later released.
Bring your own chow: The Salt Lake Organizing Committee has found a way to deal with the lack of food at many of its venues. It announced yesterday it is allowing spectators to bring in their own food, which is something frowned upon at most controlled sporting events. "To help make the experience more comfortable, we're allowing individuals to bring in food and drink," Mitt Romney, SLOC president, said. "We've had to change the policy because our concessionaires are unable to keep up with spectators demands."
Government support: Secretary of State Paul DeVillers, who is responsible for amateur sport in Canada, stepped into the Jamie Sale-David Pelletier mess yesterday. Said DeVillers: "I know in the hearts and minds of Canadians they are truly champions. I want to express my tremendous respect for how they have handled an extremely difficult situation. They are role models for all Canadians."
2002 Games Figure Skating Coverage
