Saturday, February 16, 2002
No happy ending, yet
By PAUL FRIESEN -- Winnipeg Sun
Jamie Sale and David Pelletier have finally got what they deserved. But that doesn't mean this whole thing will have a happy ending.
I'd like our chances better if Sale and Pelletier had said, "Thanks, but no thanks," and told the International Skating Union to hang their gold medals where the Utah sun doesn't shine.
Because Sale and Pelletier don't need a piece of metal to tell them how they performed in the Olympic pairs competition last Monday. Like everybody who watched it, they already knew.
BAD SMELL
Like everybody else, they also knew there was a bad smell coming from behind the judges' bench, one that had nothing to do with rotten fish.
And yesterday's decision to award gold to the Canadian duo does nothing to rid the sport of that stench.
Sure, it's possible the move signals the beginning of a serious attempt to clean up the deep-rooted problems that have plagued figure skating for years.
But it's just as likely the people in power are simply trying to make everybody happy enough to just forget about the whole thing.
Let's face it, the uproar over the Skategate affair, from the general public and the media, played a huge role in getting the ISU to dig into the mess in the first place.
That uproar is sure to die down now, which is too bad.
Just imagine if Sale and Pelletier, who've shown class and maturity way beyond their years, refused to accept the ISU's little crumb yesterday. As a matter of principle. After all, that's what this is all about.
Where do you think that would have left the ISU bigwigs? The spotlight on them to do something would only have increased.
Now that they've admitted there was something very wrong in Salt Lake City, how do we know they're going to ensure it's corrected by the next Winter Games? Or even by the world championship in the spring?
"We don't," acknowledged longtime coach Gordon Linney, the guru of Manitoba figure skating. "They could be doing that just to cover it up and leave it. It's been going on for 100 years, you know."
If someone involved in the sport as long as Linney remains skeptical, we should all be.
As you can imagine, word of yesterday's decision was greeted with cheers at the Roland Michener Arena in Transcona, where some 265 competitors from this province, Saskatchewan, Ontario and the northern U.S. have gathered for the Manitoba Open Free Skate.
Not everybody, apparently, worries that the more things change, the more they'll stay the same.
"I don't believe so," said Lois Howard, executive director of the Manitoba section of Skate Canada. "I believe the people involved are listening seriously. It's a step in the right direction."
It was the easiest step to take, though, far easier than the ones still to come.
If figure skating is to clean itself up, organizers will have to step on a lot of toes. In a sport in which you wear picks, that's going to be painful.
"I still have a great deal of faith in my sport," Howard said. "Five days ago, I still believed in it. I always believe the right thing happens in the end. And it did."
Actually, this is only the beginning.
Earlier this week, a group of Grade 2 students from Dieppe School in Charleswood made a pair of gold medals out of paper plates and shipped them off to Sale and Pelletier to show their support.
If dirty judging isn't eradicated quickly, those paper medals will be worth a lot more than the ones dangling from the Canadians' necks.
Because at least they were given in the right spirit.
2002 Games Figure Skating Coverage
