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Canuck dancers still second rate with judges
And they did, right in the teeth.
Sadly, the political bias that plagued the ice-dance competition at the Nagano Olympics reared its ugly head at the Minneapolis Target Center yesterday, host of this year's worlds.
Kraatz and Bourne, who were denied a medal spot at the Nagano Games under dubious circumstances, skated a brilliant Silver Samba routine in the second compulsory dance yesterday and were scored a questionable third, after behind placed second following the first compulsory, a Golden Waltz.
The Russian team of Anjelika Krylova and Oleg Ovsyannikov, who placed second at the Olympics behind compatriots Pasha Grishuk and Evgeny Platov (who are not at these worlds) maintained first through both compulsories, even though they stumbled once.
The Canadians skated well in the first compulsory and were placed a deserving second by a panel containing only five Europeans. They skated even better in the second dance, but were scored third, dropping them into a second-place tie with the French team of Marina Anissina and Gwendal Peizerat. Go figure. All seven judges scoring the Silver Samba were Europeans and, of course, many of the Euro judges this season have been accused of voting in blocs.
"For me, Shae and Vic deserved first place, especially considering the Russians made a mistake," Canadian coach Natalia Dubova said. "My team was really good, clean, with lots of expression."
There was a general expression of joy on the faces of the Krylova and Ovsyannikov, and Anissina and Peizerat, who beat out the Canadians for the bronze in Nagano, when the panel of judges for the original tomorrow and the free-dance on Friday was drawn, eight of the nine being Europeans -- pretty well guaranteeing that the final order of finish here will be the Russians, the French and the Canadians -- no matter how anyone skates.
"They're very happy. They own the panel," said Dubova, who waved aside suggestions that the judging would be fairer here than at the Olympics because most of the European judges are new faces.
"It doesn't matter who they are," Dubova said.
"They represent their country. And it's no secret they will do the best for their country."
A couple of the judges drawn to work the original and free-dance have a sordid history. The Italian judge, Isabella Micheli, was one of the gang of three who propped up the Russian and French dancers at the Champions series final last December. And the judge from Belarus, the Moscow-based Irina Absaliamova, has been accused of being a Russian puppet.