International Skating Union rejects Russia's formal protest

AP via ESPN.com ^ | 2/22/02

[GeneD]

SALT LAKE CITY -- A Russian protest seeking a duplicate gold medal for Irina Slutskaya in women's figure skating was rejected Friday by the International Skating Union.

"The protest has been denied," ISU spokeswoman Aline Busset said.

She said details would be included in an official statement released later in the day.

Slutskaya appeared shocked when the gold medal went to America's Sarah Hughes on Thursday night. The Russian skating federation quickly protested, seeking a duplicate gold just as was awarded to Canadians Jamie Sale and David Pelletier in the pairs.

Slutskaya got her highest marks from judges from Russia, Slovakia and Bulgaria, while the Canadian and American judges went for Hughes, who went from fourth to first by winning the free skate.

Earlier Friday, Viktor Mamotov, the head of the Russian delegation in Salt Lake City, said, "We filed the protest last night because we think the judging was biased. Canadian pairs skaters were awarded their gold medals. Now that subjective judging harmed us, we want the same for Slutskaya."

[pray4liberty]

Slutskaya appeared shocked when the gold medal went to America's Sarah Hughes on Thursday night.

Well, now...could it be because Sarah Hughes skated perfectly and Irina didn't?? [/sarcasm off]

[JoeSixPack1]

Olympic Skating -- Seeya, nice to have known ya. Ta Ta

[Citizen of the Savage Nation]

So, who didn't see *this* coming. They had no case, as explained here

[Amore]

Making such a protest really makes the Russians seem petty.

[Shermy]

Just what the heck are the Russians protesting all about anyway? "North American conspiracy." Blah. I'm convinced its an inferiority complex from doing so poorly this olympics.

Ice Dancing: Clear evidence of cheating and collusion, gave the superior Canadian team a co-gold medal.

Ice skating: The guy who got the silver was lucky. The American should have got it. Well, "paying dues" has some stature in that world. And what about Sarah Hughes? She clearly and by far was the best skater. The scandal is that the Russian's marks for technical were so high. That was ridiculous. Actually Sahsa Cohen may have a gripe against the Russian and Kwan.

Cross-country: the lady's test came positive. I do believe that they should have said so earlier so they could have replaced her. But what would this be, a Nowegian plot?

[Utah Girl]

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[Utah Girl]

A Russian reporter actually asked the question during the press conference "Is the Russia Federation trying to divert attention from its poor performance here at the Olympics by filing this appeal?" The Russians are irked that the results from the female Russian skier were only given to them an hour before the race, and the rules state that in order to substitute an athlete you must do it at least two hours before the competition. I'm like, well, she cheated.

And the Russians see the awarding of the 2nd gold medal as bias with the pairs skating, what they don't say is that the French judge is suspected of cheating and fixing her marks. They're only seeing what they want to see.