Posted on 08/08/2002 2:19:40 PM PDT by GeneD
Filed at 4:50 p.m. ET
VENICE, Italy (AP) -- The man accused of trying to fix Olympic figure skating told ice dancing champion Marina Anissina her event could be banned from the games because of ``the mess,'' Italian police said Thursday.
According to police wiretap transcripts, reputed Russian mobster Alimzhan Tokhtakhounov told Anissina, who won the gold medal with partner Gwendal Peizerat, that she could be ``the last champion.''
The latest transcripts were obtained by The Associated Press a week after the arrest of Tokhtakhounov on U.S. and Italian charges of corrupting judges at the Salt Lake City Games. Prosecutors say he wanted to make sure a Russian team won the pairs gold medal, and the French team of Anissina and Peizerat won ice dancing.
The transcripts are from wiretapped conversations between Tokhtakhounov and various callers -- one of them allegedly Anissina, a native Russian. Police said Anissina called Tokhtakhounov from Lyon, France, in March, and they discussed the skater's future.
Tokhtakhounov also refers to having known Anissina's father since ``we were young.''
Anissina denies all involvement and insists it is not her voice on the tapes. She acknowledges she knows Tokhtakhounov, but says that has nothing to do with her winning the gold medal.
The woman on the tapes told Tokhtakhounov: ``My coach said that there have been some scandals that haven't been proven true. Everyone is shocked.''
Replied Tokhtakhounov: ``The mess has begun! I think you are the last champion of the Olympic Games. I think that ice dancing will be banned!''
Added the woman, ``Probably figure skating, not the ice dancing.''
The original Russian was translated by police into Italian and then into English by The Associated Press.
The conversation, which took place during the World Figure Skating Championships, came a month after the Olympics. At Salt Lake City, Russia's Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze won the pairs gold medal by the slimmest of margins over Canadians Jamie Sale and David Pelletier.
The Canadians were awarded a second set of gold medals after French judge Marie-Reine Le Gougne said she was pressured to vote for the Russians.
A week after the pairs competition, Anissina-Peizerat won France's first figure skating gold since 1932.
The International Skating Union denies it ignored evidence of a conspiracy to fix Olympic results.
Claiming it hasn't received ``reasonable, verified and credible evidence'' of any vote-fixing among skating judges, the ISU said Thursday in a statement signed by president Ottavio Cinquanta it would take action if such proof was presented.
``Unlike governmental authorities, the ISU cannot subpoena persons or documents, tap into telephone calls, seize documents, mail, computers, computer discs or e-mail,'' the ISU said.
``If and when the ISU receives from Italian or U.S. authorities probative evidence establishing that persons within the jurisdiction of the ISU have engaged in improper conduct to influence the results at the Salt Lake City Olympic Winter Games, the ISU will immediately commence further disciplinary actions.''
Russian sports officials denied any wrongdoing Thursday, denouncing what they called ``groundless attacks'' on their athletes.
``We can't say this happened or didn't happen, but there were no contacts with us, we had no contacts with any such person,'' Russian Figure Skating Federation chief Valentin Piseyev said.
Alla Shekhovtseva, who voted for the second-place Russians ahead of the French in ice dancing, said she was not pressured and didn't believe other judges were. She said any of three or four pairs could have won.
Marina Sanaya, who voted for the Russians in pairs, said the only pressure on the judges came from American referee Ron Pfenning.
Sanaya claimed Pfenning told the judges before the short program not to award Berezhnaya-Sikharulidze scores higher than 5.8 to give the teams skating later a chance. The Russians skated third of 20 couples in the program.
Pfenning noted his instructions are a common practice by referees and he did not mention the Russians or any other pair by name.
``We use reflective marking in competition,'' Pfenning said Thursday. ``We must reflect the performance. You must allow yourself an opportunity to have competition, and you can't close the door on others who are going to skate.
``I explained to the panel this was a competition and that every team has to have the opportunity to win.''
Per the article, good. I hope figure skating gets banned too.
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