FR LIVE EVENT-Olympic Scandal Press Conference..

MSNBC.com ^ | February 13, 2002 | Kelly O' Donnell

[codebreaker]

Sandra Bezic with the commentary..

[Osinski]

That wasn't the spelling police. That was a comment meant to illustrate the shortcomings of the pompous who quote themselves.

[is_is]

That was a comment meant to illustrate the shortcomings of the pompous who quote themselves.

Damn....i knew i should have read your mind instead of going with what it appeared you were doing..... correcting my spelling......

[notpoliticallycorewrecked]

Have you removed your tongue from your cheek yet?

[notpoliticallycorewrecked]

I ask all of you... if you were the Candians and you finally given the gold medal... would it mean even a third as much to you as it would have a week or two ago?

Just as much as Bush finally being declared the winner of the election!

[NYCVirago]

I am personally more afraid that the gays will demand that same sex couples be allowed into the pairs and ice dance competitions. Fortuneately, money still rules the olympic games and too many people would turn off the tv if that ever happened.

Yeah, and we all know how there are no gays in figure skating already! ;)

[My2Cents]

War on terror? Boring. Skating scandal? STOP THE PRESSES!

New member of the Axis of Evil: the fraternity of Olympic figureskating judges.

I feel badlly for both the Russian and the Canadian pairs. On the other hand, everyone knows that the judging of Olympic figureskating has been a freakin' joke for years. Why put so much time, effort, and emotional investment into something that is ultimately corrupt? I mean, if there's a better than even chance you're going to get screwed, why bother?

However, in the interest of equity and justice, I'd like to see something dramatic happen: the US and Canadian skaters pull out of the Olympics entirely, or the illegal backflips in front of the judges as a protest. But this is the Olympics, and sadly, all of the participants are required to uphold the "dignity of the Olympics." Hence, nothing will happen.

[My2Cents]

In the midst of February sweeps, NBC is smashing everyone else.

As a protest, I'll be watching "Star Trek: Enterprise" tonight instead of the Olympics.

BTW, talking about a FIX! -- how is it that the Nielsen people award NBC huge ratings that affect the cost of advertising future shows in specific timeslots, when the network is broadcasting the Olympics and not their usual tripe?

[My2Cents]

ROFL!!!! Outragous! Is that the line-up of skaters, or the judges for the ice dancing competition? (Dr. Evil, Tonya, OJ, Usama, and I guess Goebbels.) Best laugh I've had all day....Truly an "Axis of Evil."

[My2Cents]

Russians always score extra in the "intangibles" category by being traditional, aka "boring". True, the judging community hates innovation, or anything that smacks of originality.

[colorado tanker]

Have you removed your tongue from your cheek yet? Hep, ish shuck oo my sheek an I cann gesh ish off!

[notpoliticallycorewrecked]

Hep, ish shuck oo my sheek an I cann gesh ish off!

Is that like "Help! I've fallen and I can't get up?"

Do we need to get you a moniter of some kind? Maybe we can pass the hat!

[sharktrager]

May not be "proven" but it's not just a hypothetical from Costas. The judge admitted that she was pressured by the French organization to vote for the russians.

The smoking gun?

[Spirited]

"The Italians are supposed to finish first in Ice Dancing. Russia will get the silver and France is guaranteed the Bronze, according to the Toronto paper that broke the story.

Can you imagine the uproar if the Ice Dancing actually finishes that way?"

I suspect that France, Russia and Italy are "scheduled" to win but they may change the order. My only consolation is that this has drawn enough flack here that there may have to be "cleaner" judging.

It is possible that they are so certain of their "cover" that they will be blatant. Certainly the urge to embarass North Americans could be so significant that it overshadows everything else.

[Spirited]

Heavens, No. That is an ethnical tint you "see". By no means "ethical".

[PoisedWoman]

I don't think Nancy Kerrigan medals without the Tonya Harding incident. Technically she was a very skilled skater, but that shark mentality of hers (cold dead eyes, and the way she would attack a move like it had insulted her, she never flowed into a move) really killed her artistic performance.

Agree, Kerrigan looked so awful to me, I'd avert my eyes when she skated. Her neck was inelegant, she was always leading with her Adam's Apple...as though she really had one. Clumsy! Not a graceful skater. I actually thought Tonya was better.

[mrustow]

I expect Jesse Jackson to show up any minute and demand something be done about the under-representation of blacks in figure skating.

I am personally more afraid that the gays will demand that same sex couples be allowed into the pairs and ice dance competitions. Fortuneately, money still rules the olympic games and too many people would turn off the tv if that ever happened.

I hadn't considered that -- a new civil rights testing ground! Now that you've thought of it, you can bet that others will, too. And even if they should lose, they can still try to have things their way, and make things ugly, while they're at it!

[Pres Raygun]

That pretty much settles it. If she admitted it in a meeting there are witnesses. All the silly arguments about drab costume, stale routines, premature celebrations, sweaty armpits and the Russian pair's general superiority to the crass north canadians are now both moot and silly.

[discostu]

If you looked at the thread you'd see DJ was participating in it the whole time and some of what I said she ignored was stuff I posted to her.

[discostu]

Unfortunately you have circular reasoning. You're saying that the results prove collusion and the results are the only necessary proof. I'm trying to point out valid reasons for the results. Reasons you have insulted and refuse to even consider (commish did the best job in post 346 where he clearly shows how even by winning the points for the long program the Canadians still lost the overall score to the Russians because of the point totals from the short, thus the Russians get the gold).

But anybody that doesn't assume there was collusion is apparently and idiot.

[discostu]

Interesting. I think it's funny how the language keeps changing. First it was a "deal" a quid pro quo to exchange gold medals. Then everything was "voted" before the competition even started. Now she was "preasured". I still think commish's post 346 in this thread shows everything we need to know. The judges gave the Canadians the win for the long program, but the Russians won the short (no one contests that, I've even seen the Canadians admit the Russians were better in the short). And inspite of the 2-1 weighting of the long program in the overall score it went to the Russians by a nose. Most of the discussion is obsessed with the long, nobody wants to talk about the short, the gold isn't handed out based entirely on the long. Had I been a judge the Canadians don't even win the long, I didn't like their program, but that's my opinion. Which is all I'm trying to say, it's about the opinion of 9 people, there are no absolutes.

I think it's interesting that MSNBC had that on their website. I was watching the Olympic coverage non-stop during the day yesterday (about 9AM to 5:30PM MST, went to dinner after that) and they NEVER mentioned any of this French judge stuff during any of their rather long discussions on the subject (they did mention in passing the Toronto story about everything being decided in advance, but they didn't delve into it). I didn't catch any of the nighttime coverage, don't know if this part of the story became good enough for TV after sunset.

Overall it's much ado about nothing. The Russians will keep their medals, FS won't make any significant changes to the judging or scoring methods and by the end of the month this will be an infrequently refered to foot note in Olympic history.