Canadians Share Gold With Russians

 

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"The way I was feeling about the thing this morning, I was willing to go down the skeleton ride with no helmet," he said.

Manipulated or Misunderstood?

Many observers — as well as the crowd — felt the Canadians should have won with their near-perfect performance, and pointed to technical flaws in the Russian duo's routine.

Speculation began almost immediately that the French judge was influenced by outside factors, including the possibility that a Russian judge would vote for a French competitor in a later event.

The intrigue deepened when French Olympic chief Didier Gailhaguet told The Associated Press on Wednesday that his country's judge had been "somewhat manipulated." A day later, he said he had been misunderstood.

"I totally reject the interpretation placed on words attributed to me," Gailhaguet said.

The AP stood by its reporter, and said he spoke to Gailhaguet in French.

In addition, the referee who reviewed the judging of the event told the ISU that one of the judges told him that there had been pressure from that judge's national skating union to vote for the Russian pair.