'Corruption' returns to taint Games

GALLERY: latest from Salt Lake City

The most graceful of sports, it seems, can be the most savage. Eight years after Tonya Harding had a rival attacked with a baseball bat in an attempt to grab Olympic glory, the world of figure skating has been shattered by allegations of political bias, corruption, voterigging and incompetence.

In one of the most bitterly contested decisions in the sport's history, Russian pair Yelena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze were awarded the gold medal at the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City over Canadians Jamie Sale and David Pelletier.

However, the Canadian pair were judged by most observers, including former Olympic champion Jayne Torvill, to have performed flawlessly. "They were clearly better than their Russian rivals," said Torvill. "Only five judges thought otherwise, which led to a disgraceful result.

"The Russian pair missed one of their elements and, technically, they should have been deducted for that. Sale and Pelletier did not make a single mistake. In future games the judges ought to be made to at least write one paragraph each on why they have come to their decision so they are accountable in some way."

The result stunned everyone. Sale and Pelletier buried their heads in disbelief as the results came up on the scoreboard. In a ruling that largely mirrored old Cold War divisions, the Russian, Polish, Ukrainian, Chinese and French judges put the Russians first, while the Canadian, US, German and Japanese backed the Canadians.

Today, the outcry grew with revelations that the referee at Monday's competition had alleged impropriety in the judging. The underlying allegation is that the voting was rigged to ensure Russia won Monday's pairs and France the ice dance competition - the latter won by Torvill and Christopher Dean at the Sarajevo Olympics in 1994.

The choice of Salt Lake City as the venue for the Games had already seen the biggest corruption scandal in Olympic history, amid claims that voting for the host city was rigged.