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American Morning

Exciting and Historic Day at Olympics

Aired February 20, 2002 - 07:14   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It was an exciting and historic day at the Olympics. Yesterday, figure skater Michelle Kwan said she felt America was behind her and took the lead in the women's two part skating competition. And a member of the winning bobsled team for the U.S., Vonetta Flowers, became the first black athlete in Olympic history to win a gold medal at the Winter Games.

But highlights of the incredible day were clouded by new allegations of corruption among skating judges. The Lithuanian ice dancing team, as Daryn Kagan told you earlier, are protesting the results of Monday's competition that put them in fifth place with a clean performance behind two teams who fell.

CNN's Carol Lin is in Salt Lake City and joins us now -- Carol, let's start with that flawless performance by Michelle Kwan. It was just an amazing performance.

CAROL LIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it was amazing, Anderson. And when she hit the ice it was like U2 came on stage. The crowd went absolutely wild, flashing cameras and just screaming. She is in first place with a near perfect performance of 5.9s across-the-board for the presentation. She used the same music, the same Rachmaninov that she used back in 1998, with which she won the silver. So maybe it's a bit of superstition that it might get her the gold this time.

But a big controversy once again on ice dancing. The Lithuanian pair skater, the ice dancers, placed fifth in that competition and they are complaining about their positioning and they are filing a formal appeal with the International Skating Union. What they are saying is why the heck did we place fifth when Russia, who got the silver, and Italy, who got the bronze, actually fell during the competition? The Canadians, who placed fourth, also fell.

So they are filing this appeal. They do not expect that their rankings will change, but it's really a complaint against the former Soviet Union judges, whom they are saying have a big problem in terms of bloc voting. So they wanted to just register that complaint.

In the meantime, you mentioned a big win and some records set for the United States, a two man women's bobsled, kind of an ironic title. It is the first time that the women competed in the bobsledding competition and the U.S. took home the gold with driver Jill Bakken and Vonetta Flowers, whom you just mentioned, Anderson, is the first African-American to win a medal in the Winter Olympics. Pretty cool. COOPER: It was pretty cool. And the two bobsledders are going to be on the 11 o'clock show here on CNN.

LIN: Oh, great.

COOPER: So you can stay tuned for that.

All right, Carol Lin, thanks a lot, in Salt Lake City.

LIN: You bet.

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