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CNN Newsnight Aaron Brown
Canadian Skaters Awarded Gold; Nevada Fights Against Nuclear Waste
Aired February 15, 2002 - 22:00 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.
AARON BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: Good evening again, everyone. We begin with a question. Just how stupid would I have to be to dive again into the subject of figure skating? That is a rhetorical question. Please do not go running to your computers.
I am reasonably sure that right after the two Canadian skaters, the happiest person on the planet that this controversy has been resolved, is your humble reporter. So happy in fact that the program tonight will look at the story three ways, the straight story of course. But that's just the appetizer.
The entree will be a segment we call "Their News." We'll look at the story as it was reported today in Russia, in Canada and in France, home of the now suspended judge. And this, as I said is a three- course meal, and the accordion guy supplies the dessert.
And for those of you who believe I need to pay some penance on this subject, I would say the accordion guy qualifies. After all, you can turn the TV set off when he goes off key, and he does. I have to stay to the bitter end.
We begin, as always, with the whip around the world and the reporters covering it. Carol Lin is in Salt Lake City tonight, and yes until another controversy rolls around, probably sometime tomorrow, the skaters are still the story of the Olympic games. Carol, the headline please.
CAROL LIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Aaron, this controversy may still continue, but the Canadians get the gold. A French judge has been suspended. Tired fans are finally relieved. But we're wondering whether the international skating community has swept the problem under the rug. We'll be talking about that, Aaron.
BROWN: Thank you very much. Now to the White House, a long running controversy over what to do with high-level nuclear waste. Major Garrett has the duty, and he joins us from the White House. Major, a headline please.
MAJOR GARRETT, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good evening, Aaron. Twenty years ago, Congress ordered the Federal Government to find a place in America to store tens of thousands of tons of highly radioactive nuclear waste, and keep it safe for 10,000 years. Today, President Bush named that place, Yucca Mountain, Nevada. BROWN: Thank you, Major. Some unsettling news from Afghanistan today, Brian Palmer has rotated into the country. He's in Kabul tonight. Brian, a headline from you please.
BRIAN PALMER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Aaron, it's a rainy Saturday morning here in Kabul. The head of the interim government of Afghanistan, Hamid Karzai, called Thursday's killing of a government minister an assassination -- Aaron.
BROWN: The details on that, back with all of you shortly. Also tonight, we'll talk with the man who did hard time for two rapes he confessed to, but crimes science says he did not commit. This is a story we reported on last week. The man has now been freed from prison, and he'll join us tonight.
If you couldn't get through the book, there's always the opera. Oh yes, that will make it easy. "War and Peace" the opera being staged here in New York. That will only take you about four hour, or you could watch our piece, which will take you about three minutes, actually fabulous stuff.
And from opera to Barry, the NEWSNIGHT version of "Beauty and the Beast" as we said, Barry singing about skating, and he'll give one person a free accordion lesson if they can predict what song he's mangling tonight, all of that to come in the hour ahead.
We begin with the Olympics. In 1924, an American ski jumper named Andres Haugen (ph) was awarded fourth place in the first Winter Olympic games. In 1974, 50 years later, an historian checking the records figured out the judges had made a mistake and that Haugen should have won third place, the Bronze medal. Haugen was 83 when the IOC gave him his long overdue medal.
This time, it happened more quickly. We go back to Salt Lake City and CNN's Carol Lin. Carol, good evening.
LIN: Good evening, Aaron. This time it didn't take 50 years. It only took four days for the IOC to make an extraordinary decision here to award a gold medal, a second gold medal to the Canadian skating pair, Jamie Sale, and David Pelletier.
Now, the IOC has said that the French judge in that pair skating competition has been indefinitely suspended, after "she was approached and pressured to act a certain way, which did not allow skaters to be judged equally." The International Olympic Committee says that this matter is now closed. Well, we got some reaction on the streets.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: To award the gold medal to Sale and Pelletier.
LIN: If you're Canadian, there is joy.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm happy for the athletes, not only for the skaters, but also in particular for all the other athletes. LIN: There was relief.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Canada got what they deserved, and I think it's a good sign for the rest of the figure skating competition here and hopefully down the line.
LIN: If you are Russian, there is diplomatic disappointment.
MARGARET KIRELEV, RUSSIAN OLYMPIC HOST: I certainly believe that they did very well, but the crying maybe gets the marble. So they did get the marble.
LIN: People standing in long lines to buy Olympic souvenirs got the news and feel for the Russians.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, it's not their fault.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The skaters didn't just give themselves a gold medal, the judges did. But I do think the Canadians (UNINTELLIGIBLE) that night.
LIN: The scandal has captivated Olympic fans and the world. At the Sky Box Sports Bar, Jeff Flamm (ph) compares Skate Gate to Salt Lake's other Olympic scandal.
JEFF FLAMM: Right. It's gone on before, to get the Olympics to a city. Unfortunately, they were caught here. So I think it's really tightened it up for years to come and I think it will be the same on judging.
LIN: His brother Brian disagrees. Does it make you feel like the system is clean now?
BRIAN FLAMM: No. I don't know. It will probably happen again.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LIN: So, Aaron, barring any other surprises, David Pelletier and Jamie Sale will be presented their gold medal, we are expecting sometime next Thursday, which is the last night of the figure skating competition. So the Russians get the gold. The Canadians get the gold, and the International Skating Union is hoping that this is the last that the public will hear about this controversy.
BROWN: My luck the medal ceremony will be Thursday night at 10:00 Eastern time. What do we know? Do we know who approached the French judge and what the French judge was asked to do?
LIN: Aaron, what is troubling about this is that there's going to be a lot that we don't know, and a lot that we may not find out. No, the International Skating Union is not saying who approached the French judge.
What is being alleged is that the French Skating Federation, the sports federation, is saying that the official judge was pressured in some manner. They're saying that the Russians are not involved. But, what really happened?
Now originally, there's supposed to be this meeting on Monday by the International Skating Union, which is supposed to convene this big panel. There was supposed to be a big investigation, an internal assessment they were saying.
There's no guarantee that that meeting is going to take place, and now that the public pressure is off, since the attitude is "well, the Canadians got what they want, so nobody has a right to complain anymore." The International Skating Union feels that it can take care of its own business behind closed doors.
BROWN: Carol, thank you. Carol Lin in Salt Lake City for us tonight. Now when figure skating is your lead story, the second story in a news program is a bit tough, especially when it involves someone many people consider to be a traitor. This story does.
John Walker Lindh was back in court today, the judge in his case setting a trial date of the 26th of August. Walker's lawyer objected, asking the trial not begin until after the first anniversary of the September 11th attacks. The judge said he would take that under advisement, make a final decision as the trial date draws closer.
From the beginning of the war in Afghanistan, there has always been a question hanging, can anyone really run the place? Tonight, the question is back on the table and the question mark is bigger than ever.
A ranking government official has been killed. There are signs that old feuds are emerging and a government just months old is seeing its power and authority challenged. And these are supposed to be the good guys. Once again, CNN's Brian Palmer is in Kabul for us tonight. Brian, good evening.
PALMER: Aaron, at a news conference Friday night, Kabul time, the government listed the names of those accused of this killing, what's been called an assassination. All of them are senior members of Mr. Hamid Karzai's own administration.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HAMID KARZAI, INTERIM GOVERNMENT LEADER: We had a very tragic incident yesterday.
PALMER (voice over): Afghanistan's interim leader, Hamid Karzai, speaks out calling Thursday's killing of a government minister an assassination.
All 20 suspects listed are high-ranking government and military officials. Five of the accused are from the highest reaches of power, among them the head of the Ministry of Intelligence, several generals in the armed forces, and a Supreme Court member.
KARZAI: We have made some arrests. We'll be making more arrests.
PALMER: Karzai denied the assassination was a political conspiracy, saying the perpetrators' motives were personal.
Doctor Abdul Rahman, Minister of Civil Aviation and Tourism, was dragged off an aircraft at Kabul Airport and stabbed to death.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PALMER (on camera): Aaron, the accused are all associated with the Northern Alliance. Doctor Abdul Rahman, the Minister of Civil Aviation and Tourism, had moved away from the Northern Alliance, leading some here in Kabul to speculate that this killing was politically motivated, possibly a conspiracy. When asked about that by CNN, Chairman Karzai told us point blank, stop your speculations. Aaron.
BROWN: Well, that's an interesting response, given what he had said earlier. In any case, that wasn't the only trouble out there your way today, was it?
PALMER: Indeed, Aaron. Yesterday again here, Kabul time, there was a soccer match between members of the International Security Force and selected members of Afghan national teams. Sporadic violence broke out, as people without tickets were trying to force their way into the stadium.
There were several violent confrontations between members of the security forces and some of these members of the crowd. There were shots fired by the Afghan police. No one was hit by those shots, but there were some broken bones, some lacerations.
Members of the security forces had to use dogs, batons, fire extinguishers to keep the crowd at bay. But in the end, this incident did not explode into - it didn't spiral out of control, Aaron, but it did lead some people to believe that there needs to be some greater attention paid to law and order here in the capitol city of Kabul, and beyond -- Aaron.
BROWN: Brian, thank you, a couple of examples of that I was seeing today. Thank you very much.
In Pakistan, more confusing signals about kidnapped reporter Danny Pearl. Pakistan's Interior Minister today said he expects a major breakthrough within 48 hours. We'll confess. We've lost track of how many times something like this has been said, only the number of hours seems to change.
The same minister also said he believes that Danny Pearl is alive. That is not what the presumed ringleader has been telling authorities. Ahmed Saeed Sheik (ph) at a court appearance yesterday said, as far as he understands it, Danny Pearl is dead. Pakistani newspapers saying that Sheik learned of Pearl's death during a phone call to an accomplice, more than a week ago.
Coming up, 15 years in prison and freed by science. He's here to tell us his story. This is NEWSNIGHT from New York.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) BROWN: There are two things about this story that are unimaginable. The first is being imprisoned for a crime you did not commit, and the second is confessing to a crime you did not commit.
Bruce Godschalk was released from prison yesterday, after 15 years. He confessed to two rapes, recanted the confession, but stayed in prison until DNA tests established either he didn't do it or, as the prosecutor said, there is reasonable doubt.
Now someone did rape these two women and for 15 years they thought they knew who that person was. Mr. Godschalk joins us tonight, as does his lawyer, David Rudovsky, nice to see you both.
MR. RUDOVSKY: Thank you.
BROWN: Bruce, let me start with you. After 15 years, what's the first thing you did when you walked out the door of the prison yesterday?
BRUCE GODSCHALK, FORMER INMATE: I hugged my lawyer, and we went home to his place and we had a nice dinner.
BROWN: And did you sleep well last night?
GODSCHALK: Not really, no. I was very excited. It was a very precious moment in my life.
BROWN: I imagine. Tell me, because I think it's a question people really don't get, how did it happen that you confessed to a crime, you admitted to two rapes that you did not commit?
GODSCHALK: It's really difficult to explain. I was tricked. I was intimidated. I was pressured into confessing. I didn't realize the situation, the serious situation I was in.
BROWN: There has to be a moment, I assume there's a moment where you're asked to sign something that says, "I did this crime" and you signed it.
GODSCHALK: No, I didn't sign anything.
BROWN: You didn't sign anything?
GODSCHALK: No. The detective just basically said this is what we're going to do. This is how it happened. He fed me the information, and the confession took place and that's really how it happened. He fed me the information.
BROWN: All right. David, explain as briefly as you can how long it took for the DNA tests to be done and how you went about making that happen.
DAVID RUDOVSKY, CIVIL RIGHTS ATTORNEY: Well, that's really one of the most unconscionable things about this case. These rapes occurred in 1986. He was tried in 187. Starting in 1995, seven years ago, we requested the District Attorney to turn over the semen samples they had, the DNA, so that we could test it at our own expense.
For seven years, the District Attorney refused. We went to three different courts. We finally got a Federal judge this past year to order the DNA testing. So it's been seven years, talk about adding insult to injury.
He was innocent to begin with, but if the DNA had only be turned over seven years ago, he could have been released at that time, and this is not an isolated problem. District Attorneys across the country, unfortunately, are not turning over this evidence, and we need some action in state legislatures to mandate post conviction DNA testing wherever there is DNA material.
BROWN: And just, not to take the prosecutor's side here, I'm not asking you to do that, but what was their argument about not at least turning over the samples?
RUDOVSKY: None. When we had taken -
BROWN: They said "we don't have to?"
RUDOVSKY: It was, yes we don't have to. He was convicted. He confessed. He must be guilty. We don't have to turn over the DNA, and we pointed out that 100 people in the past seven or eight years have been cleared by post conviction DNA testing. They weren't persuaded.
There is simply - you know, usually there's an argument on both sides and you can disagree. There is no argument on the other side of this issue, other than to say, finality in the criminal justice system is more important than innocence.
BROWN: Bruce, let's talk a bit about the last week or so. How did you find out it was over, you were going to get out?
GODSCHALK: I found out yesterday.
BROWN: Tell me where you were. What were you doing?
GODSCHALK: I was actually on the phone with one of my lawyers.
BROWN: And?
GODSCHALK: A guard came in and said, "get off the phone." I went into my cell, packed my stuff up, and he says, "come on with me" and we went down to the control, and I think it was the security captain that was there at the time, and he says "you're being released." It was just -
BROWN: At what point in the last months did you begin to think you would get out?
GODSCHALK: When did I think?
BROWN: Yes.
GODSCHALK: As soon as the results came back.
BROWN: As soon as the results came back, you would?
GODSCHALK: Sure. Nobody, I mean it's irrefutable proof right there, right -
BROWN: Yes.
GODSCHALK: -- that it wasn't me, that I did not commit the crimes.
BROWN: What are you going to do with your life?
GODSCHALK: Probably go back into landscaping, you know. I'll take it from there.
BROWN: Somewhere I read that when you got out of jail, you said what you thought about was a steak and a beer. Did you get either last night?
GODSCHALK: Oh, absolutely. Yes, I had the steak and the beer, and I actually had it with David Rodovsky and his wife, and it was a wonderful time. We had a wonderful time.
BROWN: Good luck to you.
GODSCHALK: Thank you very much.
BROWN: Good luck to you. Thanks for coming on.
GODSCHALK: Nice being here.
BROWN: David, thanks for joining us.
RUDOVSKY: Sure.
BROWN: Appreciate the time. Thank you very much. When we come back, a question of nuclear waste. Everyone agrees the stuff has to go someplace, but where? This is NEWSNIGHT on CNN.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BROWN: There's a reason the phrase NIMBY came into being, "Not in My Backyard." It was for stories like this one, a fight going on for decades. There are tens of thousands of tons of nuclear waste spread across the country, and since the early '80s, the Federal Government has been looking for a place to bring it all together and bury it.
Yucca Mountain, Nevada has long been a target, and it appears the administration has made a decision. The science and the politics are pretty complicated here. White House Correspondent Major Garrett joins us with more. Good evening to you, sir.
GARRETT: Good evening, Aaron. As you know, science is dedicated to precision, politics dedicated to consensus, and the White House said today, the two came together, at least as regards Yucca Mountain, Nevada, and a final resting place for a lot of highly radioactive nuclear waste.
Aaron, if this project is carried out, it will be the single largest public works project in American history. Let me tell you just a little bit about how large. Already the Federal Government has devoted more time to studying this problem than it devoted to building Hoover Dam, the Manhattan Project, and putting a man on the Moon combined.
And if the White House gets its way, Yucca Mountain will be the place where all highly radioactive nuclear waste in this country will be stored. Here's a look at the problem.
Currently in America right now, there are 77,000 metric tons of highly radioactive nuclear waste. Where is it currently being stored? In 131 temporary, above ground sites in 39 states. The three states with the most radioactive nuclear waste are Washington, Illinois, and South Carolina, each storing above ground in these temporary facilities, more than 5,000 metric tons.
Here is the Bush solution announced today here at the White House: Bury this high level nuclear waste 1,000 feet below the surface of the earth in Yucca Mountain if, and it's a huge "if", Aaron, all goes well this underground depository will be opened in 2010.
It will be sealed. Currently the idea is to seal it with concrete, but a better substance may be around when it is due to be sealed in the year 2110, and all of this, Aaron, will come down to an estimated cost of $309 billion. Aaron.
BROWN: That is mind-boggling. Just one quick question, I want to move on here. Is the decision announced today the final decision, or is there more to come here?
GARRETT: There is more to come, but it is as close to a final decision as there has been in the long storied history of Yucca Mountain. The State of Nevada can and is expected to veto the President's decision. Then Congress has the wherewithal to either endorse Nevada's veto or overrule it.
Currently the thinking here in Washington is Congress will overrule Nevada's veto. There could be court challenges, but it's closer than it's ever been to moving on to a state of reality, actually building the thing and moving the nuclear waste there eventually.
BROWN: OK, Major, we'll find out more about Nevada's position right now. Joining us to talk about this decision, Congresswoman Shelley Burkley, a Democrat, whose district covers Las Vegas, and Yucca Mountain. We're pleased to have here with us. Nice to see you.
REP. SHELLEY BURKLEY (D), NEVADA: Thanks for having me.
BROWN: You called the decision today in a release out of your office, at least, corrupt and morally bankrupt, pretty tough talk.
BURKLEY: Not tough enough, I'm afraid. I was extremely disappointed at the President's decision. Eighty-three percent of the people in the State of Nevada do not want nuclear waste stored at Yucca Mountain, and it's my responsibility and my job to protect my community from having the storage of nuclear waste.
But I think now, that the decision has been made by the President, it's my job and the rest of the Nevada delegation's job, to convince our colleagues in Congress that this is a bad idea. It's a bad idea for the people of the State of Nevada. It's a bad idea for the people of the United States.
And I think now we're going to be able to focus on the fact that nuclear waste, 77,000 tons of nuclear waste, will not spontaneously appear at Yucca Mountain. It's going to be going across 43 states, through different districts across the United States.
It's going to be going through small towns and big cities, by schools and hospitals and synagogues and churches, and when people in this country realize that the nuclear waste has got to go by their neighborhoods before it gets to Yucca Mountain, I think we're going to find allies that we don't even know we have yet.
BROWN: OK, let me take a couple of things there, and work with them. Presumably, I mean obviously Nevada is not thrilled with this, but presumably Washington State wouldn't be thrilled with it, or Illinois wouldn't be thrilled with it. Nobody wants 77 metric tons, 77,000 metric tons of nuclear waste.
BURKLEY: But there are solutions.
BROWN: But somebody apparently has to get it.
BURKLEY: Not necessarily, and I think it's very important for people to realize, just because we're going to be transporting this nuclear waste to Yucca Mountain over the next 30 years, and it's going to take 30 years in order to transport all this garbage to Yucca Mountain, that does not mean that the storage sites by the nuclear reactors are going to automatically empty, quite to the contrary.
The Bush Administration plans to renew its interest in nuclear, produce more nuclear energy, which means it's going to produce more nuclear waste. These nuclear reactor sites are not going to be emptied of their nuclear waste as more and more is going to be produced.
What we ought to be doing with that $308 billion that you just mentioned, is investing it in renewable energy sources, putting it in research and development so that we can figure out how to do solar, wind, geothermal, hydrogen. There are other alternatives to this. This is a mistake.
BROWN: Respectfully, that all is well and good, but it doesn't solve the problem of all of the tons of nuclear waste that currently exist, and are you going to make the argument - BURKLEY: Well actually there's -
BROWN: Let me - please, let me ask the question. Are you going to make the argument that this was a political decision and not a scientific decision?
BURKLEY: Oh, I think that goes without saying. We have a GAO report, and you know the GAO is an investigative independent investigative arm of the United States Congress, that says up front categorically that there are over 200 scientific issues yet to be resolved. They won't be resolved until the year 2006.
We also have a Nuclear Institute study that says it's way premature. The scientific studies aren't completed yet. The technical studies aren't completed. This decision is years premature. We don't know what the ramifications are.
But until we do, what our suggestion is is you put the nuclear waste in dry cast storage on site. Don't transport it, especially in light of 9/11, with the potential of a terrorist attack on nuclear waste going from - across 43 states to Yucca Mountain, Nevada.
BROWN: Congresswoman.
BURKLEY: It's bad for Nevada. It's bad for the United States.
BROWN: Congresswoman, I told you it was going to go too fast. Thank you for your time tonight.
BURKLEY: Thanks a lot.
BROWN: After 20 years, the battle is clearly joined. Thank you ma'am very much.
BURKLEY: Thank you.
BROWN: Congresswoman, I told you it was going to go too fast. Thank you for your time tonight. After 20 years, the battle is clearly joined. Thank you, ma'am, very much.
Up next, their news. How the skating story is playing on Canadian, French and Russian TV, all principals in this. This is NEWSNIGHT on a Friday.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BROWN: To say that the skating story has been the international story of the Olympic Games so far is a bit of an understatement. And tonight, three examples of the same story told three different ways. In a moment, we'll take a look at how both the Russians and the French covered today's decision to award gold medals to the Canadian team. But first, a look at how Canada's Global TV covered the decision.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: Global news continues with Beverly Thompson (ph) and Leslie Roberts (ph). Our top story right now.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Celebrating Olympic gold. Skating fans give Sale and Pelletier a perfect score.
Welcome back. They're Olympic champions.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's right. Jamie Sale and David Pelletier are golden tonight. Molly Finley (ph) has more.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The good news travel fast. Excited Toronto school children are thrilled with today's decision.
And in Salt Lake City, Sale and Pelletier savor their golden moment.
JAMIE SALE, OLYMPIC GOLD MEDALIST: As soon as we saw what was going on, it was amazing. It was unbelievable. A really big surprise for us.
DAVID PELLETIER, OLYMPIC GOLD MEDALIST: And we do hope we get the bronze too, so we can get the entire collection in our living room.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, Canadians of course celebrating from coast to coast tonight Jamie and David's gold medal. Torontonians tell Global News that's what our skaters deserve, but they're surprised by the swift ruling.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They did great. It's great for them. I think they deserve it. They're a great couple.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think it was the right outcome, and I thought it was well done the way they handled it.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The outcome can't exactly rectify what happened, but it's nice to know that, you know, we are being acknowledged for what we deserve.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think it's a great thing. It puts everything to bed, and the Canadians got what they deserved.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And the excitement is building downtown this hour, where our national news anchor Kevin Newman (ph) is standing by with more from Gretzky's tonight. Hi, Kevin.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hi there. What a great day for sport, what a great day to be Canadian. We're going to be gauging reaction across the country tonight. We are in Pelletier and Sale's home town, in Quebec and in Alberta, gauging reaction there. A lot of joy, obviously, but among family members some bitterness about what the pair had to go through in order to get their gold medal.
We've also with the prime minister in Moscow. David Vieno (ph), our Ottawa bureau chief, asked him what he thought about this. He was at the dinner with the premier, and the prime minister says this decision merely confirms what we all knew in our hearts, that these extraordinary athletes have now been properly recognized. So we have complete coverage from not only Canada but Moscow and Salt Lake City coming up on Global National, 6:30.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK. Thanks, Kevin.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BROWN: OK. That's a look at how Global TV covered it. Now onto Russia. As you can imagine, Russian media saw this whole mess a bit differently. So here is how Russian viewers learned of the news, and yes, the translation is ours.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): Now we turn to the scandal information. As it was expected, Canadian figure skaters Jamie Sale and David Pelletier, who have lost their Olympic goal to Russians Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze were not able to carry this defeat with dignity. And finally, they managed to win their gold medals.
French judge was disqualified, and Canadian athletes will finally get their lost gold medal. But the Russians will still remain to be the Olympic champions. The IOC President Jacques Rogge explained this decision as an attempt to follow the interest of the athletes, but it is still unclear what it was based on.
Figure skating federation representatives are saying honestly that it was done as a favor to the Canadians.
Was it a fair decision? And don't you think it was done because of the close relationship between the U.S. and Canada?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): It's a very fair question. We think that this decision was taken under pressure of the North American press in order to please their fanatic audience. You probably saw the performances of the Russian, the Canadian and the American skaters, and you could see how the audience was actively reacting to the smallest mistakes of the Russian athletes and didn't notice even major falls of the Americans.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): We still consider Russians to be the winners of the Olympics, and realize that Canadian gold was just assigned in the lobby.
(END VIDEOTAPE) BROWN: We just threw that in for the fun of it, the Snickers commercial. Russians weren't very happy. How did the Americans get dragged into this?
Now onto France, home to the figure skating judge who was suspended for backing the Russian pair. It's not quite clear what was going on there. In any case, here's how French TV covered the decision as well.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): In the theater of the Olympic Games in Salt Lake City, after the scandal that touched the world of ice skating, the International Committee decided to give a gold medal to the Canadian ice skaters, who would have been awarded the gold medal in the first place if not for the French judge.
Today we will follow the court hearing for Patrice Allegre (ph) with today's testimony of Emily who was raped, but her miraculous survival gave her a chance to tell her story to the judges.
Genevieve De Gaulle Antoinette (ph), a woman who joined the French resistance and was later deported to a Nazi concentration camp has died today. She spent her life working for a humanitarian organization, anonymous homage tonight.
Vacationers departing for their February winter vacation, a warning for heavy traffic on the roads.
Less than an hour ago, the International Olympics and Skating Committee just announced that they will award a gold medal to the Canadian skaters in an embarrassing Olympic-size controversy that has been a growing shadow over the Winter Olympic Games.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): Six months after his being elected president of the IOC, Jacques Rogge entered today into the history books of the Olympic games. For the first time in ice skating, a second gold medal is awarded. The executive order of the ICU agreed to award a gold medal to the Canadian skaters. The International Skating Union gathered evidence concerning the guilt of the French judge.
We decided to suspend immediately the judge Marie-Reine Le Gougne of a French nationality. This morning in the village, Canadian Jamie Sale found her smile again, but David Pelletier, her partner, they had breakfast with the Canadian minister of sport. On the menu, there were messages of support and encouragement. Our athletes are real heroes and they showed that they're real champions in the way they reacted it to this controversy.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BROWN: French covered pretty straightaway. That's the way the French, the Russians and the Canadians covered today's decision to award a second set of gold medals. Quickly to now, another update on a story we brought you earlier this week. Correspondent Elizabeth Cohen's report on skateboarder -- rather snowboarder Chris Klug. Chris, you'll recall, battled medical problems his whole life, none more serious than a failing liver. He got a new one, a risky and complicated transplant, and today he won a bronze medal. Nothing has come easy for Chris and today didn't either. His boot buckle broke just before his final race, so he used duct tape to hold it all together. And he did.
When we come back, a night at the opera.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BROWN: I got an e-mail today taking exception to our "Segment 7" last night, especially the part where we played a bit of a Placido Domingo song, a duet that he did with John Denver. If you missed it, you missed. This one is simply too complicated to explain.
But the viewer pointed out that this song, the one we made fun of, introduced millions of people to opera. There are, we think, other ways than the marriage of Domingo and Denver to expose people to opera. Consider what is unfolding in New York at the Met. A great story, hundreds of performers, a choir, a goat and a Nissen, as in Beth Nissen.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BETH NISSEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Even the legions of people who don't know opera know it is usually a spectacle: big sets, big voices, big cast. But even by grand opera standards, the Metropolitan Opera's new $3 million production of "War and Peace" hits new highs. It's the largest production ever on the Met's huge stage, Prokovief's (ph) four-hour rendition of Tolstoy's 1,000-page novel portrayed by a Russian and American cast of 450.
JOSEPH YOLPE, GENERAL MANAGER, METROPOLITAN OPERA: There are 73 roles sung by 53 singers. So no where is there a production that has the amount of solo singers as "War and Peace."
NISSEN: Or cast members; 120 chorusters, 41 ballet dancers and a record 227 supernumeraries, or supers, the opera term for extras, plus a dog, a goat and a white stallion playing Napoleon's horse.
BILL MALLBY, HEAD OF WARDROBE, METROPOLITAN OPERA: By far, it's the largest thing we've ever done. I mean, everywhere you turn in the house, it's "War and Peace".
NISSEN: There wasn't room to muster Napoleon's army and Russia's regiments back stage at the Met, so the troops are quartered in an old fire station next door.
YOLPE: It's organized chaos. I went back and I couldn't believe the chaos and I've been in the Met for 38 years.
NISSEN: All the supers are assigned numbers so they can find their uniforms on the 35 racks of costumes. MALLBY: The costumes have to sell the story. That's why there's four different regiments of armies here. We have over 1,000 costumes and have over 5,000 pieces.
NISSEN: Ranks of hats, barrels of swords and bayonets, but a critical shortage of boots.
MALLBY: We do not have enough footwear to get the whole army in black shoes and black socks.
NISSEN: So the supers are encouraged to bring their own shoes and boots from home. That's what this stage soldier did for practical and personal reasons.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We get captured. Eventually we get -- you know, we die, whatever. So I figured, you know, I want to die in my shoes.
NISSEN: Once assembled, the troops are just a short march from the stage. Production directors originally wanted West Point cadets to play the soldiers.
YOLPE: But, unfortunately, we couldn't work that out, so we then had to hire people and then train them to march in the Russian style, in the military style. So it's a massive undertaking.
NISSEN: So is getting all the principal singers and chorusters in and out of their costumes before and between scenes. The dressing areas are a two-act flurry of wig powder, epilets (ph), white gloves, satin britches and brocade.
Somehow it all comes together on cue. Prince Andre falls in love. Napoleon invades Russia. Moscow burns. Natasha -- well, we won't spoil the ending. "War and Peace" plays for 10 performances this month and next.
Beth Nissen, CNN, New York.
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BROWN: Obviously a production like this, things can go wrong. And last night, something did. A performer dressed as a French soldier -- think of all the people who were on that stage -- took a wrong step and fell off the stage. There's a net there that broke his fall. He wasn't hurt. The Russian judge, however, did deduct three- tenths of a point. We made that part up.
OK. Think of all the words that had been said about the skating controversy over the last week. It has dominated everything on the media, right? We have the last word, sort of. And you will not want to miss it. Stay with us. This is NEWSNIGHT.
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BROWN: Finally from us tonight, the dessert, as promised, in a three course meal of skategate. Yes, this is the accordion guy. If you're a generous sort, you might call this social satire. Now playing and singing on international TV is not easy, even on cable. It takes years of hard work, God given talen and, of course, discipline. So hold your breath Barry could miss a note at any point and, of course, the judges will be watching.
[SINGING TO THEME OF GOLDFINGER]
BARRY MITCHELL: Gold medals! They're the prize, the prize with a spy's intrigue. Olympic league!
Skaters won't settle, when they find there's fishyness in Salt Lake. The scores were fake. Secret agents were sent by the French. So the score from before had a stench. That decision had Canadians baking. Miss Sale was stirred and shaken.
Gold medals! Pretty girl, you'll find when the fix is in. You still can win.
When two couples look good on the ice, what the heck, hey, you only live twice. Now that Russian team isn't absconding with cannucks, now they're gold bonding.
Gold medals! To prevent them starting a new cold war. They gave out four. Bronze and silver just mean place and show, when they offer them say Dr. No! When you take home gold, you're never lonely. Sponsors describe for your ice only.
Gold medals! Count again when you don't accept their score -- do like Al Gore. Count once more, the crowd will roar. They'll settle the score. Count once more.
BROWN: Well, that was something, wasn't it. Now we come to the point where every performer, either loves or dreads. We've assembled an international team of polka dancers to listen to and watch carefully as Barry performed that. And of course, Barry is waiting for his numbers. The first set of numbers are always the technical numbers. Did he hit the right notes both on the accodian and singing? I think we all know the answer to that. Oh, my goodness. Look at the French judge. What was she thinking is? she on the take? I have no idea. And then of course the artistic and this is where Barry usually excels. In the artistic side. Are you kidding? Can we see the numbers, please?
(APPLAUSE)
BROWN: Well, my goodness, I don't believe that -- a medal winning performance, Barry. After 10 years together, Barry. I think we can now safely say that cable TV has done everything it should do on this story. We will not discuss it again.
We will, however, see you again on Monday. Have a wonderful weekend from all of us, including Barry at NEWSNIGHT.
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