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American Morning

Will Second Gold Medal Award Have Unforeseen Consequences?

Aired February 18, 2002 - 08:46   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.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: Now, it's time for another look at the skating controversy. After the Russians won the gold last week in pairs figure skating, a scandal erupted, but the Russians held firm.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ELENA BEREZHNAYA, OLYMPIC GOLD MEDALIST: You know, somebody have to win, somebody have to lose. And that's rules. I don't know. Just one gold medal -- like we have just one gold medal, that's it. And if you can't -- I don't know -- accept that, you're not strong enough.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAFFERTY: Right. But the IOC decided the Canadians were misjudged during the competition and awarded a second gold medal.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID PELLETIERE, OLYMPIC GOLD MEDALIST: We're happy that justice was done. And that doesn't take away anything from Elena and Anton. This is not -- this was not something against them, it was something against the system.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAFFERTY: Last night, the Canadian skaters were given their gold medals in a special ceremony. They took their place alongside the Russians in Olympic history. But was the sharing of the gold medal, at the end of the day, the right decision?

Joining me now to talk about this, from Salt Lake City, is the publisher of the "International Figure Skating" Magazine, Mark Lund. Good morning, Mark, thanks for getting up early. Good to have you with us.

MARK LUND, PUBLISHER, "INTERNATIONAL FIGURE SKATING" MAGAZINE: Good morning.

CAFFERTY: Was this the right answer?

LUND: I think it was the right answer for the immediate moment. Unfortunately, the ISU has opened up a Pandora's box of future problems and past problems that's coming to light now. But it was the right answer for the moment, yes. CAFFERTY: Why do you say it's the right answer for the moment? I mean, controversy in the judging of figure skating goes back to probably the first competition in the sport, whenever that was.

LUND: Right.

CAFFERTY: And do they not risk opening some sort of Pandora's box here, where every competition going forward will be subject to some sort of second guessing if enough people disagree with who was judged to be the winner?

LUND: Well, you know, people are already talking about past Olympic competitions. You know, 1998, 1988. I've been talking to a variety of people here over the past few days. And, you know, the ISU, I think, failed to take into consideration exactly what they were doing when they awarded the second gold medal. And -- but, it's a fait accompli. It's done now and now they've got to figure out a way to move forward.

CAFFERTY: But isn't it tantamount to -- to owning up to the corruption of the judging of figure skating, at least in this particular instance, and perhaps more generally as has been suggested in the sport, generally?

LUND: Well, you know, what the ISU really has to do is absolutely and fully address this corruption issue. I mean, this is not really an isolated matter. I mean, it involves federations such as France, potentially the Russian federation and others. We understand potentially other -- possible other judges were talked to in pairs event to swap their votes too.

I mean, this just has to come to an absolute stop. I mean, the ISU needs to come down hard, and hard now on a variety of people in situations in their own association.

CAFFERTY: Do you expect they're going to do that?

LUND: Well, I would like to think they might do it, but knowing the way the ISU works, it's going to take an awfully long time. I just hope they do it by June for their Congress meeting. I mean, the future of the sport is at stake here. If they don't do something, I'm -- I really have to wonder for the sport by 2006 when we go to the Winter Olympic Games in Italy.

CAFFERTY: If they came to you and said, "how would you solve it?" What would you recommend?

LUND: Well, my first recommendation is -- we -- they have an alternate judge on every panel. And that mark has to now come into play, if, in fact, we see a scandal like this erupt in the future. You know, as we know it, that Czech, the mark -- it was from a Czech judge on the alternate, that move -- that mark has to come in. Because if it did, then Jamie and David also would have won the long program as well and, legitimately, would have won Olympic gold.

I mean, what I find curious here is that it was almost a decision of convenience. They've absolutely forgotten about the short program, where Elena and Anton clearly won that, even if you took the French judges marks out of that picture. So, there are some problems going forward with this decision, for sure.

CAFFERTY: Does this smack of, "look, let's just hand out enough gold medals to make this thing go away for the time being"? It's almost what it feels like if you look at it in one way.

LUND: Yes. People are talking about that. They were talking about that immediately once the decision was made. "We're just going to give another gold medal and that's going to make everyone nice and quiet about this whole matter."

And in fact, now people are talking more about ISU corruption, ISU problems, and the inconsistencies of the ISU policies.

CAFFERTY: Is there any policing organization or authority that's in a position...

LUND: No.

CAFFERTY: ...to impose some sort of restoration of integrity to this sport?

LUND: I think the only group that can do that potentially is the International Olympic Committee, the IOC. The ISU is not governed, or there's no watchdog over the ISU in any capacity. They watch themselves. It's almost like Enron doing their own, you know, internal auditing.

CAFFERTY: Very good analogy.

LUND: It's hard to believe them. Why believe the ISU?

CAFFERTY: What do you expect is going to come out of this investigation, which of course is taking place out of the public view. But, at the end of the day, are they going to -- are they going to do anything that means anything, do you think?

LUND: Well, I think there are a lot of people in the ISU that feel once these games are over, the international media attention is going to just go away from the ISU. There certainly are a variety of Olympic beat reporters that cover the ISU and figure skating, and I hope this pressure continues on them to enact reform. I know we'll stay on top of them. I know that they are conducting an internal investigation.

I just hope there are some other resolutions to this. I think the president of the French Federation should resign immediately. He should resign his commission off the council. He clearly is guilty of something. These judges don't act alone.

CAFFERTY: All right, Mark, we're going to have to leave it there. I appreciate your input. Thank you for joining us here on "AMERICAN MORNING" this morning.

LUND: Thank you.

CAFFERTY: All right, Mark Lund, publisher, "International Figure Skating" Magazine, joining us this morning from Salt Lake City.

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