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American Morning
Gold Medalist Discusses Battles for Skating Gold
Aired February 19, 2002 - 08:06 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: Up front this morning, the Olympics. Olympic officials changed the rules for judges, hoping to put the week long skating scandal behind them. But tonight a different skating drama begins when the women's figure skaters hit the ice in Salt Lake City.
There are five legitimate gold medal contenders, and in a moment we'll talk to a former Olympic champion about the competition.
Right now, we go to CNN's Carol Lin, who is in Salt Lake City -- Carol, what's the latest?
CAROL LIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, the latest is everybody, of course, is looking forward to tonight's competition and all eyes will be on Michelle Kwan. She is the sentimental favorite and as you probably remember, Anderson, she lost out on the gold medal back in 1998 to little Tara Lipinski. Michelle Kwan skated a near perfect performance, but it just wasn't good enough. And it's the one thing that she doesn't have yet.
So many world titles and national championships, but she has yet to get the gold, Anderson.
COOPER: Last night's ice dancing gold medal didn't really come as a surprise to anyone, did it?
LIN: Oh, in the French ice dancing?
COOPER: Yes.
LIN: Is that what you're talking about?
COOPER: Yes.
LIN: Yes, they skated almost flawlessly. I mean Italy fell, Canada fell, but the French pair, Marina Anissina and Gwendal Peizerat skated a near perfect performance. They have been ranked first, Anderson, throughout the ice dancing competition for the last three days. In fact, the top 15 skaters, the placements never changed. It raises some questions as to whether these placements were decided ahead of time.
But you know what? If you look at their performance, it was spectacular. It was a gold medal performance. COOPER: All right, Carol Lin, thanks very much, joining us from Salt Lake City.
We go now to the women's figure skating, which for many is the highlight of the Olympic Winter Games. I know it is for Jack Cafferty, certainly. The stuff that American legends are made of -- Dorothy Hamill, Peggy Fleming, Nancy Kerrigan, even, hey, even Tonya Harding. Yes, even the infamous.
On Thursday night, a new golden girl will take her place in Olympic history. Tonight, their race for the gold begins.
And joining us now from Park City, the 1994 Olympic gold medalist, Oksana Baiul.
Thanks very much for being with us on AMERICAN MORNING.
OKSANA BAIUL, '94 OLYMPIC GOLD MEDALIST: Well, hi, Anderson. I'm so glad to be here.
COOPER: Good. You are my favorite skater, I just want you to know. I talk about you all the time.
BAIUL: Thank you so much.
COOPER: What do you think of these new judging rules? Do you think it's going to solve the problem that we've all been talking about the last couple of weeks with judges?
BAIUL: I think it worthwhile to try whatever they decided. It's unfortunate what happened here and we all have to go through that. We have to support our skaters and when we're on the ice, we're doing the best performance which we could do. But when we're off the ice, it's not up to us to decide.
So I think the decision they made last night, it's worthwhile trying.
COOPER: I had no idea that skating was so filled with intrigue behind-the-scenes. Has it always been like this? I mean were there, when you were skating were there cat fights? Was there back stabbing influence peddling? I mean was it this dramatic?
BAIUL: It's a subject of, it's not very bad. It's a great sport and I'm very proud to be an Olympian and I'm very proud to be a figure skater.
COOPER: All right, Michelle Kwan goes tonight, hopefully starts off a quest for the gold. She won a silver at the last Olympics. What kind of pressure do you think she's under?
BAIUL: It's a tremendous amount of pressure. I remember when I was here, I mean not here but at the Olympic Games. I was a baby. And the only thing I was trying to rely on was god. And I stepped on the ice, I did my best and hopefully everybody who's going to be participating tonight will do their best. COOPER: Who are the other skaters you're watching out for in the next couple of days?
BAIUL: Everybody. Everybody. I'm here, I was watching dance, the dance competition last night. Everybody.
COOPER: Do you think that...
BAIUL: I met so many different out here, Kelly Clark. I was so excited to meet her last night.
COOPER: I guess some of the people to watch, Sasha Cohen, Maria Butyrskaya.
BAIUL: Maria Butruscaya.
COOPER: Anyone else in particular?
BAIUL: Irina Slutskaya, Sasha, Sara Hughes. A lot of people think Sasha has a chance to win a gold medal because of me, of what I did in '94. But I pretty much feel they're all capable of doing their best and skate a short program tonight. And I'm waiting for it.
COOPER: You've talked a lot about, you know, some of the problems that you have faced after the Olympics, some drinking problems.
BAIUL: Yes.
COOPER: What should the skaters, the next winner of the gold, what kind of land mines are there out there that they should be watching out for?
BAIUL: They should be proud. They should be happy because figure skating is a sport to be, it's great. I mean, I don't know.
COOPER: All right, do you worry that the scandal of the last couple of days, because it does seem like it's all people have been talking about, do you think that's going to have a long-term negative effect on skating?
BAIUL: Unfortunately, like I said it before, we'll have to go through that and it's embarrassment to what happened to figure skating. But they solved the situation. I was here in Salt Lake. I was watching them being on the podium and I was so proud of them. A fairy tale story came true and they solved the situation.
COOPER: All right, Oksana Baiul, we really appreciate you being with us this morning on AMERICAN MORNING.
BAIUL: Thank you.
COOPER: Thanks very much.
BAIUL: Thank you, Anderson.
COOPER: Have fun.
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