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CNN Saturday Morning News

Weekend Brings End to Olympic Games, But Controversy Remains

Aired February 23, 2002 - 08:20   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.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: This weekend will bring an end to the Winter Games in Salt Lake City, but they haven't been winding down without controversy. The Russians and South Koreans were threatening to boycott the closing ceremony because of judging disputes. Now, both nations have had a change of heart.

Our Carol Lin is in Salt Lake City with the latest on this -- Carol, great to see you.

CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: Hey, great to see you, too, Kyra.

Yes, a lot of hot air on the ice over here. The Russians are going to be at the closing ceremonies and so are the South Koreans. It turns out yesterday that the appeal by the Russians to try to get their Russian figure skater, Irina Slutskaya, another, a gold medal in addition to American Sarah Hughes, failed yesterday. The International Olympic Committee and the International Skating Union felt like they didn't have a case, Kyra.

The referee in that decision-making process said that there was no basis -- no evidence of bias in the judging against the Russian skater.

PHILLIPS: Carol, is this going to change the face, do you think, of -- I don't know, my husband and I were talking about this yesterday and all this controversy. And when we started thinking about the Olympics, we thought boy, what a great time to talk about the harmony and peace, peaceful competition. And now it seems like the Olympics is just going to be viewed in a very different manner, the judging. What's your take and what's the talk around there?

LIN: Well, the talk is that the Russians are saying this isn't over. I mean they said that they're not going to boycott the remainder of the Games but, of course, they only have two more events, cross country and then the closing ceremonies. But they're saying that they are still considering whether they're going to boycott the Athens Games, whether they're going to boycott any future Games until the International Olympic Committee addresses what they're calling malicious bias.

I mean they're saying that there's a North American bias here, you know. Jay Leno is making jokes about Irina Slutskaya's name, that their cross country skier got yanked, was disqualified from her event for some arbitrary blood test results, that they don't like the judging or the referee calls in the men's hockey games. You know, they lost yesterday to the United States in the semi-finals.

So the fact that there was that judging controversy with the pair skating competition and that the Canadians were awarded that second gold, what judges were saying yesterday was that it did set a precedent and now everybody is going to want to come in and say hey, wait a minute, you know? We should get a gold medal, too. But that's simply impossible.

So there has been a precedent set at these Games.

PHILLIPS: Well, you bring up a good point, then. How is the IOC going to sort of take this, the situation that's sort of spinning out of control and kind of regain control and bring it back into some type of normalcy? How are they addressing it?

LIN: A lot of politics behind the scenes, Kyra. I mean a lot of hand shaking and back slapping and saying hey, it's going to be OK, while publicly putting their foot down. I mean from the very beginning of yesterday's complaint when the Russians said we're going to be out of here unless you start addressing some of these biased judging issues that we're bringing before you. And the IOC and the International Skating Union came out yesterday and said this is not a priority for us, this is not a concern.

But there were meetings throughout the day yesterday with the Russians to hear out their case. So I think just as you see the politics developing in Washington on an issue where you have public posturing and private meetings, that is the case here.

PHILLIPS: Well, Carol, before we let you go, I've got to ask you, are you having a good time? Did you have a good time, as it comes down to a close here?

LIN: Yes, we've had a great time. We've worked really hard but, you know, it's a primo assignment. I mean how many times do you get an international gathering of this magnitude in the United States and especially post-September 11 it's really interesting to see how people are coming together and the little squabbles as they develop. You know, what the Russians were saying yesterday, in fact, is well, this is all, you know, the reason why the media feels so free to trash us in public here in the United States is because they're taking advantage of all the good will from, you know, the events of September 11, which was kind of shocking.

But it kind of tells you how politics plays out on a very public stage. And it's interesting to see the maneuvering, you know? I think every reporter just loves to see how a story unfolds and how people are going to get themselves in and out of these quirky situations. So in that sense it's been fun.

I haven't seen enough Olympic events, though, you know? So I think today we're going to go do some research.

PHILLIPS: Absolutely. You've got to go check it out. Well put on both fronts.

Carol Lin, thank you so much. We'll see you when you get back.

LIN: Thanks.

PHILLIPS: I look forward to a long dinner.

LIN: See you later, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right. And Carol's going to...

LIN: And by the way, welcome back.

PHILLIPS: Hey, thank you. Yes, we'll talk about the South Pole. I had my own Winter Olympics out there for a couple weeks.

LIN: I know. I heard about it. Congratulations. Great assignment.

PHILLIPS: All right.

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