12/21/24
February 14, 2002
Gold medals for everyone!: CNN/SI's Brian Cazeneuve's solution to the Olympic figure skating controvery is to give gold medals to the Canadian skaters and let the Russian skaters keep their gold. Doesn't someone have to win? Should there be a do-over?
posted by kirkaracha to other at 07:41 PM - 19 comments
This has a precedent. In a controversy involving synchronized swimming a judge made a typing error that resulted in Kristen Babb-Sprague (USA), wife of Blue Jays third baseman Ed Sprague getting a gold when it should have gone to Sylvie Frechette (Canada). Then they gave Sylvie a gold as well without yanking Babb-Sprague's.
posted by srboisvert at 08:55 PM on February 14, 2002
The problem with yanking medals from the Russian skaters is that it penalizes people who didn't do anything wrong. Giving the Canadians a second gold medal and a chance to stand on the podium and hear their anthem addresses corrects their mistreatment in full, especially when you consider the endorsements that are likely to come from their newfound infamy. If the IOC concludes that the event was fixed, bans the involved judges for life and awards a second gold, I think that's the best solution.
posted by rcade at 10:04 PM on February 14, 2002
rcade: why are you so convinced that this was fixed? Is it because the Russian skater had trouble on that one spin? If it was determined that NBA refs were intentionally making calls to favor the Lakers last year in the finals, would you in turn argue that the 76ers should get their own O'Brien Trophy and be declared co-champions?
posted by pastepotpete at 10:15 PM on February 14, 2002
Well, I think that the statement by the French judge saying that she'd been pressured into judging the Russians as first would count as convincing...
posted by sauril at 02:52 AM on February 15, 2002
According to NBC and other media, the French judge told other people at a meeting after the event that she fixed the result under pressure from the French skating commission.
posted by rcade at 07:25 AM on February 15, 2002
Did the Russians win only because it was fixed, or did they give the best performance, which was fixed for good measure? I don't know that much about figure skating, but I saw the two performances in split screen, and the Canadians were smoother and were flawless, while the Russians made a couple of mistakes. Part of the problem is that there's a built-in subjective component to the judging. I've heard some commentary that the Russians' routine was more sophisticated than the Canadians' (I dunno, it looks the same to me). Is an imperfect peformance of a complicated routine better than a perfect performance of a simpler one? (I usually like movies that aim high and miss better than movies than aim low and hit.) If the Canadians' performance was superior and the only reason they lost was because the fix was in, they should get the gold, and the Russians should get the silver. I don't think this would be penalizing the Russians, because it would be correcting an injustice. If the Russians' performance was better, they should keep the gold. If it's too close to call, they should do a do-over. srboisvert: letting someone keep a gold medal they got--not won, got--because of a typo is even more lame than giving everyone the gold. pastepotpete: the difference is that NBA refs are supposed to be objective and call the games according to the rules, while skating judges are allowed to include subjective opinions in their decisions. And Shaq commited an offensive foul almost every time he had the ball.
posted by kirkaracha at 11:39 AM on February 15, 2002
There's no difference there. Both are supposed to apply objective judgment to subjective situations. One man's offensive foul is another man's Hack-a-Shaq.
posted by pastepotpete at 12:06 PM on February 15, 2002
Apparently the French judge La Gougne has been suspended, so I'm guessing that they're taking away her score, which leaves both teams tied for gold. Thus, two golds, no silver, one bronze.
posted by headspace at 12:22 PM on February 15, 2002
Well, they ARE getting the gold. So then, why are you so convinced that this was fixed? -- cause the ISU/IOC says so.
posted by mkn at 12:22 PM on February 15, 2002
What a mess. A sport (or more appropriately a "contest") that relies solely on judging will always be controversial. There is no way around it. Figure skating needs a finish line (and maybe a few hurdles).
posted by jacknose at 12:30 PM on February 15, 2002
If they're going to start reversing controversial Olympic decisions, when is Roy Jones, Jr. going to get his gold?
posted by holden at 12:47 PM on February 15, 2002
Figure skating needs Bob Probert hurltling at them at 30 mph on a pair of ice skates with a wooden stick in his hands and a smile on his toothless face.
posted by adampsyche at 01:12 PM on February 15, 2002
Mitch agrees, jacknose.
posted by adampsyche at 01:18 PM on February 15, 2002
Oops, no closing tag there. My bad.
posted by adampsyche at 01:20 PM on February 15, 2002
Sale, Pelletier share gold with Russian pair
posted by dgeiser13 at 01:53 PM on February 15, 2002
Well, we all know the Canadians won. I suspect the Russians know too. It's like the case of Pete Rose or the Black Sox, where the scandal that surrounds a decision overshadows the decision entirely.
posted by djacobs at 05:07 PM on February 15, 2002
cause the ISU/IOC says so. of course four days ago nothing they said when their appointed judges gave somebody else a gold medal was good enough. It was fixed for homers like you because you saw it on TV and didn't like the result. Hooray! The Olympics bowed to public and media pressure to bastardize the results. At least I have the decency to accept this result which is more than you and your ilk can say. Go gloat at someone else.
posted by pastepotpete at 07:27 PM on February 15, 2002
I was kind of impressed by Don Cherry's comments tonight about this decision. He claimed that Canadians are completely gutless. They should demand not only the gold medal, but that the Russians be awarded the silver. The reason? They won, fair and square. In Canada, it's perfectly acceptable for both to win gold, because it's "feel good" to do it as such. To let everyone into the spotlight. I don't like accepting a charitable first-place. Sale and Pelletier won and should be treated as the winners, not the co-winners. Say what you will about Cherry, but he has a point.
posted by Succa at 01:41 AM on February 16, 2002
How can both pairs get gold medals? Somebody has to win. If the Canadians were unfairly denied the gold medal (which is how it seems to me based on seeing the performances split-screened), they should get the gold, and the Russians should get the silver. Or they should just acknowledge that they blew it the first time, then redo the competition and let the best team win.