French judge denies making deal in skating scandal

SALT LAKE CITY - The figure skating scandal that has become one of the biggest soap operas in Winter Olympics history isn&#39;t going away. <br> <br> In a newspaper interview Monday, the French judge at the center of the dispute denied that any deals were made and said she falsely implicated skating officials from her own country out of fear. <br> <br> The judge is Marie-Reine Le Gougne, who allegedly favored a Russian couple in last week&#39;s pairs skate to ensure a gold medal for the French in the current ice dancing competition. <br> <br> The dispute was settled by giving the silver medalists, Canadians Jamie Sale and David Pelletier, their own gold medals Sunday night. Figuring out whether there were back-room deals to swap votes hasn&#39;t been as easy. <br> <br> According to colleagues, Le Gougne wept the morning after the event as she accused French figure skating federation president Didier Gailhaguet of pressuring her to back the Russians. <br> <br> But Gailhaguet denied the allegation. And in the newspaper interview, so did Le Gougne, who had not spoken publicly since the Feb. 4 event. <br> <br> &#34;I judged in my soul and conscience,&#34; Le Gougne told the French sports daily L&#39;Equipe. &#34;I considered that the Russians were the best .... I never made a deal with an official or a Russian judge.&#34; <br> <br> Immediately after the event, Le Gougne said, she was verbally attacked and felt physically threatened because of the way she had voted. She said she would name names &#34;when the time comes.&#34; <br> <br> She admitted she told international skating officials that the French skating federation had pressured her, but said the whole idea was suggested by someone else. <br> <br> Whatever happened will surely be discussed Monday during a meeting of the International Skating Union&#39;s 11-member executive council. Le Gougne has asked for a chance to explain herself, a move supported by Gailhaguet. <br> <br> He said he wants her to tell the ISU about the &#34;extremely negative influence&#34; she was under during the days leading up to the pairs competition. <br> <br> Gailhaguet at first refused to consider the issue a scandal. Lately, however, he has insisted it is starting to affect French athletes. <br> <br> &#34;Stop systematically bothering the French figure skating federation, systematically bothering the athletes,&#34; he said Sunday. &#34;Enough already.&#34; <br> <br>

http://accesswdun.com/article/2002/2/203016