Judging Scandal in Nagano
     During the free dance at 2002 World Championships 5 judges decided that Galit Chait and Sergei Sakhnovsky's dance is better than Margartia Drobiazko and Povilas Vanagas'. Figure skating, especially ice dance is a subjective sport so such decision shouldn't shock anyone, especially that there are some people who liked Israelis more for sure. So what's the big deal? The big deal is that if you happen to know anything about ice dance, you can easily see that the couple from Lithuania represented a completely different level of skating an you just can't place them below the Israelis. Why do I feel that I have a right to say so? After the competition has finished, Halina Gordon-Poltorak, the asisstant referee for the event didn't want to take part in the medal ceremony. She was disgusted with the results and considers resigning from judging. Most of the couples who took part in ice dance competitions (apart from Lobacheva/Averbukh, Humphreys/Baranov and Ukrainian teams) as well as a number of coaches (including Muriel Boucher-Zazoui coach of Anissina/Peizerat) and judges signed the protest against the jugding. Halina Gordon-Poltorak also signed the protest. And this people have some knowledge on ice dancing I think. Polish international dance judges and officials also think that the result was wrong. What is horrible in this case, is that you can always accuse people of being against C/S because of anti-semitism. The stereotype and Poles hating Jews is very offensive for me as I have no such feelings and I am sure that the officials who protested did that only because they know that the decision was wrong. Coming back to the topic. When Roman Kostomarov (he and his partner Tatiana Navka also signed the protest) went to the changing room after the competition, he asked Sergei Sakhnovsky (who was there). "Sergei how much costs the gold medal?" Sergei was just untying his laces. He raised his head and said calmly: "Not so much." Israel Federation didn't even try to defend itself. They didn't even issue an official statement. It's like admitting that the whole story is true.
      C/S are the couple who skates with an amazing speed but lacks the proper technique. They use toepicks insted of edges (in contrary to D/V) and because of that they gain so much speed. But their edges are not so deep as Lithuanians', they don't get down into the ice as they should. C/S were 13th at Worlds in 1999 and suddenly made a jump to 5th in 2000. According to my sources, from inside the skating world, there was always a lot going on backstage to push them up as high as possible. In the skater community, the fact the Boris Chait, Galit's father is from mafia is widely known. Most of you will say: Give me proof. If anybody had any proof, he would be in jail long time ago. To prove what I've written I can tell you how he has been behaving after he found out about the protest. He started threatening to kill people who took part in it. In the Russian officials' room, Boris Chait said to Alexander Zhulin (who is the hunband and coach of Navka who also signed the protest): "If your wife, that whore, will rebel against me, you won't make it alive to New Jersey." He also was trying to involve in a fight with some people who supported the Lithuanians. And if you want proof for that, Povilas said on a press conference that Boris Chait was threatening people, saying that they won't reach America alive. I don't know what to say, I am disgusted and shocked. Because of that Ice Dance may dissappear from Olympic Games. And maybe it will turn out to be a good thing in the end. Maybe it will push ISU to finally do something with the judging. They rejected the protest of Lithuanians, refusing to take any responsibility but if they will be threatened by IOC, they will have to do something. And let's all hope that they will.

Ziggy 25.03.2002


If you would like to support D/V, you can sign the petition:
D/V Petition
Home         Reports         Editorials         Reference         Archives        Links