Herrernes disciplin har typisk set været relativt skandalefrit, men det vil måske ændre sig ved dette Vinter OL. Herrernes felt er større end nogensinde, da omkring 10 mænd har potentialet til at tage guldet!
I en fransk og russisk artikel er det kommet frem, at den amerikanske kunstskøjteløbsdommer Joseph Inman har sendt en e-mail til ISU dommere, hvori han beder dem om at være strengere mod de europæiske herrer, navnligt Evgeni Plushenko og Brian Joubert.
Den franske artikel (oversat til engelsk):
The ghost of the "Icegate"(Se scan af artiklen her og her.)
One week before the Games begin, a North American offensive has been launched where Russian Evgeni Plushenko and Brian Joubert could pay the price of it. As a proof, sixty judges and officials worldwide have received an e-mail from the American Joseph Inman, international judge. Some lines of said message were published by L'Equipe on Friday.
A message rather cautious but clear. It insinuates that the Europeans could suffer more than usually on a particular sector favored by the North Americans, the artistic mark and transitions. History to compensate their nervousness over their jumps. This is not the first time a judge has "set fire" on the eve of the Olympics. In 2002, this had led to the scandal in Salt Lake City, after the pairs competition. "We will react, but we will not give more importance to this email than it deserves," says Didier Gailhaguet, president of the FFSG. "It just proves that the North American lobbying is on his way. "
Den russiske artikel (oversat til engelsk):
"American judge has asked to assess performance of figure skater E. Plushenko stricter"Mine tanker:
Vancouver, Canada. A week before the Olympic Games, figure skating American judge Joseph Iman has began baiting European athletes in particular, Russia's Evgeny Plushenko and Frenchman Brian Joubert.
Inman sent letters by e-mail to 60 international referees and officials. The North American specialist urged his colleagues to judge European slaters stricter at the Olympics. Inman believes that athletes from the Old World use too many artistic techniques to help hide their rather weak jumps.
"Of course, we can not ignore the message of our colleague. However, this does not mean that all the judges at the Olympics will start to evaluate athletes in a different way. Inman letter proves the existence of a North American lobby in figure skating," - said in interview to l'Equipe, the President of the French federation Didier Gailhaguet
Jeg ved sku' ikke. Ja, jeg har altid syntes, at dommerne har været gavmilde mod Plushenko og Joubert hvad angik scoren for programkomponenterne, men jeg tilgav dem altid, fordi ellers ville quad'en uddø. Min løsning ville være at hæve basisværdien for quad'en, og så befale dommerne om at følge de guidelines der er til programkomponenterne.
Suk, kunstskøjteløb forbliver subjektivt...
