japanice, Thanks for the article!
I hope Japan will take Gaillhueget up on it, and will have Worlds next year!
Um, I guess it's kind of nice to let Japan hold the next World's, but it just doesn't strike me as super noble. Just a sort of normal nice. Unless France was really desperate to hold World's or something.
I think the importance of the adjective noble is that it was used by a Japanese paper to describe the French gesture. At a moment when Japan is suffering so deeply, I imagine that every moment of attention from outside feels huge and helps immensely. So I take the hyperbole in that spirit.
And in that spirit, I thank France also.
Is this the same Didier Gailhaguet that was suspended for the 2002 judging scandal? I would love to believe he has turned over a new leaf, but my cynical side is kind of thinking that he is doing this as a way to "rehabilitate" himself in time for the election of the new ISU president.Originally Posted by dorispulaski
Hmmm. I wonder what his motive is. From what I've read about him, he has to have one, and I'm sure it is something that will benefit him.
I think you are right Ravensque, our president alway have motive!
My idea, be he want help bid olympique of Annecy, or be ISU president!!
Last edited by Mattieu; 03-30-2011 at 09:59 AM.
He wants to guilt Canada into giving 2013 to him. "But we were noble enough to give 2012 to Japan, so you should return the favour by giving 2013 to us.."
Maybe not.. but possibly.
Yes, that occured to me as well...................Canada's always very good about going on "guilt trips" too lol. Maybe, no more Mr. "Nice Guy" this time around.......the process has already started so I've been told.
He was suspended for 4 years after the 2002 SLC Olympic scandal but not as a judge, but as a head of his country's skating federation. The French judge who was suspended was named: Marie Reine Le Gougne. It was widely believed that Mr. Gailhaguet was one of the masterminds behind the complex quid pro quo scheme that the FBI in the U.S. suspected was possibly tied, in some way to Russian mafia. So at one point, the federal authority in the U.S. were investigating as a potential international criminal / conspiracy. There were even rumors that the direct beneficiaries, Berezhnaya/Sikhurlidze of Russia were somehow in the know although never proven so some thought they too were wanted by the FBI but it turned out they were never charged. Instead, this Russian pair got extremely offended by the suggestion that somehow they are criminals that they threatened to sue for defamation and reports suggested that Elena was spotted crying in restaurants while at SLC because of the tainted Gold Medal.
Suffice to say, Didier Gailhaguet is not your type who is : "We all have a heart..." It feels more like a fox attending the hen's funeral. Then again, about two weeks before the Vancouver Olympics, Mr. Gailhaguet was once again on the move. Remember, he was banned all the way up to Torino 2006 so he could do nothing except watching as a spectator. This time, he engineered a controversy through a private e-mail from Joe Inman, a U.S. ISU Judge, sent to some colleagues after giving a seminar on PCS. He spun it into a big controversy as though there is a concerted effort on the part of certain people to undermine the chances of Joubert and dragging Plushenko in as part of it as well. He also explicitly threatened to take further actions if necessary. The entire media coverage was done through coordinated effort with French media and only French media, which eventually spread to other countries who reported them. The Russians seemed to be involuntary participants this time, they appeared to be dragged into it by Gailhaguet unintentionally since I don't the Russians thought Plushenko needed any help if he were clean. Then, you guess, the media obsessed by the name of Johnny Weir seized upon the media opportunity and called upon the USFS to suspend Joe Inman for LIFE. You read it right, without any proof or even any evidence of wrong doing of anykind, the supposedly sweet & innocent Mr. Weir thought Mr. Inman, who is also an occasional poster here at GS, needs to be banned for life. Mr. Weir then went on to defend Plushenko who didn't even speak about this himself and says something to the effect that even he is American, he thought it was so wrong and etc. More likely than not, some people speculated that Johnny Weir is also upset with Joe Inman who gave him like 3.5 for TR at the 2010 US Nationals and took the mark as a personal affront. Anyway, I can tell you it did raise quite a bit of eyebrows at the USFS what Johnny Weir did, who came out to Mr. Inman's defense, with their hands forced by Johnny Weir's attempt to make the controversy even more explosive. All this happened before the Olympic opening ceremony even took place. Then when Johnny finished 6th at the Olympics, he and his entourage claimed it was a retaliation against him and that the judges and USFS hates him. Joubert and FFSG never got a chance to play the victim card because Joubert bombed his Vancouver Olympics so Gailhaguet's attempt to create a North American conspiracy during the Vancouver Olympics was stopped by Joubert's bombing, sorry for Joubert but it was probably good for the sport, who really cannot afford another 2002 style scandal.
If the Japan Times author is aware of all this, he should know better than to take Mr. Gailhaguet's offer at face value.
Last edited by wallylutz; 03-30-2011 at 03:42 PM.
Wow, that was a really complicated story... I'm not sure I followed it all!
Complicated as the story may seem I find it much more easier to follow than the CoP
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