France's noble gesture resonates in midst of crisis

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.

dorispulaski said:

japanice, Thanks for the article!

I hope Japan will take Gaillhueget up on it, and will have Worlds next year!

Click to expand...

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.

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.

Ravensque said:

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.

Click to expand...

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!!

Ravensque said:

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.

Click to expand...

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.

blue_idealist said:

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.

Click to expand...

M. Didier did suggest out right for Canada to pass the 2013 pre-Olympic Worlds to France as part of the deal of passing 2012 Worlds to Japan. I was surprised when he made the offer anyways after getting the "Nice try" from Canada's Mr. Thompson. I have been wondering a bit too if there is an ulterior motive. Is 2012 a good year for France to host the 2012 Worlds?

Other than the 2002 scandal, what are the reasons M. Didier is so distrusted, even by his own countrymen?

eta: Back to this thread and LOL at my own "Is 2012 a good year for France to host the 2012 Worlds?'' Is this an invitation for some good snarks or what?

Scooping the Worlds in 2000 (the Australian Federation went to CAS over that, I believe).

Canada said in no uncertain terms that they weren't giving up 2013. "Nice try, Didier" was their exact response.

wenrose said:

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.

Click to expand...

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.

Wow, that was a really complicated story... I'm not sure I followed it all!

feraina said:

Wow, that was a really complicated story... I'm not sure I followed it all!

Click to expand...

Complicated as the story may seem I find it much more easier to follow than the CoP

It is prudent to assume that based on his past maneuverings, Didier Gailhaiguet is up to no good, has an ulterior motive... and it isn't noble altruism. Japan Federation should sidestep getting sucked into this one and say "thanks but no thanks, you keep 2012, we'll go for 2014."

I remember well the brouhaha last year re Judge Inman's email. The whole thing was so ridiculous that I didn't bother to find out it was Didier behind it. Inman was raising the issue of scoring the PCS properly and independently from TES, qouting Plushenko's own words that both Joubert and himself didn't have any transition because they were focusing on their jumps. (I think Plushenko was complaining about Joubert scoring higher PCS than he at the Euro, which Plushenko won. At that time his program was really empty and his spins extremely slow though he improved on both by the Olympics.) Somehow it got spun into a political plot to promote North American Men. I never saw the logic in all those accusations.

PCS have been more appropriately scored since but Joubert still seems to get high scores on some non-existent components though he has also tried to add non jump contents to his programs.

Why Johnny felt he had to weigh in on this is beyond my comprehension, especially since it was right before the Olys and Inman would be judging him. Plushenko and Joubert can take care of themselves! He then paid the price.

Kitt said:

Why Johnny felt he had to weigh in on this is beyond my comprehension, especially since it was right before the Olys and Inman would be judging him. Plushenko and Joubert can take care of themselves! He then paid the price.

Click to expand...

What price?

SkateFiguring said:

I remember well the brouhaha last year re Judge Inman's email. The whole thing was so ridiculous that I didn't bother to find out it was Didier behind it. Inman was raising the issue of scoring the PCS properly and independently from TES, qouting Plushenko's own words that both Joubert and himself didn't have any transition because they were focusing on their jumps. (I think Plushenko was complaining about Joubert scoring higher PCS than he at the Euro, which Plushenko won. At that time his program was really empty and his spins extremely slow though he improved on both by the Olympics.) Somehow it got spun into a political plot to promote North American Men. I never saw the logic in all those accusations.

PCS have been more appropriately scored since but Joubert still seems to get high scores on some non-existent components though he has also tried to add non jump contents to his programs.

Click to expand...

I'm actually a bit tired of this topic. But since you've mentioned it again, I have to say something.

I don't care whether Didier or anyone was behind it or not. Sending e-mail to every judge talking about one of the skaters' faulty point priory to the competition where the said skater was going to compete, no matter how you slice it, no matter from which angle you see it, was an extreme move. As if those specially trained international judges and Mr.Inman himself had never realized, at least had never fully realized the obvious fact, and had always been judging it wrong in previous competitions untill Plushenko honestly pointed it out - out of his own mysterious reasons.

The timing and the method of this move was obviously undermining the top European skaters and helping North American men. Whether it helped to shape the result or not is another matter.

Bluebonnet said:

I'm actually a bit tired of this topic. But since you've mentioned it again, I have to say something.

I don't care whether Didier or anyone was behind it or not. Sending e-mail to every judge talking about one of the skaters' faulty point priory to the competition where the said skater was going to compete, no matter how you slice it, no matter from which angle you see it, was an extreem move. As if those specially trained international judges and Mr.Inman himself had never realized, at least had never fully realized the obvious fact, and had always been judging it wrong in previous competitions untill Plushenko honestly pointed it out - out of his own mysterious reasons.

The timing and the method of this move was obviously undermining the top European skaters and helping North American men. Whether it helped to shape the result or not is another matter.

Click to expand...

Yes, Gailhaguet politiks and can get pretty shady at times, and I imagine while he does feel for the Japanese people, he also has other considerations. But what does that have to do with the Inman matter? DG does not control the French media. It was Inman who decided to send the Plushenko e-mail, without even having the context for those remarks (which has never been clarified), not the French media. I don't think Inman is corrupt or should have been suspended for life as Johnny suggested, but it was inappropriate. If he wants to make an example of someone, he should bring up retired skaters, not active ones. Imagine if a Russian judge had sent out a similar e-mail right before Olys regarding Lysacek's faulty triple axel technique, or suggested that Chan is overmarked on IN - Carroll and the USFSA/Nichol and Skate Canada would have been screaming about it, the media would have had a field day, and justifiably so. Not to mention, bringing Joubert into it when it wasn't his statement was beyond the pale.

As a more general point, people shouldn't pretend that only the French and the Russians play politics. Other federations are just more subtle about it, or called out less often by fans and the media. Now, I will not do CPR on the dead horse that is SLC, but 1. it was never fully investigated, and the roles people played are still not fully clear (read The Second Mark) and 2. There were so many shenanigans with the judging back in that quad (some of the results at 2001 Worlds were ludicrous), and it almost seems like it was just a matter of time before something like that was exposed.