- Joined
- Jun 21, 2003
Belatedly, I just finished reading Mark Lund's book "Frozen Assets." I did not find it to be very well written, and I think that the author failed to make good on his promise to tell the inside scoop. But there were some interesting facts about judging that I hadn't been aware of.
For reform-minded people who think that judges who are caught cheating should be banned for life, the favorite whipping boy is Yuki Balkov. This is the Ukranian judge who was caught on tape fixing the 1998 Olympic ice dance competition, served a one-year suspension, then returned to international judging in plenty of time to vote for the Russian/French team of Anassina and Peiserat in 2002.
And of course the Marie-Reine LeGougne/Didier Gailhaguet business was well publicized.
But according to Lund, if the ISU Technical Committee had had its way, the French Federation would have been barred from judging in the Olympics in the first place. The Technical Committee tracked the performances of French and Hungarian judges from 1996 to 1999 and on the basis of this investigtion proposed that the they be suspended. But the full membership of the ISU Council (surprise, surprise) voted against the suspension.
In 1984 Canadian judge David Dore was suspended by the ISU for one year for crooked judging at the 1984 Olympics and at Skate America, for showing extreme National bias, especially in giving outrageously inflated marks to Underhill and Martini. Dore was immediately elected as director of the Canadian Figure Skating Association (now Skate Canada), where he served for 18 years until he was elected vice president of the ISU last year.
Boris Chait was accused -- it was never actually proved -- of threatening and bullying judges to support the Israeli dance team, half of which happened to be his daughter. The next year he was selected president of the Israeli Skating Federation.
The trend seems to be, far from being punished for these activities contrary to the best interests of the sport, the bad guys are actually cheered on and rewarded by their national federations. Immediately upon receiving a four-year suspension from the ISU, M. Gailhauget was re-elected by acclamation as President of the French federation.
Mathman
For reform-minded people who think that judges who are caught cheating should be banned for life, the favorite whipping boy is Yuki Balkov. This is the Ukranian judge who was caught on tape fixing the 1998 Olympic ice dance competition, served a one-year suspension, then returned to international judging in plenty of time to vote for the Russian/French team of Anassina and Peiserat in 2002.
And of course the Marie-Reine LeGougne/Didier Gailhaguet business was well publicized.
But according to Lund, if the ISU Technical Committee had had its way, the French Federation would have been barred from judging in the Olympics in the first place. The Technical Committee tracked the performances of French and Hungarian judges from 1996 to 1999 and on the basis of this investigtion proposed that the they be suspended. But the full membership of the ISU Council (surprise, surprise) voted against the suspension.
In 1984 Canadian judge David Dore was suspended by the ISU for one year for crooked judging at the 1984 Olympics and at Skate America, for showing extreme National bias, especially in giving outrageously inflated marks to Underhill and Martini. Dore was immediately elected as director of the Canadian Figure Skating Association (now Skate Canada), where he served for 18 years until he was elected vice president of the ISU last year.
Boris Chait was accused -- it was never actually proved -- of threatening and bullying judges to support the Israeli dance team, half of which happened to be his daughter. The next year he was selected president of the Israeli Skating Federation.
The trend seems to be, far from being punished for these activities contrary to the best interests of the sport, the bad guys are actually cheered on and rewarded by their national federations. Immediately upon receiving a four-year suspension from the ISU, M. Gailhauget was re-elected by acclamation as President of the French federation.
Mathman