Steve Milton column: "In praise of skating's whistle-blowers"
Steve Milton of Canada's Hamilton Spectator (and author of several skating books) wrote a Feb. 4th sports column titled "In praise of skating's whistle-blowers" that appears to be subscribers-only access at http://www.hamiltonspectator.com/
Summary: The ISU Council's hearing in Geneva, Switzerland this past Tuesday (2/1/05) "will likely lead to the expulsion of former top [ISU and WSF] officials Sally Stapleford, Ron Pfenning, Britta Lindgren and Jon Jackson." All of them expect to be receiving their expulsion letters soon that will make them ineligible to judge or referee at future figure skating events. Their next step will be to "fight the decision at the ISU Appeals Committee. They expect to lose there too, and will likely then proceed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport."
Milton concludes:
Steve Milton of Canada's Hamilton Spectator (and author of several skating books) wrote a Feb. 4th sports column titled "In praise of skating's whistle-blowers" that appears to be subscribers-only access at http://www.hamiltonspectator.com/
Summary: The ISU Council's hearing in Geneva, Switzerland this past Tuesday (2/1/05) "will likely lead to the expulsion of former top [ISU and WSF] officials Sally Stapleford, Ron Pfenning, Britta Lindgren and Jon Jackson." All of them expect to be receiving their expulsion letters soon that will make them ineligible to judge or referee at future figure skating events. Their next step will be to "fight the decision at the ISU Appeals Committee. They expect to lose there too, and will likely then proceed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport."
Milton concludes:
This corner couldn't agree more: What is the ISU trying to hide? And why are people who have brought dishonour to the sport -- such as the judges suspended in the taped "footsies" incident of 1999, and the judge who told Canadian Jean Senft how he was going to vote before the 1998 Olympic ice dance final had been skated -- back in the judging fold?
And why is it that those who are about to be barred just happen to be the ones who brought the dark plot of Salt Lake into the light? These people should have been made honorary Canadians for their brave actions in 2002. Instead, they're being made invisible, and the perpetrators will be back on the scene.