Article: Gaillaguet re-elcted as head of French Federation

[Lise]

I was in shock when I read this article...check it out:

http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam020525/ska_gai-ap.html

[Xiaoxue]

Honestly, i can't say that i'm surprised. The French federation probly still believes that Le Gougne and Gailleguet are victims and scapegoats of the ISU. They are scapegoats, but not victims in my mind.

This was probly a reaction to tell the ISU that "we are not going to take your bull's poopoo." The ISU can keep them away, or maybe not!

[Cerulean]

Ack, I can't believe this.

Sometimes I think that they should just elect me as president of the ISU.... 8)

[serpentine]

my reaction to that news: 8O and :evil:

i just cant believe it! basically they are sweeping the issue under the table--how disgusting.

[Mayra]

The ISU "hearing" was pretty much a joke IMO. But I don't understnad how this is supposed to work. If the ISU banned both Le Gougne and Gaillaguet for 3 years does that not directly affect or at least prevent Gaillaguet from doing his job as president of the French federation?

[Dustin]

That is very strange because I don't see how he could be President of the FF seeing he is suspended. Anyways, I wouldn't be suprised if he was doing what he did before - using power to get votes.

[PatC]

I can't say I'm surprised either, a little on the disgusted side - yes.

I feel so sorry for the French Skaters - now everytime they skate in an ISU comp - someone will be sure to tell them they're getting shafted cuz of the FFS pres. :?

This is a mess. What was that soap opera that Carol Burnett had on her show? As the Stomach Turns? ;)

[mkice]

This does not make me happy in the least. I'm very dissapointed with how the federation problems in the ISU have been "resolved" it seems like they are just hoping the general public will forget about it and that the skating world will sink back into submission.

[Emilieanne]

Contrary to what many in the skating community want to think, this is NOT going to go away! When the situation erupted in Nagano in 1998, it was a wake-up call to say the least. When the games came to Salt Lake, the media was salivating as it knew that something smelly could happen, and as we all know, it sure did :twisted:

All this "sweeping under the rug" is only going to make the media dig deeper...as the executives of Enron found out the hard way and that scene is not over either. Remember Watergate? Many of the players in that scene were totally disgraced and ended up doing serious jail-time.

As far as Dr. Rogge, Dick Pound and the IOC are concerned, they seem to be biding their time, waiting to see what gets accomplished (or fails to get accomplished) at the upcoming ISU Congress in Kyoto. The IOC is simply doing the "give them enough rope and they will hang themselves" for the right now....and I am sure they will.

The IOC 114th Session in Mexico City is at the end of November and I am sure that is also going to be a hot meeting. We shall see...

[loveskating]

I'm not surprised at all...I pretty much expected that the French Federation would not bow down to all this. After what the French did to Viktoria Volchkova in 2000, the French are more than capable of playing the same games...France is a world player, a long time world power, without whom our own revolution would never have won, and you can be sure they will not put up with anything like this for very long, at least not laying down, LOL!

I expect that both officials and skaters from all countries will by now have gotten themselves some lawyers...and I suspect that future ISU competitions will be extremely tight, perhaps even rude, events. It would seem that telephone calls and social events are dangerous and no one would dare indulge in them! I wonder what will happen at Trophe Lalique?

At Nagano, I thought the judges picked the right ice dancers to win...althogh IMHO it was a tie really between G&P and K&O...both magnificent skaters. I so much preferred A&P's skating to B&K's at the time, thought their Romeo & Juliet was so innovative, fresh and well skated...really a great program, IMHO. Therefore, all the complaints about the judging seemed extremely hollow to me...I agreed with the judges myself.

[Emilieanne]

Iloveskating, although there is disagreement about the results themselves, and there always will be to some extent...that is [i:36021ab464][b:36021ab464]not [/b:36021ab464][/i:36021ab464]what has gotten everyone in an uproar. What has gotten people so boiled is the appearance of predetermination, collusion and arrogance that has been displayed by many in officialdom over the years. Such display is downright embarrassing :oops: and revolting.

There are demands for competitors to stay drug-free and to observe and respect the rules, and most seem to (some of the public personnas leave much to be desired, however...but that is another issue and I'm not going there). :evil: What really angers and offends is that officials have appeared to engage in ethical misbehavior with complete impunity...that paints everyone in the sport with a very dirty and smelly brush. Yuck!

[Aussie Willy]

[quote:4178e35b84="Emilieanne"]As far as Dr. Rogge, Dick Pound and the IOC are concerned, they seem to be biding their time, waiting to see what gets accomplished (or fails to get accomplished) at the upcoming ISU Congress in Kyoto. The IOC is simply doing the "give them enough rope and they will hang themselves" for the right now....and I am sure they will.
[/quote:4178e35b84]

Totally agree. Will be interesting to see what position the IOC under Rogge takes.

Cerulean - you have my vote for ISU president!!

[Melanie Z]

I can't believe he was re-elected either. However, I agree with whoever said they are not victims, but are scapegoats. I'm sure this is not an isolated incidence and certainly not the only federation that has participated in vote swapping. They are simply the latest ones to get caught. I would be interested in hearing from someone "in the know" from France, about how others in the French Federation percieve this whole mess. Anyone out there?

[evereg]

[quote:f93985334c="loveskating"]I'm not surprised at all...I pretty much expected that the French Federation would not bow down to all this. After what the French did to Viktoria Volchkova in 2000, the French are more than capable of playing the same games...
[/quote:f93985334c] :?:

What did they do to Viktoria Volchkova?

[loveskating]

Here is what happened. Someone gave an anonymous note to the French Authorities claiming that Viktoria Volchkova was "acting strangely" in practises.

On the basis of that note and nothign else, the French Drug authorities then basically busted down her door and over her protest, forced a drug test on her (in addition, apparently, to the one already given by the ISU). Of course, the French Federation opposed this on the spot, and formally protested it. Of course, Viktoria was drug free.

France's Gusmeroli won a bronze; her main competition for that was Viktoria.

My opinion and ONLY opinion: First of all, no authorities anywhere would take such a note seriously; second, even if they did, they would certainly not do such a thing to any world class athlete from another country without checking with some other authorities somewhere -- can you even IMAGINE them doing this to, say, Sarah Hughes at that time, for instance; third; how many normal, work-a-day people would have the audacity to conclude they knew enough to submit such a note about a champion ice skater to "the authorities"? Very few, if any, I contend.

I think its reasonable to assume that this was a calculated effort by some individuals in France to adversely affect Volchkova and make sure France's Gusmeroli won that bronze medal. No one could ever prove such a thing, I can't prove it, but it was all just too absurd and too vicious for a normal brain to compute as sincere and real. And the sadest part is that Gusmeroli probably would have won, as she did, without all this. She was skating very well, very consistently.

In any case, my point was that the players on all sides seem to be playing very rough indeed.

On that score, I just wish they would all just leave world politics out of skating...let the people have an area of life that is NOT political, that is just FUN and BEAUTIFUL. We have politicians, armies, police, media, all sorts of overtly political institutions and forces all over the place to pay attention to and all sorts of responsiblities, including family members in the military...isn't that ENOUGH, already, do we have to have skating be political as well?

[Schmeck]

My question (and Dustin's too) is how this can be if he is suspended - do the French lose their representation in ISU, or what? If he's suspended, how can he do his job?

Schmeck

[Scott]

Leave it to the French. What do they think they are doing. They are getting themselves into a situation that is destroying their viability and reputations in the world of figure skating. I guess they just don't care about the people they associate with. This gentleman has no honor and should be banned from the sport.

[loveskating]

[quote:86ab589e74="Schmeck"]My question (and Dustin's too) is how this can be if he is suspended - do the French lose their representation in ISU, or what? If he's suspended, how can he do his job?

Schmeck[/quote:86ab589e74]

I don't know, but I would guess that he can run the French Federation quite easily without sitting on the ISU, just as Le Gohgne can judge in France, but not for the ISU while suspended. Presumably, someone can sit in his place at the ISU meetings...or France will simply not attend ISU meetings...unless the ISU has a rule wherein they can throw out the entire French Federation...and I doubt they do and I doubt a majority would want to throw out the French because the ISU is a voluntary organization.

Likewise, in a real court, which does have the power to punish, real evidence would be required, and statements taken under any kind of duress whatsoever would be inadmissible.

Maybe its because I have been to other countries, but I find it strange anyone would seriously expect the French nation to accept what is basically a humiliation in front of the whole world at the hands of Canada and the United States via the full power of the U.S. media at the Olympics, which is supposed to be non-political! Whatever options they have open to them to "fight back" they will surely use. One of those is to support Didier G. ...and I'm sure there will be others.

[Emilieanne]

Whatever Didier does, he is opening a huge can of worms to say the least. I have often said that this is going to get a lot uglier and it is doing so far faster than I thought. What France chooses to do with Didier and Marie-Reine within the French border is their business...keeping them in France will, to some extent, keep them out of everyone else's hair. I know there are others out there, but it seems they have all run for cover like cockroaches when the light is turned on when all this erupted in Salt Lake. :roll:

The MO that Didier appears to employ is comparable to jury tampering, and that is certainly not right. To ask judges what can be improved about a person's skating is one thing...there is nothing wrong with that. However, "pressuring" (or other such unethical activity) judges to judge in a manner that the skating done in front of them does not support is definitely wrong, and that is what everyone has been in a lather about for so long. Even the appearance of collusion, predetermination and such about an event's outcome prior to the event taking place is most reprehensible! :evil:

It will be most interesting to see what gets accomplished (or fails to get accomplished) :frus: in Kyoto this week...and who supports/opposes what measures. That will tell all of us a lot and provide us with a fairly accurate roadmap about where this may be going. Think about it... :wink: