Yet Another Scandal Story

[Mazurka Girl]

"Scandal's a stunner, even by skating's standards":

http://www.dailyherald.com/sports/main_story.asp?intID=376178

"As far as the ISU is concerned, this case is over," ISU president Ottavio Cinquanta said.

[donnamarie]

I'm sure Cinquanta wants it all to be over, but I suspect that this is only a temporary lull in the investigation ... this article pretty well summed up the situation in a nutshell.

[AxelAnnie22]

Saying it is over does not make it so.

Rather than simply ensuring fair judging (i.e. instant replay, a referee who actually steps in, etc) Cinquenta has ensured controversy with these new judging systems. I wonder when/if it will end.

[Ivan W]

Unfortunately, it seems that one way of ending this scandal is with the dismissal of Mr. Cinquanta. After all this, he just seems so inept that Bozo the Clown could do a better job.

Of course, that just my opinion...

[Greek Chic]

OMG, this is going to be going on forever. I really hope that figure skating is going to clean up their act real soon. But I am only dreaming.

[Blade1]

I clicked on the link to the article but its no where to be found or its not located at the link provided. What exactly did the article say? can anyone sum up the article ?

[professordeb]

Blade 1,
Try using their search. In the key words, use the wordscandal and choose sports for the section. That should bring it up as that is what I had to do.

til later,
Deb

[Blade1]

Thanks Deb !! Did end up finding the article. I must say things are getting more interesting more and more each day. Its true - is it ever going to end? I just hope that they do get down to the bottom of things eventually.

[speedy]

I don't get it, there was nothing new in this at all, just a rehashing of the last year. Although I do agree it would be fun to see some judges and ISU-o-crats get roughed up a little bit in D.C. ;)

[Emilieanne]

This is going to make for a very strange year to say the least...the "mobster" will supposedly get the extradition hearing on January 7 (God knows what will come of that trial, if anything), Worlds will be in DC with the FBI ready to pounce (supposedly)...that has the potential for making a hilarious sideshow...and the new scoring system is not going to solve the problems the ISU brass claims it will (we all knew that before they started anyway). Perhaps if we play a game of "follow the money..." it will be better than looking into a crystal ball or playing with a ouija board to finding the answers to what is really going on.;) ;) We could use a few laughs around here these days:lol:

[loveskating]

That article was a rehash, but it was also probably a warning about what we could expect at Worlds...more scandal, apparently?

But I'm having some fun of my own...UTTERLY SPECULATIVELY, just based on the narrative, just based on factors I see as possibly relevant, not anything I'd argue for, though.

Cinquanta is Italian and Mr. T's extradition, petitioned for by the U.S.A., is occurring in an Italian court. It would seem on the face of it that IF the Italians don't want Mr. Cinquanta "overthrown", they would not allow Mr. T's extradition? I mean, without this court case from the USA, the matter of SLC is indeed closed. Also, the next Winter Olympics are supposed to be in Turin, Italy, so Cinquanta's humiliation would not exactly be to the liking of the Italians, would it? Or would it? Extradition treaties have loopholes.

Now a player also is Dr. Rogge, head of the IOC, who is French, and its Anissina and Piezerat who are on the block now, skaters, not judges or bureaucrats like Didier, head of the French Federation ... and not on the ISU's block, where mere humiliation is the only remedy, but on the block of the USA and facing criminal charges (a significant difference, surely). I mean, is it reasonable to imagine that Dr. Rogge would assist the USA/Canada to the detriment of his own nation, its public? Would he actually do anything that might indirectly assist the U.S. in convicting Anissina and making her serve jail time?

Also, its hard to imagine that the French nation would allow Anissina and Piezerat to be extradited or to voluntarily stand trial in a U.S. Federal Court? I mean, it was very, very hard for Britain to extradite Irish Republican Army folk living in New York to Britain while the IRA was bombing the heck out of London. There are extradition treaties, but there are many loopholes and the Irish vote in NY is very huge.

Now this complaint in the Southern District of NEw York might voice only the genuine concerns of the government of the United States about the state of figure skating (does anyone know how often and in what manner other governments have directly interferred in such a manner with the IOC or any international sporting organization like the ISU. Assuming the wire taps are legitimate, there are MANY ways to deal with such things other than this way...for instance, a few months before 9/11 we gave the Taliban $15 million to plow under poppies to stop the dope trade...which they never did).

However, the complaint might MAINLY be about geopolitics...Mr. T. having been in charge of Boris Yeltsen's slush fund, and if anyone would know whether or not the Russians sold Hussein "weapons of mass destruction" on the black market, he would.

On that score, however, most of Europe, including Italy and most of all, France, is utterly opposed to Bush's plan for Iraq (invasion, war, occupation); the French, I read, are even putting massive pressure on Turkey for agreeing to give George Bush logistical bases. Ergo, it seems rather unlikely that Mr. Rogge would do anything to assist the U.S.A. even indirectly as to the extradition of Mr. T. relative to the Hussein connection, never mind the continued prosecution of those the U.S.A. considers corrupt in the ISU at Salt Lake City?

Hmmmm. Quite a little pot of possiblities.

[KHenry14]

Uh, loveskating, Mr. Rogge is Belgian, not French.

[Mazurka Girl]

Maybe that's the UTTERLY SPECULATIVE part. :?? :)

I met several French judges this past year (unfortunately not the infamous LeGougne which would've been a real kick!) & found them to be very pleasant & hardworking & did not notice anything unreasonable about any of their results.

[Mazurka Girl]

From the IOC web page:

Jacques Rogge is the eighth IOC President, elected on 16 July 2001 at the 112th IOC Session in Moscow.

Born on 2 May 1942 in Ghent, Belgium, Jacques Rogge is married and has two children. By profession, he is an orthopaedic surgeon. In the course of his sports career, he competed in the yachting competitions at the Games of the Olympiad in Mexico in 1968, Munich in 1972 and Montreal in 1976. He was also a member of the Belgian national rugby team.

Jacques Rogge served as President of the Belgian National Olympic Committee from 1989 to 1992. He became President of the European Olympic Committees in 1989, IOC member in 1991 and Executive Board member in 1998.

[loveskating]

Originally posted by KHenry14
Uh, loveskating, Mr. Rogge is Belgian, not French.

Well, that blows a key part of the entire speculative game, doesn't it? That's no fun! What a boring International Political Science class that makes! But it does prove the oft-made and important assertion that I am indeed factually deficient -- I guess! 8O :evil:

Shoot! Is it back to this no fun, serious stuff of making a federal case out of a bad runout on a 2 axel and a forward landing on a 3 throw vs. a so-called flawless performance that SOMEHOW winds up with Anissina facing criminal charges in a US Federal Court (not to mention allusions to numerous other folks in the original complaint).

But Cinquanta is Italian, is he not?