Pairs Soften Stand

Holding hands as they climbed to the top of the medal podium, figure skaters Jamie Sale of Canada and Elena Berezhnaya of Russia put a good face on an ugly moment for figure skating and the Olympics.

Sale and partner David Pelletier were given the pairs’ gold medals they narrowly missed winning last Monday, when they lost a 5-4 decision to Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze. A French judge on the panel later said she had been pressured to vote against her conscience by her country’s figure skating federation, and although she denied having been swayed, the International Skating Union recommended the Canadians be declared co-winners and get duplicate gold medals.

The International Olympic Committee approved the decision, the first time it ratified the reversal of a judgment call.

ISU President Ottavio Cinquanta, who today will discuss the judging scandal at an ISU executive council meeting, awarded the freshly minted medals to Sale and Pelletier Sunday at the Salt Lake Ice Center after the original dance phase of the ice dancing competition.

“Obviously, there were a tough few days,” Pelletier said, “but now we can put some closure to it, and we can go on and be athletes. Our gold medal is everybody’s.”

The third-place Chinese duo, Xue Shen and Hongbo Zhao, were invited to participate but chose not to attend.

Both couples wore warmup suits with red-and-white jackets, but Berezhnaya and Sikharulidze had their gold medals around their necks. All four chatted while waiting for the blue-carpeted podium to be set up, and Sale said she joked with Berezhnaya about the craziness of the past week.

“It’s the most bizarre thing that has ever happened,” Sale said. “We’re all trying to make the best of it, and we’re all really pleased.”

The two women led the way to the podium, trailed by their partners. Both couples stood on the wide top step as Cinquanta looped a medal around Sale’s neck, and then around Pelletier’s. He then gave each of the four skaters a yellow bouquet, which they waved toward the appreciative crowd.

“I’m very happy,” Sikharulidze said, “because I think now, after all these kinds of problems, we’re all happy, and I think the audience must be happy as well, because it’s the right decision.”

The Russian anthem was played, with Berezhnaya and Sikharulidze spiritedly singing along. The Canadian anthem followed, and Sale sang along while a weary-looking Pelletier stood still and smiled.

“It is an exit for a situation there is no exit out of,” said Valentin Piseev, president of the Russian Figure Skating Federation.

All four were gracious toward each other, hugging and exchanging kisses as they posed for photographers. At one point Sale bit her medal, as if testing to be sure it was real.

“This was better than I expected,” Pelletier said. “I think the four of us were part of history, and that’s something that is great for the four of us.... I’m so happy that we got to share that with Anton and Elena.”

Said Berezhnaya: “It’s closed and everybody is happy, so I’m happy too.”

Today, Cinquanta will introduce a proposal to change figure skating’s judging system, reviving a reform move that was rejected at an ISU Congress two years ago.

However, it’s unclear whether last week’s judging controversy will make the climate at the executive council meeting more favorable toward change. No reforms will be enacted today because rule changes must be approved by a two-thirds majority at the ISU Congress. The next Congress will be in June in Kyoto, Japan.

Cinquanta’s ideas include making judges more independent from their national federations and tracking judges’ scores by computer to determine whether a pattern of bias appears or whether their scores deviate greatly from their colleagues’ marks. Those who fall outside a norm would have to justify their decisions and, perhaps, face sanctions if they can’t provide a reasonable explanation.

The French judge at the center of last week’s flap, Marie Reine Le Gougne, wants to speak before today’s meeting, but French Figure Skating Federation President Didier Gailhauget said the ISU has not responded to her request.

Le Gougne was suspended indefinitely after she did not immediately report to ISU officials that she had been pressured to vote a certain way while judging the pairs’ free skate last Monday.

Cinquanta declined to be more specific about his proposal, saying the council members should hear it before it becomes public. ISU spokeswoman Aline Bussat said only that the agenda “will be pertaining to ISU administrative matters. And yes, of course,” she added, “the issue concerning the French judge and the ongoing investigation will be addressed.”

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Times staff writer Randy Harvey contributed to this report.