Fools Gold for Canadian Figure Skaters

As Errol Brown once sang, "Everyone's a winner baby, that's the truth." And the IOC seem to be in full agreement because today they decided to diffuse the 'Skategate' scandal that has rocked Salt Lake City by awarding a second set of figure skating gold medals to Canadian pair Jamie Sale and David Pelletier.

The controversy erupted after it was discovered that pressure had been put on the French judge Marie-Reine Le Gougne to tip the vote for gold 5-4 in favour of the Russian couple Yelena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze whose performance did not match that of the Canadians on Monday.

"The executive board has followed the International Skating Union proposal to award two gold medals and the votes of the French judge have been cancelled, making the final result four votes all," an IOC source said this afternoon.

Asked if the decision was the correct solution, IOC president Jacques Rogge replied: "Yes, because it in the interests of the athletes."

Rogge and ISU president Ottavio Cinquanta are scheduled to give a joint news conference at 11am local time (6pm UK time).