Olympics: Controversey conquers competition

By Lee Manchur Sports Central Columnist

Week one of the XIX Olympic Winter Games in Salt Lake City, Utah is in the books. To say the first seven days were "interesting" would be an Olympic-sized understatement, as it was dominated by controversy, not competition.

Olympic-Sized Controversy

On just the third day of competition, the medals were awarded in the pair figure skating event. As the event was broadcast in primetime throughout North America and the world, it was apparent to the viewing public that the Canadian couple of Jamie Sale and David Pelletier had won the gold medal.

However, the judges did not see it that way. After skating a flawless performance, the Canucks were denied a gold medal, and the Russian pair of Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze were awarded the top spot on the podium that night.

That was only the beginning. The following day included an uproar from the media. Berezhnaya and Sikharulidze's skate had several flaws and on Wednesday, it was revealed that the French judge in the competition was "pressured" into voting against the Canadians. Finally, four days later, the IOC created two gold medals from scratch, realizing the inaccuracies in the voting, and Sale and Pelletier were awarded gold medals on Thursday.

The event gave the figure skating community much-needed publicity. The sport, ignored by the majority of the public until the Olympics roll around every four years, is in serious trouble. After all, this is was not the first incident of fixed voting. During the 1998 games, it was revealed that judges had pre-decided to deny the ice dancing pair of Shae-Lynn Bourne and Victor Kraatz a medal. The defending world champions finished fourth at the Nagano Games.

With the admittance of screwed balloting by the French judge at Monday's skating event and the awarding of a "second gold medal" to Sale and Pelletier, the International Olympic Committee and International Skating Union have taken a small step into resolving a major issue in their sport.

If there is any positive coming out of this event, it is that Sale and Pelletier are now the most popular couple in the world, causing them to be on NBC's Tonight Show, a CNN Larry King Live Exclusive, a Barenaked Ladies concert, and many, many more endorsements to come.

Hockey Takes Center Stage

The most hyped event of the Olympics began yesterday with the medal round of the men's ice hockey competition. Expected to be the greatest hockey tournament ever, Sweden surprisingly conquered Canada 5-2 in each teams' opening game. Canada gave up four goals in the second period and was unable to recover after a goal was called back against them in the third period.

The next three days in men's hockey are, essentially, meaningless. The other six teams of the Czech Republic, Russia, Finland, Germany, Belarus, and the host USA team are all guaranteed spots into the quarterfinals. The round robin merely determines each teams' placement and whom they will play in the playoff round of the event. On Wednesday, the quarterfinals are played, with the semifinals going on Friday the 22nd. The winners of the semifinal games will meet in the Gold Medal game on the 24th, while the losers will meet on the Bronze Medal game on the 23rd.

Germans Lead Medal Standings

With a strong presence in skiing and speedskating, not to mention their sweep of medals in men's luge, Germany leads the medal standings, currently sitting with five gold, seven silver, and four bronze for a total of 16 medals.

With a sweep of their own in men's halfpipe snowboarding, the Americans are second with three gold, six silver, and five bronze for 14 medals total. Austria and Norway have ten medals each, while Russia rounds out the top five with nine medals.

Expect the Germans, Americans, and Austrians to keep competing for the top spots in the overall standings, and for the Canadians to sneak into the top five as their strong events -- short track speedskating, curling, and ice hockey -- are yet to be completed.

The first week of the Olympic Games from Salt Lake City have been memorable, and with sports such as ice hockey and the ladies figure skating events yet to come, the final nine days of competition will be ones to remember.

Article courtesy of Sports Central.