EP 116: The 2002 Winter Olympics Figure Skating Scandal

This week on Hashtag History, we will be discussing the 2002 Winter Olympics Figure Skating Scandal, otherwise known as “Skategate”. In 2002 at the Salt Lake City Winter Olympics, two ice skating couples - Russian pair Anton Sikharulidze and Elena Berezhnaya and Canadian pair David Pelletier and Jamie Sale - went head-to-head in the pairs ice skating competition. And while both pairs were incredible, it was noted that the Russian couple made a couple of technical flaws during their routine, including Anton not landing a double Axel. And yet, when the final scores were read - to the international audiences’ surprise - the Russian couple won.

Now…was it surprising that Russia won the ice skating competition? No. In fact, Russia had won this event at every Olympic Games since 1960! But 2002 was the first year it looked like another country stood a chance.

When it came down to it though, each country had their own set of judges voting for them with only France in the middle as the swing vote. And that’s when rumors began to swirl that perhaps Russia had bribed the French judge to vote for the Russian couple in a quid pro quo exchange.

So was the French judge bribed by the Russians? That’s what we will find out in this week’s episode.

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- Rachel and Leah