Yet another protest from the ruskies

This is just pathetic...I almost wish they would pack up and go home.


SALT LAKE CITY (AP) - Russian officials filed a formal protest of the women's Olympic figure skating final, saying silver medalist Irina Slutskaya should get her own gold medal because of biased judging.

The protest was signed by Russian Figure Skating Federation president Valentin Piseyev and sent to the referee of Thursday night's long program after 16-year-old American Sarah Hughes won the gold.

It singled out the judging that gave Hughes the win after she placed fourth in the earlier short program. Slutskaya finished second and American Michelle Kwan took the bronze.

"We filed the protest last night because we think the judging was biased," the head of the Russian delegation in Salt Lake City, Viktor Mamatov, told The Associated Press on Friday. "Canadian pairs skaters were awarded their gold medals. Now that subjective judging harmed us, we want the same for Slutskaya."


Last week, Canadian pairs skaters Jamie Sale and David Pelletier were given their own gold medal after the ISU found there had been misconduct by a judge. Russians Anton Sikharulidze and Elena Berezhnaya finished first after the competition.

Asked whether he thinks Slutskaya will be awarded a gold medal, Mamatov said: "Right now, I don't think anything. We'll wait for the protest to be evaluated, then we'll see."

Ottavio Cinquanta, president of the International Skating Union, said he was aware of the protest.

"For us, this is not so important," said Cinquanta, whose organization is investigating the pairs judging.

For folks in Hughes' hometown, the latest protest was maddening.

"That's just sour grapes," said Dan Tomaselli, a high school music teacher in Great Neck, N.Y. "The Russians, of all people, should keep their mouths shut."

Mamatov refused to speculate whether the new controversy would prompt the Russians to leave before the end of the games. Russian officials first threatened to walk out Thursday, citing favoritism and unfair treatment from Olympic officials and judges.

"If decisions are not made and issues we raised not resolved, the Russian team will not play hockey, will not run 30 kilometers, will look very negatively on other factors," Russian Olympic Committee president Leonid Tyagachev said Thursday.

He said a high number of Russian athletes had been picked for drug tests and referred to an unspecified ruling by a goal judge in ice hockey.

"I think we are seeing a witch hunt," he said.

Russian anger boiled over after nine-time Olympic medalist Larissa Lazutina was disqualified from the 20-kilometer cross-country relay following a blood test.

A short time later, South Korea said it might boycott Sunday's closing ceremony over a judge's decision that gave a short-track speedskating gold to American Apolo Anton Ohno.

The latest Russian protest came only hours before the Russian men's hockey team faced the United States in a semifinal on the 22nd anniversary of the Americans' stirring victory over the Soviet Union at Lake Placid, N.Y.

After meeting with Tyagachev on Thursday, International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge sent a letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin to assure him the games were fair and that his nation's anger was understood.

"President Rogge wrote to express sympathy, to say he has been in contact with the sports federation and that the decisions are absolutely correct," IOC director general Francois Carrard said.

Putin said there was bias at the games but indicated that Russia won't walk out.

"North American athletes receive a clear advantage," Putin told journalists at the Kremlin. "Let us see how the Olympic Games end. Let us hope that the IOC leadership will manage to solve these difficulties."

However, the lower house of Russia's parliament passed a resolution 417-0 calling on Russian athletes to boycott the closing ceremony unless the IOC reruns the cross-country race, bars North American referees from the hockey game and apologizes to the Russian Olympic team.

Tyagachev said he told Rogge his nation was "greatly unappreciated" in the Olympics.

South Korea unsuccessfully protested an ISU referee's decision Wednesday night that gave the 1,500 meter short-track gold to Ohno. He finished second to a South Korean skater but got the gold when the Korean was ruled to have interfered on the final lap.

"We can take various measures, including not participating during the closing ceremony," said Park Sung-in, head of South Korea's Olympic team.

With just three days before the closing ceremony, IOC leaders met Thursday night to discuss the issues.

Rogge spoke with the presidents of skating, skiing and hockey "and was reassured that their judges are acting in accordance with the rules," IOC vice president Kevan Gosper said.

Lazutina was disqualified because of high levels of hemoglobin, a move that knocked four-time defending champion Russia out of the event. Tyagachev said that while the skier's hemoglobin count was just above the legal limit, she was not guilty of doping.

"We are clean," he said. "We have nothing to hide."

A urine test on Lazutina will determine whether her case will be considered a drug positive. Results were expected Friday. Lazutina, who already has won two silvers at these games, is scheduled to compete in the 30-kilometer race Sunday.

On Thursday, Tyagachev said there was a 24-hour window to address the situation, and that if Russia left Salt Lake City it probably would not compete in Athens in the next Summer Games. "Once you leave, it is not easy to come back in," he said.

Later, Vitaly Smirnov, an IOC vice president from Russia, tempered Tyagachev's remarks, saying there was no ultimatum.

Tyagachev was upset by more than the Lazutina case. He made repeated references to the figure skating judging dispute.

"This was a new decision that was practically unprecedented," he said. "We went along with the decision and tried to look at it objectively. ... But we have only so much patience."

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