sport.Fr / Other. What are the two surnames that were on everyone’s lips last weekend? Biden and Putin? Macron and Le Pen? No, dear friends! The real “heroes” for us sports fans were Meshkov and Matyunin. The first of them tried in the Tinkoff RPL match between Rostov and Spartak, while the other caught the unhealthy attention of league chief Ashot Khachaturyants based on the results of the work in the Khimki-match. Krylya Sovetov. I will not climb into this jungle – my colleagues, I am sure, have already managed to write about it (or will write more). For me, this topic with a referee’s cabin drew in my memory episodes in which something similar happened with Russian athletes. Let us recall the most publicized scandals involving referees.

One foot in the grave

After the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City in the United States, figure skating was the subject of an avalanche of criticism, and only the lazy did not explain how disgusting refereeing in this sport was and biased. The first swallow, which marked the beginning of a whole series of illogical decisions that go beyond the limits of reason, was the dubious assessment of Russian referee Alla Shekhovtsova, presented for her in the dance duet competition. True, this was not immediately thought of on the sidelines of figure skating, but only after Jacques Rogge sanctioned the demonstration (otherwise you can’t ask, don’t tell) the main circus performance not only in history of figure skating, but, perhaps, in the history of the Olympic Games. I think you understand what we are talking about – the repeated awards ceremony for the winners of the games in pair skating. And the reason was just an increase in the number of those same winners. Canadians Jamie Sale and David Pelletier, a few days after the competition ended and the official results were announced (as it seemed then) received their series of gold medals and, together with Russians Elena Berezhnaya / Anton Sikharulidze, won were declared Olympic champions.

Now back to Shekhovtsova’s assessment. Alla Viktorovna miraculously helped Marina Anisina, who then had French nationality, and her partner Gwendal Peiser to win the tournament, thus placing the Russian couple Irina Lobacheva / Ilya Averbukh in second place. This, of course, is speculation, but they said there was an agreement between the delegations of Russia and France, and Shekhovtsova put the French above her compatriots in exchange for similar service from Marie -Ren Le Gougne, who judged the pairs. After all, it turned out that his vote was recognized as decisive and accused of conspiracy. The referee herself, in an extremely moving conversation with the President of the Technical Committee of the International Skating Union (ISU), Sally-Ann Stapleford, announced the sensational news that the President of the French Figure Skating Federation, Didier Gayage, had literally forced her to pursue Berezhnaya and Sikharulidze. Here we go.

The reputation of all senior officials, including Jacques Rogge, who led the IOC in 2022, was under threat. This forced the Swiss to take an unprecedented step, as the hype around the court scandal could only be extinguished in the way that the Olympic Committee ultimately chose – handing over the second set of gold medals, taking into account all the subtleties and nuances. Yes, they also talked about the fact that the Russians were skating with a spot, and that the Canadians were precise, even if the program was simpler; and that by adding up the points regardless of the judges’ allocation of places, the Canadians would generally win. But since the Russian skaters had nothing to do with it, and Elena and Anton were not responsible for what happened, it would be wrong to deprive them of medals in all positions – sports and ethical. So they couldn’t think of anything smarter than to organize the awards ceremony again, where they awarded the second set of gold medals. It is clear that this happens in sports, although rarely, but for medals to be awarded in this way – this, of course, is a circus and nothing more. The Chinese couple, who by the way became the third, refused to participate in this farce. Our guys didn’t shine with happiness either, but smiles had to be put on for the frame.

After such a grandiose scandal, there was general talk of excluding figure skating from the list of Olympic sports, but instead, at the top, thought was simply given to the reform of judging, which was finally embodied in the model that works today. Only what happened in 2002 will go down in history and have an unpleasant aftertaste.

Like an orchestra conductor

And in 2004, the hall of the Athens Gymnastics Complex was buzzing, hissing and stomping with indignation. Earlier, the scoreboard showed the performance scores on the crossbar of Russian Alexei Nemov. And they stunned the athlete himself and our coaching staff, as well as those who were in the stands that day. The Russian, already a veteran by artistic gymnastics standards, came to the Greek capital at the age of 28 to perform in only three types of programs, but in the end he only reached the final in exercises on the crossbar. The program announced by Nemov was more difficult than that of the main competitors. True, in terms of points, she did not give him so many, because shortly before the start of the Olympics, the Gymnastics Federation slightly corrected the evaluation criteria and assimilated flights (of which Nemov had 6, including 3 in a package) to simple interceptions. It turns out that the basic cost of the elements was not so high for the Russian anymore, and everything depended on the athlete himself.

Alexei executed his plan neatly, allowing only a small spot on the descent, stepping forward. Somehow, that mistake turned out to be enough for the judges to not only deprive him of gold, but even send the winners to hell. Based on impeccable performance, a score below 9,850 was simply impossible to hope for. But dreams of the highest reward crumbled like a house of cards when “9,725” flashed across the screen.

The only thing left for Alexei was to nervously exchange glances with the coach, trying to figure out if he was dreaming about it or not. Although in fact, I’m sure Nemov had a feeling in his soul that the famous meme with James McAvoy holding his head and describing what words can convey as “Come on? Are you serious?!” Among the audience, among which, by the way, there were not so many Russians, this caused a very clear reaction: protest and indignation. The whistle did not calm down for a long time, the spectators had already started to get up and almost went to the referees’ table to deal with the referees and explain who they were trying to sink with their shameless numbers – that could not even be called estimates.

In such a rumble, the next competitor, the American gymnast Paul Hamm, had great difficulty concentrating, and he could not approach the projectile in any way. As a result, he had to descend completely from the platform. And all because the judges, under pressure from the stands, decided (also for the first time in history, as in the case of figure skating) to revise their evaluations on the spot. Absurd! However, the fans were happy with the decision made and the hope for the triumph of justice began to shine in their hearts. Anyhow… Yes, the arbitrators changed Nemov’s sum, but if the initial “9.725” looked like an injustice, then the “9.767” listed in the final protocol was just a handout and a mockery.

This led to a second wave of public outrage and criticism of the justice system. And here Hamm, who was already afraid even to step onto the platform, approached our athlete and politely asked him to go out with the audience and “tell them something.” And since Nemov is a man with a big heart, he could only think of thanking everyone for their support. Alexei climbed onto the platform, bowed several times, then began what he later received the apt nickname “conductor”. He began using hand gestures to ask the audience to shut up, calm down, and sit down so the competition could continue. Those gathered in the bleachers could not refuse their idol.

Yes, Alexey Nemov did not receive his Olympic gold in Athens due to another vivid example of incompetence of judges, bias or venality – I don’t know which is more correct, but this situation blatantly only showed how human each of us should be. In his interviews, the gymnast confessed more than once that each time these memories gave him goosebumps, and that he would have done the exact same thing if history had repeated itself.

Alexander Petriakov, SPORT.RU