History of the Olympics in TIME Covers,Salt Lake City, 2002

Salt Lake City, 2002: Figure Skaters Jamie Sale & David Pelletier

[size=0.75em]February 25, 2002

More scandal and intrigue struck the figure skating world in Salt Lake. The 2002 Olympics were rocked by allegations of bribery and collusion after a bumpy Russian routine received higher marks than Jamie Sale and David Pelletier’s flawless Love Story routine. TIME’s cover story alluded to the potential voting bloc: “Looking over the roster of judges, many people expected a kind of cold war face-off.” While conspiracy theories spun faster than triple axels, Sale and Pelletier remained calm, TIME wrote:

“Pelletier and Sale, meanwhile, were being pelted with valentines. Their constant sportsmanship and shrugging good cheer was probably as a good a performance as any they gave on the ice, but it was what the moment required, and it earned them a lot of goodwill.”

When Jacques Rogge, the president of the International Olympic Committee, amid a look into the cheating allegations, decreed that both the Russians and the Canadians should share the gold, he underscored “that the value of the Olympic brand is on the line.”

Read more: http://olympics.time.com/2012/07/02/time-covers-the-olympics/slide/1988-calgary-figure-skater-debi-thomas/#ixzz2SKvyrTO6