Mafia linked to skating scandal

ICE-SKATING: International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge said yesterday he was appalled to learn of alleged mafia links to the ice skating vote-rigging scandal at the Salt Lake Games in February.

After hearing about the arrest of a suspected key figure in Russian organised crime in Italy on Wednesday Rogge said: "The IOC is appalled by the revelations, which came as a total suprise to us."

Alimzhan Tokhtakhunov was picked up after Italian police raided a Tuscan villa as part of a combined operation between the FBI, Interpol and Europol.

The Uzbek-born Paris-based Tokhtakhunov was taken to Venice where he was charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and influence two skating competitions in a sporting event - the Olympics - through bribery.

He is accused of acting with the knowledge of the Russian and French skating federations.

Police sources speaking on condition of anonymity said anti-mafia prosecutor Francesco Sacerio Pavone "has a 700-page dossier" on Tokhtakhunov, who, they said, has links to politicians and owns luxury homes in several Italian cities.

The Salt Lake City Games were rocked by the scandal over the voting on the pairs event.

French ski judge Marie-Reine Le Gougne was banned for three years over allegations that she had bowed to pressure to vote for Russian pair Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze, who were awarded gold.

All the judges' marks were later cancelled and an additional gold medal was given to Canadian pair Jamie Sale and David Pelletier.

Rogge commented: "While we knew from previous investigations that the judgment in the pairs figure skating was not correct, we are shocked to learn of the alleged involvement of organised crime.

"The IOC will want to obtain the full facts and will be liaising with the ISU (International Skating Union) to progress things as rapidly as possible so that the IOC executive board can then examine the case with all the information available."

News of Tokhtakhunov's arrest caused consternation in both Italy and Russia.

Italian Barbara Fusar Poli, who won bronze in the pairs at Salt Lake, claimed it proved she and her partner Maurizio Margaglio had been deprived of gold.

"They robbed us of our medal. We should have been first and we ended up third.

"Even with a fall - which happened because of all the tension around us, we should have come second," said Fusar Poli, who with Margaglio won the 2001 world ice dance pairs championship. They were favourites to add the Olympic title. "If all this is true then the Olympics have to be re-held," she added.

The Russian Olympic Committee tried to distance themselves from Tokhtakhunov.

ROC president Leonid Tyagachev claimed he had never met Tokhtakhunov, who has dual Russian-Israeli citizenship.

"The accusations are completely stunning news for me as I never saw that person before," Tyagachev told local press.

"As far as I know Russia's figure skaters also had no relations with Tokhtakhunov.

"Our squad was and is strong enough without any support of such persons or anybody else," he added.

Wednesday's swoop on the villa near the Tuscan town of Forte dei Marmi came after a crackdown into an organised crime syndicate from Russia going by the name of "The Sun Brigade".

A statement issued by Venice police's financial unit explained: "The arrest was the fruit of investigations into Russian organised crime figures operating on Italian soil under the name 'The Sun Brigade' of which Tokhtakhunov was one of the most important elements."

It added that the authorities now had "decisive proof" connecting the accused to the offences he has been charged with. The inquiry is continuing.

On hearing the news of the arrest Canadian pair Sale and Pelletier said yesterday they had "moved on" from the furore over the Salt Lake City Olympics figure skating judging.

Sale told NBC's Today show yesterday: "Dave and I have just really moved on. We moved on even right after (the Games). As far as we're concerned, we did our job and that's all that matters.

"We're moving on to bigger and better things and we're trying not to become involved because it really has nothing to do with us besides the fact that it was our event."

Sale added: "It's good to see that this is coming out maybe, but is it really good for our sport."

Pelletier told NBC thathe thought the scandal was more of a reflection on society rather than on figure skating.

"Where there's money and power there is always a little bit of corruption," he said.

"And it's not only in figure skating but in a lot of other sports."