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.”