Monday, February 18, 2002 Updated: February 19, 4:05 AM ET
Anissina and Peizerat edge out Russians for gold
Associated Press
SALT LAKE CITY -- They honored America as the Land of
Liberty, and France's Marina Anissina and Gwendal Peizerat got
something golden in return.
Marina Anissina and Gwendal Peizerat won gold after their tribute to the United States.
With a free dance program celebrating the United States, the
couple skated off with the Olympic title Monday night.
From the opening segment, highlighted by Martin Luther King
Jr.'s speech for freedom, to the emotional finish, they were
captivating. Their program began with Peizerat lying flat on the
ice and Anissina posing as the Statue of Liberty.
"We chose something with meaning, something people can feel in
their hearts," Peizerat said. "This is something we've been
loving to dance and we are proud of using this speech and the idea
of expressing liberty on the ice.
"We skated really well and this was the best performance we
ever did."
Yet it barely was enough.
Irina Lobacheva and Ilia Averbukh of Russia were second by a 5-4
judging split, followed by world champions Barbara Fusar Poli and
Maurizio Margaglio, who won the first figure skating medal ever for
Italy.
"Each athlete is dreaming of the gold," Averbukh said. "We
lost the gold by only one judge. At the very end, I thought, 'Thank
God, we made it through."'
The top two couples were the only medal contenders who made it
through cleanly. Stellar performances were rare.
Margaglio fell about halfway through the Italians' routine.
Canada's Shae-Lynn Bourne and Victor Kraatz tumbled to the ice at
the end of their program.
"It was just at the last moment," Bourne said. "It's too bad,
because we might have had the bronze."
Maybe not.
The French, Russians and Italians finished in the same position
at the end of each of the three phases. In fact, the top eight
couples didn't move from the first compulsory dance through the
original and free dances.
That normally is the way in ice dancing, and whether ISU
president Ottavio Cinquanta's proposals for sweeping changes in the
judging system will affect the dance is anyone's guess.
Several skaters believe change is needed in ice dance judging,
where movement in the standings is glacial.
"After the Italians fell, the judges put them before us," said
Lithuania's Margarita Drobiazko, who with partner Povilas Vanagas
were fifth all the way. "We skated better than them tonight and
nothing changed. Funny sport."
Naomi Lang and Peter Tchernyshev, winners of the last four
American championships, finished 11th. Still, their first Olympics
were a thrill for Lang, the first female American Indian in the
Winter Games, and Tchernyshev, a native of Russia who became a U.S.
citizen last year.
"This is probably the highlight of our career," Lang said.
"We never skated better, and the marks don't matter."
Ah, but they do matter, and Lang knows it. She also took a shot
at the current judging system.
"It seems like there is a ranking order, and without a (U.S.)
judge on the panel, we kind of have no chance," Lang said. "We
have to wait our turn, like the speedskater from Australia. He just
stole the moment."
Nobody could steal the moment from Anissina and Peizerat in the
free dance, worth 50 percent of the total score. They won the first
French gold in figure skating since 1932.
Among their intricate moves was one where she carried him while
he was upside down.
With King's "I Have A Dream" speech mixed into the music, the
French couple finished with their arms extended upward as if
holding torches.
Peizerat was surprised to be asked about criticism for using the
speech.
"If some people think it is inappropriate, I don't know," he
said. "I didn't hear about it.
"Every time when you take risk in art -- because our sport is 50
percent art -- you can find people who think it is inappropriate or
think different from what you are thinking."
One fan certainly approved of their program, several times
yelling "Vive La France," before the Russian-born Anissina and
Peizerat collected six 5.9s for presentation.
That left plenty of room with the judges, however.
Fusar Poli and Margaglio couldn't take advantage to move ahead.
He fell in simple footwork in center ice during the "I Will
Survive" portion of their program, and the Italians couldn't
survive that. They wound up third partly because the Canadians also
fell.
Bourne and Kraatz tried to make it seem as if it were part of
their routine, laying on the ice together as the music stopped,
then kissing each other and the rink surface. It didn't matter.
Their medal shot was gone.
Not that the Grand Prix champions would have passed anyone if
they had been clean. Their program, to a mix of music ranging from
Michael Jackson to Charlie Chaplin, was nowhere near the complexity
of the top two teams.
"At the last second, we let it go," Bourne said.
Lobacheva and Averbukh, who used to skate with Anissina before
meeting and marrying Lobacheva, certainly made the gold-medal chase
tight.
They were first with the Russian, Swiss, German and Italian
judges, winning tiebreakers with the Russian and German. But
Anissina-Peizerat took tiebreakers from the Ukraine, Poland and
Lithuania, and won outright with Azerbaijan and Bulgaria.
"We dedicated this particular performance to all dramatic
events and emotions that happened when a person ... experienced the
loss of loved ones," Averbukh said.
