Saturday, February 16, 2002

Remote Control

By ROB BRODIE -- Ottawa Sun
 No doubt about it. The CBC -- like most Canadians -- was happy to see the SkateGate scandal finally come to a happy ending yesterday.

 And not just because Canucks Jamie Sale and David Pelletier finally, and rightly, got the gold medals they should have been awarded after Monday night's pairs figure skating final.

 That's the big news everyone in this country was waiting to hear. And with that out of the way, the CBC doesn't have to fret about having to make a tough call down the road.

 Like, for example, if this particular piece of news had broken during a Team Canada hockey game.

 In an interview Thursday, Joel Darling told the Sun any SkateGate news "would have to be pretty big" to force CBC to pull away from hockey.

 It says here that had yesterday's huge news broken during hockey, the CBC would have had no choice: The Sale-Pelletier story has become by far the biggest of these Winter Olympics around the world.

 Then again, considering last night's Swedish romp, maybe Canadian hockey fans would have welcomed another skating press conference.

 At least we won that one.

 GAMES TALK:

 Out of a pile of good SkateGate interviews and such yesterday, perhaps the most revealing stuff came (again) from Canadian chef de mission Sally Rehorick. The longtime skating judge told CBC daytime host Ron MacLean it's high time the secrecy was removed from the process. "Judging is not a mystery, it's very straightforward," she said. "We can share and improve knowledge of our sport and improve the credibility of our sport." ... Say this much about about CBC's Brian Williams -- he has little time for out-of-touch bureaucrats. About a suggestion the IOC's image wasn't damaged by the skating scandal, Williams said "I don't know what planet they've living on." ... Replay of the day: Photo finish showing how close Canadian Beckie Scott's edge was in winning her cross-country skiing bronze medal.

 THE NUMBERS GAME:

  Stars sure do sell. Catriona Le May Doan's gold-medal speed skating race Thursday was watched by 2.963 million Canadians on CBC. Two hours later, 3.202 million tuned in to watch Elvis Stojko in the men's free skate final

 QUOTABLE:

  "I think the people in Vermilion are not too worried about figure skating right now." -- Beckie Scott, talking about the celebrations in her Alberta home town.

 TODAY'S BEST BET:

  Speed skating, men's 1,000 metres. Jeremy Wotherspoon's shot at redemption -- and gold.

2002 Games News Coverage