At the risk of sounding politically incorrect, I must respectfully disagree with the decision to award the Canadian figure skating couple an additional gold medal. Did the Canadians’ performance Feb. 11 deserve the gold? Of course it did. They were superb, much more artistic and technically correct than the Russians.
It’s the dangerous precedent, however, that will come back to haunt us. Many events in Olympic competition, and at the amateur level throughout the world, are decided by way of highly-subjective determinations by judges, ordinary human beings exposed to emotion, prejudice and other individual peculiarities. The door is now open wide for future complaints and criticism about “unfair” rulings. Every loser, especially if the voting is close, will feel cheated and question the legitimacy of the outcome. Some athletes might go so far as the court system to seek redress, and I’m sure lawyers, judges and average jurors don’t know the difference between a triple lutz and being a klutz.
Rather than solving the problem I fear that the IOC has created an even greater evil. It has permanently undermined the sanctity of the decision-making process. It would have been better in the long run to have simply left the Canadian couple crying on the ice, complaining to anyone who would listen about their unjust silver medal.
