WINTER OLYMPICS: The judges of the pairs figure skating in the Winter Olympics at Salt Lake City yesterday provoked the biggest row in the sport since Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean were denied the ice dance gold medal in 1994 when they gave the title to the Russians Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze over the Canadians Jamie Sale and David Pelletier.

"I'm embarrassed for our sport right now," said Sandra Bezic, NBC TV's skating commentator. Dick Pound, the former International Olympic Committee vice-president, said the sport could lose its Olympic status if the judging issues were not addressed.

The capacity crowd of 10,700 in the Salt Lake Ice Centre were in no doubt that the Canadian world champions had won after a flawless routine to music from the film Love Story. But Berezhnaya and Sikharulidze, Olympic silver medallists in 1998, were ranked first by five of the nine judges to become the 11th pair running from the Soviet Union or Russia to claim the title.

The verdict led to a storm of booing and Sale breaking down in tears. "It was like a punch in the stomach," said Pelletier. "The Olympic dream can sometimes turn into an Olympic nightmare. What we can't control, we can't control."

The row here was the last thing the sport wanted after criticism in Nagano four years ago when it was alleged that some judges pre-determined the outcome.

The score sheets showed that the scoring had split mostly down the lines of old cold war allegiances. The Russians were placed first by the judges from Russia, China, Poland and Ukraine with the United States, Canada, Germany and Japan preferring the Canadians. In effect, contrarily, the French judge swung the decision in favour of Berezhnaya and Sikharulidze. Guardian Service