World Report: February 22, 2002 Vol.7 No.17
- This Issue:
- Table of Contents
- Cover Story
- Cover Story - Spanish Version
- Mini-Lesson
- Comprehension Quiz
- Teacher's Guide and Worksheets
And the Olympic Gold Medal Goes to ...
Olympic officials made a surprising decision last week. They took away a silver medal and gave a gold to Canadian pairs skaters Jamie Salé and David Pelletier. One catch: Another pair had already won the gold! Now there are two winners for one event. "Justice was made," said Pelletier. "It's a good feeling."
The decision came after a week of bad feelings. On Monday, Russian skaters Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze won the gold, outscoring the Canadians by a single judge's vote. Fans thought the Canadians skated perfectly. There were reports that a French judge had been pressured to favor the Russians. After investigating the dispute, officials suspended the judge. Salé and Pelletier will receive their gold medal in a ceremony this week.
Other events left no doubts about the winners. In the snowboarding halfpipe, Kelly Clark, 18, won the first U.S. gold medal of the Games. American men scored all three medals in that high-flying event. Ross Powers, Danny Kass and J.J. Thomas proudly took the medal stand for the U.S.
In speedskating, American Casey FitzRandolph got the gold—and broke an Olympic record! Skier Bode Miller didn't win gold, but his thrilling comeback for a silver medal in the Alpine combined was the talk of the slopes.
Another of last week's high points: Swiss ski jumper Simon Ammann soared to two gold medals. Said Ammann: "After takeoff, I had a wonderful feeling, and I knew what was coming. I was flying away."
