Ice couple again protests getting no medals

Japanese spectators hissed and whistled, waving the Lithuanian national tricolors at the Nagano arena, as Margarita Drobiazko and Povilas Vanagas took fourth place in the Ice Dancing World Championship.

The Lithuanian skaters, who also narrowly failed to win medals at the Salt Lake City Olympics last month, are well-liked in Japan, and local fans more than made up for the lack of Lithuanians in the audience.

"At least 10 pairs who took part here were better than the Israeli pair," Vanagas said afterwards. "Unsavory people are ruining ice dancing."

He said that Boris Chait, the father of Galit Chait, one-half of the Israeli couple that won bronze, was openly offering bribes of $10,000 to each judge.

Russia's Irina Lobacheva and Ilya Averbukh took gold, Canada's Shae Lynn Bourne and Victor Kraatz won silver, and Galit Chait and Sergei Shakhnovsky took bronze.

On March 22, the Lithuanian Skating Federation issued a formal protest against the judges' decision. It was later rejected.

It demanded that the Lithuanian pair receive medals. But International Figure Skating Union referee Courtney Jones officially informed Lithuanian skating officials that the protest was unfounded and had been rejected.

However, the Lithuanian protest was also signed by 19 out of the 28 pairs who took part in the world championship. Among pairs who occupied the top 15 places, 10 signed the protest in solidarity with the Lithuanians.

"They are always protesting," commented Chait, defending the decision.

"They (the Lithuanians) do this after every event. We skated our hearts out and are proud of what we did. Our job is to skate and the judges' job is to judge.

"It hurts because the people who put their names on the petition are friends of ours. They congratulated us after we won."

The Lithuanian pair have consistently received good votes from Western judges, but judges from the former Soviet Union usually place them in lower standing.

Kazimieras Starkevicius, president of the Lithuanian Skating Federation, said that the Israeli pair's patrons spent thousands of dollars for tourist excursions for the judges, which left a big impression on some of them. "Israel's representatives are bribing judges - and we have proof of it," he told Lithuanian TV.

"After the solidarity protest, which included leading participants of the World Championship, Boris Chait threatened those who signed the protest," Starkevicius went on.

Galit Chait denied all accusations against her father.

Drobiazko and Vanagas, who are a married couple, were planning to leave the sport after Nagano. But after such behavior by the judges they have decided to stay and fight corruption in the sport.

During the final show after the competition, Drobiazko and Vanagas were greeted warmly by the thousands of Japanese fans, as were the champions Lobacheva and Averbukh. The Israeli pair were offered a cold exit.