French figure skating judge defends her reputation

Associated Press WriterPARIS (AP) -- The French judge at the center of the Winter Olympics' figure skating scandal defended her reputation Thursday and requested that her suspension be lifted.

Speaking at her first news conference since she voted in favor of the Russian couple in the pairs free program in Salt Lake City, Marie-Reine Le Gougne said the International Skating Union should reinstate her.

"I am one of the most competent judges in the world. ... I ask for (the suspension) to be lifted," she said at the headquarters of the French skating federation.

Federation president Didier Gailhaguet sat by her side at the conference.

Le Gougne was suspended indefinitely by the ISU for misconduct four days after the pairs' free program. At the event review meeting the day after the competition, she accused Gailhaguet of pressuring her to vote for the Russians.

On Thursday, Le Gougne said she had accused Gailhaguet under pressure from the chairwoman of the ISU's figure skating technical committee, Sally Stapleford.

"For 12 hours or so I wasn't myself," Le Gougne said. "They made me say what they wanted me to say."

Stapleford has said she spoke with Le Gougne in their Salt Lake City hotel after the competition, but hasn't made public what was said between them.

Le Gougne was suspended after she signed a written statement, the content of which also hasn't been made public.

Le Gougne told reporters that in the statement she admitted accusing Gailhaguet of pressuring her at the review meeting. But in the statement, she also said that at the review meeting she "was in an emotional state such that (she) was no longer in reality."

"I have never had any pressure from Didier Gailhaguet," Le Gougne added.

She again defended her decision to give Russians Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze a higher mark than she awarded to the Canadian couple, despite an obvious technical error by Sikharulidze, which she described as "small."

"The level was much higher technically for the Russians," she said.

Canadians Jamie Sale and David Pelletier took silver but were later awarded joint gold with the Russians.