Olympic results remain in doubt

VENICE, Italy -- There could be even more changes in figure skating results from the Salt Lake City Olympics. They might even be thrown out.

Two top IOC officials on Friday left open the possibility of changing final scores in pairs and ice dancing from the games, depending on the investigation into an alleged vote-swapping deal orchestrated by a reputed Russian mobster.

The biggest judging scandal in Olympic history already has resulted in duplicate gold medals being awarded to the Canadian pairs team.

"I am not ruling out anything, not even the annulment of the Olympic results," said Thomas Bach, vice president of the International Olympic Committee.

IOC president Jacques Rogge said he didn't want to punish athletes because of the "wrongdoing of some judges," but that no "action or sanction" would be ruled out.

"The information that we have received is too much to be ignored," Rogge said in Manchester, England, at the Commonwealth Games.

Meanwhile, the man accused of scheming to fix the results of the two events contended he doesn't even follow the sport and said the charges against him are a "farce." Elsewhere, outraged figure skaters threatened to sue over media coverage of the investigation.

It all made for another hectic day in the scandal-marred world of figure skating.

Alimzhan Tokhtakhounov was arrested Wednesday in Italy on U.S. charges he helped put together a vote-swapping deal to fix the results of the pairs and ice dancing competitions.