And you thought Hollywood was dramatic...
On Sunday night, while many Americans took to Twitter to express an outpouring of support for Meryl Davis and Charlie White’s short program in the Olympic Ice Dancing competition, some Canadians were less than thrilled with the performance that got the highest marks ever recorded in competition.
Their performance to “I could’ve danced all night” put Davis and White in the lead going into the final skate. But shortly after the competition had wrapped up for the evening, Canada’s largest newspaper, The Toronto Star, published a scathing editorial about the events that had perspired in Sochi.
In her column, writer Rosi DiManno wrote:
“The villainy of ice dancing knows no bounds.
Strip away the sequins, wipe off the pancake makeup, delete the frozen-in-place smiles, and what’s left is a tawdry whore of a sport where the judges are the johns.
If the fix is not in against Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir, then I’m the Princess of Wales.”
Virtue and Moir, the Canadian pair, were the gold medalists in the event in the Vancouver 2010 games and were favored by many to take home another gold in Sochi. They placed second behind Davis and White, scoring a 72.98- three points short of first.
Pointing to Virtue and Moir’s “suspiciously low scoring” for the past two seasons in a follow-up column, DiManno makes a case for a twisted web of lies and score fixing by the USA and Russia. French sports magazine L’Equipe also recently published a piece alleging conniving between the US and Russian judges.
Ice dancing is no stranger to conspiracy theories, with similar allegations of deal-brokering that resulted in two gold medals being awarded in the sport at the 2002 Salt Lake City games- to the Canadian and Russian pairs.
But was there really a secret backroom deal struck by the US and Russian judges to award the USA its first ever gold medal in ice dancing and Russia the gold in pairs skating? The International Olympic Committee refused to investigate, calling the allegations gossip and groundless.
While Davis and White celebrated their victory on Sunday night, DiManno wrote, “This sport is a thing of beauty. But there’s ugliness underneath” setting off a firestorm of Internet rumors and speculation.
There are many questions in this scenario but there’s one thing that’s certain: These Olympic games have been anything but short of entertaining.
