Rogge appalled by alleged rigging

International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Jacques Rogge says he is appalled that an alleged Russian mob figure has been accused of trying to fix figure skating results at this year's Salt Lake City Olympics.

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"The IOC is appalled by the revelation which came as a total surprise to us," Rogge told Reuters from Italy on Thursday. "While we knew from a previous investigation that the judging in the pairs figure skating was not correct, we are shocked to learn of the alleged involvement of organised crime."

U.S. federal prosecutors in New York said they had charged Alimzhan Tokhtakhounov over a scheme to fix two skating competitions at this year's Salt Lake City Games on behalf of French and Russian competitors. Tokhtakhounov was arrested in Italy on Wednesday.

The skating results created a judging scandal that engulfed the Olympics in February. Rogge said the IOC would be talking to the International Skating Union (ISU), the sport's governing body, about the affair as soon as possible.

"The IOC will want to obtain the full facts and we will liaise with the ISU to progress as rapidly as possible so the (IOC's ruling) executive board can then examine the case with all of the information available," he said.

The board is due to meet in the Swiss town of Lausanne later this month.

MAJOR TEST

The pairs controversy was the first major test of Rogge's presidency at the first Games since he was elected to office in July last year. It has now take on even greater significance.

Millions of television viewers and thousands of spectators were appalled when Russians Yelena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze, despite a flawed performance, were awarded the pairs gold medal ahead of Jamie Sale and David Pelletier.

Rogge made sure ISU president Ottavio Cinquanta cleared up the affair quickly so that the focus of the Games could return to the sporting action. Belated gold medals were awarded to Sale and Pelletier and French judge Marie-Reine Le Gougne was suspended for misconduct amid allegations of rigged voting.

Le Gougne said she had been pressured to vote for the Russians by her federation president Didier Gailhaguet.

In the biggest threat to the IOC's future since the political boycotts of the 1970s and 1980s, the Russians then threatened to pull out of the Games because of grievances over judging before they were persuaded to change their minds after a meeting with the IOC president.

In April the ISU voted to suspend Le Gougne and Gailhaguet for three years. They were also barred from participating in the 2006 Winter Games in Turin. Le Gougne and Gailhaguet recently announced they were dropping plans to fight the ban.

After a meeting in Verona, former Olympic yachtsman Rogge was due to travel to the northern English city of Manchester and attend events at the Commonwealth Games on Saturday.