The roars from 10 consecutive sellout crowds inside the Salt Lake Ice Center were at times deafening during the 2002 Olympic figure skating competition, but they were mere whispers compared to the public and media outcry that followed the pairs free skate on February 11.

When Jamie Sale / David Pelletier (CAN) delivered the free skating performance of their career only to come up on the short end of a 5-4 split of the judging panel to Russia's Elena Berezhnaya / Anton Sikharulidze for the gold medal, official and unofficial protests rained down on the judges and the International Skating Union (ISU).

Within hours of the announced result, a story began surfacing involving the swapping of judging favors that threatened to taint the outcome of the ice dancing competition to begin later that week. Within days, the ISU acknowledged that it had seen enough evidence in the matter to recommend that the International Olympic Committee award an unprecedented second gold medal to the Canadians.

The aftershocks of the controversy reverberated through each and every phase of the Olympic figure skating competition and promise to continue well after the flame is extinguished in Salt Lake City. ISU president Ottavio Cinquanta has already unveiled a plan in Salt Lake City that would scrap the current system of judging and scoring in figure skating. Internal ISU investigations into the Salt Lake judging scandal will continue into at least the spring.

While talk of the judging controversy permeated every event, it did not completely overshadow the outstanding performances of the medalists to come or the achievements of skaters outside the traditional skating power circle of Russia, the United States and Canada.

In pairs, Xue Shen / Hongbo Zhao (CHN) skated to China's first-ever pairs medal -- a bronze.

In ice dancing, Marina Anissina / Gwendal Peizerat of France dominated the early phases -- the compulsory and original dances -- to narrowly edge Russians Irina Lobacheva / Ilia Averbukh in the free dance to earn the gold medal. It was France's first ice dancing gold medal in the Olympic Winter Games and its first figure skating gold medal since 1932. Reigning world champions Barbara Fusar Poli / Maurizio Margaglio of Italy took a fall in the free dance and were forced to settle for third. Their bronze was Italy's first figure skating medal in Olympic history.

In the mens' event, Alexei Yagudin continued a golden streak of the Russian men that dates back to 1992. The three-time world champion took the gold with two excellent performances and scored four 6.0s for presentation -- the most perfect marks earned by any singles skater in Olympic Winter Games history. His teammate Evgeni Plushenko claimed the silver after fighting back from a fall in the short program. The USA's Timothy Goebel became the first skater to land three quadruple jumps in one program at the Olympic Winter Games to capture the bronze medal.

In a shocking ladies' competition, 16-year-old Sarah Hughes (USA) upset the favorites Irina Slutskaya (RUS) and Michelle Kwan (USA) to skate to the gold. Hughes stood in fourth place following the short program, but delivered a flawless free program to capture a narrow 5-4 split of the judges over a strong effort by Slutskaya. Slutskaya's silver medal marked the first in Olympic history by a Russian lady, while Kwan -- who missed her planned triple toe loop / triple toe loop combination and fell on her triple flip in the free skate -- was forced to settle for the bronze and endure the difficulty of seeing a younger, up-and-coming countrywoman ascend a higher spot on the Olympic podium.

Russia finished atop the medal standing in the figure skating events -- claiming five out of the 12 medals (two golds and three silvers). The USA captured three medals (one gold, two bronze). France (gold), Canada (gold), China (bronze) and Italy (bronze) each won one medal.

--Tim Reynolds