The Salé and Pelletier Scandal
After Canadian figure skating pair Jamie Salé and David Pelletier finished their skate in 2002, many seemed certain they would win gold. Except they didn’t— a Russian pair won. While figure skating does have subjectivity in its judging, it seemed so egregious that an investigation took place. A French judge confessed that she had been pressured to vote in favor of the Russian pair, in exchange for the Russian judges voting favorably for the French team. She later retracted her statement. Salé and Pelletier were awarded gold alongside the Russian team. To prevent this from occurring in the future, the entire scoring system for figure skating was revamped, and that new system is still used today.