Skate scandal medals in doubt

Tokhtakhounov has been charged with fixing Olympic skating events

MANCHESTER, England -- Olympic chiefs are to look at changing the medals awarded to skaters from the Salt Lake Games if it is proved a Russian gangster fixed the results.

But International Olympic Committee Jacques Rogge said he did not want to punish athletes for the criminal actions of others.

Alimzhan Tokhtakhounov, arrested in Italy, is charged with fixing two skating events by persuading French judges to vote for Russian entrants in one competition and vice versa in a second event.

RESOURCES Read the sealed complaint: U.S. v. Tokhtakhounov  (FindLaw document; PDF format)

Rogge told The Associated Press: We do not rule out any action or sanction but we need to know more facts before we do that. The information that we have (so far) received is too much to be ignored."

Thomas Bach, the IOC vice president, said he was "not ruling out anything, not even the annulment of the Olympic results."

After the scandal -- the biggest in Olympic history -- duplicate medals were given to the winning Russian figure skating pair, Russians Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze, and the Canadian couple who were judged second. (Canadian reaction)

The initial judging sparked outrage and immediate suspicions of a fix because the Russians stumbled during their performance yet still beat Canadians Jamie Sale and David Pelletier whose skating was widely considered far more impressive.

Tokhtakhounov has denied any involvement in the medals-fixing scandal and says the charges against him are a farce. (Full story)

His lawyer, Luca Saldarelli, told reporters: "He's absolutely surprised. He doesn't know anything about the Salt Lake City Olympic games. He's not even a fan of figure-skating."

Sale, pictured with Pelletier: "It doesn't take away anything from what we did. We're still proud"

U.S. officials are seeking his extradition to face one count of bribery to influence a sporting competition and one count of wire fraud. If convicted, Tokhtakhounov could be sentenced to a maximum of five years in prison and fined up to $250,000 on both charges.

An FBI affidavit said Interpol, the international police organisation, believed Tokhtakhounov -- known in Russia as "the Taiwanese" because of his Asiatic-looking features -- had been involved in drug distribution, illegal firearms sales and trafficking in stolen vehicles, as well as having allegedly fixed beauty pageants in Moscow in the early 1990s.

Italian police said the Russian may have been in contact with at least six Olympic judges in his alleged plot to fix medals at the Salt Lake City Winter Games.