Days Seven and Eight at the 2003 World Figure Skating Championships Championships

March 28, 2003

Report and Photos by Marie L. Hughes

We did it, SkateFAIRians, we did it. We accomplished everything we had hoped for and even more.

But before I talk about the smashing success that our protest was, let me catch you up on everything leading up to it.

Things started heating up Thursday morning when we all met at the church to work on our protest signs. We were making good progress when a producer and cameraman from CBC News showed up to film us. Our first real TV coverage!

They were great. The cameraman really knew what he was doing and by rearranging the workers to make them look better on film, he improved my pictures, too. It was an experience being filmed because we'd do something interesting and then they'd say "ooh, can you do that again for the camera?" We were happy to oblige and they encouraged us to keep working during filming so we were able to get quite a few signs done.

Marlene was in front of me holding the "Anonymity Breeds Corruption" sign, and was interviewed by a radio station. And, as you can see, she made the AP!!

Christie, Jody, and Elizabeth Taylor got to be miked for mini-interviews. Jody talked about several things including how great the Canadian fans were and how they love to clap. Elizabeth talked about why she was protesting and that the skaters are owed fairness. I can't remember what Christy said but I remember it was really clever and amusing.

Ann Craven didn't get miked but she did get a small cameo working on our Hebrew sign.

The PR committee had gone off to an important meeting and, as I was the only one in a suit, left me in charge. That meant I got to do a full interview where they arranged me on a chair and twitched me into a good position. I was so nervous but I think I remembered everything Naomi told me about how to look professional on camera.

My interview was about how even though I don't have a skating career, as an USFSA member who competes and tests, I did have trepidation about joining in too visibly with SkateFAIR. I said that SkateFAIR had personally made me braver and I hoped that our work would help create a climate where people who have more to lose than I do can speak out more freely.

Several of us were asked if we think that we could make a difference. I think it's pretty clear, sitting here in my mom's house on Saturday morning after the protest, that we have made a difference already.

The CBC crew seemed impressed with our group. They said everyone was so articulate and open. Apparently other groups will let them film but you are only allowed to talk on camera with one or two designated "official spokesperson."

I have nothing to compare it to but I do think our group has been remarkably good at staying on message and not straying into people's personal agendas. It was incredibly affirming to read in the LA Times later that day that SkateFAIR is "more organized and more focused" than both the fledgling WSF and the ISU.

Our interviews and lots of material about the protest will be on their program, CBC News: Sunday, this Sunday, March 29th, from 10am to noon in every time zone. Then, it will repeat on their cable channel's Newsworld program later that night at 7-9pm ET. Be sure to watch and let those of us who don't get CBC how it turned out.

For the rest of the day, people kept coming up to me and telling me these great stories. One attendee said that she was walking past Cinquanta in the street and heard him tell the person he was with that he didn't know why he was being booed because he hadn't done anything wrong. This seems to be a recurring theme with him since other fans have told me he's said the same thing directly to them. I know they tried to explain it to him so I'm not sure if he really doesn't get it or if that's just a political ploy on his part to deflect criticism.

I do know that in spite of what he says, I'm not at all worried about "disrespecting him while he's a guest in our country" with our booing as he scolded another fan for. He's not here as a tourist. He's here in his official capacity as President of the ISU and it's as president that he's rammed a completely unacceptable solution to the problem of corruption in figure skating judging down the throats of the skating community.

I also know that SkateFAIR was told that a meeting with either Cinquanta or the general secretary Schmit was "out of the question." Surely, if he really wanted to know why we were booing him, he would be eager to meet with us.

The WSF has met with us at their request. We were hesitant to do it because we want it to be clear to everyone that we are an autonomous organization that wants to give the fans a voice. But now I'm glad we did because they seem to understand how important fan support is and how serious we are about change.

Cinquanta, on the other hand, keeps trying to characterize our group and our movement as a bunch of disgruntled fans who don't know anything about figure skating. I think he'll soon see that this is a crucial mistake on his part.

On Friday during the break after Italian skater Carolina Kostner's group skated, he walked by our seats and said to us, "At least the Italian skater is good." (I think he meant that we liked her even though we don't like him. Sometimes it's hard to figure out what he's trying to say.)

We did like her. And we love a certain other Italian skater because she and her coach ran up to Ben Thursday night and asked for a button! I'm still somewhat in shock that she did that since her event isn't even over yet and I hope she doesn't get in trouble with her federation for it.

Another high ranked U.S. skater told one of our members that she was happy to see our buttons everywhere and wishes there were even more of them. We only had 2000 made. I bet we could have had 2000 more done and still have come up short.

Everywhere you go people are wearing the buttons and various SkateFAIR attire. Brian Boitano was spotted in a No Secret Judging baseball cap! I also heard that people have been going up to the USFSA booth and asking where they can get our buttons. I wonder what the USFSA people think of that.

On Friday during the Ladies Short, the sekret computer broke again. I have to say that as a computer professional, this worries me. It seems to me that the computer crashes about every two days. That's a lot. Although I was concerned in theory before attending this event about relying on technology without manual backups, I'm even more concerned now about the reliability and accuracy of the random draw of judges.

But eventually the computer did come back online and the competition continued. Michelle Kwan was just awesome, by the way. Words fail me to describe her skate. Then in her post skate interview she gave us a shout out when she said about her one 6.0 in the short, "I don't know if it even mattered. I saw a lot of secret judging out there."

Then, it was the moment we'd all been preparing for so long. Okay, preparing for these past eight weeks, but we got about six months worth of planning into that eight weeks so it felt longer.

Yes, the protest was about to start.

The PR and Logistics committee ran out right a way to start putting up signs. We had told people from our group to show up a bit before the official 5:30pm start time because often the media will do little interviews while waiting for things to begin. It looked like pretty much everyone else had come over as soon as they could too so by 5:00 the crowd had reached a critical mass and spontaneously started chanting.

This was our cue to adjust the schedule a bit. Ben, our "yell leader" got out the megaphone and got everyone to start chanting. We chanted all sorts of things including "No more cheaters, no more cover ups," for while until more media and all our speakers arrived.

Then, Naomi Paiss, our main official spokesperson, gave a brief speech, emphasizing our autonomous nature while acknowledging our commonality of goals with the WSF as a lead up to introducing our first speaker, Sally-Ann Stapleford, president of the British figure skating federation and a WSF founder.

Because our protest permit was for a picket, not a rally, we weren't allowed to have a podium so Ms. Stapleford climbed up on the step stool we had bought as a substitute and took the mike. She was a good sport about the unusual accomodations.

The first thing she said was "This is my first demonstration." "Me, too. Me, too," came back from the crowd.

She spoke about the importance of openness and accountability and then she spoke directly to SkateFAIR and the importance of the fans. "Without fans and without skaters our wonderful sport will just disappear. So this is a rallying call. Please carry on your battle. Please carry on for no secrecy in judging. Also, please, if you've got any friends in Europe or Asia, in other parts of the world, please contact them, tell them about your mission, about SkateFAIR's mission."

Our next speaker was supposed to be Ron Pfenning but Paul Wylie was in the crowd and somehow he was hustled up to the stage to make an impromptu speech. His escort was a lady named Kim who told me afterwards how exciting that was for her to do that and how sweet it was of Paul to let her.

Paul also said he's never been to a protest before and that he wanted to thank us from the athletes of the world "for your pressure, and for your purity of heart, and looking at the sport and saying we love the sport."

He ended by saying "It's hard to watch a championships and to not know who's giving what marks to what skater and why. So please, thank you so much for your support, and no more secret judging, please!"

Next to speak was Lithuanian ice dancer Povilas Vanagas with his wife, Margarita Drobiazko at his side. He greeted America and the fans from all over the world that had gathered here and talked about how important the fans are. "Believe me, without fans the skating competitions don't exist," he said.

He thanked us for the great job we did, especially on the Internet, and for speaking up in this trouble situation, because it "just shows the people who are the governing body at the moment of figure skating that something has gone wrong." He finished by saying "all the best to you."

Then Ron Pfenning spoke to us and said, "Your enthusiasm is overwhelming. The task we have before us is not a short journey. It's a long trip, and we need you every step of the way. So continue to do what you're doing here. Your voice will be heard around the world. Judges have to be open; there can be no veil of secrecy in our sport."

That ended the speeches and we started marching around in a circle chanting "Hey hey, ho ho, Secret Judging's got to go" and many other catchy slogans at the direction of Ben. Later he informed us that even though we thought we were all protesting it turns out the secret computer had randomly picked only some protesters to count. That got a big laugh.

He also called for a five-minute zamboni break to "resurface the sidewalk" while some reporters interviewed him. There were between 100 and 350 people there (depending on whose estimate you believe) and we wanted to chant. So Sarah Ramer picked up the megaphone and ably led us in some more chants while we waited for Ben to come back with "What do we want? Accountability. When do we want it? Now."

At six o'clock we officially ended the protest so that everyone could get back inside the arena in time for the first group of skaters and the news media descended on the PR committee and the fans for one-on-one interviews.

I circulated in the crowd and tried to record people's comments and take note of who was there. I saw cameras from ABC News (they had the best equipment), CBC News, CTV, Russian State Television and the Tokyo Broadcasting Service. For print media, I saw credentials or someone told they were interviewed by the following:

Reuters, the Colorado Springs Gazette, Blades on Ice, the AP, International Figure Skating magazine, Spotlight on Skating magazine, the Miami Herald, the New York Times, and USA Today.

Other "celebrities" in the crowd included Jon Jackson, Italian Sonia Bianchetti, acting vice president of the new WSF, Swedish referee Britta Lindgren and Australian Donald McKnight, a member of the ISU appeals committee. Some members of the French team, including their Team Leader were also there but they seem to be spectators rather than participants.

Eventually, everyone was gone and it was time to pack up the equipment and go out for a celebratory drink before returning to the skating. I am happy to report that I made it back to my seat before the first warm up group ended.

Figure skating fans are funny that way. Several people came up to me during the zamboni breaks to ask how the protest had gone and to express their regret about not being there. Some of them had prior commitments or just couldn't risk being seen with us, but several of them said there just wasn't time between the end of the Ladies Short and the beginning of the Free Dance to both protest and get dinner and they couldn't miss any skating!

During the one-on-one interviews, a reporter asked Naomi that she had heard we had talked about putting pressure on the sponsors but would we consider just not coming to the events? Naomi said that we hadn't even uttered the word "boycott" and it's true. In fact, this event report is probably the first and only place on our web site and mailing list that the word "boycott" even appears.

So we are going to keep going to events. Because we love skating and the skaters. But we're also going to keep protesting. Not because ticket prices are high and the hot dogs in the arena are bad. Even though they are. But because everyone - skaters, coaches, officials, and fans - deserves a fair competition where at the end of the night, we know who really won. And until we get that, we aren't going to go away.

Here that, Cinquanta? That is why we are booing you.