Featured Image Credit: Simon Bruty/Anychance/Getty Images
Topics: Olympics
Ben McCrum
Two Olympic judges were banned after one proposed a plan to rig the winners of the figure-skating event of the 1998 Winter Olympic Games.
The 2026 Winter Olympic Games are currently underway across Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy and there has been plenty of drama.
In the opening ceremony on February 6, the International Olympic Committee was forced to speak out after fans in attendance were heard booing American Vice President JD Vance.
Meanwhile on Tuesday afternoon, one medallist broke down in tears during a TV interview after he confessed he had cheated on his girlfriend ahead of competing.
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But none of the drama to happen so far this year can compare to an incident during the 1998 Winter Olympics that led to two judges being banned.
Before athletes competed in the figure-skating event at the the 1998 Games in Nagano, Japan, a Canadian judge working at the event revealed that they had been involved in a major controversy.
Ahead of the event beginning, Jean Senft revealed that she had secretly recorded a conversation with fellow judge Yuri Balkov that showed that the Ukrainian wanted to rig the event.
It is alleged that Balkov had been pushing Senft to agree to award Ukrainian skaters high points, and in return, he would do the same for the Canadian team.
Following a previous approach from Balkov, Senft made officials aware of the situation but was ignored, forcing her to record the conversation to escalate the incident.
Despite the fact that many believed the Canadian team at least deserved a bronze, both teams failed to medal during the Games, rendering any potential agreement essentially useless.
However, when the tapes later were released, that didn't stop the International Skating Union from punishing both Balkov and Senft for the incident.
In response to the recordings, Balkov received a one-year suspension, while Senft was banned for six months.
Senft later submitted an appeal against the suspension suspension for alleged "misconduct" at the Nagano Olympics, but withdraw it, not because she was admitting guilt, but instead because she felt it was a waste of time.
Speaking to Time Magazine in 2002, she said: "They felt I was part of the misconduct just by being on the other end of the phone.
"For heaven's sakes, if I were part of it, why would I bring it forward?"
Following the incident, Senft returned to judging and continued to be a key figure campaigning against corruption amongst her fellow judges.
Because of this, in 2022 she was named to the Order of Canada for her efforts to clean up figure-skating judging.