US, Canadians dismiss talk of figure skating 'fix'
US, Canadians dismiss talk of figure skating 'fix'
Sochi (Russia) (AFP) - United States and Canadian figure skating officials on Saturday dismissed reports of a possible judging fix to ensure that Americans Meryl Davis and Charlie White would win the Olympic ice dancing gold.
French magazine L'Equipe, citing an unnamed Russian source, reported that a deal had been struck between the United States and Russia to ensure that the Americans would take the title ahead of Olympic champions Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir of Canada.
It claimed that the United States would support the Olympic hosts in the new team event, while in turn the Russians would ensure world champions Davis and White would beat Virtue and Moir in the individual.
Russia were on track for gold in the team event on Saturday with 47 points, with Canada in second on 41 and the United States a further seven points behind in third.
"Comments made in a L'Equipe story are categorically false," US Figure Skating said in a statement.
"There is no 'help' between countries. We have no further response to rumours, anonymous sources or conjecture."
And Mike Slipchuk, Skate Canada's high performance director, said he did not see how it was possible.
"I was involved as an official in the system, and I don't see how that is possible," former figure skater Slipchuk, 47, told AFP.
"We were made aware about that article today. We're focused on what the skaters do on the ice.
"The decision will be made on how they perform. We're on the verge of finishing the first team event and want to focus on that. We haven't had any concern about any result this past week."
There has been an ongoing rivalry between the two couples who train together under Russian coach Marina Zoueva in Detroit going back to their junior skating days.
Two-time world champions Virtue and Moir were runners-up to the Americans at both the world championships last year and the Grand Prix Final in December.
Meanwhile, Olympic silver medallists Davis and White scored highest in Saturday's short dance in the team event with 75.98 points, with Virtue and Moir second with 72.98.
The current scoring system was introduced after the 2002 Olympic judging scandal when a French judge claimed she had been pressured to vote for a Russian pairs team over Canadians Jamie Sale and David Pelletier.
The Canadians were later awarded a second gold medal.
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آئودی RS7 2014 (گزارش تصویری)
آئودی RS7 2014 (گزارش تصویری)
پولنیوز، مازیار دانیالی - آئودی RS7 نسخه ای با عملکرد فوق بالا از خودرو زیبا و کاربردی آئودی A7 محسوب می شود. این خودرو از یک پیشرانه 4 لیتری هشت سیلندر خورجینی توربوشارژردار که توانایی تولید 560 اسب بخار نیرو و 516 پوند فوت گشتاور را داشته، سود می برد. آئودی RS7 قادر است طی 3.7 ثانیه سرعت خود را از صفر به 100 کیلومتر در ساعت رسانده و در نهایت بیشینه سرعت 318 کیلومتر در ساعت را کسب کند. به گزارش گروه بینالملل پولنیوز، سیستم تعلیق قابل تنظیم بادی، سیستم چهار چرخ متحرک کواترو، جعبه دنده هشت سرعته خودکار، رینگ های 20 اینچی آلیاژی (امکان سفارش رینگ های 21 اینچی وجود دارد) و کیت بدنه ارتقا دهنده آیرودینامیک، بیش از پیش آئودی RS7 را متمایز می کنند. با قیمت پایه 104 هزار دلاری، آئودی RS7 یکی از برترین و کاربردی ترین خودروهای جهان محسوب می شود که عملکردی فوق العاده را در قالب شکل ظاهری زیبا و نامتعارف در اختیار مالک خود قرار می دهد.
