She was a central figure in the Winter Olympics figure skating scandal. Le Gougne was born in Strasbourg. She competed at a high level and won the bronze medal at the French National Championships twice, in and By the time she was 25, she had an appointment to judge international figure skating competitions. At the age of 36, she judged at the Winter Olympics , considered a high honor for a figure skating judge. She was promoted with a referee's appointment, and selected again to judge at the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City , Utah.
Le Gougne had the reputation of being a competent judge. Le Gougne became known for her role in the Olympic Winter Games figure skating scandal. When she returned to the officials' hotel after the competition, she was confronted in the lobby by Sally Stapleford , then the chair of the Technical Committee, who began to question her about her judging of the event. Le Gougne broke down in a tearful outburst that was witnessed by a number of other skating officials who happened to be present in the hotel lobby.
She said that she had been pressured by the head of the French federation, Didier Gailhaguet , to put the Russians first as part of a deal to give the ice dancing gold to the French ice dance team.
She repeated these statements in the judges' post-event review meeting the following day, but in the following days and weeks, she issued a number of contradictory statements and retractions. She later stated that she had truly believed the Russian pair deserved to win and had been pressured to say the Canadians were better.
Both Le Gougne and Gailhaguet were eventually banned from the Olympics in Turin and suspended from the sport for three years by the International Skating Union. She has never judged a competition since. As of [update] , Le Gougne lived in her home town Strasbourg where she is running a shiatsu massage business in the Petite France district. Contents move to sidebar hide. Article Talk. Read Edit View history. Tools Tools. Download as PDF Printable version.
