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A French sports website alleged over the weekend that the American and Russian Olympic teams were conspiring to help each other win gold medals in different events. The story is almost certainly not true, but it does allow us the chance to explore the rich history of Olympic cheating scandals that happened to benefit the Russians.

The new rumor from L'Equipe centered on some sort of plot where the U.S. and Russia would work together to ensure an ice dancing gold medal for the Americans and a team skating gold for the Russians. Which, as was quickly noted, each team was in pretty solid position to earn even without any conspiracy. (The Russians won the team skating gold on Sunday.)

2002: "Skategate"

It's impossible, though, to not then mention the controversy that erupted during the 2002 Salt Lake City Games around pairs ice skating. Jamie Sale and David Pelletier of Canada were expected to be given the gold medal after their final performance, but it instead went to Russians Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze.

The reason the Canadian pair came in second was that a French judge, Marie-Reine Le Gougne, had made precisely the sort of deal described by L'Equipe. Le Gougne's unusual decision during the judging quickly drew attention to her, and, when confronted in a hotel lobby, she broke down and admitted that she'd demoted Sale and Pelletier at the request of the French skating federation. In return, a French team received a boost in its effort to win gold in ice dancing. Eventually, the arrangement was traced back to a Russian mobster, Alimzhan Tokhtakhounov, who "devised the plot to curry favour with the French authorities so that they would extend his visa."