Statement by Ron Pfenning (25 Mar 2003)

Good Afternoon,

It is a great honor and privilege for me to be standing here today.

I remember seeing many of you at the Winter Olympics when the sport of Figure Skating came face-to-face with an ugly truth -- collusions and corruption.

After years of refusal by the ISU Council to take strong action in the face of judging improprieties, an environment was created in which there are no ethical constraints on corruption nor effective deterrents to it.

What should have been one of the most memorable Winter Olympic Games instead became memorable as the one in which corruption in the sport could no longer be denied.

It is remarkable -- and remarkably sad -- that we come together again, more than a year later, at these World Figure Skating Championships, and nothing has been done to isolate and punish corruption.

Instead, we see the leadership of the ISU asserting that the problem was the scoring system, not the persons awarding the scores.

If the Council had used as much effort in focusing on the conduct of judges, as it has on the judging system, the sport today would be in a much better position.

I am here to tell you that this emperor -- the ISU -- has no clothes.

It has no Code of Ethics or even an Ethics Commission, even though the leadership assured the Congress in Kyoto that it would have both.

It has no respect for its own Constitution and Regulations.

It has no respect for the athletes who put their talents out in the open and on the line.

And it has no real respect for the sport of Figure Skating itself.

But the ISU does have an agenda: instead of taking steps to prevent corruption, it takes strong steps to assure that future corruption will simply never again become public. That it will remain hidden under a veil of secrecy.

Attempts have been made to sweep away the Rules designed to identify, prevent, and punish misconduct. The ISU claims it is doing so because that is what the Members voted for and what the Members want.

It was not what the Members voted for; and it is not what the Members want.

The sport of Figure Skating deserves better.

And it needs it now.

If that does not happen soon, there will be nothing left to the sport which anyone can point to with pride.

The World Skating Federation has been formed to accept the challenge to return integrity to the sport. We are committed to being successful.

The people you see here -- and many others who are unable to be here -- have worked tirelessly to preserve all that is good about the sport and jettison all that is bad.

By doing so, they have put their future in the sport on the line.

They stand for ethics and principles because it is the right thing to do.

Their actions put them on the same footing as the athletes: where everything is on the line and asking only that their efforts be judged fairly.

The World Skating Federation deserves support.

And we believe that we have it; among the fans and among the athletes.

Our goal is to gain recognition from the IOC as the sole International Sports Federation authorized to govern the sport of Figure Skating.

Today is the first day in the rebirth of the sport of Figure Skating.

Going forward our athletes, sponsors and fans can be assured that the sport of Figure Skating will be administered with Honesty, Integrity, Accountability, and Fair competition.

We know that any organization entrusted with the heritage of a sport must be judged at least as strictly as its officials judge the performance of its athletes.

We accept that trust.

We accept that standard.

We welcome the opportunity to demonstrate that it can be done.

We welcome the prospect of having our administration open for scrutiny.

Figure Skating has reached a fork in the road, and the decision is whether we stay with the old ways or we forge into the future learning from past mistakes while building a strong, healthy athlete focused organization -- the World Skating Federation.

Thank you.