Figure skating fans can forget about seeing champions like Tara Lipinski and Oksana Baiul compete in the 2002 Olympic Winter Games in Salt Lake City.
International Skating Union president Ottavio Cinquanta told reporters in Nice, France, the site of the 2000 World Figure Skating Championships, that professional skaters will not be permitted to compete in the 2002 Olympics."There is no return, 100 percent," Cinquanta is quoted as saying in a Reuters report. "Never, ever, until these individuals can explain to me why they left the ISU."
So far, the only professional skater to express interest in competing in Salt Lake City has been Baiul, who also adjusted her competitive schedule this season to comply with ISU rules. Then a teen, Baiul won the gold at the 1994 Winter Games in Lillehammer, Norway.
Lipinski, the 1998 Olympic gold medalist in Nagano, has never spoken about a return to Olympic competition, and her competitive schedule has reflected her love for the professional side of skating. A headliner for the Target Stars On Ice touring show, Lipinski has also appeared in a bevy of made-for-television specials and competitions, including "Ice Wars" and the "Pro Superteam Challenge."
Some high-profile skaters -- notably popular U.S. champion Michelle Kwan -- have maintained amateur status specifically with the intent of participating in the 2002 Games.
U.S. Olympic Committee spokesman Mike Moran said the decision to allow professional athletes to compete at the Olympics is left to each international sport federation.
"The International Olympic Committee made it very clear beginning with the 1992 Games that it wanted the best athletes in the world in the Olympic Games and left the issue of eligibility to each international federation," Moran said. "The term 'professional athlete' is interpreted differently by each federation."
For example, professional hockey and basketball players, including Karl Malone and John Stockton of the Utah Jazz, have been allowed by their respective sport federations to participate in recent Olympics.
And at the 1994 Games in Lillehammer, professional figure skaters were allowed to compete under an exemption now informally called the "Boitano rule." That ruling allowed some of the sport's brightest stars the one-time chance to re-enter Olympic competition -- including Brian Boitano, Katarina Witt, ice dancers Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean and the pairs team of Ekaterina Gordeeva and Sergei Grinkov. That year, however, only Gordeeva and Grinkov returned to the top medal podium.
Representatives from the United States Figure Skating Association were in Nice, France, for the World Championships and did not respond to Deseret News requests for interviews by press time.
Contacted in Nice, Heather Linhart, figure skating sport manager for the Salt Lake Organizing Committee, said SLOC respects the standards set by the international federations that govern each Olympic discipline. She expressed no concern over a ban on professional skaters. "The popularity of the sport and the talent of the skaters," she said, "will ensure a great competition and atmosphere for spectators."