Another figure skating judging scandal in the making?

Think back, if you will, to the last Winter Games in North America -- Salt Lake, 2002. What's the one thing the world remembers?

Aside from the bid scandal, daily doping busts in cross-country skiing, and the part in Mitt Romney's hair, that is.

Chaos on ice in the pairs figure skating competition, where, after many days of wrangling, arm-twisting, blame-shifting and confessing, the International Olympic Commitee wound up awarding double golds -- to Canadians and Russians -- after it became clear a French figure skating judge had essentially rigged her score as part of a vote-swap with the Russian federation, to benefit French skaters in ice dancing.

It was the ethical lapse heard 'round the world, confiriming many long-held suspicions that, at least in some judged sports, medals were for sale at the Olympics. Legend has it that IOC President Jacques Rogge laid down the law to International Skating Union head Ottavio Cinquanta -- fix your scoring system so this can't happen again.

The following year, the ISU trotted out the Code of Points, which the organization said placed scoring decisions in more hands (12 judges, instead of the old nine), ensured fairness, and better fit the current dynamics of the sport. The COP has been used in international skating ever since, first appearing in the Olympics at Turin in 2006. (For more on the COP and figure skating judging and competition, take a look at this primer.)

But critics of the system have always maintained it does not, in any way, remove the possibility of abuse by judges. The fact that more judges rule over a performance, and high and low scores are tossed, does make that more difficult. But the new system also makes individual judges' scores anonymous to all but ISU insiders. The ISU said that takes pressure off judges, because their national federations -- the French version of which was identified as the ultimate villain in the SLC scandal -- won't know their scores. But critics counter that the secrecy also leaves judges completely unaccountable to the public.

Further, the new system places great influence in the hands of technical analysts granted the power to downgrade jumps, spins and other moves after reviewing them on instant replay.

With all that in mind, take a gander at a fascinating report by colleague Phil Hersh, of the Chicago Tribune, outlining concerns that the ISU -- still headed by Cinquanta -- might be caving to financial pressure from Japanese figure-skating sponsors to quietly sabotage scores -- and scheduling -- for Yu-na Kim, the reigning world champion from South Korea.

Kim's greatest challengers in Vancouver next month are expected to be Mao Asada and Miki Ando -- both of Japan, where international figure skating is a growing national obsession.

Adding fuel to the fire is Cinquanta's reported insistence that Kim make a long trek from Toronto, where she trains, to South Korea for the meaningless Four Continents Competition later this month. The trip has already been ruled out by Kim's coach Brian Orser, and threats of ISU sanctions against Kim if she refuses to compete are fueling the Japanese-influence rumors.

It's mostly just innuendo at this point, but it's juicy, nonethless. And it begs the question: Wasn't the scoring system supposed to prevent scandalous judging behavior from ever being suspected in the first place?

Photos: (top) Russia's Yelena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze shared 2002 gold medals in figure skating with Canada's David Pellitier and Jamie Sale after a judging scandal that rocked the figure skating world (Dean Rutz, Seattle Times, 2002); (lower) South Korea's Yu-na Kim, the favorite for gold in Vancouver, carries the Olympic torch last month in Ontario (AP).