IOC to consider results of figure skating competitions after investigating involvement of Takhtakhunov

The International Olympic Committee "is shocked by statements" about a possible influence of organized crime on the results of figure skating competitions at the Salt Lake Olympic Games 2002, says the statement of IOC president Jacques Rogge, received by RIA Novosti on Friday.

The US FBI suspects Alimzhan Takhtakhunov, detained in Italy, of attempts to influence the results of some figure skating competitions during the winter Olympic games.

Together with the International skating federation the IOC intends to quickly investigate the circumstances of the case and, on acquiring the full information, to re-consider the issue of the Olympic skating competition at a special session of the IOC Executive Committee, the statement says.

At present Rogge is away from Lausanne on a business trip, the IOC press service informed. The IOC headquarters has no information concerning his contacts with the Russian Olympic Committee.

The ROC president Leonid Tyagachev, now on a visit in Montres, Switzerland, in a short statement spoke against "booming" around the statements on possible influence of criminal groups on the results of the Olympic games. The Russian skaters "have nothing to do with it", he said.