MEDIA ADVISORY *** MEDIA ADVISORY *** MEDIA ADVISORY
For immediate Release	Contact: Naomi Paiss/301-503-0399(cell)
March 12, 2003	Contact: Renee Rico/415-713-0347(cell)
	Contact: Mary Tyler/757-223-4939

SKATEFANS FOR ACCOUNTABILITY AND ISU REFORM TO PROTEST AT SKATING WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS

Skatefans for Accountability and ISU Reform (SkateFAIR) is the first group of skating fans organized to force the International Skating Union to return accountability, fairness and ethics to the sport of figure skating. SkateFAIR will hold its first public protest at the World Figure Skating Championships in Washington, DC at 5:30 PM on Friday, March 28, on F Street NW outside the MCI Center. Sally-Anne Stapleford, OBE, former chair of the International Skating Union Figure Skating Technical Committee, will address the protest.

SkateFAIR:

• Opposes current and planned anonymous judging systems that are not accountable to skaters or to the public;
• Calls for lifetime bans on judges and officials who corrupt competition results;
• Demands that the ISU leadership relinquish its autocratic stranglehold on a sport whose credibility has been badly damaged by a culture of deal-making;
• Calls for an Extraordinary ISU Congress to provide a democratic platform for debate of the interim and Code of Points judging system, in accordance with the ISU Constitution.

SkateFAIR spokespeople will be available throughout Worlds week for interviews and background through the contact numbers listed above. A Russian-language spokesperson is also available for Russian press.

• WHAT: SkateFair Protest of International Skating Union Mismanagement
• WHEN: Friday, March 28 5:30-6:30 PM (between Ladies' SP and Free Dance competitions)
• WHERE: F Street NW, between 6th and 7th Streets, outside the MCI Center
• WHO: Sally-Anne Stapleford, former chair of the ISU Figure Skating Technical Committee, and SkateFAIR protesters