This Inman guy is a total jerk.
I cannot believe that he was so clueless to think that there wouldn't be serious questions raised about his ill-timed email. All the skating messageboards are in an uproar over this....and rightly so. The other question which arises from this (and so far hasn't been addressed) is
who brought the email to the attention of L'Equipe and what was their reason for doing so?
I have read dozens of "explanations" from various sources as to why Inman's email was sent out to the 60 judges---supposedly because those 60 had attended various seminars he gave during the year to educate them about judging as it pertains to COP. Well, that's all fine and dandy if such an email was sent out
prior to the competitive season. However sending it out immediately before the single biggest competition, which only occurs once every four years, is highly suspicious....and apparently one of the email recipients thought so, too.
Why else would that person have made the email available to such a news source as L'Equipe?
It is hard to believe that this Inman guy is that dumb, since he's a judge! It certainly doesn't say much that is good about judges and judging ethics, does it? Sending it out when he did, it's is all too easy to construe that Inman had ulterior motives (whether he really did or not). Given that it's a known fact in the skating world that there is a lot of collusion going on behind the scenes at some of these competitions, it isn't hard to see that some people, including judges, would go to any lengths to make sure a particular country's skater wins the coveted Olympic gold medal.
Mary C.
