My wife and I watched the pairs figure skating and that decision was a bunch of BS.  I don't know squat about figure skating, but it was pretty clear that the Canadians skated better than the Russians.  The crowd knew it, the announcers knew it and the skaters knew it.  

If you don't know squat about figure skating, then how are you so sure?

The reason the russians won was that the two pairs were tied on the technical marks, and the russians won by one judge (.1 score) on artistic.

My impression was that the russian program was slightly MORE DIFFICULT technically than the Canadian program.  The fact the the russian guy stumbled a landing cost them, but the "base" score may have been a little higher because of the increased difficulty.  I have no problem with the equal scores on technical merit.

The artistic score is subjective, and after watching both programs, I personally thought the russians were more emotional and passionate int heir skating, and the canadians were just going through the motions, skating a routine while music was playing in the background.

To me, the whole thing boils down to how much more difficult the russian program was.  If the difference was negligible, then perhaps the canadians should have won.  If there was a real difference to compensate for the stumble, then the russians deserved to win (in my unprofessional judgment) because their artistry was better.

However - if the rumor of vote-trading (among the russian and french judges) is true, then they DO truly deserve to be whipped.  I find that pretty unlikely though - just one more conspiracy theory when people don't get what they want.  Show me some evidence or stop whining.