This is also how it happens off the ice

Suddenly, Davis and White exist. Suddenly it's okay to notice their actual skating:

Here's Beverly Smith on the article in L'Equipe:

russia-u-s-have-vote-swapping-deal-to-deny-virtue-moir-ice-dance-gold-says-lequipe

L'Equipe broke the Lance Armstrong doping scandal.

If one is better than the other, I really hope they [judges] let it happen,” says Paul MacIntosh, a dance coach who developed Virtue and Moir, but who also admires Davis and White. “I do fear. I was worried at Grand Prix Final, because I thought Tessa and Scott were spot on. And we didn’t win either portion, but we were better both days, way better the first day. For sure. No question. “And they didn’t let it happen.”

AND

In Europe, judges currently seem poised to drop Virtue and Moir should they put a foot wrong in Sochi — but Davis and White aren’t facing the same scrutiny. One source said: “I know a few on the panel might even stick [French team Natalie Pechalat and Fabian Bourzat] second in the free dance if Virtue and Moir make a mistake.” Davis and White aren’t seen to make mistakes.

*****

Davis and White are known for their speed and their memorable routine to Die Fledermaus a couple of years ago, which stuck in the mind of MacIntosh. “It was like they had wings,” he said. However, there is a difference between speed and power. Virtue and Moir are the most powerful skaters in the world, says Ann Shaw, a Canadian who originally set out the code of points for ice dancing. White sometimes gathers speed by “wide-stepping” like a hockey player, one expert said. Davis gains speed with hops and jumps, not edges. The rules specifically discourage excessive amounts of toe steps. On the other hand, Virtue and Moir derive their speed from rhythmic knee action, which makes the stroke appear effortless.

WHERE HAVE THESE PEOPLE BEEN FOR TWO YEARS?

This is how it works. Somebody ELSE finally gets in front and says what everybody else already knows. Once it's out in the open, it's like floodgates - here comes everybody. But  nobody will speak up until somebody else first takes the flak. This is the pattern everywhere - in politics, in sport. The reporting of these subjects is every bit as political as the topics they're supposed to be covering.

The time for this topic to have been thoroughly aired was TWO YEARS ago, if not sooner. Not days before the Olympic ice dance competition. Some of the people now speaking up have been the same people pretending Virtue and Moir and Davis and White were equally superior, with the edge to Davis White.

If one reads up on the first Clinton sex "scandal" - Ginnifer Flowers - one way the mainstream media covered the story was to cover the coverage of the story (unlike later sex scandals that were positioned as abuse of office - Monica Lewinsky in the case of Clinton, prostitutes in the case of Elliot Spitzer - the Flowers story was straight up infidelity and considered a marginal topic for mainstream media).

By pretending to report on the gossip rag coverage of the story instead of directly reporting on the story, mainstream news entities maintained their serious, legit media bona fides while reaping the benefits of salacious tabloidesque content.

Here, everybody is letting L'Equipe' take the hit - everybody is now looking at the skating of Davis White, suddenly it's okay to talk about the skating of Davis White, suddenly everybody notices Davis and White don't skate - under the guise of reporting L'Equipe's claims.

This is how it works or would work with Virtue and Moir's lies about their personal life as well. Some other entity would have to decide it was worth blowing open, and then everybody else would ride the wake of that coverage, telling us what was being reported, and in the process, it would become obvious that they, too, knew it was true.

Just  as now, people are reporting on L'Equipe's claims while demonstrating they've been aware all along that Davis White have been receiving dubious scores, demonstrating all along they know CoP scores can be juiced. Shit, the article above specifically notes that scores can be gamed so that Virtue and Moir's lowest scores aren't thrown out but Davis and White's are. In a sport that is won on tenths of a point, there's nothing easier.

It should also be noted that fans have been talking about this for years. In other sports, the media reports what fans are saying. Not in figure skating. In figure skating, they make up what fans are saying.