Salt Lake City ? In a highly unusual move, the International Olympic Committee told the figure skating union Wednesday night to quickly settle a judging dispute that has consumed the Winter Games for two days.

The strong warning was issued just hours after the head of the International Skating Union said an Olympic referee raised questions about the scores that narrowly gave the gold medal to the Russians in pairs Monday night.

If the skating union fails to resolves the problem quickly, the IOC left open the possibility it would settle the dispute itself.

“It’s our games, too,” IOC director general Francois Carrard said. “We are concerned for the athletes. It is our concern that this be settled expeditiously.”

The IOC, in a letter from new president Jacques Rogge to ISU president Ottavio Cinquanta, didn’t set a deadline for settling the dispute that began when the Canadians were left with the silver medal.

Carrard said Rogge and Cinquanta met privately before the regularly scheduled IOC board meeting and that the skating chief assured Rogge the ice dance competition would take place as scheduled Friday “and be presented in the most proper way.”

The dispute has become the biggest story of the Winter Games and could lead to changes in the way the sport is judged.

Earlier Wednesday, Cinquanta said he had received “certain allegations” from American referee Ronald Pfenning, who oversaw the nine judges scoring the competition.

In responding to questions about reports that a judge might have been pressured to vote for the Russians, Cinquanta said the judge denied it.

“I have an allegation and a denial,” he said, refusing to identify the judge.

Russians Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze edged Canada’s Jamie Sale and David Pelletier 5-4 in the free skate Monday night.

Cinquanta said he was embarrassed by the furor over the Russians winning despite an obvious technical error. Canada’s Olympic delegation has demanded an independent investigation, and the federation said it would conduct a rare “internal assessment.”

Pfenning, the only one allowed to present such allegations, could have been relaying a complaint from himself or any of the judges. ISU rules prevent Pfenning or anyone else on the judging panel from commenting publicly about decisions.

Cinquanta did not provide details of the allegations. Others also had questioned the results, “but the most important is the one of the referee,” he said.

“He is the coordinator of the competition.”

Cinquanta made it clear the integrity of judging and the sport itself is at stake. So did Rogge.

“We would like to emphasize the high urgency of the matter and the need to take adequate action as quickly as possible,” said Rogge, at his first Olympics since replacing Juan Antonio Samaranch last July.

Cinquanta had said there could be no resolution until the ISU executive board meets Monday. However, Rogge’s warning could speed up the process.

Regardless, the judging system seems destined for an overhaul.

“We are on the eve of possible revision of the judging system and it could limit the possibility of misunderstandings,” Cinquanta said.

Skate Canada, which filed an appeal of the pairs outcome with the ISU on Wednesday, also recognized the impact of the controversy.

“We wouldn’t be here if we didn’t think this was a crucial time for our beautiful sport,” said Marilyn Chidlow, president of Skate Canada.

And an ugly time. The infighting over whether Berezhnaya-Sikharulidze deserved the gold medal has overshadowed the event and called the entire sport into question. Not only is suspicious decision-making being spotlighted, but accusations of dealmaking and vote-rigging on the panel are being made.

Skate Canada went so far as to call for the independent investigation even though it had no proof of any irregularities.

Canadian officials said they don’t want the Russians stripped of the gold medal, but they believe Sale and Pelletier should be rewarded if any evidence of wrongdoing is uncovered.

“We are not here to pull someone down, we are here to pull somebody up,” said Michael Chambers, president of the Canadian Olympic Association. “We see no reason why the council of the ISU should not consider awarding a second gold medal.”

Cinquanta, however, reiterated that the competition was over, meaning the Russians would keep their gold medal.

Sale and Pelletier skated cleanly and the crowd was chanting “Six! Six!” by the time they finished, begging the judges to award the Canadians a perfect score.

The Canadians got only four 5.9s for artistry compared with seven 5.9s for the Russians, even though Sikharulidze stepped out of a jump.

U.S. coach Frank Carroll suggested that a French judge, Marie Reine Le Gougne, voted for the Russians in a deal to avenge a loss by the French dance team to the Canadians at the Grand Prix finals in Canada in December.

“This is the worst thing that’s happened to figure skating in a long time,” Carroll said. “I can understand where, watching that, if the International Olympic Committee said, ‘We don’t want figure skating in the Olympics anymore,’ who’s going to argue with that?”