Salt Lake City ? A Ukrainian judge suspended by the International Skating Union for trying to arrange vote swapping conspiracy at the 1998 Olympic Games in Nagano is part of the Olympic judging pool for the Salt Lake City Games and is expected to judge the ice dancing competition.

Against the backdrop of the Olympic pairs judging scandal, ISU officials Wednesday confirmed that Yuri Balkov of the Ukraine will likely judge the Olympic ice dancing competition despite what ISU general secretary Fredi Schmid conceded was “major misconduct” by Balkov in Nagano.

Balkov was suspended for one-year in 1999 for trying to persuade Canadian judge Jean Senft to rank a low level Ukrainian dance team eighth at the 1998 Olympic Games in exchange for Balkov ranking the Canadian team of Shae-Lynn Bourne and Victor Kraartz third.

ISU president Ottavio Cinquanta of Italy insisted Wednesday that Balkov’s presence in the Olympic judging pool does not damage the credibility of the ISU.