ARLES, France (AP) With her ice dancing partner nearby in a black T-shirt that said "Not Guilty," Olympic champion Marina Anissina acknowledged Monday she spoke "from time to time" with the man accused of fixing their event in Salt Lake City.

But Anissina also insisted that being an acquaintance of suspect Alimzhan Tokhtakhounov had nothing to do with the gold medal she and Gwendal Peizerat won for France.

"It's a ridiculous affair," Anissina said. "I've only seen things like this in American movies."

She and Peizerat spoke at a news conference Monday with Russian skaters Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze, who won the Olympic pairs competition - then had to share that title with a Canadian pair after the biggest judging scandal in Olympics history.

The four skaters were in the southern city of Arles for an exhibition.

Tokhtakhounov was arrested in Italy last week on U.S. charges. He's accused of scheming to fix the results of the pairs and ice dancing competitions at the Winter Olympics in February.

Italian police, who arrested Tokhtakhounov, said he might have contacted up to six judges to help secure a gold medal for the Russians in the pairs competition in exchange for a victory by the French ice dancing team.

Papers filed in U.S. federal court say wiretaps recorded a conversation between Tokhtakhounov and a female ice dancer's mother. After the Olympics, the female ice dancer called Tokhtakhounov and said she could have won without his help, according to transcripts. While Anissina was the ice dancer who won the gold, the papers didn't identify her as the woman on the phone.

Anissina said Monday she met Tokhtakhounov in 1999 at a reception and kept in occasional contact with him.

"We spoke on the telephone from time to time. But I never asked him for anything," said the Russian-born skater, who has French citizenship.

"I never telephoned him (after the Olympics). I am sure that that is not my voice," she said. "I don't know who my mother called, but I am sure that she didn't do that, either."

Didier Gailhaguet, president of the French Skating Federation, also acknowledged meeting Tokhtakhounov - and he said French authorities cautioned him against getting to know the reputed mobster.

In 2000, Tokhtakhounov asked to meet with Gailhaguet about financing the formation of a Paris hockey team. The two spoke for half an hour, Gailhaguet said.

A few weeks later, Tokhtakhounov's secretary called to ask if Gailhaguet could help in securing him a visa. At first, he ignored the request, Gailhaguet said, but the secretary called back.

The French skating president said he eventually contacted authorities to find out what problems the Russian man might be facing.

A few months later, French officials told him not to pursue contacts with Tokhtakhounov, according to Gailhaguet.

"I have never spoken to or seen Mr. Tokhtakhounov since then," Gailhaguet said.

The judging scandal began the day after the pairs competition, when French judge Marie-Reine Le Gougne said she had been pressured to vote for the Russians. Although she later recanted, duplicate gold medals were awarded to Jamie Sale and David Pelletier, the Canadians who finished second.

Le Gougne and Gailhaguet were suspended from the International Skating Union for three years in April and banned from the 2006 Winter Games in connection with the controversy.

The Russian pairs skaters and Anissina said Friday they might sue for what they called "defamation" against them in the case. However, Gailhaguet said Monday that the French skaters would not take action.

Sikharulidze, the Russian pairs skater, said he and his partner had not decided whether they would sue U.S. television networks - they didn't say which ones - for showing their pictures in connection with the case.

Jacques Rogge, president of the International Olympic Committee, has said he would not rule out changing the figure skating medals if the United States proves its case against Tokhtakhounov.

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