PARIS -- Marie-Reine Le Gougne, the beleaguered French judge at the heart of the 2002 Winter Olympics skating scandal, insisted Thursday she is a "scapegoat" and said she has new information that will clear her name.

"I have no intention of letting myself be decapitated," Le Gougne told The Associated Press. "I am waiting for the hearing so that the truth comes out -- and I demand justice more than ever."

She is scheduled to appear at a hearing of the International Skating Union in Lausanne, Switzerland, on Monday and Tuesday in connection with one of the biggest scandals in Olympic skating history.

Le Gougne sparked the scandal in Salt Lake City two months ago when she voted for the Russian pair, Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze, in a 5-4 decision over Canada's Jamie Sale and David Pelletier.

At a post-competition judges' review, a teary Le Gougne said she had been under pressure from Didier Gailhaguet, the French federation president, to vote for the Russian pair. Afterward, Le Gougne recanted her accusations against Gailhaguet, saying she had been forced by ISU officials into making false claims against him.

The ISU, urged by from the International Olympic Committee to resolve the matter, decided to award duplicate gold medals to the Canadians. Le Gougne was suspended indefinitely.

But Le Gougne said she discovered evidence that showed the ISU, in a break with precedent, had thrown out all the judges' votes -- not just hers -- in awarding the second gold.

"I found out by way of a March 20 communication distributed in a very cryptic manner by the ISU showing that it had simply nullified all the votes," she said. "But if all nine votes were thrown out, then all nine judges should be suspended. Why am I the only one who was suspended? I'm the scapegoat."

In addition, Le Gougne and her lawyers say the combined results of all the judges, even with Le Gougne's marks canceled, still would have made the Russians the gold-medal winners.

On Monday, her lawyers released a 24-page letter to the ISU attacking its "hasty, knee-jerk decision" to suspend her and award the second gold medal to the Canadian pairs team.

She said she hopes to be reinstated after the hearing, and she vowed to appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sports if she is not satisfied with the results.

Le Gougne was suspended after she signed a written statement, which the ISU never made public. In the letter released by her attorneys, they said she had written a short note, dated Feb. 13, two days after the competition, in which she answered two questions:

"Is it true that you have declared on the occasion of the review meeting that you received instructions from (Gailhaguet) to place the Russian team first?"

"Yes, it is true but I wish to add that my emotional condition at that moment was not such to give me the opportunity to give a proper response."

"Is it true that in private you told (referee Ron Pfenning) that the Canadians were the best but you had to do what you have done?"

"No, absolutely not, when I gave the marks, I was conscious having at that moment the Russians as the best couple in the free skating. The fact that the day after I could have had a different opinion, this should not have any relation with my judgment."

Le Gougne admitted that she "cracked" in Salt Lake City, but there was no evidence she cheated.

"There has never been any proof, and I never signed a confession -- I know very well what I signed," she said.

Gailhaguet, an ISU board member, was also asked to appear at the hearing next week.

Two other French judges, Alain Miquel and Francis Betsch, have written to the ISU accusing Gailhaguet of telling them how to vote at major competitions.

"You can imagine it's not a very easy decision to say that your federation are cheaters. It's very difficult to do that," Miquel said in an interview with the AP last week. He said he was concerned for his job, "but I have to do it for the benefit of the sport, not my career."

Le Gougne rejected the allegations by Miquel and Betsch and said they are out to get Gailhaguet.

"These are two judges that we know are the declared enemies of Mr. Gailhaguet," she said.

A Swiss judge, Christine Blanc, said she wrote a letter to the ISU saying Le Gougne told her three months before the Olympics that Le Gougne would favor the Russians in Salt Lake City.

Le Gougne rejected those claims.

"That is a preposterous, enormous story," she said. "If that's the truth, then why didn't she speak up earlier? I formally deny it."