WASHINGTON -- A year after the Salt Lake City debacle, figure skating has more chaos on its hands.

And this one goes to the very heart of the sport, a power play by some of skating's most prominent names to replace the International Skating Union.

"We cannot be silent any longer and let our sport careen into the abyss,'' Olympic silver medalist Paul Wylie said Tuesday, announcing the creation of the World Skating Federation.

"We have watched and waited for the ISU to take the necessary steps to cleanse the sport, and we have seen nothing but cosmetics. "There is no other way than to simply start from scratch.''

Disgusted by what it says is a loss of the sport's integrity and credibility under the leadership of ISU president Ottavio Cinquanta, the WSF's ultimate goal is to become the sport's governing body.

"A coup? We definitely want to shine a light on what people in figure skating think is wrong,'' said Scott Hamilton, the 1984 Olympic champion and a leading voice in the sport. "If you want to go the high road, it's an alternative, a platform where we can really do this right.''

The group already has a leadership structure and a constitution, and it has pledges for almost $200,000 in funding, said Jon Jackson, an international judge and a WSF founder.

But there's more to creating a new federation than a star-studded list of supporters and a glitzy video presentation.

The biggest hurdle will be convincing the International Olympic Committee that the WSF, not the ISU, is best suited to be skating's governing body. The WSF faxed IOC president Jacques Rogge a letter early Tuesday, and also sent him a package outlining its criticisms of ISU leadership, Cinquanta in particular.

The IOC didn't exactly greet news of a splinter group with a rousing reception.

"The IOC recognizes one international federation for each sport and, as far as skating is concerned, it is the ISU,'' IOC spokeswoman Emmanuelle Moreau said. "There is no plan to change anything. It's not on the agenda at all to change things.''

Cinquanta would not comment. ISU special events coordinator Peter Krick said Tuesday no comment would be made until after the world championships.

The WSF might have better luck with the IOC if it can show support from a wide-ranging list of national federations; organizers said they'll begin trying to line up endorsements immediately.

"I will not ask any member to join the WSF because they could potentially put their athletes in jeopardy,'' said Ron Pfenning, a top judge who is acting president of WSF. "I would hope they could endorse this organization on the principles on which it was founded.''

The WSF's announcement caught ISU member nations by surprise, and most refused to comment before reviewing the information.

Though WSF officials initially said they had gotten an endorsement from the USFSA, the USFSA quickly said that wasn't true.

"(The USFSA) has had neither the time nor the opportunity to review the proposals offered by those seeking to create a new world figure skating body,'' the USFSA said in a release. "We will follow the well-established representative process we have in place to determine what is truly in the best interest of our membership.''

Skating has been buffeted by criticism and international scorn in the aftermath of the Salt Lake City scandal, and the interim judging system hasn't helped.

The WSF says it will give control of the sport back to skaters. The ISU oversees both figure skating and speedskating, and many figure skaters say that compromises their influence.

It doesn't help that Cinquanta is a former speedskater, and has almost wholesale support from the speedskating side of the ISU.

"You don't have hockey players running basketball,'' six-time U.S. champion Todd Eldredge said.

The WSF said it would involve athletes and coaches at every level, giving them a voice in major decisions. It also would mete out real punishment for those found guilty of misconduct, the breeding ground for recent scandals.

The ISU has no official code of conduct. Judges or officials found guilty of wrongdoing can be reinstated once they've served their punishment.

Even judge Marie-Reine Le Gougne, who touched off the biggest scandal in Olympic history with her admission that she was pressured to vote for the Russian pair, is suspended for only three years.

"You do not have a right, as a fox who attacked the hens, to be brought back into the hen house,'' said WFS supporter Dick Button, a two-time Olympic champion and leading skating producer and commentator.

But not everyone believes skating needs to start from scratch to cure its problems.

"I think that the youngsters who are pulling away should go back to the candy store. You get a lot more satisfaction,'' said Don Laws, Hamilton's former coach who is now working with U.S. champion Michael Weiss.

"They're very valuable people, and I think they should stay here, stay the course. It's much easier to make changes from within.''