Vote swapping deal to deny Virtue/Moir gold?

[Inglewood Jack]

I briefly checked to see if anyone's talking about this yet and didn't see anything, so here it is:

http://www.canada.com/olympics/news/...d-says-lequipe

The fix is in.

L’Equipe, the French sports magazine, quoted on Friday an anonymous senior Russian coach who says Russia and the United States have set up a “proposed barter” to help each other at the Sochi Olympic figure skating events.

Because they are not in direct competition with each other in these events, the United States would help Russia win the team gold event, while Russia would reciprocate by supporting U.S. ice dancers Meryl Davis and Charlie White win gold over defending Olympic champions Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir, the L’Equipe source said.

not that this should be even the slightest surprise if true, but it pisses me off so much anyways, especially after watching few episodes of the Tessa and Scott show and seeing how hard they've been working at this. the part of the article that's important is the bottom where they break down the technical differences between the Canadians and their American rivals, and how it really shouldn't even be close. and yet...it looks like we're about to witness another figure skating injustice unfold.

[Minnie]

Salé and Pelletier all over again.

[nik-]

Yeah ... again. Of course nothing will happen about it until after the fact.

[getbak]

Wasn't it the French and Russians who got busted doing this in Salt Lake and screwing over Salé and Pelletier? It was the Americans especially who wouldn't let it go until something was done.

Sounds like this is France getting its revenge.

[You Need a Thneed]

This went on for 50 years in figure skating. Nothing new.

[Alberta_Beef]

Crazy thought, maybe wait for it to happen before scream conspiracy?

[Mango]

Figure skating subculture is very intense and bizarre from the outside looking in.

The recent 30 for 30 'The Price of Gold' on Harding/Kerrigan is just a small glimpse into what really goes on, and that's not even including the many coaching scandals, psychotic parents and judging controversies.

[Oling_Roachinen]

Originally Posted by getbak

Wasn't it the French and Russians who got busted doing this in Salt Lake and screwing over Salé and Pelletier? It was the Americans especially who wouldn't let it go until something was done.

Sounds like this is France getting its revenge.

By ####ing over the Canadians?

[HotHotHeat]

Haha I love it. This sport is so greasy. It's amazing the IOC has just let it keep going even after it was proven during Salt Lake that it is not a competition of merrit.

[Flash Walken]

Figure Skating is the olympic event that most resembles the internal workings of the IOC.

The whole thing is one big expensive joke.

[FFR]

It would be really hard to fix figure skating now with the new judging system. (Which was put into place after the Sale/Pelltier fiasco). It's super complicated. Now - there are more judges than scores that count - so the highest and lowest scores are removed. Additionally, skaters start with a score based on their routine and then deductions are taken based on how they perform it (objectively which is completed by one judge using video replay). For example, a one hand touch out of a jump is a specific deduction. Or lowering a triple to a double is a specific deduction. Very, very little of the score is left to subjective means now. The technical score is sent to the rest of the judges and they award a score on a -3 to +3 score on each technical element based on how well they performed the element. Then there is a bit more on performance, etc.

That being said, it's always possible for some sort of fixing to happen in a judged sport, but it would be difficult and very easy to identify if one judges score was way off. The article speaks to a few results and questions them - but they don't mention that Moir and Virtur have not been perennial gold skaters. The last four years have been up and down (though always in the medals). It's not like recently they all of a sudden started coming in second and the America's showed out of no where.

[Resolute 14]

Originally Posted by HotHotHeat

Haha I love it. This sport is so greasy. It's amazing the IOC has just let it keep going even after it was proven during Salt Lake that it is not a competition of merrit.

Figure skating was once the showpiece event of the Games. It is probably still second or third to hockey and alpine skiing (particularly the downhill). The IOC will let it go on because it makes money.

[Table 5]

FFR is clearly going to be the go-to member for any and all figure skating questions during these Olympics.

[FFR]

Originally Posted by Table 5

FFR is clearly going to be the go-to member for any and all figure skating questions during these Olympics.

It's a sport I follow quite closely... Apparently that shows. Haha.

[Flabbibulin]

Originally Posted by Alberta_Beef

Crazy thought, maybe wait for it to happen before scream conspiracy?

Wait for what to happen? For each to win gold? Both have a great chance of doing so without scamming, so one judge unfairly giving them a few extra points to guarentee the win isn't going to be noticed. We're not talking about a bunch of hacks that need overly inflated scores to win.

And im not sure i buy the argument that the highest score is eliminated anyway. Doesn't that just means that the next highest score, which should theoretically be the eliminated score, stands??

[Northendzone]

Originally Posted by HotHotHeat

Haha I love it. This sport is so greasy. It's amazing the IOC has just let it keep going even after it was proven during Salt Lake that it is not a competition of merrit.

Why is this shocking, it is not like the lords of the rings are pure......

[getbak]

Originally Posted by Oling_Roachinen

By ####ing over the Canadians?

No, the French blow the whistle on this now so the Americans and Russians are less likely to do it (if they were even planning on doing it in the first place).

It's like if I saw you in a store and started following you around telling you not to shoplift today. If you were planning on shoplifting, you can't any more because I'm drawing so much attention to you. If you weren't planning on shoplifting, it will still look like I stopped you from shoplifting. Either way, I can act like the hero.

[Roughneck]

Originally Posted by getbak

No, the French blow the whistle on this now so the Americans and Russians are less likely to do it (if they were even planning on doing it in the first place).

It's like if I saw you in a store and started following you around telling you not to shoplift today. If you were planning on shoplifting, you can't any more because I'm drawing so much attention to you. If you weren't planning on shoplifting, it will still look like I stopped you from shoplifting. Either way, I can act like the hero.

Plot twist: A Canadian official planted this idea with the French.

Genius!

[vanisleflamesfan]

So, the Olympics are in Russia and already, on Day 2, there is a judging scandal... I'm shocked...

This is just one of the MANY reasons why I can't stand 'judged' sports.

[Itse]

Figure skating is a cool sport to look at. I don't care much about the results.