I would be inclined to believe it a lot more if they said which coach or had a shred of proof.
And as I've said before, under Cope of Points, it is impossible for one judge to fix a result as is suggested by the article.
Why would a coach in such a political sport expose themselves by giving their name? I think the Russian judge that they cite is Marina Zoueva myself.
Last edited by Aarongavey; 02-18-2014 at 11:25 PM.
Here's the rub though, the judges are only anonymous to the public right now. Every score can be matched up by the officials.
Your explanations were helpful, and I'm not sure who should have won gold or silver based on what I saw this time, and its impossible to see if there were judging alliances since we are no longer able to see which judges did what. I do take issue with hiding the judges to the public, which the ISU did because of the 2002 games' fiasco.
The judging in 2002 shows there were blocks of judges based on alliances, its pretty hard to argue it was mere coincidence. Russia, China, Poland, Ukraine, and the "swing" France for Russia with Canada, US, Germany, and Japan for the Canadians? Its just coincidence it was NATO vs. the Eastern Block? And a Frenchmen who pulled an Italian and picked the wrong side AND confessed? Canada voting Canada and Russia voting Russia by itself should be enough evidence that the judges are biased and allowed to be so by the ISU.
Tell me that kind of obvious voting block has changed based on results.
To me the issue isn't whether it did happen this time, or whether it can be proven to satisfy aerdent supporters of the current system. The issue is it could easily happen (and has). Competitors on these judged events should just 'go pro' and enjoy the sport.
If you really listen to Moir and Virtue, its clear they feel that the process of declaring a winner in Ice Dancing is very political, ie. its more like real life then sports. It seems to be similar to getting an Oscar nomination or a promotion at work.
If this were the case, Virtue & Moir would have won the gold without a doubt. Tessa Virtue is an absolute babe, while Meryl Davis can most kindly be described as "unfortunate" looking.
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If this were the case, Virtue & Moir would have won the gold without a doubt. Tessa Virtue is an absolute babe, while Meryl Davis can most kindly be described as "unfortunate" looking.
Women's figure skating is the one that got fixed. Yuna Kim needs a world record score to win the Free Skate, the Russian girl was good but her scores were far too big.
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"Think I'm gonna be the scapegoat for the whole damn machine? Sheeee......."
Women's figure skating is the one that got fixed. Yuna Kim needs a world record score to win the Free Skate, the Russian girl was good but her scores were far too big.
That's your opinion. Finnish commentators and experts agreed with the judges. Also, there were clear technical reasons for the point difference (based on their comments), the Russian had a slighty higher difficulty on her jumps.
That's your opinion. Finnish commentators and experts agreed with the judges. Also, there were clear technical reasons for the point difference (based on their comments), the Russian had a slighty higher difficulty on her jumps.
Refereeing is not a perfect science.
Well of course the Finnish were nice. After eliminating the hockey team, I'd imagine the Finns will be very nice to Russia for the remaining 3 days. No need to be shipped to Siberia.
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"Think I'm gonna be the scapegoat for the whole damn machine? Sheeee......."
So, this one judge hung a plus-one on the Canadians for their twizzles, a rotational lift and a diagonal step sequence. Nobody else on the panel stooped that low. This same judge gave a plus-2 GOE to Virtue and Moir on five other elements. Only for a combination spin did he or she award the maximum plus-three.
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It’s not known which judge scored the Canadians so ridiculously low, because they’re afforded anonymity. But I can guess. And it’s not really guesswork because the same pattern emerged in every competition over the past two years — half a dozen head-to-heads now in which the Americans have defeated the Canadians — where a certain judge who will not be identified here has sat on the panel.
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There was simply not a nearly five-point difference in the quality of their respective two skates.
Seems it is still possible to fix results, even with the new system
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One of the nine judges who picked a young Russian skater over two more refined competitors for the Olympic gold medal Thursday night was suspended for a year for trying to fix an event at the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano.
And another is the wife of the president of the Russian figure skating federation.
"It's sad that I just presumed Sotnikova was going to get a boost (in points) because this was in Russia," former U.S. Olympic figure skating coach Audrey Weisiger said in a phone interview. "Isn't it sad that I automatically thought that? Not one person in skating I've talked to said that's the way it should have gone."
"I was surprised with the result," Joseph Inman, a top international judge who was on the women's panel at the 2002 Olympics, said in a telephone interview.
"The (judging) panel made me wish that the United States and Canada had split up into many different countries," said choreographer Lori Nichol, who works with Kostner and fourth-place finisher Gracie Gold of the United States, among others.
Judges from the United States and South Korea, as well as two other Western judges, were not chosen by draw to work the women's long program after being on the women's short program panel the night before. Two of their replacements were Ukrainian Yuri Balkov, who was kicked out of judging for a year after being tape-recorded trying to fix the Nagano ice dancing competition by a Canadian judge, and Alla Shekhovtseva, a Russian judge who is married to the Russian federation's president. Other Eastern Europeans were on the panel as well.
