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World Skating Federation

Q&A with Ron Pfenning

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Judging

Dr. B.: The ISU interim judging system was pretty much laughed off the stage, at least in North America. The new proposed points-per-element system appears not to address the problem of an unscrupulous individual or a conspiracy among a minority of crooked judges disproportionately affecting the outcome. In contrast, the "old" 6.0 OBO system, by emphasizing ordinals, does do a pretty good job of discounting obviously biased placements. (Methods based on the median mark would accomplish this also, but perhaps at the cost of introducing other statistical shortcomings(?) Do you have any further thoughts on this beyond the remarks in the WSF mission statement?

Joesitz: Will the WSF when organizing a competition set up the judgeships according to Regions of the World?

Ron: The scoring system is not the problem; it's the corrupt judges and federations that participate in collusion. It's healthy to have thoughtful and analytical discussions about the pros and cons of different scoring systems; that should always be ongoing. What is unhealthy is the secrecy, lack of accountability and adequate disciplinary action. When corruption is found it must be permanently eradicated. Judges must not be beholden to their member federation. In the WSF, Judges will be under the umbrella of the WSF and will be assigned to WSF events by the WSF based on evaluations of their actual judging performances; only the best Judges will be used at Championships and Olympic Winter Games. We realize that there are cultural differences around the world and therefore all judging panels should be geographically balanced to accommodate these differences. The WSF has divided the world into five zones and each 10-judge panel will have two judges from each zone.

Joesitz: Will the WSF institute a policy that judges must explain the scores they give? Will such explanations be public?

Ron: Yes, there will be Judging accountability. Judges must be able to defend their marks and placements, recognizing there is always room for differences of opinion, but only when those differences are based on an analysis of the criteria that contribute to each mark. The referees will be able to address the public following an event and explain why an individual judge did what they did based on what the referee learned during the review meeting following the event. An individual Judge would also be able to comment on their own if they chose to.

Joesitz: If the WSF finds a judge guilty of wrong doing in the scoring of an event, terminate the judge permanently?

Rachel L.: What will be the first act of the World Skating Federation, if and when you take over, to clean up judging? Also what will your system be like? I know it's a bit early to be thinking about this but, please just try and give us some kind of idea.

Rachel L.: If you become the governing body of Figure Skating, and a judge is found guilty of setting the placements. What will be the measures taking against that judge?

Ron: There will be a zero tolerance policy for a serious violation of misconduct or repeated national bias and/or serious errors. Cheating as has been witnessed in the past will not be tolerated and those individuals caught cheating will not continue to judge in the WSF. The WSF will have an Ethics Committee that will create and maintain a Code of Ethics and Code of Conduct for Athletes and Officials. The Ethics Committee will investigate all charges of impropriety and render a decision. When an individual is found guilty, the matter is referred to the Disciplinary Committee for determination of the punishment. The individual will have the right to appeal the decision of the Disciplinary Committee to an Appeals Commission who will render the final decision. The WSF Council does not participate in this judicial process. And, of course, the individual will have the right to take the matter to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).

Joesitz: What will the number of judges be for any given event? Will high and low scores be dropped?

Ron: For Championships there will be a panel of 10 Judges and for other events the panel will be 8 Judges. One Judge will be drawn from each panel to be the substitute judge and their marks will not be used in the calculation of results. Dropping the high and low is not currently under consideration but as I wrote previously, the WSF would investigate and test any system that will provide our athletes with a transparent, statistically valid, reliable, and accurate assessment of their performance.

Rachel L.: What will be your policy on judges? How will you pick certain ones? Also will this be a full time job which they are paid for?

Ron: Member federations will initially recommend individuals for a WSF appointment as an International Judge. Applicants will need to take a competency exam prior to being appointed. WSF Judges will not be dependent on their federation for assignments or re-appointment; their judging future will be in their own hands. Annually all WSF Judges will be evaluated and ranked; only the top-ranked Judges in each geographical zone will be assigned to Championships. The Judges will not be full-time employees of the WSF; however, they will receive an honorarium for each judging assignment.

Anonymous: How fair will the judging be in the WSF?

Ron: The judging will be open and completely transparent, no secrecy or anonymity. Each judge will be held accountable for their marks and placements. Sanctions for poor judging, national bias, cheating or other misconduct will be administered. All of this taken together should assure the athletes and fans of fair judging in the WSF.

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Scoring System

Chris H.: Given that, with the 6.0 scoring system and its demands on judges to make an overall assessment of a skater, there is a perception that Figure Skating is more performance than sport. Do you think that the WSF can investigate accountable judging systems which are more element based than the 6.0 system?

John S.: Will the WSF try to develop a judging system similar to that used in gymnastics and diving which averages the judges' scores and uses that average to weight the dd "score" of the skaters program?

Neville M.: What is the WSF's response to the new jading system (assigning specific point values to specific moves) that the ISU is currently developing?

Thomas: As you know, the ISU is testing a Code of Points system starting with Skate America where a fall on a 3axel will count more than a spin of any quality and difficulty. My question is, what kind of marking system, if any, does the WSF plan to implement?

Ron: The WSF will investigate and test any system that can provide our athletes with a transparent, statistically valid, reliable, and accurate assessment of their performance. We believe whatever system is used must be transparent and understandable to the athletes, coaches, fans and officials. Certainly any new system needs to be thoroughly tested and proven alongside the existing 6.0 majority system. The proposed new judging system is interesting, innovative and has merit. I believe the most serious flaws in the new system are the secrecy of the individual Judge's marks, the inability to manually verify the calculations and results, the lack of accountability of the Judges, the inability to uncover possible collusion amongst the Judges, the fact that all programs will be alike technically, the balance between athletic and artistic components tilting in favor of athleticism, the imbalance in degree of difficulty factors, and the cost of the equipment which is beyond the reach of member federations. The new system is a radical change to the image of our sport and needs comprehensive study, testing and feedback from all concerned before being considered for adoption. Initially the WSF will be using the 6.0 scoring system and the best of majority calculation of results.

Karen H.: Why is the 6.0 system still your choice for scoring vs. an incremental system with no upper limit on competency? The latter allows historical comparison, and does not "slide" with increased difficulty.

Ron: One beauty of the 6.0 system is its adaptability. The athleticism of the athletes forces the 6.0 system to slide with their achievements. Our sport continues to grow in both technical and artistic ways and the marking system adjusts accordingly. In any sport there can be no upper limit on achievement.

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