Judging scandal in Torino?

[Joesitz]

I Have a strong feeling there will be no hanky panky at this Oly. The future of figure skating is at stake.

JOe

[Mathman]

In fact, part of the blame probably lies at the feet of the ISU, who review the scores and will punish a judge for being out of line with the other judges (no matter if that judges scores actually make sense or not.) So the judges simply seem to huddle in a small, safe range for skaters based on their reputation and/or political alliance.

Actually, the ISU rules makes provision for this. There is an Officials' Assessment Committee that reviews all "anomalies" (marks given by a particular judge that fall outside a certain fairly generous "corridore" about the mean of the panel as a whole.)

If the OAC thinks that the panel as a whole is all wet, they can expand the corridore appropriately. In other words, the OAC can agree with the lone judge and blame the whole panel.

Also, the accused judge can defend his/her marks, bringing in evidence from videotapes, etc.

If the OAC does decide the that out-of-line judge or judges made errors in applying the NJS criteria for marks, or if they detect evidence of bias, then the miscreant judge is given as "assessment" (bad mark).

A few bad marks, depending on their severity, results in demotion or suspension.

Here are the ISU rules about this:

http://www.isu.org/vsite/vfile/page/...-0-file,00.pdf

Well, it looks good on paper, anyway.

Mathman

[Mathman]

Joe, I'm not so sure that anyone's future is at stake in Torino. I think if some sort of funny business occurs the majority of television viewers will just shrug and say, "Well, that's figure skating -- business as usual -- see you in four years."

[Joesitz]

Mathman - You are absolutely correct but it will take a further toll of losing casual fans.

I don't think any federation wants that, least of all the russian federation which has 4 solid golds in the making without any hanky panky.

The only close race would be Pairs and only if S&Z skate and up to form.

Sasha could be a threat but she won't make it without the 3x3s.

The Dance and Men's are Russia's to lose and they won't.

JMO - Joe

[euterpe]

If anyone actually believes that the ISU will discipline judges for deviant scoring and we will hear about it there's a bridge in Brooklyn I'd like to sell you.

[Joesitz]

If anyone actually believes that the ISU will discipline judges for deviant scoring and we will hear about it there's a bridge in Brooklyn I'd like to sell you.

True, true, true. I'll sell some goldmine stock.

Joe