Judges' draw (by nation) for the Olympics

Scroll down to part B for the list of national federations that will be represented on the judges' panels at Vancouver. Any suspicious bloc-voting conspiracies looming?

http://isu.sportcentric.net/db//files/serve.php?id=1565

Does anyone know how these supposed "random draws" are conducted? It seems like too much of a coincidence that the big federations always get lucky in the draw, especially in the disciplines where they happen to be strong.

For instance, China only has one judge, which -- by the luck of the draw -- happenbs to be in pairs. Japan, on the other hand, has judges in every discipline except pairs.

The judges are drawn from countries that have placed in the top 24 ladies and men; top 16 in pairs; and top 19 in dance, in the previous world championships.

I don't think China placed a man or lady in the top 24, hence, it did not have an opportunity to get judges on those panels. Interestingly, since Othman didn't place well, Switzerland also doesn't have a judge on the panel for the men's event. Plus, by the luck of the draw, Italy has no judge in the ladies' event.

In pairs, Japan didn't place in the top 16, so it didn't have a chance in the pair judges' draw. China, on the other hand, did place pairs in the top 16, so it was included in the draw.

In dance, the famous Azerbaijan federation will have a judge on the panel, even though its team elected to retire and didn't compete for a spot at Nebelhorn.

Basically, because 13 judges are drawn for each event, nearly every "top" country in that event is going to seat a judge on the panel, because there are only so many countries. The big exception, as noted, seems to be Italy.

Thanks for the information, LynnR. At first it seemed funny that the ISU would want to assign judges to events where their federations have top contenders. It seems like it would be better to try to get a neutral panel.

But I guess that would be impossible, since there are not enough qualified judges available from countries that do not send a lot of athletes to worlds and the Olympics.