2013 Worlds Men LP | Page 52 | Golden Skate

2013 Worlds Men LP

LeReveur

On the Ice
Joined
May 1, 2010
I'm not sure if it's been brought up here or elsewhere, but here is my reaction to the judging and the scoring system in general even without having seen the men's LPs yet. Why doesn't the sport come up with some sort of system to give greater weight to the long program results? If I understand correctly, right now, points just accumulate. I think fans are used to the long program being more important than the short program and, by extension, they are tired of people who are not the best in the long program winning competitions.

I don't have a "perfect suggestion" for how to properly weight the long program, but perhaps one could start with the old ordinal system and work from there. If the ordinal system were in place, we all know that Denis Ten (1.0 for the SP and 1.0 for the LP) would definitely beat Patrick Chan (0.5 for SP and 2.0 for the LP).

Judges always have the power to mark in a way we disagree with, but I feel like this "accumulated point total" way of scoring is worse than the ordinal system. Also: it was hard for judges to rank skaters in the past in relation to others because of just two marks and there being a 6.0 cap for "perfection". Now, with so many different things being judged, judges theoretically "should" have the freedom to properly mark all components and then have the computer tabulate point totals without ordinals being such a heady thing.

Judging the elements separately doesn't seem so bad (TES is not "evil" in my mind compared to a 6.0 system) and I don't know that PCS is "worse" than giving some generic "artistic impression" or "presentation" mark out of 6.0, but I do think the way final results are tabulated is "wrong."

What do you think?
 

Skater Boy

Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 24, 2012
We will never agree. All of us have free minds, our own biases, sometimes agenda, heck maybe even other influences. This year's world championships in me and well so far in pairs has not been a wonderful array of top level athletic and artistic skating. Having Denis Ten as gold medallist would not be a true champion. When I review his skate it was less artisitc than in the past and really his skills aren't up to the top men (Dai, Patrick, Fernandez, Hanyu). And technically he was no great marvel either compared to what we have seen so what no gold. Skating is a two program competition with pcs and tes. You make mistakes and you are penalized technically whcih may affect pcs a lot somewhat or hardly at all. Patrick was penalized in both scores and rightfully so but really overall who else was there for the podium or gold. Denis is almost like Kimmie Meissner but not really - kind of a contradiction. Kimmie won in 2006 wiht ht eskate of her life and amazing technical arsenal. Denis as much as many of us have loved was not an artisitic marvel and was not a technical marvel and wasn't even clean like ho hum Evan.

The scoring system is what it is . Patrick maybe needs to work on conditioning AND we know he needs a real coach. Fortunately those on these posts are die hards because all our bickering, or debating and discussion surely does no add to the credibility of the sport. Really the whining of SLC was a large part of the down fall of skating.. Yes 6.0 and COP hard to understand but diehards who are objective can see how the system work ie. B and S could be second technically but win because they were deemed best at artistry which even moreso open to interpretation under 6.0. Its like the law you may know someone did it but apply the legal test and y ou get a not guilty verdict ie. OJ Simpson. What a sport really is is applying these rules or parameters but if you don't understand those parameters (scoring system) well yeah the sport might look corrupt. Yes folks it said take off 10 points for a fall then patrick would lose but no you lose 1 for the fall plus goes. that is the rule under COP. You don't have to like it but those were or are the parameters. Moreover this year the skating was for lack of words poor.

the other issue why are people so hard on patrick. What about mao, Carolina, Ssquared who constantly are held up with mistakes - I do not hear the uproar. From the experts (judging community and commentators) patrick's skating skills are comparatively relatively higher than all of them who are top notch. Yet the uproar is a whimper. The Germans should be persecutued, tarred and f eathered for what happened yesterday. And Kostner has gotten away with some stinky performances even the one year when she fell all over the ice the judges held her up but there was not nearly the uproar on this board.

The attitude we suggest on this board does or can influence the public especially as we are so vocal. In many ways we are contributing to the demise of the sport. Whine but what is the solution. If we start penalizing jumps then we might e affecting the risk factors for jumps and who will try what remember it just ain't patrick.

Some of the commnetators explain the pcs and skating skills under COP how the results can happen. Sadly this year Denis was relatively clean but not really the wow factor of Hanyu, Dai, Fernandez or even charismatic Joubert.

If the world read our posts the sport really would be killed.
 

noskates

Record Breaker
Joined
Jun 11, 2012
This might sound a little funny, but I really think it , if Plushy will be healthy, he can skate in Sochi, then he has chance to stand on the pedestal .. I'm not saying that he will stand, but he has a chance ... in the past he could do two flawless programs under any pressure ..

Awww Plushyfan - that was expected.

I personally think he doesn't stand a chance. The fact that he could do two flawless programs in the past is........in the past. The poor guy has had so many physical problems in the last year or so I'm surprised he can still walk, much less skate. I really feel like this Worlds competition has shown that youth is taking over. I'm very happy for Denis Ten and Javier Fernandes and the first medals for their countries. And there are some young guys like Hanyu in the ranks coming up.

For those upset about Patrick Chan......well, I'm not sure how you can cry foul about "home ice" and prejudicial judging when there wasn't a Canadian judge on the panel. Patrick's skate is synonymous with what's wrong with this scoring system. You get scored for what you do and not for what you didn't do! Under the 6.0 regime he wouldn't have even made top 10! Should he have won? Not for me to say. I thought Denis' skate was brilliant. But I don't get people badmouthing Patrick. He didn't score himself!!! I would imagine in his heart of hearts he's feeling a bit odd today knowing full-well he won a huge medal and didn't even come close to skating his best LP. I do think the criticism of his SP is unwarranted though!

And this will not be a popular opinion but I really feel it's time Dai and Joubert hang them up and probably Tomas Verner, as well!!!! This was a poor showing for them and Sochi will see them another year older!!! I just think it's really, really hard to maintain a super competitive edge when the body starts showing the wear and tear of years of landing jumps. I remember reading about Kurt Browning's back problems in his last years of competitive skating and talking about the force of landing a triple axel and what it does to your spine and lower back. No matter what kind of shape you're in - there's only so much you can withstand.

I've watched most of the youtubes of the LPs and it did seem like alot of the men were just exhausted at the end of their skate.

eta: Skater Boy and I were posting at the same time. I agree with alot of what he's saying. And it's great for "us" to sit back and dissect the scores point by point and illustrate where the judges were wrong, etc. etc. BUT......they have a very short time to make their decisions. They do have the help of technical experts. BUT - again - maybe if they had 24 hours to judge a performance they might come up with different scores. They don't! And I especially wanted to mention SB's comments about Kostner. I believe she's been held up by the judges more than anyone I can think of at the moment. So apparently no scoring system is going to be perfect but I do think the current one is better than the 6.0 scoring system where one fall could completely put you out of contention no matter how good the rest of your program was.
 

Tesla

Final Flight
Joined
Dec 28, 2005
Thought the morning after

Am I the only person here who likes COP?

I'm with you! :biggrin: I like COP, even if I think that some changes could be good...
I just checked the videos on YT, and I have to say that it was REALLY a weak competition! Ten is the real world champion, though... It's not Patrick's fault, nor the judges': they really did everything they could to give him that gold medal, they gave him 87 PCS (I still think that a two-points difference between them is a really generous score, Denis' arms position is so awkward!), huge GOEs, this system should penalize the falls harder, it's just this...

I like COP, too. I'm more of a casual fan in that I don't know all the intricacies (nor do I care to learn :p) but I understand this system more than the 6.0 system. I like how there is more fluidity. The 6.0 system was so rigid. I don't thinks the protocols are that difficult to understand. As with all judged sports, the problems lay with the judges.
 

MaiKatze

Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 4, 2012
^^Mmmh, Daisuke will end his career after Sochi. Can you really blame him to continue until 2014? It's not like he is a total disaster! Last year he was silver medalist at Worlds and he won the Grand Prix Final this season. Yes, he is 27 but I don't think he is in the same category of Brian Joubert and especially not like Tomas Verner.
 

Icey

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 28, 2012
It's regrettable that this performance will go into the video archives as the FS of a world gold medalist. Chan sometimes skates great, but he is not imo a great skater. There are too many badly flawed performances in his history, no matter the level of his pcs scores, which i really do not think are being assessed properly when he skates as he did last night. The scores he is given seem to always assume a perfect or near perfect skate.

With the sport the way it is, I would do everything in my power to discourage a son or daughter from entering it, except in a recreational way.

There needs to be an independent investigation of the sport. There is no use in being abusive to Chan; he is not the problem.

I should know this, but don't. At the Olympics, does the IOC prohibit anonymous judging?
 

Icey

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 28, 2012
Imaginary, are there other sports at the Olympics in which the judging is anonymous?
 

xabia

On the Ice
Joined
Aug 31, 2012
I just watched Kevin Reynolds on CBC. He really reminds me of a female skater. He looks, skates and jumps like a female skater. His stroking has no power, his jumps are tiny with bad technique and he even looks like one. His skating doesn't do a thing for me.

I couldn't agree more!
 

jenaj

Record Breaker
Joined
Aug 17, 2003
Country
United-States
I like COP, too. I'm more of a casual fan in that I don't know all the intricacies (nor do I care to learn :p) but I understand this system more than the 6.0 system. I like how there is more fluidity. The 6.0 system was so rigid. I don't thinks the protocols are that difficult to understand. As with all judged sports, the problems lay with the judges.

If you are looking at the protocols, you are not a casual fan. For the truly casual fan, it still looks like the judges are playing favorites--just like under the old system. And, in all likelihood, they are. PCS is used to rank and prop up and hold down skaters just like under 6.0. In the olden days, when 6.0s were rare, there was so much excitement when one was given out. There is no equivalent in the current system. No one is holding up placards with 72 on them for Yu Na Kim.
 

figuristka

Medalist
Joined
Dec 15, 2003
^^Mmmh, Daisuke will end his career after Sochi. Can you really blame him to continue until 2014? It's not like he is a total disaster! Last year he was silver medalist at Worlds and he won the Grand Prix Final this season. Yes, he is 27 but I don't think he is in the same category of Brian Joubert and especially not like Tomas Verner.

I agree. Verner has not been good for over a season now. Brian still skates well just doesn't follow the new judging rules so doesn't get as high as before. Dai, well last 2 competitions were not his best but last season was really strong and this year earlier too. He had a fine quad before 4cc and his artistry is always so strong.He improved himself so much last few seasons. I think he could medal at OG. Skating would will miss him when he retires after OG.

Watched Yuzuru over again and his free skate was really strong, fought for everything. I still see him most likely to win Worlds next year and could be a skater who could take the gold in Sochi. Patrick mentioned he was not motivated in practice and just got it back 3 weeks ago. I think if he does not get this motivation next season and improve his consistency in competition he could very well find the gold out of reach.
 

WeakAnkles

Record Breaker
Joined
Aug 1, 2011
I feel about COP the way I do about democracy: it's the worst system imaginable...except for all the others. ;)*

Actually, my objections are not so much to the system itself; there are many things that are quite logical and laudable about it (or at least more logical and laudable than 6.0).

My objections are that the principles are being applied in a decidedly illogical and un-laudable (or is that il-laudable? :p) way.

In the context of the Mens result, one example would be the way that falls are treated for PCS purposes. Although I do think that skating aficionados also share some small portion of the blame. Why? To illustrate, I was arguing just this point (that falls should affect PCS) yesterday, but many seemed to blithely dismiss it as some kind of attempt by a Yuna fan to whine about Caro's score (for the record, I argued exactly the same principles last year on this forum, when Yuna wasn't even around). It's only when the beneficiary is a somewhat unpopular skater like Patrick that suddenly the net is ablaze and up in arms.

My point: it's that, at least in my view, this was an issue of principle, and therefore reactions to it should be in a principled, universal and consistent manner, and not just when a historically atrocious result hits you over the head, or benefits/penalizes skaters you strongly like/dislike. The latter, passive attitude allows skating's institutional cadre to feel that the furor will inevitably blow over, and they can continue to get away with the way that they currently do things.

The whole anonymous judging thing irks me, and my current view is that the disadvantages outweigh the benefits. It makes the judges feel less personally accountable for their decisions. I'd be particularly interested in hearing others' thoughts on this point.

*paraphrasing Winston, who was just a veritable fountain of memorable quips

I'm actually a fan of COP. As you say, if it were applied the way it was meant to, it is an advance over 6.0. But Uncle Dick Button, a very wise (if sometimes cranky) man pointed out when it was first proposed: nothing is going to change specifically because of anonymous judging. Why? Because where's the accountability?

It ook a few years, but judges have finally figured out how to game the system. You can't do it with TES--those pesky video replays will show whether a particular element fits the criteria or not. But you can do it with the parts of the systems that are objective: GOE and PCS.

Until DOE and PCS are more closely tied to TES, you will always have problems There are 11 judges on a panel? Why not make it an even 12, and have 6 TES/GOE judges and 6 PCS judges. Make the relationship between technical mistakes and relevant PCS scores stronger. And get rid of anonymity. People are held accountable for their opinions in the real world. Well guess what judges? You live in the real world too. You shouldn't be allowed to hide behind a cloak of anonymity.
 

jenaj

Record Breaker
Joined
Aug 17, 2003
Country
United-States
I'm not sure if it's been brought up here or elsewhere, but here is my reaction to the judging and the scoring system in general even without having seen the men's LPs yet. Why doesn't the sport come up with some sort of system to give greater weight to the long program results? I



What do you think?

I think that the system that the IJS replaced adequately addressed that problem. Under 6.0, the winner of the long program, if he or she was in the top three in the short, won the gold. Sometimes, a lower-ranked skater, like Sarah Hughes in 2002, could come from behind with a winning long program. And when the long program winner didn't win--such as Michelle at '97 Worlds--it was because the winner (Tara) beat everyone else with her long program. In other words, she still had to deliver.

It is ironic that we are seeing history repeat itself to some extent. Somewhere on YouTube is a clip from the 1971 Worlds where Janet Lynn ignited the crowd with her free skating but didn't make the podium because she was so far behind in figures. The crowd started chanting her name at the medal ceremony and she had to come out and take a little bow. And when Trixi Schuba won Olympic gold in 1972--again after Janet won the free skate--the system was changed to give more weight to the skating part and less to figures. The more things change....
 

VIETgrlTerifa

Record Breaker
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
Thought the morning after

Am I the only person here who likes COP?

I like how it can be manipulated and still look objective and fair. I also like that fans can use it to justify wins of their favorite skaters for less-than-stellar skates over other skaters who skated much better. Because the numbers are there, it has to be true (as if the numbers designation and deduction values and the number of times transitions get counted in the scoring aren't arbitrary to begin with). :p

Also, I hear a lot more support for judges in the COP-era than I ever heard during the 6.0 era (I would include callers but they didn't exist prior to COP). I find it interesting that because of the change in the system, it makes people more inclined to believe that there is a much more good faith effort by those distributing their scores.
 

noskates

Record Breaker
Joined
Jun 11, 2012
Well..........judging what a skater will do in the future based on what they did in the past is like pounding sand in a rat hole. You never fill it up and you just make the rat mad! In other words..............pointless!

I don't agree with those that say Patrick is not a great skater. He didn't have a good skate last night - absolutely! But you don't win 3 World championships because of poor judging and bad skates! Does he have to do alot of reflection before next year? Yes. Does he probably have to consider his coaching choices? Yes. But I still think he is one of the more all-around skaters we have right now. There are some that can jump. There are some that have good presentation. There are good spinners and there are men with fleet feet in footwork. But each of them has a weakness somewhere IMO. When Patrick lays down a good skate I don't think there is anybody that can beat him. But like Skater Boy said, we all have our favorites for different reasons. We all have aspects of figure skating that appeal to us more than other aspects. I don't care if someone lands 5 quads in a program if their spins are ugly and their lines are bad. In some ways I wish they would outlaw quads because it detracts from the rest of the program. Young kids coming up are all about the jumps and the rest of their skating suffers! I do get excited when a skater who has been around for a loooooong time puts it all together one more time. But like any sport, some of them stay past their expiration date!
 

demarinis5

Gold for the Winter Prince!
Record Breaker
Joined
Jan 23, 2004
I read somewhere in this thread that Czech will keep its 2 spots because Tomas gets 16 points?? But he placed 21st final standings...how does that get him 16 points? Someone tell me how it works if I'm not getting something.

I was also in the audience tonight. It was such a treat having Jeff Buttle and Joannie Rochette in the audience. They were sitting across from the judges (on the other side) in the lower bowl and they did a little commentary during intermission before the last 2 groups. They signed some autographs and took some photos with the fans after their mini segment, how sweet. Joannie is gorgeous as always and dang Jeff with those glasses. Swoon.

It was really cute how fans started singing happy birthday to Dai. He was so tense waiting for his score, he didn't even realize until a while later haha. A lot of cheers when the announcer said he turns 27 tomorrow. But seriously, he definitely deserved higher PCS. I couldn't focus much after him at first because I was shocked and super sad. How could he get the same as Javier? Please dump Morozov and just do your own thing next season. Better to do something you're proud of next season and lose than try to play the game and lose. And even better if it wins. Although, I still have faith in him if he goes back to Pasquale. PLEASE!!! But then again, I think having Morozov's Russian name attached to his will help him in Sochi. I wonder if he'll get invited to the Gala, he is the most popular guy in the world right now and you can bet there will be a lot of japanese fans there.

Yuzuru got underscored. If he had skated in the last group or even later in his own group, he definitely would've gotten a higher score be it from higher GOE or higher PCS. Easily one of the best tonight. He fought so hard, he was dying at the end. He deserved more. Judges need to stop thinking others will fare better just because the last group still has to skate.

Brian definitely got low balled, I booed with the audience. It guess many of us didn't realize he zayaked at the time. Really shows how his performance got to the audience. But even so, judges really did no favours for him. It's amazing how he's still relatively in the game after so many years. Really proud of him today. He should get bonus just for being the fly that will never go away (meant in the nicest way possible)

The audience was really silent when Chan got his score. Or perhaps that was just me because my eyes literally dropped. I was gonna flip if the score was above 160 after seeing how he got Chanada bonus in the SP.... and it got 169!?! w-t-f. You could tell by the way the screams were crazy as if George Clooney showed up in the building.

I don't care how Denis just popped up during Worlds but he had the clean amazing SP AND he had the best FS of the night. AND YET HE DOESN'T GET GOLD?! I'm sorry, but there's something wrong if a great SP + splatfest LP beats out a very good SP + LP of the night. The balance is just not there. If Patrick's SP was not scored as outrageousy and his LP was scored correctly, Denis definitely would've been the champ.

Crowd's favourites of the night: D10, Javier, Yuzuru and Joubert ...possibly Max as well. Orser must've been motivating his kids like hell. But really glad they were able to get back up. Unfortunate about the SPs.

I'm excited for WTT for the fact that maybe we can possibly have a retry at what tonight should've been. At least for the skaters who belongs to a well rounded country.

Thank you for your rinkside report!
 
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figuristka

Medalist
Joined
Dec 15, 2003
Agree with you on Patrick. Would Kevin winning have made the judging any more liked? I still like quality over quantity and think Patrick is definitely one of the best if not the best well rounded skater. Not a good night for him after those quads though. I was not really happy with 4cc results either.
 

Florian

On the Ice
Joined
Apr 27, 2011
Country
Germany
Until DOE and PCS are more closely tied to TES, you will always have problems There are 11 judges on a panel? Why not make it an even 12, and have 6 TES/GOE judges and 6 PCS judges. Make the relationship between technical mistakes and relevant PCS scores stronger. And get rid of anonymity. People are held accountable for their opinions in the real world. Well guess what judges? You live in the real world too. You shouldn't be allowed to hide behind a cloak of anonymity.

I think that's a good idea. I also believe that, except for little things in the system that could be corrected or improved, the main problem are the judges. First it is too much for them to judge in such a short time and second, the GOE scores are given rather arbitrarily. The anonymity just prevents every accountability. So I would like to see those suggested changes. It could help.
 

MaiKatze

Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 4, 2012
Agree with you on Patrick. Would Kevin winning have made the judging any more liked? I still like quality over quantity and think Patrick is definitely one of the best if not the best well rounded skater. Not a good night for him after those quads though. I was not really happy with 4cc results either.

My first reaction after the LP was sadness for him. (I never would've thought he would get away with it...) He started doing so good - I was really enjoying his performance! I really think he improved artistically this year..... and then it all fell apart. The first mistake was a lapse of concentration, but I wonder what happened after that. He should've been so confident. He was skating at home with a huge advantage! The quads were awesome. I just don't know what happened and that makes it so frustrating. Now people say he didn't deserve to win. He could've shut up all the naysayers, but then goes and does something like this. Maybe we should analyze why this happened....
 
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