Russians furious over Olympic fix slur | Page 8 | Golden Skate

Russians furious over Olympic fix slur

Joined
Jun 21, 2003
In many other sports, actually, an equivalent statement would draw severe punishment, including possible fines, suspensions, and the necessity of a coerced but profuse public apology if the offender expects to continue involvement in that sport.

I think the difference is this. In most sports there is a separate "Major League Umpire's Association," or whatever. that operates as independently as possible from the league administration and team owners. In figure skating the judges are on the team. If you are the judge from Lithuania, you are bound by the charter and constitution of the Lithuanian Skating Association, whose acknowledged raison d'etre is to secure the highest possible placements and the greatest possible number of medals for Lithuanian skaters.

Coaches, too, have a time-honored duty to their clients (and their clients' parents who foot the bills) to lobby like the dickens on their behalf. This is true even for beginners. The coach routinely takes his pal the judge aside and says, "You know, I've got a pretty good girl coming up to intermediates this year. She's worth a look." And lo and behold little Suzie gets third instead of eighth in that competition.

As for coaches bad-mouthing the opposition, we need look no farther than the Michin camp versus the Tarasova camp in plugging Plushenko and Kovtun for the sole Olympic spot this year.

Robeye said:
]Meanwhile, what do you think will happen with scoring in the individual events? The same, ah, "approach" as in teams? At least some reversion back to normal?

If I had to guess one or the other and nothing in between I would expect to continue to see highly inflated PCSs and GOEs for the skaters who skate well and have the greatest momentum and/or reputation going in. This is no mere athletic contest. It is a super colossal humdinger of an international entertainment and patriotism frenzy. More is better. Even more is better yet. :)
 

Robeye

Final Flight
Joined
Feb 16, 2010
As for coaches bad-mouthing the opposition, we need look no farther than the Michin camp versus the Tarasova camp in plugging Plushenko and Kovtun for the sole Olympic spot this year.
Again, this is all in the family. It's like the Corleones vs. the Barzinis. Mishin and Tarasova aren't going to get in trouble with Russian Skating; they are Russian Skating.


If I had to guess one or the other and nothing in between I would expect to continue to see highly inflated PCSs and GOEs for the skaters who skate well and have the greatest momentum and/or reputation going in. This is no mere athletic contest. It is a super colossal humdinger of an international entertainment and patriotism frenzy. More is better. Even more is better yet. :)
My own guess is that there's going to be some reversion back to normal. Maybe not all the way back, but every little bit helps. ;)
 

Frenchie

I'm gonna customize the CRAP out of this title!
Medalist
Joined
May 4, 2013
There is an interesting footnote to the Linda Fratianne story. Thanks in substantial part to Frank Carroll's rants, Fratianne came away feeling that she had been cheated out of what was rightfully hers by a cruel and hostile world. She bore the psychological burden of victimization for years and it colored her life after skating in negative ways.

from Wikipedia:
There have been persistent allegations that Fratianne was "robbed" of the gold medal by a conspiracy among Eastern-bloc judges, but in fact only two of the nine judges on the panel were from Eastern-bloc countries and only the judges from Japan and the USA placed Fratianne first.

I'm sorry she felt that way, but I'd think she would be informed of these facts. How did it "color her life after skating in negative ways"?
 

Sk8n Mama

Final Flight
Joined
Jan 23, 2004
I guess I'm just not seeing the explosiveness, controversy. or offense. Carroll says that Lipnitskia is a wunderkind who deservedly won the the team free skate, but he thought some of the judges' component scores were too high. She has some work to do to move from the category "excellent" to "fabulous." I dare say he feels the same about his own girl, Gracie Gold.
I agree: it's not controversial or explosive. He says she deserved it but her PCS shouldn't be a 10. Frank Carroll is a legend; his saying that won't hurt Gracie. Tamara Moscvina (sp?), now she had some quotable moments! Never seemed to hurt her skaters. Again, legend status.

I'm taking anything Dick says with a grain of salt: he still thinks the scratch spin is relevant.
 
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