2022 Olympics: Women's Short Program

[Greengemmonster]

You guys (and all TV commentators) put way too much emphasis on the "scoring". It literally does not matter. The points and tech calls and GOEs are all fudged in order to get the skaters in the ranking the judges want. The judges qualitatively put the skaters in the order they want based on technical difficulty first, politicking second, and all-around skating third, if necessary.

Let me give an example. Trusova vs. Shcherbakova:

Sasha: Look, I can do a quad!
Judges: Wow, you're in first place!
Anna: Look, I can do a quad too!
Judges: Wow! You're both great. Anyone else?
Non-Russian girls: no, we can't, sorry.
Judges: OK....it's between Sasha and Anna now!
Sasha: Look, I can do multiple quads!
Judges: Wow! Sasha, you're back in first place!
Anna: Look, I can do multiple quads too!
Judges: Wow!
Sasha: Look, I can do three quads now.
Judges: OK, we're bored with that. What else?
Anna: Watch my skating skills and presentation.
Judges: Superb!
Sasha: Look, I can do four quads.
Judges: Anna is really good. Wonderful Anna!
Sasha: Look, I can do five quads now.
Judges: Anna, you win Olympic Gold Medal! Well done!

That's literally what happens. The numbers, TES, PCS, they are all a veneer. The judges just make up the numbers in order to rank the skaters the way they want. That's why Sasha has 9s on PCS and thinks if she adds more TES, she will win. But it's an illusion. She never understood that.

edit:
It's the same with Higuchi and You. When they skate in the last group, it could have been the difference between bronze medal or not. Kamila could be disqualified, and Kaori could skate bad, meaning whoever finish ahead between them will win Olympic Bronze Medal. Young You gave two clean, exquisite skates. Wakaba fell down. Japanese Fed just politic and make sure she (undeservedly) finish one point ahead of You in case it will mean the Bronze medal or not. The tech caller will be strict on You, not strict on Waka. You's PCS will get held down, whatever it takes to get the ranking the judges want.

This cracked me up but I so agree with it!!! You've verbalized what I've always felt in the most humorous way!

 

[anonymoose_au]

That's literally what happens. The numbers, TES, PCS, they are all a veneer. The judges just make up the numbers in order to rank the skaters the way they want. That's why Sasha has 9s on PCS and thinks if she adds more TES, she will win. But it's an illusion. She never understood that.

If that's true...well that's f'ed up. Like the judges have already decided who's going to win before the skating ends? That means IJS is just BS and they might as well go back to the easier to understand 6.0.

And of course Sasha wouldn't understand that, who could? So they've already decided that all around pretty skater Anna will win? Sasha is never going to be a pretty as Anna in skating even if she worked for 10 years.

So... basically Sasha should give up now because she's never going to win?

Wow, I bet Sasha's glad she spent like...12 years of her life on this endeavour.

 

[KaoriFan]

If that's true...well that's f'ed up. Like the judges have already decided who's going to win before the skating ends? That means IJS is just BS and they might as well go back to the easier to understand 6.0.

And of course Sasha wouldn't understand that, who could? So they've already decided that all around pretty skater Anna will win? Sasha is never going to be a pretty as Anna in skating even if she worked for 10 years.

So... basically Sasha should give up now because she's never going to win?

Wow, I bet Sasha's glad she spent like...12 years of her life on this endeavour.

Well, the skater still have to perform.

Sasha was the first to do quads. If she can do quads and nobody else, she would win. But the other Russian girls learned to do quads too. She can't just keep doing more and more quads against other Russian quad girls who have better skating skills and presentation. Look how long Kamila's body is and how long her lines are. Look at Anna's performance. Sasha was told she need to add something else besides just quad, quad, quad. She didn't listen. It's actually not her fault entirely. How can she change her body to match Kamila's? She can't. Kamila is the favorite one by Eteri because of her body. Sasha, Anna, both of them can't match her because they don't have the same body. Sasha couldn't handle this, while Anna just kept her head down and work harder. Because Kamila imploded, Anna's hard work paid off. She was the more complete skater between her and Sasha, the judges preferred her.

What could Sasha have done differently? She could have done what her coaches told her and tried to beat Anna without worry about Kamila. If she beat Anna then she will win if Kamila falls. But she doesn't think like that, she just want to beat Kamila. All that is in her mind is beat Kamila, beat Kamila, beat Kamila. She forgot about Anna and it cost her the OGM.

Anna was the smart one, she didn't try to beat Kamila. She focused on beating Sasha. That's why she won.

 

[streams4dreams]

Anna was the smart one, she didn't try to beat Kamila. She focused on beating Sasha. That's why she won.

Not sure about the rest, but watching Anna's reaction to her personal best score in FS, I also thought that she wasn't getting too excited because she expected Kamila to win.

 

[KaoriFan]

Not sure about the rest, but watching Anna's reaction to her personal best score in FS, I also thought that she wasn't getting too excited because she expected Kamila to win.

Right, that's why Anna won. She knew Kamila was the only one who could beat Kamila. She just try to beat Sasha, which she can do.

Sasha try to beat the impossible. She took her eye off Anna. Totally fits her personality. That's why she lost.

 

[Joekaz]

Right, that's why Anna won. She knew Kamila was the only one who could beat Kamila. She just try to beat Sasha, which she can do.

Sasha try to beat the impossible. She took her eye off Anna. Totally fits her personality. That's why she lost.

Isn't that Kaori's general philosophy? Just take care of yourself and let people doing more difficult stuff mess up. Sort of like Arakawa in 2006 Olympics.

 

[silveruskate]

If that's true...well that's f'ed up. Like the judges have already decided who's going to win before the skating ends? That means IJS is just BS and they might as well go back to the easier to understand 6.0.

And of course Sasha wouldn't understand that, who could? So they've already decided that all around pretty skater Anna will win? Sasha is never going to be a pretty as Anna in skating even if she worked for 10 years.

So... basically Sasha should give up now because she's never going to win?

Wow, I bet Sasha's glad she spent like...12 years of her life on this endeavour.

Why blindly follow the words of a poster on GS? lol

 

[TontoK]

I'm trying to find a case of a judging outcome under IJS that I thought was horrifically wrong, and I can't remember one. But I'm open to being reminded.

There are some close calls, I'll give you that. For instance, the Olympic pairs could have gone to any one of three pairs, IMO. I'm glad the podium turned out this way, but I wouldn't call it a "wuzrobbed" situation if the podium had been in another order. There's a difference between "close decisions that could have gone differently" and "this was criminal."

Take Men's US Nationals this year, for another example. I'm certain USFSA had a preferred podium going in, but they didn't count on Malinin. Still, they judged the competition correctly, and he won silver.

So while we can quibble about GOE and PCS, I think the judges do a pretty good job, most of the time.