Most Controversial Figure Skating Moment (On and Off Ice)

[anonymoose_au]

But, the majority of the hate got directed to a 17 year old girl

For sure, I don't think these people have actually read the comments directed at Adelina. Nobody and I mean NOBODY deserves the hate she got. She's been called a cheater, a talentless hack.

And having watched her skates at Sochi the way people act is ridiculous. Adelina WAS good, the complainers act like she went out, fell on every jump, spin and piece of footwork and was magically handed gold. It's ridiculous and BS. Adelina was on fire during that competition, she had the best skates of her life and instead of being happy for her, so-called fans want to destroy her.

All because they can't accept that shock of all shocks Yuna Kim lost. EVERYONE'S favourites eventually lose, but Yuna fans seem to think it should never have happened to them for some bizarre reason. And they're more furious about it than Yuna ever was if you ask me.

 

[Mista Ekko]

Any individual who thinks they can Harass or threaten another,
Should be blocked, banned, or visited by the police,

Apart from that I only wish to focus on the judging controversy, which was very much real surrounding Sochi,
And the Ladies event in particular,

The recollections of these events by the previous poster are very different than mine

(And kinda over defensive I might add)

 

[yelyoh]

Of course protesting doesn't make you a "hater". However, bullying a teenage girl about judging she herself had no control over does.

I don't agree with the Sochi result and trying to reform bad judging/ favoritism is fine. But, the majority of the hate got directed to a 17 year old girl not toward the system that made it possible or to the judges who gave the marks.

It's a scandal because the judging was very hard to defend, true. But, the behavior of certain fans was also truly reprehensible. So, the scandal really has two parts.

Agreed but the "fans"in the audience at Sochi were rude and atypical of FSing fans in general.

 

[alexocfp]

A remark in favour of the "silent" readers , So you'll get the whole picture:

I see some posters here and there who are trying to downplay Sochi,
It was obviously a controversy because it's not everyday you get 2,000,000(!) people
to sign a figure skating related petition, It reached people from outside the sport
And that's just about judging, I'm not even opening the subject of systemic doping.

Everyone that follows skating knows there was something off with the judging
in (and maybe in some instances leading up to) that event, IMO people who think
everything was totally kosher are just happy with the result and don't wanna think about it.

Protesting what you find to be injustice or corruption doesn't make you a hater,
it is actually the right thing to do, Otherwise it keeps happening.

I'm sure there are threads from the past 8 years that specify all the details
for whoever's interested.

If 2 million people sign a petition to declare the world is flat, does that make the world flat?

It was a close contest. It could have gone either way. Not liking the result isn’t proof of corruption. It just means the judges saw it differently.

 

[alexocfp]

Off ice - The horrible treatment of Adelina Sotnikova by rabid fans (some of Yuna, some not), including death threats, disgusting comments and just general vitorol for having the audacity to not hand over her gold to Yuna and grovel at her feet in Sochi. These fans are the embodiment of everything wrong in sports and I hope they come to regret their terrible behaviour (some still show up on Adelina's posts to call her names over 7 years later)

On ice - Surya Bonaly doing her backflip at Nagano, landing on one foot and everything! It's my first figure skating memory and it was boss!

Sorta on ice and off - Plushy jumping over the top step at the Vancouver Medal Ceremony. I was like , my mother was like "Say what?!" and the commentors (Scott and Sandra?) were shocked.

Surya was definitely 25 years too early. Would have been awesome in this athletic era.

 

[[email protected]]

A remark in favour of the "silent" readers , So you'll get the whole picture:

I see some posters here and there who are trying to downplay Sochi,
It was obviously a controversy because it's not everyday you get 2,000,000(!) people
to sign a figure skating related petition, It reached people from outside the sport
And that's just about judging, I'm not even opening the subject of systemic doping.

So much drama! 2 million people! How many of them were from Korea? The population of Korea is more than 50 million. And she was (and, I guess, is) a national icon. So what?

That was a close call but there was nothing outrageous or controversial in Adelina's win.

 

[lesnar001]

Any individual who thinks they can Harass or threaten another,
Should be blocked, banned, or visited by the police,

Apart from that I only wish to focus on the judging controversy, which was very much real surrounding Sochi,
And the Ladies event in particular,

The recollections of these events by the previous poster are very different than mine

(And kinda over defensive I might add)

Agreed but the "fans"in the audience at Sochi were rude and atypical of FSing fans in general.

I disagreed with the results at the time, but this is a sport which has had many, many, many controversies over the years.

Besides, I don't care if it was the most controversial decision ever made in the history of the sport, the behavior of "fans" who harassed Adelina Sotnikova online was and is just plain disgusting.

I agree that the "fan" rudeness in Sochi was atypical of what you see at skating events, but sadly that type of over-the-top nationalism also showed itself just 2 years later in Rio - and in a much worse form.

But unfortunately I think the nastiness directed towards Adelina Sotnikova is NOT atypical of online figure skating fandom (only not usually in such an over-the-top vile manner). The relative anonymity of social media allows all kinds of cowards to "act tough".

And I don't want to speak for the poster you referenced being "defensive", but I'm guessing they might be upset because of the perception that some fans are dismissive of what Adelina Sotnikova went through because "she didn't deserve to win"!

 

[Mista Ekko]

I’m not sure why merely bringing up the topic of possible favoritism in judging during Sochi
Is met with such combatant defensiveness and immediate pivoting to the subject of cyber bullying,
Are you guys afraid to discuss it?

Yes, there was a controversy surrounding the judging, like it or not,
Yes, the opinions of people that think there was foul play are valid,
Some of whom are figures in the sport or surrounding it, From many different areas of the world
And there are many good arguments to back their claims up,

I see some disrespect in comments here, And if there was actual foul play,
Downplaying it like that contributes to the problem.

 

[alexocfp]

I’m not sure why merely bringing up the topic of possible favoritism in judging during Sochi
Is met with such combatant defensiveness and immediate pivoting to the subject of cyber bullying,
Are you guys afraid to discuss it?

Yes, there was a controversy surrounding the judging, like it or not,
Yes, the opinions of people that think there was foul play are valid,
Some of whom are figures in the sport or surrounding it, From many different areas of the world
And there are many good arguments to back their claims up,

I see some disrespect in comments here, And if there was actual foul play,
Downplaying it like that contributes to the problem.

I don’t think anyone is saying there shouldn’t be a discussion. One person hugging another might not be good optics, but it’s not evidence of a fix. Those claiming fixes and bias are just speculating. There has been no evidence of a fix.

After every event, someone is always “robbed” instead of just admitting one person was better, even if it was a by paper thin margin as this was.

There has been evidence of sore loserism though.

But the counter arguments are more persuasive to me:

“I spoke with Kwan, who's been working the figure skating beat with me for Fox Sports this month, and her response was eerily similar to Kim's. "Under the scoring system, hands down, Adelina won," the two-time Olympian said. "However, I personally enjoyed Yuna Kim's performance more. She had a combination of artistry and athleticism. But Adelina jam-packed her program with a triple-triple combination and a double axel triple toe that Yuna didn't have. When you compare them like that under the scoring system, Adelina wins."

 

[lesnar001]

I’m not sure why merely bringing up the topic of possible favoritism in judging during Sochi
Is met with such combatant defensiveness and immediate pivoting to the subject of cyber bullying,
Are you guys afraid to discuss it?

Yes, there was a controversy surrounding the judging, like it or not,
Yes, the opinions of people that think there was foul play are valid,
Some of whom are figures in the sport or surrounding it, From many different areas of the world
And there are many good arguments to back their claims up,

I see some disrespect in comments here, And if there was actual foul play,
Downplaying it like that contributes to the problem.

Well, I certainly don't downplay, dismiss, or disrespect your opinion about the judging.
I wouldn't be surprised at all if things were not on the level.
There has been "shadiness" and most likely outright collaboration a number of times over the years with the judging.

But the topic of this thread is "on and off the ice controversies".
And what happened to Adelina Sotnikova is the "off-ice" part of the controversy.

It is not some mere "pivoting" to the general topic of cyber-bullying.
In my opinion referring to it as such diminishes what actually happened to her.
This was a targeted campaign of hate and harassment against one person - and that's not even counting the death threats.
I wouldn't be surprised if almost 8 years later she still gets harassed from time to time.

 

[mrrice]

For sure, I don't think these people have actually read the comments directed at Adelina. Nobody and I mean NOBODY deserves the hate she got. She's been called a cheater, a whore, a talentless hack.

And having watched her skates at Sochi the way people act is ridiculous. Adelina WAS good, the complainers act like she went out, fell on every jump, spin and piece of footwork and was magically handed gold. It's ridiculous and BS. Adelina was on fire during that competition, she had the best skates of her life and instead of being happy for her, so-called fans want to destroy her.

All because they can't accept that shock of all shocks Yuna Kim lost. EVERYONE'S favourites eventually lose, but Yuna fans seem to think it should never have happened to them for some bizarre reason. And they're more furious about it than Yuna ever was if you ask me.

These people probably don't know much about skating. The Skaters and Coaches have absolutely no say in who wins. I remember Dick Button commenting at Worlds in 2002 where Michelle and Irina were going head to head. Michelle skated a great LP and Terry asked if he thought Michelle might win. Dick responded "Not With This Panel" and I knew he was serious. Look, like it or not, when you're in Russia, the panel will likely be made of European Judges and Russia is a leader in the skating world. I understood that people thought Yuna should have won but, Adelina had absolutely nothing to do with it.

 

[drivingmissdaisy]

These people probably don't know much about skating. The Skaters and Coaches have absolutely no say in who wins. I remember Dick Button commenting at Worlds in 2002 where Michelle and Irina were going head to head. Michelle skated a great LP and Terry asked if he thought Michelle might win. Dick responded "Not With This Panel" and I knew he was serious.

I remember that comment, and I didn't like it. While the composition of the panel does matter and can impact placements, the implication is that if an American won it was always fair-and-square (even when the panel favored Western skaters).

 

[Mista Ekko]

It is not some mere "pivoting" to the general topic of cyber-bullying.
In my opinion referring to it as such diminishes what actually happened to her.
This was a targeted campaign of hate and harassment against one person - and that's not even counting the death threats.
I wouldn't be surprised if almost 8 years later she still gets harassed from time to time.

There’s no need to diminish cyber bullying, It’s a bad thing that should be talked about and resolved,

Another issue that hurts a lot of people and careers is lack of cleanliness in sports,
And there’s no reason to pivot away from that subject when it’s brought up,
Or to belittle such opinions and attempt to falsify them,
Especially considering the history of this sport, Basic logic,
The players in the field and the ability to watch events unfold in video and protocol

Both subjects are important and can be discussed separately,
I personally was discussing Clean sports, and still am, Wanna keep discussing possible judging issues in our sport with me?
Great, then when you tag my posts and reply try to make it about that, mostly.

Love u all

 

[Weathergal]

While it's understandable to bring up Adelina /Yuna in this thread, please don't hijack the thread. If you wish to discuss it in more detail, you can certainly start a thread for it. That way, the a OP's intent to discuss a variety of on- and off-ice controversies can still be respected. Thanks!

 

[text_skate]

Reading this thread reminds me, how controversial some decisions were.

For me the biggest thing was the 2002 scandal. Particularly that someone admitted to corruption.
I remember discussions about the OGM in Ice Dance, wheather the Pairs scandal had an impact on the outcome or not. I'm just glad, that we have now a more transparent judging system (it's not perfect, I know, ::sigh:

Kati Witt's costums . I remember vividly the discussions, most men had a different opinion then than my female friends

 

[MiraiFan]

I don’t think anyone is saying there shouldn’t be a discussion. One person hugging another might not be good optics, but it’s not evidence of a fix. Those claiming fixes and bias are just speculating. There has been no evidence of a fix.

After every event, someone is always “robbed” instead of just admitting one person was better, even if it was a by paper thin margin as this was.

There has been evidence of sore loserism though.

But the counter arguments are more persuasive to me:

“I spoke with Kwan, who's been working the figure skating beat with me for Fox Sports this month, and her response was eerily similar to Kim's. "Under the scoring system, hands down, Adelina won," the two-time Olympian said. "However, I personally enjoyed Yuna Kim's performance more. She had a combination of artistry and athleticism. But Adelina jam-packed her program with a triple-triple combination and a double axel triple toe that Yuna didn't have. When you compare them like that under the scoring system, Adelina wins."

Kostner was the winner that day in my eyes, sorry.

 

[arewhyaen]

While many of the investigations are still pending and we have yet to see the full-blown picture of the abuses against minors in the sport, many of the SafeSport allegations in the last couple years absolutely shocked me in reading them and will hopefully lead to meaningful change in the way we treat skaters and whistleblowers.

 

[alexocfp]

Kati Witt's costums . I remember vividly the discussions, most men had a different opinion then than my female friends

Haha. Correct
I think Alberto Tomba was OK with it as well.

Teenage me wasn’t complaining either. Haha

 

[alexocfp]

Kostner was the winner that day in my eyes, sorry.

And that’s fine. Fans have their favorites.

That’s why we have judges. Haha

 

[Skatingcat]

Why did Lipnitskaya skip an award ceremony?

I would agree that the controversy of the skating in 2002 (leading us to what I feel is a terrible scoring system now), and the Tonya/Nancy debacle.

Sochi is still too hot a topic for me to talk about on these boards. I'm afraid I might get old school flamed.