Men's PCS pre 4CC 2017

[Globetrotter]

I think it is misleading because Javier clearly doesn't have the best skating of the bunch...and personally other skaters to have more mature and refined programs. Anyways, if Javi and Yuzu skated side by side and neither made mistakes, Yuzu and Chan should (and probably would) get much higher PCS.

Agree. Javi will likely get higher PE component while Yuzu and Chan will deservedly get better SS. Skating clean impacts positively on the PE / IN and CH more than SS and both Chan and Hanyu are very good performers too who happen to have better SS even on a bad day. On a good day, their stronger SS should give them the edge over Javi's relatively mediocre blade work.

 

[Globetrotter]

To quote myself from 2 years ago... Javier is the new Kostner... or more precisely, today Medvedeva. If he skate clean... his PCS will be sky high, the rest don't matter, especially if half of the judging panels are European. With this WC year in Helsinki, he will be very competitive, more than outside Europe. ISU wanted to bring the gold back to Europe, and they have chosen.

Hmm I prefer to think of him as the new Wagner or Medvedeva but not Kostner. At least Kostner has excellent and arguably the best basic SS among her peers. She gets good TR scores from the quality of her movements and upper body usage in between elements rather than pack many basic moves aka Tutberidze's skaters. I wouldn't put Javi's SS on CaroK's level. His female equivalent is Wagner who has equally mediocre SS but strong performance and audience connection and never gives up on the performance despite mistakes somewhat like Medvedeva. His PCS is high from the more performance and interpretation aspect, not SS or TR like a Kostner.

 

[OS]

Hmm I prefer to think of him as the new Wagner or Medvedeva but not Kostner. At least Kostner has excellent and arguably the best basic SS among her peers. She gets good TR scores from the quality of her movements and upper body usage in between elements rather than pack many basic moves aka Tutberidze's skaters. I wouldn't put Javi's SS on CaroK's level. His female equivalent is Wagner who has equally mediocre SS but strong performance and audience connection and never gives up on the performance despite mistakes somewhat like Medvedeva. His PCS is high from the more performance and interpretation aspect, not SS or TR like a Kostner.

I don't mean in skill in performance but in perception as figure heads that heads up European skating, i/e European #1. They are great skaters, but often are not as great as what they are able to show on the day, but their marks hold them up (even more) regardless and can save them when the marks are tight.

 

[Violet Bliss]

I've said that Euros is like Javi's Nationals. By extension, European judges at international events are much like his compatriots, with Javi being their favorite and the only contender for a medal which might as well be gold as long as he doesn't truly falter.

 

[narcissa]

Agree. Javi will likely get higher PE component while Yuzu and Chan will deservedly get better SS. Skating clean impacts positively on the PE / IN and CH more than SS and both Chan and Hanyu are very good performers too who happen to have better SS even on a bad day. On a good day, their stronger SS should give them the edge over Javi's relatively mediocre blade work.

You think if they are all clean that Javi will have higher PE?

 

[tureis]

I think if all three go clean, Patrick will get highest scores in SS and TR, Yuzu in PE, and Javi in IN, and possibly CO.

 

[Ares]

To quote myself from 2 years ago... Javier is the new Kostner... or more precisely, today Medvedeva. If he skate clean... his PCS will be sky high, the rest don't matter, especially if half of the judging panels are European. With this WC year in Helsinki, he will be very competitive, more than outside Europe. ISU wanted to bring the gold back to Europe, and they have chosen.

Javi being the only serious contender from Europe is in more favourable position than skaters from other continents. I know that this topic was supposed to be about 4CC though, but I still find strange that he's somewhat under the radar despite being two-time in a row World Champion. I actually see him as a favourite in Helsinki, he really is a tough competitor. After heavy fall in Ostrava he regrouped himself wonderfully and judges love him. People just seem often preoccupied with Yuzuru that gets 90% of attention.

 

[Mathman]

You think if they are all clean that Javi will have higher PE?

I think it is possible. Javi always puts on an entertaining show, even if he misses a jump or two. If Hanyu, Chan, and Fernandez are all clean, I think that they will all get P/E scores so high that there will not be much room to elevate one above the others.

 

[jFarrisFAN]

I personally don't understand the difference of PCS between Javi and Patrick.... I'm getting bored of javi's style as he skates the same sort of happy, peppy program every year and it's really starting to bore me. Patricks skating is so smooth and beautiful and he definitely has the best skating skills and edge quality as well as interpretation. (just my point of view) I also don't think yuzurus pcs should be that close to patricks, I believe sometimes he just gets extremely sloppy which happens even more when he makes mistakes. Don't get me wrong, he's an amazing skater and a wonder for this sport but I feel he often lets go of some of the little details where as Patrick is almost always executing every detail in the choreography perfectly. I remember when it wasn't just reputation and the amount of quads landed in the program that determined most PCS scores :noshake:

 

[Mrs. P]

Hey jFarrisFAN, welcome to Golden Skate! Post often, post long (and by your UN, you'll have lots to post about. )

 

[jFarrisFAN]

Hey jFarrisFAN, welcome to Golden Skate! Post often, post long (and by your UN, you'll have lots to post about. )

Thanks so much!! SO EXCITED!!:hap85:

 

[eppen]

I got curious about the suggested European bias for Javi and took a look at the PCS by analysing how judges from different countries have treated their own and the rivals. I took the results of the Grand Prix series because there the judges in each competition are from different continents. I looked at the results for Chan, Chen, Fernández, Hanyu and Uno: each had three competitions and all were in the GP final. The material is small, only 30 scores altogether (but nothing like this could have been be done before), but contain all the PCS discussed in this thread. (Of course, all the results from the GP series should be anlysed to get an idea how each judge scores in general – low, high, medium. And they should maybe be reviewed in comparison with TES/overall result, but did not have time to do these.)

I calculated the individual scores for each judge for both parts of the competition and compared it to the trimmed average (i.e. the official result) – sort of familiar from what e.g. Skating Protcol does. If the judge’s score was over the average, the score was regarded positive and vice versa. Then I counted together plusses and minuses to get an overall positive/negative/divided/cannot decide result for each country.

The composition of the panels first. The skaters were judged by judges from 14-15 different countries. Each skater had a similar set of countries represented in the panels: 4-5 from Asia, 1-2 from the Americas, 5-8 from different parts of Europe and then ISR (which is kind of Europe in many occasions…), AUS and NZL. The judges were usually different persons for each competition.
Chan: JPN, CHN, CAN, USA, ISR, RUS 3 times; CZE twice; KOR, UZB, NZL, POL, ESP, FRA, ITA once; 14 countries (Asia 4, Americas 2, Russia/E Europe 2, W Europe 3; ISR, NZL)
Chen: JPN, USA, RUS 3 times; CAN, ISR, ESP, FRA, ITA twice, CHN, KAZ, KOR, UZB, LAT, SVK, AUT, BEL once; 15 countries (Asia 5, Americas 2, Rus/E Europe 3, W Europe 5; ISR)
Fernández: JPN, USA, RUS, ESP, FRA 3 times; CAN, ISR twice; CHN, KAZ, KOR, UZB, LAT, BEL, ITA, SWE once; 15 countries (Asia 5, Americas 2, Rus/E Europe 2, W Europe 5; ISR)
Hanyu: JPN, CAN, USA, ISR, RUS 3 times; CHN, ITA twice; KOR, UZB, CZE, LAT, SVK, AUT, FRA, ESP once; 15 countries (Asia 4; Americas 2; Rus/E Europe 4; W Europe 4; ISR)
Uno: JPN, CAN, USA, ISR, RUS 3 times; CHN, ESP, FRA twice; KAZ, KOR, AUS, LAT, ITA, SWE once; 14 countries (Asia 4, Americas 2, Rus/E Europe 2; W Europe 4; ISR, AUS)

And how did the skaters get scored? “Positive only” means that the skater received only or mostly positive (above average) scores in each competition; negative is the opposite = below average all the time. Divided means that there were both negative and positive scores. "Cannot decide" means that the country gave equal number of positive and negative judgements.
Chan
Positive only 7: CAN, JPN, CHN, KOR, UZB, ISR, RUS, ITA (highest scores from CAN, CHN, JPN, UZB, RUS)
Negative only 3: CZE, ESP, FRA (lowest scores from CHN, CAN, USA, RUS, CZE, POL)
Divided 3: USA, NZL, POL
Chen
Positive only 3: JPN, LAT, SVK (highest scores from JPN, CHN, KOR, CAN, USA, SVK, AUT, FRA)
Negative only 3: ISR, RUS, BEL (lowest scores from CHN, BEL, FRA, ESP, ITA)
Divided 9: USA, CAN, CHN, KAZ, KOR, UZB, AUT, ESP, FRA
Fernández
Positive only 6: ESP, CHN, KOR, UZB, LAT, RUS (highest scores from ESP, KOR, UZB, USA, ISR, LAT, FRA)
Negative only 3: CAN, BEL, SWE (lowest scores from ESP, JPN, USA, FRA)
Divided 6: JPN, KAZ, USA, ISR, FRA, ITA
Hanyu
Positive only 6: JPN, UZB, ISR, LAT, SVK, AUT (highest scores from JPN, UZB, CAN, RUS, LAT)
Negative only 3: USA, RUS, ESP (lowest scores from CHN, CAN, ISR, ESP, ITA)
Divided 5: KOR, CAN, CZE, FRA, ITA
Cannot decide CHN
Uno
Positive only 5: JPN, KAZ, ISR, LAT, FRA (Highest scores from KAZ, ISR, LAT, FRA)
Negative only 3: CAN, AUS, SWE (lowest scores from KOR, USA, CAN, AUS, ISR, ESP)
Divided 4: KOR, USA, RUS, ITA
Cannot decide CHN, ESP

General observations:
1) All in all, there are relatively few differences in the composition of countries for each skater. Asia and Europe were both particularly strongly present. Maybe a few more Western European countries than Eastern. The ever present ISR was slightly surprising.
2) Apart from Chen, each skater got 5-7 positive results and 3 negative ones. Chen divided the judges most.
3) Most skaters got positive results from 3-4 European countries (ISR among them) and 2-4 Asian countries. Negative or mixed scores come usually from a combination of North American and European judges.
4) The top players were strongly supported by their own judges by scoring their own positively and the rival negatively (or mixed). Hanyu could do no wrong in front of the Japanese judges (twice the highest score; Uno got one negative score from his own). Fernández and Chan could falter in the eyes of their own judges, but the overall support is clearly there (both got once highest, once lowest score from their own). Their own judges did not generally give positive scores to the main rivals. Chen was the only one to not receive unanimous support from his own judges. This support is not visible as huge over- or underscoring, but rather the scores for own/rival skaters are neatly within the positive/negative range apart from a couple of highest/lowest scores.

If the ISU has indeed sent a memo or a message through the grapevine to the European federations to support the lone European, based on the PCS scores from last fall it seems that only a few countries received the message or chose to act accordingly. Only the Russian judges scored Javi unanimously positively. Judges from the Western European countries did not score him particularly highly. The European judges also failed to award low scores to his biggest rivals consistently.

Javi’s high PCS scores come from a combination of Asian and European judges and this applies also to the scores for Hanyu and Uno (including always the judges from their own countries). The Canadian judges liked really only Chan. The US judges failed to support their own, but managed also to dislike everyone else in the process. The national bias seems to apply only to the judges from the skaters own country and the main rivals. All the other judges seem to have had no apparent obligations to support any skater.

I would venture to say that at least in these three competitions the skaters seem to have been scored mostly based on some other principle than geographical/political affiliation...

E

 

[Ares]

I got curious about the suggested European bias for Javi and took a look at the PCS by analysing how judges from different countries have treated their own and the rivals. I took the results of the Grand Prix series because there the judges in each competition are from different continents. I looked at the results for Chan, Chen, Fernández, Hanyu and Uno: each had three competitions and all were in the GP final. The material is small, only 30 scores altogether (but nothing like this could have been be done before), but contain all the PCS discussed in this thread. (Of course, all the results from the GP series should be anlysed to get an idea how each judge scores in general – low, high, medium. And they should maybe be reviewed in comparison with TES/overall result, but did not have time to do these.)

I calculated the individual scores for each judge for both parts of the competition and compared it to the trimmed average (i.e. the official result) – sort of familiar from what e.g. Skating Protcol does. If the judge’s score was over the average, the score was regarded positive and vice versa. Then I counted together plusses and minuses to get an overall positive/negative/divided/cannot decide result for each country.

The composition of the panels first. The skaters were judged by judges from 14-15 different countries. Each skater had a similar set of countries represented in the panels: 4-5 from Asia, 1-2 from the Americas, 5-8 from different parts of Europe and then ISR (which is kind of Europe in many occasions…), AUS and NZL. The judges were usually different persons for each competition.
Chan: JPN, CHN, CAN, USA, ISR, RUS 3 times; CZE twice; KOR, UZB, NZL, POL, ESP, FRA, ITA once; 14 countries (Asia 4, Americas 2, Russia/E Europe 2, W Europe 3; ISR, NZL)
Chen: JPN, USA, RUS 3 times; CAN, ISR, ESP, FRA, ITA twice, CHN, KAZ, KOR, UZB, LAT, SVK, AUT, BEL once; 15 countries (Asia 5, Americas 2, Rus/E Europe 3, W Europe 5; ISR)
Fernández: JPN, USA, RUS, ESP, FRA 3 times; CAN, ISR twice; CHN, KAZ, KOR, UZB, LAT, BEL, ITA, SWE once; 15 countries (Asia 5, Americas 2, Rus/E Europe 2, W Europe 5; ISR)
Hanyu: JPN, CAN, USA, ISR, RUS 3 times; CHN, ITA twice; KOR, UZB, CZE, LAT, SVK, AUT, FRA, ESP once; 15 countries (Asia 4; Americas 2; Rus/E Europe 4; W Europe 4; ISR)
Uno: JPN, CAN, USA, ISR, RUS 3 times; CHN, ESP, FRA twice; KAZ, KOR, AUS, LAT, ITA, SWE once; 14 countries (Asia 4, Americas 2, Rus/E Europe 2; W Europe 4; ISR, AUS)

And how did the skaters get scored? “Positive only” means that the skater received only or mostly positive (above average) scores in each competition; negative is the opposite = below average all the time. Divided means that there were both negative and positive scores. "Cannot decide" means that the country gave equal number of positive and negative judgements.
Chan
Positive only 7: CAN, JPN, CHN, KOR, UZB, ISR, RUS, ITA (highest scores from CAN, CHN, JPN, UZB, RUS)
Negative only 3: CZE, ESP, FRA (lowest scores from CHN, CAN, USA, RUS, CZE, POL)
Divided 3: USA, NZL, POL
Chen
Positive only 3: JPN, LAT, SVK (highest scores from JPN, CHN, KOR, CAN, USA, SVK, AUT, FRA)
Negative only 3: ISR, RUS, BEL (lowest scores from CHN, BEL, FRA, ESP, ITA)
Divided 9: USA, CAN, CHN, KAZ, KOR, UZB, AUT, ESP, FRA
Fernández
Positive only 6: ESP, CHN, KOR, UZB, LAT, RUS (highest scores from ESP, KOR, UZB, USA, ISR, LAT, FRA)
Negative only 3: CAN, BEL, SWE (lowest scores from ESP, JPN, USA, FRA)
Divided 6: JPN, KAZ, USA, ISR, FRA, ITA
Hanyu
Positive only 6: JPN, UZB, ISR, LAT, SVK, AUT (highest scores from JPN, UZB, CAN, RUS, LAT)
Negative only 3: USA, RUS, ESP (lowest scores from CHN, CAN, ISR, ESP, ITA)
Divided 5: KOR, CAN, CZE, FRA, ITA
Cannot decide CHN
Uno
Positive only 5: JPN, KAZ, ISR, LAT, FRA (Highest scores from KAZ, ISR, LAT, FRA)
Negative only 3: CAN, AUS, SWE (lowest scores from KOR, USA, CAN, AUS, ISR, ESP)
Divided 4: KOR, USA, RUS, ITA
Cannot decide CHN, ESP

General observations:
1) All in all, there are relatively few differences in the composition of countries for each skater. Asia and Europe were both particularly strongly present. Maybe a few more Western European countries than Eastern. The ever present ISR was slightly surprising.
2) Apart from Chen, each skater got 5-7 positive results and 3 negative ones. Chen divided the judges most.
3) Most skaters got positive results from 3-4 European countries (ISR among them) and 2-4 Asian countries. Negative or mixed scores come usually from a combination of North American and European judges.
4) The top players were strongly supported by their own judges by scoring their own positively and the rival negatively (or mixed). Hanyu could do no wrong in front of the Japanese judges (twice the highest score; Uno got one negative score from his own). Fernández and Chan could falter in the eyes of their own judges, but the overall support is clearly there (both got once highest, once lowest score from their own). Their own judges did not generally give positive scores to the main rivals. Chen was the only one to not receive unanimous support from his own judges. This support is not visible as huge over- or underscoring, but rather the scores for own/rival skaters are neatly within the positive/negative range apart from a couple of highest/lowest scores.

If the ISU has indeed sent a memo or a message through the grapevine to the European federations to support the lone European, based on the PCS scores from last fall it seems that only a few countries received the message or chose to act accordingly. Only the Russian judges scored Javi unanimously positively. Judges from the Western European countries did not score him particularly highly. The European judges also failed to award low scores to his biggest rivals consistently.

Javi’s high PCS scores come from a combination of Asian and European judges and this applies also to the scores for Hanyu and Uno (including always the judges from their own countries). The Canadian judges liked really only Chan. The US judges failed to support their own, but managed also to dislike everyone else in the process. The national bias seems to apply only to the judges from the skaters own country and the main rivals. All the other judges seem to have had no apparent obligations to support any skater.

I would venture to say that at least in these three competitions the skaters seem to have been scored mostly based on some other principle than geographical/political affiliation...

E

So you have receipts for infamous Skate Chanada inflation! That having said the most overscored skater is Fernandez, Patric generally is scored fairly. I am not surprised by national preference either as I take closer look at protocols too and with unanimous judging it's clear.

 

[tureis]

...

Be careful about trying to disprove a claim by looking into facts and statistics. That's dangerous business during these times...

It seems easy to find reasons to discount Javi: he doesn't have mindblowing competitions leading up to Worlds, he doesn't have the best skating skills, he no longer has the most difficult jump content, his programs are built as entertainment pieces, we've seen Javi being Javi all before, the judges love him because he's the only thing Europe has to offer. And so on...

But come on people, let's give credit where credit is due! He doesn't get these scores and achieve these results for nothing. He is still one of the greatest skaters out there, his programs are still very difficult, even on a rough day he can charm the pants off of any audience, and yes, Javi is an extremely tough competitor who now has a history of bringing his A game when it matters most.

Let's get it out on the table: inflation was a problem only when Patrick was winning. There are complaints about Hanyuflation only when Yuzu wins. Javi also obviously must be the most overscored skater now that he is the two-time defending world champion. God forbid Javi to win again in Helsinki!

Patrick, Yuzu and Javi are by far the biggest stars of this sport right now. They all have different styles and strengths but are the three most well-rounded skaters out there. I for one am grateful to live in an age when I can see these three wonderful guys compete.

 

[xeyra]

Patrick, Yuzu and Javi are by far the biggest stars of this sport right now. They all have different styles and strengths but are the three most well-rounded skaters out there. I for one am grateful to live in an age when I can see these three wonderful guys compete.

:thumbsup:

 

[Violet Bliss]

Eepan, I am not insisting on any bias for or against Fernandez and it would be good to see factual data to back up or refute any claim and impressions. It's admirable how much work you did in your analysis. However, I find the samples are small and not relevant in deciding on any possible bias for Fernandez in his most important tittles, those of Worlds and Euros. GP medals are minor and not won against the best.

At the Euros, it's about inflation in the absence of his major rivals, those whose data you include in your analysis. There is no question Fernandez is one of the best Men these last few years so good marks are deserved and to be expected generally. At Worlds, and in GPF, any bias would not be a simple matter of positive or negative GOE but more subtle at the grades themselves. After all, there are 3 positive and 3 negative grades for each element. And the neutral 0 can be substantially higher than a negative GEO.

However, you were analyzing PCS. And I don't understand what you mean by positive and negative PCS. Can you please explain "average" that you use to base positive and negative PCS on?

 

[SnowWhite]

Eepan, I am not insisting on any bias for or against Fernandez and it would be good to see factual data to back up or refute any claim and impressions. It's admirable how much work you did in your analysis. However, I find the samples are small and not relevant in deciding on any possible bias for Fernandez in his most important tittles, those of Worlds and Euros. GP medals are minor and not won against the best.

At the Euros, it's about inflation in the absence of his major rivals, those whose data you include in your analysis. There is no question Fernandez is one of the best Men these last few years so good marks are deserved and to be expected generally. At Worlds, and in GPF, any bias would not be a simple matter of positive or negative GOE but more subtle at the grades themselves. After all, there are 3 positive and 3 negative grades for each element. And the neutral 0 can be substantially higher than a negative GEO.

However, you were analyzing PCS. And I don't understand what you mean by positive and negative PCS. Can you please explain "average" that you use to base positive and negative PCS on?

If I understood correctly, it was about whether the score of an individual judge was above or below the average score for the skater(the one awarded).
Above would be +ve and below would be -ve

 

[eppen]

Ahhh, these times of alternative facts... I just wanted to see what effect the European judges could have for in the results initially, and as I am a researcher by training and by profession, I try to rely on research and verifiable facts.

Violet Bliss: The data is there on the result pages on the ISU webpage: the countries of the judges and the scores they gave. I explained the process, so anyone can repeat the experiment. The European bias or a wish to lift Javi because he is the only top European male has been around for a little while now, so no single person is blamed for that claim! Because this thread is about PCS, I limited the research to that - GOE is a whole different thing after all.

The PCS reported as the official result is the average after top and bottom score have been left out. Consequently, some of the judges individual total scores are always above (= positive) or below (= negative) the average - that is how an average works. E.g. Yuzu's GPF SP PCS was 47,35, but when you add the scores given by the Japanese judge, the total is 48,75 and the Spanish judge gave him 46,00. The other judges' scores are between these two. 3 scores were above 47,35 and 6 below. Usually the range is within a couple of points around the average.

The sample has to remain small, because we cannot do the same with the previous results as we all know. Some idea can be gotten done by checking out the judges in the previous competitions. Usually it is possible to find out the country of the judge by searching with their names even if the country is not mentioned. But it is not possible to combine the name with the scores before last fall.

The thing with this whole bias/inflation claim for any skater is that because of the way the PCS are calculated, you need a majority of the judges behind you to get the score. And that means that at least 5 or 6 judges out of 9 will be needed. Not even you own judge giving a very high score or your rival's judge giving a very low score can really influence the final result that much, the trimming of highest/lowest and averaging means that the result does not depend on one judge. (In a way it is better to give a more conservative values, because they will get counted in the average and might increase/decrease the average a just a tiny bit.)

So, if any skater gets high/low PCS scores, it means that 5-6 different judges from different countries, with different preferences, opinions, agendas etc. actually agree on the general level. If it happens repeatedly, the number of individuals agreeing increases with every time.

Add: Because I'm curious, I looked at the Worlds judging panels 2011-2016. Did a bit of detective work to find out where the judges came from. Patrick Chan got to be World Champion 3 times without a CAN judge to help him - the panels consisted of 5-8 European countries (incl ISR and TUR), with USA, JPN, KOR and Chinese Taipei taking the remaining places. Hanyu got his championship in 2014 with a panel consisting of 6 European, CAN and CHN judge. Fernández likewise: 6 European judges (incl ISR, no ESP), CHN and KAZ in 2015, CAN and USA in 2016. So I guess, we could blame European judges for the inflated PCS scores for each skater?!

E

 

[TGee]

Without making any inferences about bias or 'inflation', I have wondered how much national and regional ideas about what are good skating skills, interpretation or performance impact PCS. And I think the same thing comes into play on TES.

The thing is that the ISU regs and SoV are a global consensus about what is excellent or poor. Coming together to define a consensus scoring system doesn't erase those differences. So it makes sense that the judging panels are multinational.

The question is whether they are sufficiently multiregional to avoid the situation wherein 5 or so judges come from a single regional perspective. This was one of the critiques of some of the panels at Sochi. And it can happen when several small European countries are on a panel.

North America definitely has a different perspective on many PCS and technical points, but Canada and the US are just two countries and have relatively small weight on the board. [Recognize that Mexico is in NA, but not ready to say that it shares perspectives of Canada and the US]. Likewise, not sure that Japan and China's importance in the Asian perspective is adequately captured in the typical panel.

I suspect that for the GPs Canada, US, China and Japan select judges from other countries that they believe share their view on key judging issues, but still wonder about how representative judging panels are of the global consensus on average.

 

[gkelly]

Without making any inferences about bias or 'inflation', I have wondered how much national and regional ideas about what are good skating skills, interpretation or performance impact PCS. And I think the same thing comes into play on TES.

The thing is that the ISU regs and SoV are a global consensus about what is excellent or poor. Coming together to define a consensus scoring system doesn't erase those differences. So it makes sense that the judging panels are multinational.

The question is whether they are sufficiently multiregional to avoid the situation wherein 5 or so judges come from a single regional perspective.

All very true. Much of the patterns of differences we see are cultural "bias" built into different judges' understanding of what constitutes good skating, or good performance quality or interpretation, which they will reward from whoever demonstrates it -- not so much intentional manipulations of results. (That probably happens too, but much less often.)

I suspect that for the GPs Canada, US, China and Japan select judges from other countries that they believe share their view on key judging issues, but still wonder about how representative judging panels are of the global consensus on average.

How does the judge selection for GPs work? Can host federations invite whatever ISU-level judges they want? Or can they invite judges from any of the federations whose skaters will be competing at the event -- so there might be some strategy in deciding to invite, e.g., an Australian vs. a Swedish skater to compete?