I don't have a good understanding of how figure skating scoring worked before the 1980-81 changes. I was skating and watching in the 70s but not paying close attention to the scoring back then, and after I started getting more interested in the 1990s I never really came across a good explanation of how things worked before the change to factored placements.
From what I gathered, I think that ordinals were used but the way they were used was somewhat different from 1981 onwards. And the way that placements for each separate phase of the competition factored in was different, and the tiebreakers were different.
Also there seem to have been some changes to the details during the 1970s, 1960s, and earlier, so what was true in 1980 might not have been true in earlier parts of the 6.0 era.
I could be completely mistaken, but if I understand correctly, I think it went something like this:
Judges scored each figure separate, short program separately once that was introduced, and then free skate separately. They gave scores out of 6.0 for each phase (one score per individual figure; two scores for the free skating).
Ordinals were the rankings that each individual judge gave to all the skaters in the event.
The
majority ordinal system was used to combine the separate rankings of each member of the judging panel to come up with the results for that competition phase.
The actual scores were factored depending on the factor for phase.
The majority ordinals were the primary determinant of the results for each phase. However, if there were ties within a competition phase, the total (factored) point values for that phase were used as tiebreakers.
The
whole panel's ranked
results for each phase were known as
placements -- not ordinals, which refer to the rankings by each individual judge.
Where I'm a little confused is how the results for multiple phases were combined into interim results (after the last figure and after the SP, and then for the competition as a whole after the freeskating).
It may have changed at various times during the pre-1980s era(s).
But there were definitely ordinals involved.
See, e.g.,
https://olympics.fandom.com/wiki/Figure_Skating_1972/Ladies'_singles
The competition exists out of two separate rounds. All athletes compete in the first round, in which they perform compulsory routines. The second round allows the competitors to perform a free routine of around 4:00 minutes. The scores are based on the individual rankings of the judges. In each round, athletes are ranked based on these ordinal points. The athlete with the fewest classification places after two rounds wins the competition.
The ladies' singles of Figure Skating 1980 during the 1980 Winter Olympics was held on 20-23 February 1980 in the Lake Placid Olympic Ice Center. With 22 athletes competing, the event was won by Anett Potzsch from East Germany, with Linda Fratianne from United States taking the silver medal and...
olympics.fandom.com
The competition exists out of three separate rounds. All athletes compete in the first round, in which they perform a compulsory routine. The second round allows the competitors to perform a routine of a maximum of 2:00 minutes, after which all athletes perform another routine of around 4:00 minutes. The scores are based on the individual rankings of the judges, with each position earning one point. In each round, athletes are ranked based on these ordinal points. The athlete with the fewest classification places after three rounds wins the competition.
What they're calling "classification places" are what was later (post-1980s) referred to as "factored placements."
I think what may have happened, at least during some of that time, was that judges awarded ordinals for the whole competition by adding up scores for each skater in all competition phases. And then those ordinals for the whole competition were used to calculate the overall results according to the majority system. With the total factored points available as tiebreakers if the various majority system tiebreakers couldn't break the tie. The total points (the 6.0 points times relevant factors for each phase and then added up) were often reported and depending on the calculations system at the time, which I'm unclear about, may or may not have been used in calculating the final results. To the best of my understanding, at least in the 1970s-80, the actual scores were only used as tiebreakers when all other majority system tiebreakers had failed to break ties.
Another point to remember is that, in figure skating usage, the word
ordinals always refers to the rankings given by individual judges -- the input that was fed into the majority calculations, not the output. Results for each competition phase (output after running all the majority system calculations) were "(factored) placements," or, evidently, "classification places," or maybe other terminology at other moments in skating history.
The change for 1981 was that the
placements for each phase were factored (i.e., the factored placements system)
)
Dorothy Hamill also used this element as a program embellishment back in the day.
)
