2026 Olympics: Free Dance

[Demandred]

If you look more closely, it really doesn't seem that the French judge was that much of an outlier. For example, the Czech judge gave FB/C a higher score than the French judge did. The Spanish judge gave them only 0.4 less than the French. And the Spanish judge actually ranked C/B third (the French had them second). True, the French Judge gave a much lower score to Chock/Bates than to FB/C (by over 7.5 points). But almost all judges had their national biases.

The American judge also ranked C/B first by over 4 points, the biggest gap in their favour between the two teams out of all judges. They gave Chock/Bates 137.67 while they also gave Piper/Paul 128.89. I and plenty of other people, including one of the other judges, thought Piper/Paul were better on the night, and most other judges had placed a much smaller margin between the two teams. Where is the petition to investigate this?

There was plenty of examples of national bias thoughout the protocol.

The Italian judge ranked the Italians above Piper and Paul.

The Spanish judge gave the top Spanish team (Smart/Dieck) 129.1 while they gave Zingas/Kolesnik (who finished above them in the FD) only 119.59.

The Czech judge gave the Mrazeks a way higher grade than the average. Etc., etc.

And the way the system works, all of the marks the French judge gave C/B were actually removed as the lowest or (in most cases) equally lowest ones, so that's not why they lost the first place.

 

[Andrina]

What happened yesterday is entirely the fault of judges.

Perfidious judges who since three years have been methodically convincing Chock and Bates that they are new Tessa and Scott and deserve three Olympic golds. But the truth is : they aren't.

I was stunned by comments from Madison and Evan saying they did everything, were flawless, gave their best, and the rest was out of their hands. Evan, dear, I believe that you delivered your best. But who told you that your best is worth Olympic gold?

Your FD had everything - gimmicks, makeup, a skirt, scary eyesights - but a dance and skating. On the other hand, Laurence and Guillaume had nothing - no makeup, no fancy costumes, no red skirts to divert attention. Except a dance. Where every body movement is a mix of art and athletisme on its own.

 

[freedomlover]

I hear that a petition has been started to overturn the result?

 

[Andrina]

I hear that a petition has been started to overturn the result?

Yes. And many skaters (even the French ones who used to profit from Cizeron's choreographic genius) supprted C/B.

Who could have thought that jealousy can be such a unifying force.

 

[4everchan]

Wasn't there a petition to overturn the results of Sochi 2014 when Yuna Kim wuzrobbed ?

 

[Andrina]

Wasn't there a petition to overturn the results of Sochi 2014 when Yuna Kim wuzrobbed ?

Wasn't there one to investigate Finlandia Trophy 2 months ago?

 

[icetug]

I hear that a petition has been started to overturn the result?

If I understand correctly the information on the Skatingscores website regarding national bias among judges, the Australian, German, and British judges showed the greatest bias (meaning their scores were higher than average) in the RD, while the Spanish, Italian, and Canadian judges showed the greatest bias in the FD. Furthermore, the Italian and American judges scored their skaters' opponents significantly lower than the others. Recalculating the scores will be a lot of fun

 

[DancingCactus]

C/B being horribly overscored the last three years doesn't cancel out egregious judging in favour of their rivals at this event.

The real scandal is how Piper and Paul and to a degree the Italians have been treated for years IMHO. I don't really feel a lot of pity for C/B even though I think the judging was terrible.

 

[MargueriteGaultier]

My understanding that if one judge is blatantly out of range, the result is struck out. I always keep asking they blacked out the scores that was not counted in protocols. I don't get it why they don't do it.

What I don't get is how this impacts the overall score if the highest and lowest scores for any element are removed from the final one. Aren't the highest and lowest scores for PCS also removed? From that perspective, don't there have to be two wild anomalies for the final result to be affected?

 

[MargueriteGaultier]

If you look more closely, it really doesn't seem that the French judge was that much of an outlier. For example, the Czech judge gave FB/C a higher score than the French judge did. The Spanish judge gave them only 0.4 less than the French. And the Spanish judge actually ranked C/B third (the French had them second). True, the French Judge gave a much lower score to Chock/Bates than to FB/C (by over 7.5 points). But almost all judges had their national biases.

The American judge also ranked C/B first by over 4 points, the biggest gap in their favour between the two teams out of all judges. They gave Chock/Bates 137.67 while they also gave Piper/Paul 128.89. I and plenty of other people, including one of the other judges, thought Piper/Paul were better on the night, and most other judges had placed a much smaller margin between the two teams. Where is the petition to investigate this?

There was plenty of examples of national bias thoughout the protocol.

The Italian judge ranked the Italians above Piper and Paul.

The Spanish judge gave the top Spanish team (Smart/Dieck) 129.1 while they gave Zingas/Kolesnik (who finished above them in the FD) only 119.59.

The Czech judge gave the Mrazeks a way higher grade than the average. Etc., etc.

And the way the system works, all of the marks the French judge gave C/B were actually removed as the lowest or (in most cases) equally lowest ones, so that's not why they lost the first place.

The disadvantage here was that the Canadian judge wasn't propping up her own skaters, but all the other judges were! Obviously, in an ideal world nobody would be propping up skaters from their country, but that's never going to change...

 

[JOHIO2]

part of me hopes they will realize they aren't loved and go away for good, but other part knows that 4 years watchers may actually love them

not bloody likely as the 2030 Os are in France. He'll drag her or somebody else around to get there.

 

[icetug]

The disadvantage here was that the Canadian judge wasn't propping up her own skaters, but all the other judges were! Obviously, in an ideal world nobody would be propping up skaters from their country, but that's never going to change...

That's not quite true. She gave G/P the highest score, 4 points above average. And she placed G/F in 9th, with the score 4 points below average. She also placed L/L in 4th, giving them almost 8 points above average.

 

[lariko]

What I don't get is how this impacts the overall score if the highest and lowest scores for any element are removed from the final one. Aren't the highest and lowest scores for PCS also removed? From that perspective, don't there have to be two wild anomalies for the final result to be affected?

They are removed if they differ significantly, i.e outliers. It is done to eliminate the kind of bias that is present when it's one judge who pushes up their guy and sinks their closest competitor. That's why I want to see in protocols which marks were struck and which went into calculation.

 

[el henry]

Guillaume and Laurence are NOT the apotheosis of all that is wonderful and sublime about ice dance. They are NOT that far ahead of Madi and Evan in edges and flow and balance and speed.

I was, dare I say, bored during Guilo's FD. Same old same old

Madi and Evan were better in the FD. They had a better skate. They deserved the gold and they deserve to be miffed. They have been classy throughout the entire event about their emotions.

It is what it is and I don't expect anything to change.

 

[skatedreamer]

His efforts at choreographing for others really brought that home to me - this specific type of one emotional mood program is virtually all he does, over and over and over. Within a program, there is little emotional light and dark; it's all the same mood, more or less.

I don't know much about Cizeron, but this describes much of my response to the FB/C program. It mostly left me unmoved, although after a second watch I was able to appreciate their clean lines, extension, and strength. The choreography also seemed more appealing the second time around.

All of that said, my overall impression hasn't changed: that the dance felt like more of an intellectual exercise than anything else.

And that's NOT why I watch figure skating.

 

[NanaPat]

No charisma. Davis and white had charisma. Tan and Ben and the shibs had charisma....C is a technician...

And he's not even from the USA! Only skaters from the USA are allowed to have charisma! Or be judged generously.

 

[CoyoteChris]

If you look more closely, it really doesn't seem that the French judge was that much of an outlier. For example, the Czech judge gave FB/C a higher score than the French judge did. The Spanish judge gave them only 0.4 less than the French. And the Spanish judge actually ranked C/B third (the French had them second). True, the French Judge gave a much lower score to Chock/Bates than to FB/C (by over 7.5 points). But almost all judges had their national biases.

The American judge also ranked C/B first by over 4 points, the biggest gap in their favour between the two teams out of all judges. They gave Chock/Bates 137.67 while they also gave Piper/Paul 128.89. I and plenty of other people, including one of the other judges, thought Piper/Paul were better on the night, and most other judges had placed a much smaller margin between the two teams. Where is the petition to investigate this?

There was plenty of examples of national bias thoughout the protocol.

The Italian judge ranked the Italians above Piper and Paul.

The Spanish judge gave the top Spanish team (Smart/Dieck) 129.1 while they gave Zingas/Kolesnik (who finished above them in the FD) only 119.59.

The Czech judge gave the Mrazeks a way higher grade than the average. Etc., etc.

And the way the system works, all of the marks the French judge gave C/B were actually removed as the lowest or (in most cases) equally lowest ones, so that's not why they lost the first place.

Please excuse my ignorance. How does one correlate the judge country with the J numbers?

 

[CoyoteChris]

Remember the time when Maddie and Evan won despite a fall (that's a real big mistake)? I forget the year, it was one of their WC Golds. Were we discussing the judging then so much? Yeah a few people were, but that was it.

Don't get me wrong, I thought they skated very well yesterday, it was a WC then, not an OG, but still. I think it's hypocritical to discuss, even set up petitions when it's one particular team, and not when it's another. If anyone should have asked for such investigations it should have been Piper & Paul or Charlene & Marco.

And, now I'm out of here, because I expect the hate of my opinion to come in full force.

Didnt the Russians fall in the last century and still win?

 

[CoyoteChris]

And he's not even from the USA! Only skaters from the USA are allowed to have charisma! Or be judged generously.

Japanese ice dancers have Charisma! GB ice dancers have Charisma! Piper and Paul have Charisma! Sergei and Katia had charisma!

 

[FlyingFeather]

I thought the central side-boob was very distracting. Only good thing I can say about the costume is that it was less trashy than the original one.

Yes, it is such a shame now that no judge feels free to give a costume deduction, as it would immediately be labeled as anti women instead of just a fact of society--wear sufficient clothes! At least put a nude leotard under it. As a women, I would say the same thing if a man was wearing sheer pants, so no its not sexism. It's a way of respecting both the skater and the viewer. Same goes for FB's RD costume.