2014 Olympics Ladies Free Skate

[letitgo]

Judges from the United States and South Korea, as well as two other Western judges, were not chosen by draw to work the women's long program after being on the women's short program panel the night before. Two of their replacements were Ukrainian Yuri Balkov, who was kicked out of judging for a year after being tape-recorded trying to fix the Nagano ice dancing competition by a Canadian judge, and Alla Shekhovtseva, a Russian judge who is married to the Russian federation's president. Other Eastern Europeans were on the panel as well.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/sport...e-skating-women-yuna-kim-gracie-gold/5643143/

so put the cheating judge back on the panel and the wife of the Russian federation's president

 

[elif]

@JamieSale4m
Ok I'm not a judge but I just watched the #womansfigureskating again + I STRONGLY disagree w results like MANY others. #ISU now what?

This made me think what a classy person Kim Yuna is, really

 

[Apoptosis]

http://i.imgur.com/xkKri8t.png


List of judges & their nationalities for free skate


Half of them are Russia/Eastern Europe


No wonder

 

[figurejennah]

http://www.usatoday.com/story/sport...e-skating-women-yuna-kim-gracie-gold/5643143/


This article explains soooo much why the judging was so f***ed up

""It's sad that I just presumed Sotnikova was going to get a boost (in points) because this was in Russia," former U.S. Olympic figure skating coach Audrey Weisiger said in a phone interview. "Isn't it sad that I automatically thought that? Not one person in skating I've talked to said that's the way it should have gone."

"I was surprised with the result," Joseph Inman, a top international judge who was on the women's panel at the 2002 Olympics, said in a telephone interview."

YUP. We automatically assumed, too. RUSSIAN STYLE. To be honest, Russian people have showed such poor sportsmanship during this entire Olympics game that I've lost so much respect for them. Not just figure skating, but the way that the games were so poorly set up (and them even messing up the opening ceremony...), and how there were so many injuries occurring, I now have a really negative view of them. I think Olympics is not just about winning gold medals, but it is also about fair competition and showing sportsmanship. None of them have been courteous or genuine in any way. I will only remember Putin's arrogant face and Russian people screaming RUSSIA RUSSIA and jeering at other non-Russian athletes. Pathetic and very embarrassing.

 

[CORRUPTION]

Corruption of the highest order. IN reality she should not have beat out even Mao Asada.

Adelina Sotnikova

2013 World Championship -Finishes 9th with a score of 175.98
2013 GPF - Finishes 5th with a score of 173.30

2014 SOCHI Olympics - Finishes 1(???)st with 224.59

Her score jumped over 51.29 points in last 2 months. BRAVO Russia.

 

[gmyers]

Piseev is not president anymore! That's a lie!

Why are people comparing this to competions where she left out jumps because of her rocky flip combo??

 

[b-man]

http://www.usatoday.com/story/sport...e-skating-women-yuna-kim-gracie-gold/5643143/

From USA Today: American skating insiders question Sochi judging

SOCHI, Russia -- One of the nine judges who picked a young Russian skater over two more refined competitors for the Olympic gold medal Thursday night was suspended for a year for trying to fix an event at the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano.

And another is the wife of the president of the Russian figure skating federation.

Judges from the United States and South Korea, as well as two other Western judges, were not chosen by draw to work the women's long program after being on the women's short program panel the night before. Two of their replacements were Ukrainian Yuri Balkov, who was kicked out of judging for a year after being tape-recorded trying to fix the Nagano ice dancing competition by a Canadian judge, and Alla Shekhovtseva, a Russian judge who is married to the Russian federation's president. Other Eastern Europeans were on the panel as well.

Dozens of posters have speculated on how Adelina's PCS skyrocked in such a short period. Thanks Fahrenheit290, you have answered the question for me.

 

[alexeifan]

I was so amazed by Mao and Caro doing the 3/3's. They haven't attempted them in such a long time and both looked like it was so easy and no big deal. It was as if they'd done them in competition all season. Sad for Yuna and wish Mao would have medaled. However, happy for Caro. Really thought Mao was amazing only women with the 3A go Mao!

 

[HalfTriple]

This is not a matter of who's robbed or who's propped up. This is categorically and indisputably a fraud, systematic and premeditated, as a blatant disregard and insult to the sport and fellow humans who retain common sense and moral sensibility. we, all prone to fallacy in many aspects, are easily swayed by our flawed mind and many shortcoming, but this is beyond tolerance and limit of human patience. This is savagery in criminal proportion.

 

[100yen]

Did Mao say that she's going to the worlds ?

Yes Mao is going to Worlds :yes:

 

[emily_sk8xx]

I am literally done with figure skating. Yes Adelina won technically but Yuna should've been head and shoulders above her on the PCS but she wasn't. If you try to argue that Adelina had better skating skills, transitions, choreography, interpretation, and performance & execution I don't even know what to say. The scores were so inflated, because according to her score, she had the best performance of any lady this quad. And there is no sensible argument you could make for that. She did not have the best performance of any lady this quad. This score also says that this performance was around the level of Yuna's Gershwin performance in Vancouver I sure hope this kind of overscoring isn't going to start happening everywhere. I'm not trying to take away from Adelina's performance. She was good, but I don't believe she was the best and I don't believe that score reflected her performance.

 

[sk8in]

an explanation of PCS:

The program components score (PCS) awards points to holistic aspects of a program or other nuances that are not rewarded in the total element score. The components are:

Skating skills (SS) reward use of edges and turns, flow over the ice surface, speed and acceleration, ice coverage, clean and controlled curves, multi-directional skating, and mastery of one-foot skating (no overuse of skating on two feet).
Transitions (TR)
Performance/Execution (PE)
Choreography (CH)
Interpretation (IN)

---

there is no way in hell that the 2 Russians were better than Yuna for PCS.. nor Mao for that matter.

The judging has been a travesty.

Adelina got higher component scores than even Costner. That is the travesty here, and it says all you need to know about her victory over Yuna. I am at least incredibly happy for Mao, who had one of the best LPs I've ever seen.

 

[yuki90]

This made me think what a classy person Kim Yuna is, really

@JoannieRochette
Impressed by the way YuNa handles herself with such class. Great champion.

 

[CarneAsada]

Asada's program was technically stunning and she deserved to win the LP but the program isn't very good and purely in terms of performance it was nothing special. She had a blank, concentrated face much of the time and I could literally even see her huffing and puffing her cheeks for air going into that final 3Loop. It was a World away from what Michelle Kwan, Lu Chen, and others were giving us back in the day.

Hm I agree she made some tradeoffs to make this program doable. I would still rank it as a greater accomplishment than any LP she's done though. Her Liebestraume in all its versions bored me after a few views. She performed this LP better than the one at 2007 GPF, and it was a bit more technically accomplished than Bells of Moscow.

 

[sk8in]

I am literally done with figure skating. Yes Adelina won technically but Yuna should've been head and shoulders above her on the PCS but she wasn't. If you try to argue that Adelina had better skating skills, transitions, choreography, interpretation, and performance & execution I don't even know what to say. The scores were so inflated, because according to her score, she had the best performance of any lady this quad. And there is no sensible argument you could make for that. She did not have the best performance of any lady this quad. This score also says that this performance was around the level of Yuna's Gershwin performance in Vancouver I sure hope this kind of overscoring isn't going to start happening everywhere. I'm not trying to take away from Adelina's performance. She was good, but I don't believe she was the best and I don't believe that score reflected her performance.

The "technical" argument smacks me as false. If Yuna's technical performance wasn't up to snuff, then why didn't she lose to Mao in Vancouver? The reason Yuna has been able to set world records is that she gets incredible GOE bonuses on her technical elements, not because she performs the most or most difficult triples. It is her jumping technique as much as the content of her programs that has set her apart in competitions.

 

[b-man]

I think a lot of the dislike for the result here comes down to the way the sport is structured these days. Yu-Na Kim has the potential to blow Sotnikova away in terms of artistry and deserve to win on the second mark, but the system simply doesn't allow her to breathe and create those moments. Too much time and energy is required for the spins and footwork (and unnecessary 3-jump combinations).

Basically, the system is a lose-lose because real artistry is never rewarded anymore and the scores can be manipulated anyway.

Great analysis!

 

[elee011]

I don't understand what you meant. All I saw is a girl who was nervous at first, then pulled herself together after that to deliver her performance. I do believe Adelina had the best performances in this event, it was really exciting to watch her. Before this event, I didn't even heard of her name.
People have different taste, and my taste happens not to be Kim Yuna's this season performances. I was rooting for her in 2010, but not this time, because I can no longer sense freshness from her.
And for people who say that artistry should be scored higher than techniques, I strongly disagree. Figure skating is also a sport, and in sport you need strength, techniques and strategies. If I only want artistry, then I'd rather watch ballet, not a sport.
One of the main reason why I prefer man skaters over females is the jumps. If you just skate beautifully like a swan but take no risk, you would get a high PCS, likely. But I mostly want to see the fire and the strength in all their moves, they are athletes, so of course I expect to see that side. If you think about that criteria, i do believe Adelina really deserves it.
If I would have a preference, then I would say I like Mao's performance today the most. There's another girl that I like, Julia. She is fresh and adorable, talented, and she's still a kid. I really hope to see her next time.

By you saying that Adelina had the best performance because it was "really exciting" just shows the extent to such an UNTECHNICAL judgment if based on that criteria.
And please, ballet itself requires technique.

 

[bekalc]

The "technical" argument smacks me as false. If Yuna's technical performance wasn't up to snuff, then why didn't she lose to Mao in Vancouver? The reason Yuna has been able to set world records is that she gets incredible GOE bonuses on her technical elements, not because she performs the most or most difficult triples. It is her jumping technique as much as the content of her programs that has set her apart in competitions.

Because Asada had no triple lutz and no 3/3. Made a mistake, and her quality on some of her jumps is not great.

On the other hand. Sotnikova is an incredible jumper. In her own freaking right and is a better spinner then Kim. Also the new rules which said no Yu-na can't do three double axels, hurt her. Sotnikova was rewarded for having all 5 triples.

And I think Kim not having a 3loop was always a deficiency.

 

[Manuel Pablo Arnao]

Carolina was robbed of an Olympic Gold Medal.

She skated a perfect and inspired long program to Bolero that deserved to win. The program had everything- the jumps (big, & effortless), the music, the dress, the choreography, the fire. This was the best long program, and competition, of her life- 7 beautiful triple jumps (little shaky on the triple loop) and a double axel. Some judges rewarded her and gave her 7 perfects 10’s for her Program Component Score. Other judges, however, did not. They did not give her high Grades of Execution on her jumps on the Technical Component Score and they gave her a lot of 8’s and even a 7 for her Program Component Score. It’s devastating to think a clean and great Bolero by Carolina lost in both the Technical & Program Components to Adelina and Yu Na. To add insult to injury, the camera angle used by NBCSN for her skate was terrible, not more so than during the step sequence, the climax of the program, where all the drama and tension of the skate built, was inevitably lost to some idiot who decided to follow her from the other side of the rink instead of from the judges’ point of view.

Getting back to the judging, it’s not Adelina’s fault. Nobody is saying that. I’m sure she’s a lovely girl but the outcome was not right. It must be said that Adelina was the only of the top 3 that had a noticeable error in the long program and yet the Grade of Execution for all her elements was literally out of this world. She skated to an old and tired long program that she’s been parading around the senior circuit for years. In fact, it was her long program when she was a junior!!! Yes ladies and gentleman- in this day and age a junior ladies long program won the Olympic Gold Medal that is how corrupt the judging was. To be honest with you, I believe Adelina knows she was gifted the gold- she would have been just as happy to win a justified bronze medal at the Olympic Games in her home country than a gold medal that will forever go down as tainted and marred. Blame the judges who are not supposed to be swayed by the location of an event or by a boisterous and disrespectful Russian home crowd. Blame them, not Adelina.

Eveyrything was a joke- a complete and utter joke. Starting from the judge’s scores in the short program and culminating with the judge’s scores in the long program. The commentators tried to justify the win for Adelina but the general public is not as stupid as the network would like us to be. Since no American was directly affected by the judging the network must have told the commentators to ‘justify it’ which I’m sure they jumped at in order to push their own agenda- Johnny Weir had no problem since he has always been in love with Russia and Tara Lipinsky also had not problem since she did the same thing Adelina did at the 1998 Olympics in Nagano where she skated a technically difficult program and defeated a perfect Michelle Kwan who had also been light years away from her in artistry and presentation.

It was nice to see Carolina be the bigger person at the end and go to Adelina and congratulate her on her win backstage. Carolina is loved by all in the skating world, but apparently not by Russians and certainly no by certain judges. On the other hand, it was sad to see Yu Na be a terrible sportswoman and not hug or kiss Carolina on her way to the podium- you could see Carolina’s disappointment. Carolina is and will always be my favorite athlete of all time. She has all the gifts any figure skater could ever want. The road at times was hard but she always persevered, kept going and stayed true to herself and to her love of the sport and in the process given figure skating fans beautiful and memorable programs we can look back on for years to come- her Afternoon of a Faun program comes to mind. She is a 7 time National Champion, Grand Prix Final Champion, 5 time European Champion, World champion and now an Olympic medalist in addition to winning many other medals at top international events. I hope she goes to World’s next month and continues to skate for the love of skating. I would be terribly sad to see her leave amateur competition since there has not been a Professional circuit for the past 15 years- she is so gifted it would be sad to say goodbye. She just get’s better and better and this event is the best she has ever looked- proving her critics who believed her peak was 2 years ago wring. Please don’t retire Carolina.

To sum it up, these Olympic Games were rigged from the start and everyone in the skating world, except in Russia, should be outraged. The blame needs to go to Ottavio Cinquanta, president of the Interantional Skating Union, for not addressing this issue with judges before the Olympic Games even started- funny enough he is Italian like Kostner. Anybody who knows anything about figure skating will tell you that a clean Adelina Sotnikova should never beat a clean Carolina Kostner or Yu Na Kim. Never. I hope something comes out of these Olympic Games and people speak up and voice their outrage publicly so a ripple affect can take place and force change to happen. Any way you cut it, cheating has taken place.

On another note, I will be giving away a couple Russian articles of clothing I have in my closet if anyone wants to swing by and pick them up.

 

[bekalc]

Getting back to the judging, it’s not Adelina’s fault. Nobody is saying that. I’m sure she’s a lovely girl but the outcome was not right. It must be said that Adelina was the only of the top 3 that had a noticeable error in the long program and yet the Grade of Execution for all her elements was literally out of this world.

Adelina got minus GOE for her small error on that combination. It was a slight error that shouldn't affect PCS.

Do I think that Adelina maybe got overscored on PCS yes. But do I think she did a lot more technically than Kostner and Yu-na did. Yes.