I agree. Quite the coincidence that the CBC broadcasters expressed their shock and disgust. So did the Brits, Italians, Germans, all of them. Curious that the U.S. commentators seemed to be bias in favor of the Russians, especially after the reports from Le'Equipe earlier in the games. Also interesting to note that one other skater besides the two Russians had suspect scores in the ladies individual event -- Gracie Gold.
First, the judges meet beforehand and discuss judging. If there was a "bloc" of judges trying to influence the results, their persuasion could have factored in, and other judges may have been timid to score very far outside of what most of the other judges would be likely to score. It's interesting that most independent experts viewed Yuna as the clearly more artistic and refined, polish skater (even if they were loathe to protest the placement) ... but the PCS scores were essentially the same. How can you not find that egregious and suspect?
Second, from a more statistic point of view ... let's look at deviations from the mean and mode scores for each skater. Where is Mathman? I haven't taken statistics classes in years. I'd have to really put in some effort to give a good mathematical breakdown, whereas he and some other posters could probably type something credible on a whim.
I didn't assume anything, I clearly said most people seem to think the casual internet evidence is inconclusive on the edge call. Everyone seems convinced the 3T should have been downgraded, including me.
You conveniently did not address the issue with the Russian tech callers and Adelina's 16 of 19 statistic.
1. No traveling spin should ever receive a +3. I haven't gone back and looked at Julia's skate, because it was awful and she didn't place, but at Euros and Team competition I saw her travel many times and receive +3s
2. Her jumps should NEVER receive higher than +1. Never under any circumstances. +2 is egregious ... to be getting +3 on her jumps is outright criminal.
Me either, I don't know enough about steps, but from what I've heard Adelina's footwork is not on par with Yuna's. I can only go off the deviation from their mode scores, and in particular how Adelina is not known as a footwork artist but was the only one to score level 4 in both programs. At the very least it draws further scrutiny, and the people who know more than me think the levels are wrong.
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You also ignored the short program, where the two should not have been tied.
Stop with the harping about Yulia traveling.
Euro's SP: no traveling on any of the spins, last one perfectly centered
Euro's LP: no traveling on any of the spins, last one perfectly centered
Team Event SP: no traveling on any but the final position after the required element of the spin were completed so the judges are not required to remove GOE. She finished what she had to do before traveling, some people might have decided that the traveling negated all the required portion but thankfully they didn't, just like the judges would not remove GOE from a jump if the skater fell after maintaining their landing edge for a few seconds and then tripped when going forward.
Team LP: all but the last spin were perfectly centered, on the last one she struggled with final position, never getting it solid. Normal GOE: 1.36-1.50 GOE received: 1.00 She was penalized exactly as she should be.
Olympic SP: no traveling on first two spins, minor wavering on first position, final position completely centered GOE 1.36 instead of 1.50
Olympic LP: no traveling on any of the spins, final one perfectly solid GOE 1.50
GOE for her final spin.
When solid and completely centered 1.50
When solid but travels a bit, after the required rotation was completed or slightly unstable on one posotion 1.36-1.43
When the spin is still very good, but traveled right away on final position 1.00
Adelina regularly gets (including at Euro's a month ago) a maximum TES of 37 points and PCS of 33.5 points for a total of 71.5, now she suddenly gets 39, and 35.5, just enough to tie with the leaders who had greater technical difficulty and a total of 75?
And she regularly got (including at Euro's a month ago) a maximum of 62 TES points, granted she had a couple of technical mistakes, and PCS of 69 for a total of 131. Her typical GOE for her well-executed solo 2Axel and 3Flip was 1.74, for example. Now suddenly she gets 75.5 TES and 74.5 components for a total of 150? In what crazy world is that not a red flag for everyone involved? And for those two elements her combined GOE jumped to 2.57. She changed some of her elements around so its harder to objectively compare them but even for her spins her GOE rose wildly. Her spins and steps at Euros were Level 4,3,1, and 3 respectively. At the games they were Level 4,4,4, and 4 respectively. Not only did the levels increase her BV from by 1.4 points,but the GOE rose by 1.41. All of these are small increases but between all the Levels being called by the Russian tech panel and the concentrated efforts of even 2 judges consistently marking Adelina higher and Yuna lower in all GOE and components especially in the FS it's possible to have changed the results by a good 7-8 points including both the SP and LP.
And for drivingmissdaisy if Adelina has been getting the 4th of 5th best PCS, including at Euros a month ago, what suddenly changed in a month that her PCS deserved to be the best in the world?
