The Referees and Time Outs (Oda and Zhang) | Golden Skate

The Referees and Time Outs (Oda and Zhang)

Joined
Jul 11, 2003
What do y'all think about this time-out business? In the two recent incidents; one skater got gold, and the Pairs got silver, and the reasons for the time-out was because of falls.

Now the Referee in competitions does make binding decisions. Think Harding with the shoelace. Was that reason enough for a time-out?

All this affects other competitors, and I think there should be a fast rule on time-out injuries. Appreciate your views on Oda and Zhang.

Joe
 
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Dibs

Rinkside
Joined
Nov 2, 2005
I may be in the minority, but I have no problem with restarting a program from the point in which the skate was stopped. I do have a problem with overscoring skaters with a disruption in the program.

For Oda, I had issue with the fact that he spent some time skating around, missing elements and giving the judges nothing to reward as far as PC scores go. He did not deserve his scores but received them anyway.

For the Zhangs, things were a bit different. Luckily, they missed none of their important elements and were able to skate well enough to earn a high technical score. The PC score should have been lower clearly, but I think it was a case that it was an Olympic moment of courage and one of the highlights of the Games. I believe the judges awarded the moment rather than the program as a whole. I'm glad the Zhangs were on the podium, but I thought the bronze would have been a more appropriate medal IMO.

All in all, I think there needs to be some clear and detailed rules concerning the issue. This would help define the problem and give the judges some basis in how to score under such an occurence. Some disruptions cannot be helped (a boot issue, costume, music, etc.) and a skater should not be penalized for that, but a technical issue is a different story.
 
Joined
Jul 11, 2003
I agree, but it is more of a Referee problems than a judge (although the judge may be influenced).

What would happen if a skater falls; then explains something to the refereee and is permitted to start from where he/she fell?

It could give the skater a nice rest period; shake off the nerves; and put the fallen element in another place in the program. Would this be fair to the other contestants who fell and got up and continued on their own?

Joe
 

nymkfan51

Medalist
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
I'm not wild about skaters being able to stop their programs and begin again. At the very least, there should be a specific mandatory deduction taken from the scores ... and it should be substantial, IMO.

Especially in the case of Zhang ... it certainly was heroic how she was able to skate after the fall, but I don't think their scores were affected all that much and they should have been. It's unfortunate, but I can't see how something like that could be classified as anything but a huge disruption to a performance.
 

anya_angie

Final Flight
Joined
Sep 20, 2003
From the camera angle from NBC it looked really serious and I wondered if she'd get up at all let alone be able/allowed to skate. For that sort of thing I can understand a time-out.

I remember watching T&M's accident live and wondering whether Tatiana would get up and continue since the music was still playing.
 
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