Firing Ottavio Cinquanta | Golden Skate

Firing Ottavio Cinquanta

Manuel Pablo Arnao

Figure Skating Fan & Real Estate Agent in LA!
On the Ice
Joined
Jan 15, 2014
Is there anything fans of the sport can do to fire Ottavio Cinquanta?

What did it for me was his public admittance to a reporter that the judges at the Olympics had conflict of interests and yet did nothing to fix it before the situation exploded. He knew this going into the Olympics, did nothing. When everything exploded, he still did nothing. If the president of the ISU can not defend the integrity of the sport, what is he there for?
 

hyperinflation

Match Penalty
Joined
Jan 19, 2014
you can do anything if you set your mind to it! be the change you want to see in the world WalkingJackson!

(no there is not. you can wait for him to die i guess..)
 

evangeline

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 7, 2007
As much as I'd love to see Ottavio Cinquanta booted off the ISU, the problem with getting rid of Cinquanta is the very real possibility that someone even worse--say, Dider Gailhaguet--will end up replacing him.
 

Skater Boy

Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 24, 2012
I hope the general public don't read these threads. WE may be self destructing our sport. I am not sure what the answer is but we can't agree ourselves and we seem to be shooting our beloved sport in the foot. the new system still has not answered the problems and concerns of the 6.0 system. And ironically the lack of understanding of rules and systems is another problem under both 6.0 and COP. Like I have said look at the scoring system and you can see with GOE's and such how people with falls can win due to pcs and goe's ie great transition adds to both pcs and goe's. Andunder 6.0 artistry was the tie break so Sale and Pelletier cold win technically but lose to B and S and the gold. People don't want to have to spend a lot of time figuring out scoring systems. Skating could be gone like soap operas or the dodo bird and in a way we may be responsible.
 
Joined
Jun 21, 2003
According to the ISU constitution, Mr. Cinquanta was not eligible to continue in office past 2014. However, the ISU decided that they could not do without him in the years immediately following the Olympics because only he could negotiate television contracts, etc., for the next Olympic cycle, so they passed a special resolution to set the constitution aside and let him serve two more years. The new date for him to step down is 2016.

As evangeline mentions, it is widely accepted that his successor will be Didier Gailhaguet. Here is is with judge Marie Le Gougne, just before they were both suspended by the ISU for three years.

http://onlineathens.com/images/030802/france_skating.jpg
 

cooper

Medalist
Joined
Mar 23, 2010
there was an article that speedy will retire on 2016.. by the the time w/ pyeongchang olympics.. there's a possibility of didier will take over.. god help figure skating..
 

sunnystars

#teamotherskaters
Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 14, 2014
Are there any other candidates, then? Also, how long has Cianquanta been the ISU president?? :think:
 

karne

in Emergency Backup Mode
Record Breaker
Joined
Jan 1, 2013
Country
Australia
Ottavio Cinquanta is the Bernie Ecclestone of skating.

We will never be rid of him and he will get older and never die.
 
Joined
Jun 21, 2003
Are there any other candidates, then? Also, how long has Cianquanta been the ISU president?? :think:

Twenty years, since 1994.

I have forgotten some of the details, but his election to the post was fishy to begin with. Sonia Bianchetti was the leading candidate for the office from the figure skating side. But the outgoing president didn't like her. So the old guard cooked up a scheme whereby the speed skating side would elect their members to the Council first. Cinquanta was proposed and elected. This prevented Bianchetti from serving on the council and running for president because of a rule that no two Council members can be from the same country (Italy in the case). So Bianchetti was out and Cinquanta was elected.

At first it seemed like a good choice. In the wake of the Nancy-Tonya incident, Cinquanta (an accountant and businessman in real llfe) immediately negotiated a huge multi-million dollar contract with US ABC television, and the ISU was flush. (Now, not so much.)
 

cooper

Medalist
Joined
Mar 23, 2010
speaking of speedy..

Figure skating boss proposes radical changes to sport

In figure skating, Cinquanta calls for:

-- Doing away with the short program because “no other sports are based on two segments.”

Cinquanta says the required elements in the short program could be put in the free skate to make sure the athletes were capable of performing them. By eliminating the short program, he writes, it might be possible to have junior and senior world championships at the same facility during the same time period rather than held separately as they are now.

-- Making the skating singles, pairs, dance and team performances all last the same time. The free skate part of men’s singles and pairs currently lasts 30 seconds longer (4 minutes, 30 seconds) than it does in women’s singles and dance. "I do not wish to say 4 minutes or 4:15," Cinquanta writes. "This will be determined by the ISU technical bodies concerned."

-- Keeping the judges anonymous so “nobody can detect which score has been decided by which judge.”

-- Simplifying the scoring system “to render it understandable.”

-- Redefine and perhaps rename the senior age category.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sport...cal-changes-to-sport-20140325,0,3069833.story

:popcorn:
 

OS

Sedated by Modonium
Record Breaker
Joined
Mar 23, 2010
Hahaha he is going bonkers. Typical biz man all about cost not enough sport. Let's just shorten all the marathon races because it is boring and make them run on a treadmill.
 
Joined
Jun 21, 2003
The changes that Mr. Cinquanta are proposing all have the goal of saving money. Eliminating the short program, combining junior and senior worlds, elimination some speed skating races and building smaller tracks, etc. I think the real problem is that the ISU is broke.
 

phaeljones

On the Ice
Joined
Apr 18, 2012
Seriously, the United States, Russia, Japan, China, Canada and Korea should form their own new FIGURE SKATING UNION. As irrational as that sounds, it is still more rational than what this guy is proposing. When I read that article, I had to re-check the date to make sure it was not April the 1st.
 

Alba

Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 26, 2014
Seriously, the United States, Russia, Japan, China, Canada and Korea should form their own new FIGURE SKATING UNION. As irrational as that sounds, it is still more rational than what this guy is proposing. When I read that article, I had to re-check the date to make sure it was not April the 1st.

I agree, although I would add other European Federations in that list. I mean Korea is weak in figure skating.
Cinquanta knows nothing about figure skating, but other people who has power should not let anyone to chop up this sport.
It's time to separate Figure skating from speed skating.
 

skatedreamer

Medalist
Joined
Feb 18, 2014
Country
United-States
I think the real problem is that the ISU is broke.

Broke because...? Many businesses have cash flow issues. Some happen in spite of poor management; e.g., when decisions are made that looked smart at the time but turned out badly. Others have less legitimate causes. Has there ever been reason to question how the ISU's finances are handled?

Sorry, this is the first thing that came to mind when you said they might be suffering from an excess of red ink.
 

phaeljones

On the Ice
Joined
Apr 18, 2012
I agree, although I would add other European Federations in that list. I mean Korea is weak in figure skating.
Cinquanta knows nothing about figure skating, but other people who has power should not let anyone to chop up this sport.
It's time to separate Figure skating from speed skating.

Yes, about the countries as along as they don't bring Gailhaguet and Cinquanta along with them. I was so pissed and typing so fast, I really was not putting my mind to the countries as much as I was to there being a separate Figure Skating Union. Thank you for the comment.
 

jenm

The Last One Degree
Medalist
Joined
Jan 28, 2014
I have not been a fan of figure skating for a long time but seeing these proposed changes, I think he's trying to kill the sport altogether instead of saving it.
Why is he encouraging anonymous judging when it's the one that started all these problems?
IMO, the scoring system is not the major problem but the people giving out scores without valid reasons.
My bet is he's trying to divert people's attention from the current problem which is the highly questionable scoring in Sochi (Ladies) to this.
:scratch:
 
Top