5 judges put C/B first. Do you know that 5 is the majority of 9 and bigger than 4? Yet, the majority couldn't beat the minority thanks to points manipulation of French judge. If you remove the French score, can you prove with the math that 3 is bigger than 5? The French didn't win because the majority of judges didn't put them over C/B. They got gold medal thanks to manipulation of the score in the corrupt judging system. That's not fair play, a must concept of sport.
2026 Olympics: Free Dance
- Thread starter dorispulaski
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I saw them twice, in Angers and Helsinki. And you know, twice I found myself almost holding my breath so as not to miss anything from their performance. And by the end, I found myself with tears in my eyes. That happens to me extremely rarely, although yesterday during Piper and Paul's performance I experienced the same thing. Pure beauty that evokes emotions akin to catharsis. Every person has a different experience...
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How wonderful that you got to see live performances! There's no substitute for that and some artists come across much differently live than they do on TV or in recordings. And as you said, each person's experience is different and we all have very different tastes.
Piper and Paul had me in tears, too, so we can certainly agree on that -- and also a shared love of skating.
Cheers to you!
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However, it's not the placings that matter, but the points awarded. I don't know how reliable the Skating Scores website is and how accurate their data is, but a simple addition of the numbers provided there will suffice. If you add up all the scores given by all the judges, FB/C received 1215.82 points, and C/B 1208.69. If you subtract the lowest and highest scores in both cases, you get 946.39 and 942 points, respectively. As you can see, the difference has narrowed, but FB/C still wins. You can also subtract only the highest score, and you get 1077,33 and 1071,74. Still FB/C get more points...
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She should've put Chock and Bates below Piper and Paul!
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They should have won the FD or it should have been close. It's still sad to see the judges thinking of them as Bronze-level skaters (not Gold contenders), even if they're thrilled about it, and thank God they are!
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You've confused the team event, where it's the placements that count, with the individual events where it's the total scores that decide the outcome.
And I thought it was only me that hated her rhythm dance costume! Those tacky pink shorts that displayed way too much of Laurence's 'backside before she had even skated! I lived through the Vogue era and that costume was just so......
On the ISU results page for each event there are links showing the panel of judges and who is Judge 1, Judge 2, etc. for this event. This is it for this FD -
Olympic Winter Games 2026 - Ice Dance - Free Dance
results.isu.org
Or you can use the data from Skatingscores.com - https://skatingscores.com/2526/oly/sr/dance/long/
So I had a chance to watch the French team again and that lift mistake was really awkward and should have earned a big deduction. I mean the Brits twizzle error was an 8-point deduction. And also with the Cizeron twizzle mistake that aggregate should have lost them the gold. Even Ciz looked surprised when the scores came up. No they were not so superior to the US team that those mistakes would not have been enough to drop them to second place. Hell I would have had them in third after P2. I hope this has legs (without blades) and these scores are reexamined. Yeah and there's the matter of that British judge in the RD. Well I hope the rest of the FSing judging is fair and reflective of what actually happens on the ice.
Do the math…. They still win by 0.4 in the free dance alone. Not to mention the advantage they had from the RD.
I am not an expert on the “new” system. I thought the highesr/lowest scores get dropped. Can someone please explain - how would the French judges mark matter if it gets dropped? C/B were not on fire as I’ve seen them skate this program, maybe tired from Team Gold, but nevertheless their program should have won.
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Interesting remarks from the C/B Choreographer on how they made their program.
www.nprillinois.org
Meet the flamenco choreographer of Chock and Bates's medal-winning free dance
Madison Chock and Evan Bates won silver at the Winter Olympics on Wednesday night, earning their highest scores of the season.
www.nprillinois.org
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Very interesting. That link is well done.On the ISU results page for each event there are links showing the panel of judges and who is Judge 1, Judge 2, etc. for this event. This is it for this FD -
Olympic Winter Games 2026 - Ice Dance - Free Dance
Or you can use the data from Skatingscores.com - https://skatingscores.com/2526/oly/sr/dance/long/
My thought exactly! Can't unsee it. Piper's costume in some ways similar but far less revealing.
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You are not wrong. This is not just about C/B. As I said, the system needs to be stress tested at Worlds. If four panels of tech specialists isolated from each other can not agree within reason on skater team placement, then the system is flawed and needs to be fixed.
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Yes, the highest and lowest scores get dropped. The media narrative about a single French judge "rigging" the result (as was the case in the 2002 Olympics in favour of the Russian pair team) is not applicable here.
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I would have signed it. And a petition that said Spouces of federation presidents can not be judges. And doctors caught doping are banned for life. And judges caught cheating are banned for life.
Exactly what I am talking about. The minority, even one judge, gives too high points and beats the majority who voted for another winner. It is a corrupt system that has nothing to do with fair play.
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The thing however is that the IJS is not about ordinals. So bringing up that 5 judges placed CB in first and they still lost isn't really the right way to look at it. The current scoring system is not made to look at ordinals but at total points. So, to me, that argument is quite flawed.
Let's take tennis : One could assume that to win a match, the player must win more points than the other player. In most cases, that's what happens. However, it does happen that a player will win more points but still lose the match. Why ? Because, in the end, some points are more important than others. Easy example... With a score of 2-6, 7-6. 7-6, the player winning the two sets wins the game but most likely, the player who won a clear first set may have obtained more points.
In this free dance, some mention ordinals but it just doesn't tell the whole story. The judges who had Chock and Bates first, were less convinced about the victory of the Americans over the French and the gap in their scores was smaller than the judges who thought the French were better, and by a larger margin. The only judge who favoured the French by a small margin was the Canadian judge. The other 3 judges who favoured the French all did with a bigger lead. 3 judges who had the Americans in first had them in first by a very small margin. The other two judges, the American and Chinese judges had a higher gap with their scores... In the end, it wasn't enough.
However, it does raise a question : the upset fans are blaming the French judge. What about the simple fact that there is even a judge out there, the Spanish judge, who didn't even put Chock and Bates in 1st, let alone 2nd place, but put them in 3rd place.
Do you think the Spanish judge cheated then ?
No, the Spanish judge simply thought that Piper and Paul were better and so did I
Let's take tennis : One could assume that to win a match, the player must win more points than the other player. In most cases, that's what happens. However, it does happen that a player will win more points but still lose the match. Why ? Because, in the end, some points are more important than others. Easy example... With a score of 2-6, 7-6. 7-6, the player winning the two sets wins the game but most likely, the player who won a clear first set may have obtained more points.
In this free dance, some mention ordinals but it just doesn't tell the whole story. The judges who had Chock and Bates first, were less convinced about the victory of the Americans over the French and the gap in their scores was smaller than the judges who thought the French were better, and by a larger margin. The only judge who favoured the French by a small margin was the Canadian judge. The other 3 judges who favoured the French all did with a bigger lead. 3 judges who had the Americans in first had them in first by a very small margin. The other two judges, the American and Chinese judges had a higher gap with their scores... In the end, it wasn't enough.
However, it does raise a question : the upset fans are blaming the French judge. What about the simple fact that there is even a judge out there, the Spanish judge, who didn't even put Chock and Bates in 1st, let alone 2nd place, but put them in 3rd place.
Do you think the Spanish judge cheated then ?
No, the Spanish judge simply thought that Piper and Paul were better
and so did I - Status
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