Replay Lounge 2026 Olympics | Ice Dance

[TontoK]

Rahkamo and Kokko remind me a bit of Piper and Paul. They brought something unique - a different perspective than normal - and it took way too long to be appreciated by the judges.

I'm glad Piper and Paul got their Olympic medal. It was the shining result in an otherwise mostly disappointing night.

 

[moonvine]

 

[4everchan]

Simple. Judges from medal contenders should not officiate. How's many times have we said that?

I read that if all the French judge's scores were remove, the results would not change.

Did someone do the maths?

What about removing the scores from both usa and French judges?

Just curious

 

[el henry]

Is it possible to drop the angry emojis at posts that disagree with your opinion of the judging? I don't believe it is in the spirit of an open discussion.

Agreed. I think Madi and Evan were robbed. I say so, in my posts, not through mocking other posters.

For me, laughing emojis to express scorn with a poster’s opinion and angry emojis to express anger with a poster (rather than directed at a fact or report or intended joke) say far more about the the poster than the opinion.

Why can’t we just say what we mean and mean what we say? I think likes and appreciation are cool, I like validation as much as the next person, but I don’t like making fun of people through emojis.

 

[chepe]

Rahkamo and Kokko remind me a bit of Piper and Paul. They brought something unique - a different perspective than normal - and it took way too long to be appreciated by the judges.

When they started to get noticed by audiences, then-Head of ISU Technical Committee was appalled and told them "this kind of thing is a threat to our Olympic status "

 

[labgoat]

Lightening the mood - The USA team has bonded over the Macarena

 

[TontoK]

And now expanding out of sports-specific news outlets to wider readership:

https://x.com/nypost/status/2022100099308929409

Whether this will be a Salt Lake City scale thing, I don't know. But here's the windup...

(Baseball reference tossed in to amuse @el henry )

Edit: And now Sports Illustrated chiming in.

https://x.com/SInow/status/2022091066074132517

And now the Wall Street Journal:

https://x.com/WSJ/status/2022008556564648345

And CBS News:

https://x.com/CBSNews/status/2022110926917534141

 

[labgoat]

My team WON silver instead of gold. The world did not end anymore than it did for any of my other silver medalists. Please celebrate ALL the skaters hard work from this once in 4 years event.

 

[gsk8]

I'm not seeing anything that stands out on the French judge's scoring on the RD or the FD. Everything seems in line with the other judges, so not sure what that's all about.

 

[nealesmull]

Want to know why the US got 2nd instead of 1st on the Rhythm Dance? Comes down to one step. Look at the linked video for Chock & Bates. Skip to 2:11 where they do a step where the guy is on two feet and the girl steps over the guy’s leg. It is step 29 from the pattern dance Tango Romantica.

Chock & Bates take this on a flat (straight line) instead of a deeply curved edge. Bates should have been leaning hard to his left. He wasn’t.

For reference, look at my own performance of the pattern dance Tango Romantica at 1996 US Nationals. (Link below) Skip to 1:32 and 2:23. We did it twice back in the day, making it a pattern. Note how I am leaning HARD to my left to make it curve rather than go straight.

This seems to be the point and the step that made a half point difference between 1st and 2nd on the Rhythm Dance and possibly the difference between Gold and Silver. Don’t get me wrong. Chock & Bates are the better dancers and it would have been an easy fix. The real question should be why didn’t their coaches see this earlier? Why did the judges wait until the end of the season to take issue with this? Chock & Bates did what they trained. Did they train with a Silver medal performance in mind. Don’t think so.

Chock & Bates Olympic Rhythm Dance (2:11)
https://youtu.be/4M-FW8rTNJ8?si=dCdGj75C0wf_pd7z

Kuchiki & Smull 96 US Nationals (1:32 & 2:23)
https://youtu.be/wPJIZPmkMtg?si=cuoAfWzDmFy_GWg8

Why don’t we know this? Because most of the commentators for the Ice Dance event are Singles skaters that haven’t skated with a partner longer than a hug. It’s like having the World Wrestling Federation comment on a Ballet except the wrestlers would have done more partner work.

 

[gsk8]

I miss CDs....

 

[elbkup]

The article above says: "Yet despite their errors, a French judge awarded them a score nearly eight points higher than the Americans."

Mabye a typo?

The title is also misleading as it's just linking to a petition "requesting" an investigation by some random person.

Thanks for clarifying…

 

[moonvine]

Want to know why the US got 2nd instead of 1st on the Rhythm Dance? Comes down to one step. Look at the linked video for Chock & Bates. Skip to 2:11 where they do a step where the guy is on two feet and the girl steps over the guy’s leg. It is step 29 from the pattern dance Tango Romantica.

Chock & Bates take this on a flat (straight line) instead of a deeply curved edge. Bates should have been leaning hard to his left. He wasn’t.

For reference, look at my own performance of the pattern dance Tango Romantica at 1996 US Nationals. (Link below) Skip to 1:32 and 2:23. We did it twice back in the day, making it a pattern. Note how I am leaning HARD to my left to make it curve rather than go straight.

This seems to be the point and the step that made a half point difference between 1st and 2nd on the Rhythm Dance and possibly the difference between Gold and Silver. Don’t get me wrong. Chock & Bates are the better dancers and it would have been an easy fix. The real question should be why didn’t their coaches see this earlier? Why did the judges wait until the end of the season to take issue with this? Chock & Bates did what they trained. Did they train with a Silver medal performance in mind. Don’t think so.

Chock & Bates Olympic Rhythm Dance (2:11)
https://youtu.be/4M-FW8rTNJ8?si=dCdGj75C0wf_pd7z

Kuchiki & Smull 96 US Nationals (1:32 & 2:23)
https://youtu.be/wPJIZPmkMtg?si=cuoAfWzDmFy_GWg8

Why don’t we know this? Because most of the commentators for the Ice Dance event are Singles skaters that haven’t skated with a partner longer than a hug. It’s like having the World Wrestling Federation comment on a Ballet except the wrestlers would have done more partner work.

Welcome. Thanks for your expertise! Post long and often.

 

[Arigato]

I miss CDs....

I still have a car that can play them. I refuse to give up my CD collection and will find someone who can rig a new car so I can still play them, or die trying.

 

[drivingmissdaisy]

And now expanding out of sports-specific news outlets to wider readership:

https://x.com/nypost/status/2022100099308929409

Whether this will be a Salt Lake City scale thing, I don't know. But here's the windup...

(Baseball reference tossed in to amuse @el henry )

Edit: And now Sports Illustrated chiming in.

https://x.com/SInow/status/2022091066074132517

And now the Wall Street Journal:

https://x.com/WSJ/status/2022008556564648345

And CBS News:

https://x.com/CBSNews/status/2022110926917534141

In fairness, these four are all US-based publications opining on a judging result against an American team, and generating outrage helps to get readers to view their articles. This result, like SLC, was close and only one team could win. FWIW, in both cases I thought the deserving teams were the ones awarded the win at the end of the night so I think the judging shenanigans really detracted from the enjoyment of the event.

Even if the French judge gave the teams equal scores instead of 8 more for her team, that impacts the total score 8/9 of a point so the French team would have still edged out the Americans in the Free Dance. Another judge would have to score the Americans several points higher to make up for the deficit from the first dance. This seems like much ado about nothing.

 

[4everchan]

Here's a good take from a favorite of mine, Sean Rabbitt:

https://x.com/SeanRabbitt/status/2021977066791723264

In theory, Sean Rabbitt may have been right... He says : when experts are debating a score it's one thing but when casual viewers are... etc but in practice... I have my doubts

Let me remind you and everyone that nowadays, everyone is an expert at everything. I have seen people who do not play the piano or play It very casually say that the Chopin competition judging was flawed. They took the internet to talk about it... on every possible platform. They cried to injustice.

I love figure skating. I think that's obvious. I have studied the sport. I have gone to many live events. I look at protocols. Yet, I am not a trained judge. For goodness sake, I have never ever even worn a pair of dance blades... Yet, I am happy to share my opinion on social media

What the ISU needs to do is to
1) never sign up judges who were caught cheating before. There was one of them on the panel. The Chinese judge. She is one of the two judges who went for Chock and Bates with a significant point differential. The other one was, the USA judge.

2). never assign judges who have top 5 athletes from their nation competing at the Olympics.

The scoring isn't the problem. The problem is that the scoring came from specific judges. It makes it look like there was cheating. I actually believe one judge was way more out of line but he was replaced (by draw) in the Free Dance. Nicholas Russell who really wanted that medal for Fear and Gibson.

 

[Mathman]

Want to know why the US got 2nd instead of 1st on the Rhythm Dance?...

Yes, I did want to know. Thank you for the detailed explanation. I quite agree that the commentators seemed to have no clue except to mumble something about "every little edge placement counts."

By the way, I remember 1996 U.S. Nationals with great fondness. My all-time favorite ice dance team, Silverstein and Pekarek, won in novices!

 

[Demandred]

A lot of those saying "it was rigged" on social media are casual fans who watch only during the Olympics and have no idea how the judging works in this discipline or in figure skating in general. For example, I've seen a lot of posts on Twitter saying "The lowest and highest marks should not count" which is already the rule.

And ice dance in particular has such complex judging criteria and the difference between the teams are so much more subtle than in the other skating disciplines that for me a public outcry is very far from strong evidence of actual judging malpractice, especially during the Olympics which attract a much bigger audience and way more media attention than any other event. Then there are the off ice factors which has led to a lot of people, including popular journalists covering the sport, hoping for FB/C to lose regardless of what happens on the ice.

 

[TontoK]

In theory, Sean Rabbitt may have been right... He says : when experts are debating a score it's one thing but when casual viewers are... etc but in practice... I have my doubts

Let me remind you and everyone that nowadays, everyone is an expert at everything. I have seen people who do not play the piano or play It very casually say that the Chopin competition judging was flawed. They took the internet to talk about it... on every possible platform. They cried to injustice.

I love figure skating. I think that's obvious. I have studied the sport. I have gone to many live events. I look at protocols. Yet, I am not a trained judge. For goodness sake, I have never ever even worn a pair of dance blades... Yet, I am happy to share my opinion on social media

What the ISU needs to do is to
1) never sign up judges who were caught cheating before. There was one of them on the panel. The Chinese judge. She is one of the two judges who went for Chock and Bates with a significant point differential. The other one was, the USA judge.

2). never assign judges who have top 5 athletes from their nation competing at the Olympics.

The scoring isn't the problem. The problem is that the scoring came from specific judges. It makes it look like there was cheating. I actually believe one judge was way more out of line but he was replaced (by draw) in the Free Dance. Nicholas Russell who really wanted that medal for Fear and Gibson.

Have you forgotten how Sale and Pellitier wound up with gold medals?

It was because a steady drumbeat of media coverage and accompanying scrutiny shone a spotlight on shady dealings.

And believe me, there were, and still are, those who don't think they deserved them. FWIW I'm not one of those.

The problem is that the sport still has not fixed these problems that even defenders of the French must concede look pretty shady.

Six points in the RD and 8 more in the FD... in a final result decided by a point and a half?

Let me put this in perspective in a way that you'll understand:

I'm thrilled Piper and Paul won their bronze medal. Do you think that would have happened if the British judge was still on the FD panel and Lewis and Lilah had skated that performance as well as they had all year? Or do you think that British judge would have screwed them as badly as I believe the French judge screwed Chock and Bates? And if he had, would you be as deferential to the judging system as you now appear to be?

 

[Mathman]

A lot of those saying "it was rigged" on social media are casual fans who watch only during the Olympics and have no idea how the judging works...

Thank you for making this point in such a reasonable and unemotional voice.