Former Judge Speaks Up | Golden Skate

Former Judge Speaks Up

I can't help but wonder if ANOTHER scandal is brewing. That would be the breaking point IMO. Everyone is saying it's nice and shiny now with the new system, but I have my nagging doubts. Two scandals in FS in two consecutive olympics would be the nail in the coffin, IMO.
 
Piel said:

Here is a quote from this article.

"Russians Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze did win despite a fall. It seemed to most that Canadians Jamie Sale and David Pelletier had a superior performance, and eventually the embarrassed International Olympic Committee awarded them a second gold medal."

This information is incorrect.

1. B&S did NOT have a fall. (In fact if anyone had a fall, it was S&P in the short program). If Jon Jackson said so, he is trying to mislead the readers. If the journalist wrote so, he did not do his homework.

2. "It seemed to most"---who are the "most" here? The general audience that watches figure skating once every 4 years? The judges were 5:4 and that just shows a close competition.

3.S&P had a cleaner but not necessarily superior performance, due to a lower degree of difficulty in their choreography. The results were NOT an embarrassment (regardless of what Sandra said), considering the high quality of B&S's skate. Apart from a small mistake (not a fall!) on the sbs double axel by Anton, they skated very well.

This article is distorting facts. It's Olympics time so a lot of people seem to think they can get away by writing anything, because majority of people don't know the details.

Vash
 
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Vash is correct and what's all that fuss about the salad dressing?

I'll read the book when I get time but I hope a better review of the book is available. I think that article needs a total rewrite.

Joe
 
Olympic "Scandal"

Vash is correct. There was NO fall, only a step out by Anton in the double axel. The rest of their program was flawless and complex, with beautiful choreography between the elements. They deserved their win on artistic merits, and they also won the short program. The only "scandal" was in awarding that second gold medal, which Mr. Rogge has since admitted was a mistake, but the commentators and interviewers insist on flailing this dead horse forever.
 
Where can I read Rogge's statement admitting the second gold was a mistake?

Thanks.

(I am also interested in knowing when Scott apologized for slanting his comments during his SLC commentary. Somehow, I missed both.)
 
Is there the salad dressing police that we are not aware of? I will go ahead and out myself now. I do enjoy BlueCheese and Ranch at times.;)
 
Alsace said:
Where can I read Rogge's statement admitting the second gold was a mistake?

Thanks.

(I am also interested in knowing when Scott apologized for slanting his comments during his SLC commentary. Somehow, I missed both.)

Alsace, Jacques Rogge made these comments in an interview in the NY Times one year after SLC. I hadn't heard that Scott apologized.
 
Vash I wish Dick and Scott and the other commentators were as smart as you and the rest of us! Sheesh rehashing the "scandal" annoys me to no end.
 
Red Dog said:
I can't help but wonder if ANOTHER scandal is brewing. That would be the breaking point IMO. Everyone is saying it's nice and shiny now with the new system, but I have my nagging doubts. Two scandals in FS in two consecutive olympics would be the nail in the coffin, IMO.


I disagree that another scandal would hurt skating's popularity. Dick Button said, and I agree, that he was hoping there would be a scandal at the olympics to make it interesting. Obviously I want the best performances to be awarded the medals... but it certainly is fun when there is drama.

I think that people who only tune in every 4 years will be completely baffled by COP... I hope they come up with a canned tutorial to show before the events begin so that the rest of the viewers can catch up to what we have been trying to learn in the grand prix the last few years.
 
Longhornliz said:
I think that people who only tune in every 4 years will be completely baffled by COP... I hope they come up with a canned tutorial to show before the events begin so that the rest of the viewers can catch up to what we have been trying to learn in the grand prix the last few years.

Our local newspaper had a COP primer a couple of weeks age explaining COP. I was surprised because they hardly ever report on skating.
 
Vash01 said:
Here is a quote from this article.

"Russians Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze did win despite a fall. It seemed to most that Canadians Jamie Sale and David Pelletier had a superior performance, and eventually the embarrassed International Olympic Committee awarded them a second gold medal."

This information is incorrect....(Vash goes into details).
:agree: :rock: :agree:

Rgirl
 
For example, he claims the Russian propaganda machine has spun its magic to promote Irina Slutskaya as the favorite in Turin.

Hmmm, I only thought she was considered the favorite since she won Worlds last year, because she has had an oustanding career winning 6 World medals, 4 GP finals, and 7 European titles, and because she has only lost 1 event the last 2 seasons to a skater who is not even in the Olympics. Silly me, it was only the Russian propaganda, how could I have not seen that. :chorus:
 
Scandals will not happen as we know it. I think any Federation Head is as nervous about the sport going downhill as everyone seems to think it will if.....

However, that will not stop influential ISU members from instituting changes in the levels of elements in favor of his personal favorites. Nor will it stop him from announcing any changes until after his favorites have had sufficient time to practice the changes :disapp:

Joe
 
The fall attributed to B&S does not surprise me. Most articles I see have their facts wrong. I saw one last week that said B&S won despite multiple errors in their program. I guess it sounds better if it looks like S&P got royally screwed.

I don't think another scandal will be the downfall of skating. It seems that no matter what happens, it will always be hugely popular at the Olympics. So long as it's popular, it's also a huge money maker for the games.
 
Joesitz said:
However, that will not stop influential ISU members from instituting changes in the levels of elements in favor of his personal favorites. Nor will it stop him from announcing any changes until after his favorites have had sufficient time to practice the changes :disapp:

Joe

In that case the North American skaters (USA &Canada) should not have anything to worry about since these two countries are among the most influential in the world of figure skating. IMO it is only natural for ISU members to recommend changes that would help their own skaters. If there are advantages of rule changes, those must be distributed among several nations.

Vash
 
Vash01 said:
Here is a quote from this article.

"Russians Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze did win despite a fall. It seemed to most that Canadians Jamie Sale and David Pelletier had a superior performance, and eventually the embarrassed International Olympic Committee awarded them a second gold medal."

This information is incorrect.

1. B&S did NOT have a fall. (In fact if anyone had a fall, it was S&P in the short program). If Jon Jackson said so, he is trying to mislead the readers. If the journalist wrote so, he did not do his homework.

2. "It seemed to most"---who are the "most" here? The general audience that watches figure skating once every 4 years? The judges were 5:4 and that just shows a close competition.

3.S&P had a cleaner but not necessarily superior performance, due to a lower degree of difficulty in their choreography. The results were NOT an embarrassment (regardless of what Sandra said), considering the high quality of B&S's skate. Apart from a small mistake (not a fall!) on the sbs double axel by Anton, they skated very well.This article is distorting facts. It's Olympics time so a lot of people seem to think they can get away by writing anything, because majority of people don't know the details.Vash


Huh? I distinctly remember seeing Anton stumble on one of his jumps and Alena messed up on one of her elements

S&P had a perfect skate and not to mention the skate of the night. It was the most inspiring program of the evening. Where were you?

I don't know where people get the idea that B&S's program was more difficult than S&P's choreographically. Jamie and David's program was beautiful and they skated it well, particularly that night.

B&S did not have a great performance and their music was a horrible arrangement of one of the greatest classical pieces - Meditation from Thias. It was very distorted at the end.

Do you know all the details? Does not sound like it to me.

Takes me back to the famous Battle of the Brians at the Calgary Olympics. Their skate was also very close in marks - Brian Boitano won only by one-tenth of a point. Perhaps one could argue that Brian Boitano should not have been awarded the gold medal that night. Brian Orser only messed up on one jump, and he was artistically superior to Brian Boitano. However, the judges were not swayed by crooked judging as they were at the Salt Lake Olympics.

Vash I think you need to study figure skating a little more closely. You might learn something.
 
The second gold medal was awarded because of the statement made by the "French Judge" Once she had made her statement, she had to be disqualified, and that made the score 4 to 4, a tie, so the IOC ordered up a sceond gold for S&P. This was an IOC action since these medals belong to the IOC, and it would never have happened if left up to $peedy, who wanted to sweep the whole thing under the rug and forget about it. If $peedy had his way there wouldn't even have been an investigation or any punishment of anyone. It was only IOC insistance that the ISU clean up its act that forced $peedy to do something about it.
 
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