Judges drawn for 4cc

[Ice Dance]

All the top teams earned the same levels at NHK. The Shibs earned the best technical scores based on GOE. (Which makes perfect sense, IMO. Who executes better than perfection?)

 

[katha]

Eh, technical controller is not where the main power lies in the tech panel IMO. That's tech specialist. It will be interesting to see who is assigned there. Though I agree in general that the pool of tech specialists in ice dance is too small and so every result gets potentially questioned because they all have ties to somewhere. Bowness is all right for calling Euros, I guess, but P/C are in Montreal. Does she have ties there? Blumberg seems strict but fair, but again she's American so the question mark always remains. Molina and his ties to Montreal. The Italian callers. Dostatni is pretty much a story onto himself... Humphreys and Gordon-Poltorak don't seem as tied to different camps, though I'm sure everyone complains about them all the time as well. I'm sure it's difficult to get enough people with the level of expertise and knowledge, it strikes me as a very difficult job. But since the tech panel wields so much power in ice dance, IMO they should try to expand it and to become more open about how the competitions are assigned. Also, be honest about potential bias and that perhaps it can't be totally avoided...but put in checks and balances. So no favouring one particular nation or coaching team on the panel.

 

[chuckm]

TECH PANELS:


MEN
Referee Chihee RHEE KOR
Tech Controller Beth CRANE CAN
Tech Spec Franca BIANCONI ITA
Asst Tech Spec Fernand FEDRONIC FRA


LADIES
Referee Rolf PIPOH GER
Tech Controller Yukiko OKABE JPN
Tech Spec Myriam LORIOL-OBERWILER SUI
Asst Tech Spec Jae-Eun CHUNG KOR


PAIRS
Referee Pekka LESKINEN FIN
Tech Controller Susan LYNCH AUS
Tech Spec Troy GOLDSTEIN USA
Asst Tech Spec Soltan KOKOEV RUS



DANCE
Referee Jodi ABBOTT CAN
Tech Controller David MOLINA FRA
Tech Spec Judy BLUMBERG USA
Asst Tech Spec Sylwia NOWAK-TREBACKA POL

 

[robredo40]

Judy Blumberg is biased for the American dance teams, if Weaver and Poje skate well and get screwed we will know the reason why looks like the ISu with the French tech controller want to make sure they have no chance at the world tittle poor them the sacrificial lambs again.

 

[VIETgrlTerifa]

Has Blumberg shown bias towards American ice dance teams before? If she has can you provide examples? I'm seriously curious.

 

[VIETgrlTerifa]

So I ended up looking up competitions where she was on the technical panel, and this is what I found:

She was on the panel at 2012 Four Continents where Virtue/Moir beat Davis/White with a pretty sizeable gap, thanks to D/W's lower technical base score in the FD. Interesting to note, Weaver/Poje received a higher base TES than Davis/White. As did Hubbell/Donahue. The Shibs actually had the second highest TES base in the FD.

She was on the panel for 2013 Worlds where the Shibs had a low TES base score compared to Chock/Bates and Weaver/Poje. Weaver/Poje did lose the TES base score in the SD to both Chock/Bates and the Shibs, but in the FD, Weaver Poje beat the Shibs and was slightly behind C/B. Weaver/Poje were also coming back from major injury. Virtue/Moir and Davis/White had the same base TES in the FD. In the SD, we saw that D/W were ahead on TES, but on the base value, V/M beat them on the pattern dance. What hurt them was the twizzle and non-touching step sequence receiving lower levels. The SD TES is interesting because Virtue/Moir, Bobrova/Soloviev, Pechelat/Bourzat, Cappellini/Lanotte, The Shibs, and Coomes/Buckland received the same TES (third highest). Chock/Bates actually received the second highest base score. The FD is interesting because D/W, V/M, C/L, and Zhignanshina/Gazsi received the same base value. Chock/Bates were next, then Weaver/Poje who with Carron/Jones (FRA) received a higher base than bronze medalists Bobrova/Soloviev, who had a comparatively low TES base with the Shibs. Pechelat/Bourzat and Ilinykh/Katsalapov also received surprisingly lower ones but that's not surprising given the FD performances.

She was on the panel at 2015 Skate America where Chock/Bates and Sinitsina/Katsalapov received the same base value for the SD and Chock Bates had the 4th highest TES base value tying with Gilles/Poirier and Yanovskaya/Mozgov.

 

[karne]

Judy Blumberg is biased for the American dance teams, if Weaver and Poje skate well and get screwed we will know the reason why looks like the ISu with the French tech controller want to make sure they have no chance at the world tittle poor them the sacrificial lambs again.

You, ah, know there's more than one person on a technical panel, right?

 

[katha]

I just wanted to say, Blumberg was the one who dinged C/B on levels in the FD this season in Skate America, leading to Sinitsina/Katsalapov winning the TES mark there. That's the one instance I could remember. And thanks to the examples VIETgrlTerifa provided here in other events, that's hardly a visible pattern of bias for American skaters IMO... She seems on the stricter side in general, but strict for everybody.

 

[WeakAnkles]

I just wanted to say, Blumberg was the one who dinged C/B on levels in the FD this season in Skate America, leading to Sinitsina/Katsalapov winning the TES mark there. That's the one instance I could remember. And thanks to the examples VIETgrlTerifa provided here in other events, that's hardly a visible pattern of bias for American skaters IMO... She seems on the stricter side in general, but strict for everybody.

She's always been a stickler. But biased? Not in the least. She's a consummate professional. I just wish she'd do more commentary. She and Tanith would make a terrific commenting team.

 

[WeakAnkles]

Judy Blumberg is biased for the American dance teams, if Weaver and Poje skate well and get screwed we will know the reason why looks like the ISu with the French tech controller want to make sure they have no chance at the world tittle poor them the sacrificial lambs again.

And in the same light one might wonder, why no North American winning team the last two years? Could it be because of a Eurobias judging panel, which are always, always predominately European?

See how easy it is to sling unfounded accusations?

 

[VIETgrlTerifa]

Also interesting to note, in the examples above, the only times the tech panel where Judy Blumberg was involved awarded a level four for a step sequence was for Virtue/Moir (one out of two) at 2012 Four Continents, Davis/White and Chock/Bates for their no-touching step sequence at Worlds 2013 SD and Chock/Bates for one of their step sequences in the FD. Keep in mind the calls C/B got at Skate America. So if precedent means anything, I wouldn't expect too many showerings of level 4 calls at 4CC unlike Euros. Maybe C/B will get one with their re-worked steps, but who knows. I don't think there's enough to say she's biased.

 

[anirien]

She's always been a stickler. But biased? Not in the least. She's a consummate professional. I just wish she'd do more commentary. She and Tanith would make a terrific commenting team.

They had her commentate Worlds a few years back (2011 iirc) and she was amazing. I always wish they'd have her back but maybe she was a little too snarky/blunt for commentating at the time.