- Joined
- Jun 18, 2011
While flipping through one of my figure skating books, I saw several photographs of judges from the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s.
Two of the pictures showed several of the judges, literally on their hands and knees, with their heads pressed close to the ice, inspecting the precision of the compulsory tracings placed by one of the elite competitors. This was serious business, and all of the judges wore super-intense expressions.
Other pictures showed another group of judges at a World championship as they displayed their marks. They stood on the ice with two boxes attached to their waist, from which they pulled up and displayed cards - 5.9, 5.6, etc.
And other photographs showed the judges sitting at their panel area, displaying the scores with those cards.
Those were the days before instant replay, so the judges had only one opportunity to watch the performance. They did not have the luxury of watching replays of any of the jumps, spins, or other parts of the programs.
Many of those competitions were held outdoors, and the judges were bundled up with heavy fur coats, knee-high boots, fur hats, gloves, etc.
Two of the pictures showed several of the judges, literally on their hands and knees, with their heads pressed close to the ice, inspecting the precision of the compulsory tracings placed by one of the elite competitors. This was serious business, and all of the judges wore super-intense expressions.
Other pictures showed another group of judges at a World championship as they displayed their marks. They stood on the ice with two boxes attached to their waist, from which they pulled up and displayed cards - 5.9, 5.6, etc.
And other photographs showed the judges sitting at their panel area, displaying the scores with those cards.
Those were the days before instant replay, so the judges had only one opportunity to watch the performance. They did not have the luxury of watching replays of any of the jumps, spins, or other parts of the programs.
Many of those competitions were held outdoors, and the judges were bundled up with heavy fur coats, knee-high boots, fur hats, gloves, etc.