Home field advantage is not just a myth, and it happens at every event.
Would Tim Goebel have even been close to Plushenko at 2003 Worlds if it were held in Moscow instead of Washington?
Would Stefan Lindemann have a world bronze if worlds weren't in Germany?
Would a lot of US ice dance teams of the dim past medal in a GP other than Skate America?
Very unlikely.
One should never forget that international judges are people. They are part of the audience. When everyone around is rising, clapping and shouting, "Bravo," it is only human to want to join in.
And a skater or team often puts on either their very best or very worst performances at home, in front of friends and family. It is a unique situation.
And so it often happens that skaters get uncharacteristically high marks for themselves at home. They skate better, the audience responds uproariously to the home town hero, the judges fear to be lynched, and the scores come rolling up.
Everywhere. Not just in Canada.
Perhaps they should isolate the judges in a soundproof booth from the audience
The music would be piped in. That might help.
However, Skate Canada does have one systemic problem that some of the other federations don't have. For whatever reason, the field of non-Canadians in Canada often seems weak. I invite the comments of Canadians on why this is so.
One thing is that the very first competition of the season is usually loaded with talent. It used to be Skate America, but this year was NHK. None of these people will want to fly from Japan to Canada to compete again. They will want to wait a few weeks to recuperate. Consequently, we do not see any NHK entrants at SC. Prior to this last couple years, SA was always held first, SC was always second on the schedule, and the result was a weaker field at SC.
Next year SC should have to go first. Perhaps we would see a different class of competitors here.
