Olympic Games Tech Panels and Judges

[Corwin]

when i got opportunity set my avatar, choosing was so obvious )))) so lovely

This is from Rostelecom Cup 2016

https://psv4.userapi.com/c834604/u15816743/docs/d17/af435d36a0cf/60f947d7e971923ba9c0704172b7cba7.jpg

 

[Yatagarasu]

I'm not surprised that they are using more lenient panels (if they are indeed lenient) for the Olympics.

Then they should simply abolish URs/flutzes/lips as a thing.

Why do other skaters work so hard on fixing their technique when come competition, and a competition which they're all marketing as the most important thing ever, these suddenly don't matter?
All the athletes who worked hard to skate cleanly were clearly wasting their time; time they could have dedicated to something else.

Hey, why bother with a clean triple when a cheated, essentially double will do?

 

[Sam-Skwantch]

when i got opportunity set my avatar, choosing was so obvious )))) so lovely

This is from Rostelecom Cup 2016

https://psv4.userapi.com/c834604/u15816743/docs/d17/af435d36a0cf/60f947d7e971923ba9c0704172b7cba7.jpg

I’ve always used Yulia or Panda Bears for my avatar but just the other day I changed mine to this one of Nastya Tarakanova in the ball pit. I like it because it’s funny and happy!! Still...it’s weird not seeing Yulia next to my posts :hpull:

 

[VIETgrlTerifa]

I agree with all of you. I think tech panels are such a mess right now. Competition results are seriously decided by who is on the panel and what their philosophy is on rotation and edge calls. It's become way too inconsistent that it's unfair to the skaters because they get confused (like the same performance can either be seen as a failure or success depending on how many > they get). Some are too lenient and it's unfair to skaters who have taken the time (and who just can) to have great jump technique while I find others are needlessly harsh to the point where it's almost like a tick. Some times they are selective and inconsistent with their calling in the same competition as well...like what this SA panel was accused of being.

 

[Li'Kitsu]

I'm not surprised that they are using more lenient panels (if they are indeed lenient) for the Olympics. I find the Olympics is a competition where they sort of encourage giving skaters the benefit of the doubt unless a technical error is too egregious to ignore because of the nature of the competition. The ISU probably wants to avoid results and calls that will confuse the general audience. Since it's the Skate America panel, if Ashley and/or Karen make the Oly team, they need to rotate like they've never rotated before.

I'm not getting this "it's not to confuse general audiences" argument. How about explaining the rules? And what is less confusing for general audiences regarding the men's field and 100 points GOE & PCS for quads, even barely landed ones?
And why do Ash & Karen need "rotate like never before" with the SA panel? Because they dared to call anything at all? Both these ladies were at SC too, pretty sure they liked SA more

 

[Procrastinator]

How about we rely on more than one competition as a data point before dismissing the technical panel altogether.

 

[Baron Vladimir]

This really penalise those work hard to achieve good techniques, attack to achieve big beautiful jumps with no pre rotation and good edges. This only benefit federations but not the sport... why bother perfect your techniques anymore? Just backload everything and add tons of miming and tanos/rippons, voila!

But, i were saying how Zagi had more cleaner jumps than rest of a field, no matter she backloads it or not... the subject is in possibility that cleaner jumps wont be awarded enough with that tech pannel... or you think, the rest of the field competing for medals do jumps commonly better than Zagitova? We are losing the subject here

 

[liv]

I can see using panels that are more lenient just to make it more international casual viewer friendly.

If Skater A has a beautiful program and lands everything with the crowd going crazy and her coaches all happy, but URs most of her jumps and is given a low score, the tv audience will have no idea why she didn't get higher scores/potentially not podium. That wouldn't look good to average viewers, especially if Skater B or C who beat her have a fall or two, or other errors that are obvious to all. TPTB don't want that. Who knows, all sorts of people could write articles in press/social media about it, causing a big brouhaha and headache for the Olympics. They have had enough of that.

 

[Baron Vladimir]

I can see using panels that are more lenient just to make it more international casual viewer friendly.

If Skater A has a beautiful program and lands everything with the crowd going crazy and her coaches all happy, but URs most of her jumps and is given a low score, the tv audience will have no idea why she didn't get higher scores/potentially not podium. That wouldn't look good to average viewers, especially if Skater B or C who beat her have a fall or two, or other errors that are obvious to all. TPTB don't want that. Who knows, all sorts of people could write articles in press/social media about it, causing a big brouhaha and headache for the Olympics. They have had enough of that.

I agree with that, or better to say, i dont have problem with that - in awarding more what casual viewer can see watching the competition on tv. But the problem is - in what someone already said -why then making the rules talking about edge calls and under rotations at all

 

[CanadianSkaterGuy]

How about we rely on more than one competition as a data point before dismissing the technical panel altogether.

 

[MiRé]

I can see using panels that are more lenient just to make it more international casual viewer friendly.

If Skater A has a beautiful program and lands everything with the crowd going crazy and her coaches all happy, but URs most of her jumps and is given a low score, the tv audience will have no idea why she didn't get higher scores/potentially not podium. That wouldn't look good to average viewers, especially if Skater B or C who beat her have a fall or two, or other errors that are obvious to all. TPTB don't want that. Who knows, all sorts of people could write articles in press/social media about it, causing a big brouhaha and headache for the Olympics. They have had enough of that.

Way to throw away the integrity of the sport

 

[VIETgrlTerifa]

I'm not getting this "it's not to confuse general audiences" argument. How about explaining the rules? And what is less confusing for general audiences regarding the men's field and 100 points GOE & PCS for quads, even barely landed ones?
And why do Ash & Karen need "rotate like never before" with the SA panel? Because they dared to call anything at all? Both these ladies were at SC too, pretty sure they liked SA more

Yes. They got UR calls so they need to rotate like they never have before since they are most dependent on lenient tech panels thanks to their rotation issues. Even the lenient SA one "dared" to call Ashley and Karen's jumps which means they'll be suffering some calls at the Olympics unless they clean their rotations up. Just because they liked the SC panel less doesn't mean they love the SA one. It's not an either/or situation here.

Also, the confusing the general audience thing is when when you have a crowd that hasn't been trained to obsess about URs or haven't been trained to look out for URs with a sharp eye. The only way they really see it is if they literally see a skater landing forward and even then they might not completely grasp what a big mistake that is compared to a fully rotated step out or fall. I find we skating fans have been conditioned to think that way and some hold on to it like it's the Bible/Koran/Torah/etc. If people don't get that then they get confused why a seemingly "clean" and maybe "inspired" skate loses to one that seems less clean but has fully rotated jumps. It's happened before. I'm not saying I actually know the reason why someone like Shin Amano never does the Olympics but I do have a hunch that they don't want an overzealous caller either. Scores are confusing but rankings are not. General audiences know one score is higher than another score.

I can see using panels that are more lenient just to make it more international casual viewer friendly.

If Skater A has a beautiful program and lands everything with the crowd going crazy and her coaches all happy, but URs most of her jumps and is given a low score, the tv audience will have no idea why she didn't get higher scores/potentially not podium. That wouldn't look good to average viewers, especially if Skater B or C who beat her have a fall or two, or other errors that are obvious to all. TPTB don't want that. Who knows, all sorts of people could write articles in press/social media about it, causing a big brouhaha and headache for the Olympics. They have had enough of that.

Thank you for eloquently explaining what I was trying to say.

 

[combinationspin]

How about we rely on more than one competition as a data point before dismissing the technical panel altogether.

Of course you’re right that we don’t really know what the judging will be like. But the fact that the ISU chose this panel based on their performance at SA out of all six panels of the GP says something.

 

[Procrastinator]

Of course you’re right that we don’t really know what the judging will be like. But the fact that the ISU chose this panel based on their performance at SA out of all six panels of the GP says something.

We don't know why they were chosen.

 

[combinationspin]

We don't know why they were chosen.

Li’Kitsu posted about this here.

 

[Procrastinator]

Li’Kitsu posted about this here.

That doesn't answer the question, it begs it: we don't know why the powers that be decided to go with this technical panel.

 

[combinationspin]

That doesn't answer the question, it begs it: we don't know why the powers that be decided to go with this technical panel.

At least we can say, the ISU wasn’t dissatisfied with the tech panel’s performance at SA like many posters of this forum were. Promoting that panel to judge the Olympic event seems out of line with agenda the ISU has been pushing otherwise (‘URs, flutzes and lips are severe offences’, ‘details matter more than the overall impression’ etc).

 

[Procrastinator]

At least we can say, the ISU wasn’t dissatisfied with the tech panel’s performance at SA like many posters of this forum were. Promoting that panel to judge the Olympic event seems out of line with agenda the ISU has been promoting otherwise (‘URs, flutzes and lips are severe offences’, ‘details matter more than the overall impression’ etc).

I'm not sure we can even say that. We don't know what the discussions were, whether the judges were chided/their attention brought to certain discrepancies in post-meet judges' meetings, whether their judging at other competitions otherwise shows them as qualified, vel sim.

I just personally hate that figure skating is just a haven for conspiracy theorists at this point, and people will jump at the chance to say the fix is in as soon as possible.

 

[TontoK]

I know this isn't the exact right place to ask this question, but since this thread has so much griping, I thought it would do:

Are they going to award the medals on the ice right after the event? I hope they don't do like Sochi and just have a let-down flower ceremony, and then award the medals somewhere else after the excitement of the event has worn down.

I get that the Russians were giving the general public a chance to see the medal ceremony, but it was a bit deflating, IMO. If I won an Olympic medal, I'd want it STAT!

 

[kiches]

I know this isn't the exact right place to ask this question, but since this thread has so much griping, I thought it would do:

Are they going to award the medals on the ice right after the event? I hope they don't do like Sochi and just have a let-down flower ceremony, and then award the medals somewhere else after the excitement of the event has worn down.

I get that the Russians were giving the general public a chance to see the medal ceremony, but it was a bit deflating, IMO. If I won an Olympic medal, I'd want it STAT!

The medal ceremonies are after the free skate in the Pyeongchang Olympic Plaza, so I think they'll just receive flowers on the ice again. Plus you need a separate ticket to attend the medal ceremony.