Figure Skating is Not a Sport, or Canada Got Screwed-take your pick.

[Dooby]

Anybody have thoughts on the figure skating debacle?

To me, it shows why judged events are too subjective and should not be characterized as "sport."

[TheKid]

Exactly what happened in that.. I turned to it and they were talking about something, I saw the girl crying but they never said exactly what happened.

[LonestarROB]

Canada got SCREWED!!

[Big Boy Laroux]

ok, i don't watch figure skating that often, but with NBC shoving it down our throats (and me being over at my girlfriend's place), i just happened to watch it.

canadians deserved to win. they had no flaws. the russians had a very obvious flaw.

and all this happened after the girtl for the canadians collided with the girl from the russians in warmups (not sure who's fault it was)...

anyway, apparently there was some deal with the russian and french judge. they would score the russians higher in excahnge for the french ice dancers to be scored higher later. read that on espn.com today.

some figure skating committee is looking into it.

and figure skating is not a sport. people who aren't even competing (judges) hold too much power in it.

[Dooby]

SALT LAKE CITY -- Sources within the International Skating Union have told ESPN/ABC Sports figure skating reporter Christine Brennan that a collaboration between the French and Russian judges helped spark the controversy that has the skating world and the Winter Olympics in an uproar.


The Canadian Olympic delegation on Tuesday was reported to have requested an investigation into why Russians Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze won the gold medal when many observers feel that Canadians Jamie Sale and David Pelletier were more worthy, however, ISU council president Ottavio Cinquanta said they have not received a formal complaint on Wednesday.

Brennan, one of the world's leading authorities on figure skating, says that reliable sources within the ISU told her that a collaboration between the French and Russian judges did happen.

"When (figure skating officials) investigate, I think they're going to find out that the French judge worked a deal with the Russians," Brennan said.

ISU president Ottavio Cinquanta said Wednesday that the referee of the pairs competition, American Ronald Pfenning, "has made certain allegations" about the controversial judging of the event.

Cinquanta did not say what allegations Pfenning made in a letter to the federation. Cinquanta admitted there were other allegations, "but the most important is the one of the referee. He is the coordinator of the competition.

"There's absolutely no doubt that the Canadians should have won. Their 'Love Story' program was just marvelous. The performance was perfect.

"The Russian pair made small errors including a small mistake on one jump. To me it's clear. It should have been crystal clear for the Canadians."

Brennan said she watched the tapes again and the Canadians' performance only gets better.

"I was shocked the moment I saw the scores and I'm still shocked," she said. "I ran into three international judges, all of them judging at the Olympics, within three minutes after the competition. 'This is an outrage,' they said in unison. I've never seen judges come up to a reporter -- as opposed to going away from them -- and say this is an outrage."

Until Monday, only a few diehard figure skating fans in North America knew who Sale and Pelletier were. That's all changed.

"Their agent told me he's had about a hundred calls," Brennan said. "I'm guessing they are now a household name, which never would have been if they'd won the gold medal with no controversy. I would imagine that they became millionaires in the last 24 hours. The sympathy factor is huge."

The scandal already is drawing comparisons to figure skating's most famous pair of all -- Tonya Harding and Nancy Kerrigan. The story could grow if the United States were to get involved because it's conceivable that if Sale and Pelletier should have won gold, Americans Kyoko Ina and John Zimmerman could have won bronze, Brennan said.

"This is really starting to remind me of Tonya and Nancy, but it's not there yet," Brennan said. "There's something about this that's starting to build and there's the sense that the pace with which it's starting is like it was with Tonya and Nancy. Now there's an investigation and the story has legs."

[madape]

and figure skating is not a sport. people who aren't even competing (judges) hold too much power in it

which is one reason I don't watch boxing. Sports that use judges open the door for corruption, which has become painfully obvious in both "sports".

[Rod1975]

I think David, the male counterpart of the team said it best, (and I'm paraphrasing here)
"If I did'nt want to be subject to judges, I would have been a skier"

Let's face it, it's a judged event, and anyone who is in that kind of "sport" automatically throws themself at the mercy of the judges.

So, by that rationale, if someone gets screwed in the points, who cares!! They ought to know their scores are going to be subject to the human factor. If they are naive enough to think that a judged event is going to always be 100% objective and accurate, shame on them for even taking up the pastime.

The bottom line is, they know what "sport" they are in, and they know what they got theirselves in to when they took it up. If they did'nt, they deserve to lose.

[Big Boy Laroux]

yeah, i agree with you rod, but the main thing here is that it is believed bribery or some other influence was used on the french judge to score a certain way. therefore, it wasn't her opinion, she was "coerced" into scoring it that way.

in fact, there's some press release by the captain of the french olympic team who states that the judge was indeed coerced...

[Smiles]

Consider the equestrian events: we know when we're brand new to the sport that the judges' opinions will play a large role.
You're right, Rod. We make the choice to participate in such sports. However if bribery is involved, well that's another matter and should not be ignored. I'm sure you agree.

Nice article Dooby! [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img] I worked really late these last two days and missed the whole issue.

[Rod1975]

True, bribery is something else entirely.

I hope that is'nt the case here though....

[LonestarROB]

Yeah, Canada rewarded the Gold metal. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

[Murphy3]

figure skating is not a sport..
why have all the b.s. in the olympics...figure skating and sychronized swimming..give me a freaking break

[Drbio]

I'm glad for the Canadians. They obviously skated the better routine. I do have a problem calling figure skating a sport though.

Doc