The ISU has quietly instituted a major change to the way judging will be handled for the up-coming Olympics and, perhaps, future Olys.

http://sports.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20090419.wsptsktg19/GSStory/GlobeSportsOther/home

This is a real eye-opener and should be read closely to fully understand what all the ISU is setting up. It is not necessarily good.

Mary C.

http://isu.sportcentric.net/db//files/serve.php?id=1427

New guidelines from ISU on GOE & levels.

A lot of what is presented in Beverly Smith's article bothers me. The ISU's governing board has changed the number of judges who will decide the results of the Olympic figure skating competitions. This number has been lowerd to just five judges! This, IMHO, is a dangerous move because it facilitates easier bloc judging which can skew the results by manipulating the GOEs the individual judges award to each skater from particular countries. However, this is only one of the bad outcomes from this judging change.

Quotes from the article:

Quote:

A U.S. statistician and figure skating enthusiast, George Rossano, says if one of those five judges offers a single bad mark — whether it be by mistake, misconduct, incompetence or national bias — the importance of the mark is increased by 40 per cent "since a bad mark will now be one of five instead of one in seven."

Quote:

He said a judge can create a one-point change between two rivals by manipulating the presentation marks alone. Judges may also skew marks by more than three points by using the grade of execution marks they give for technical elements, too, he says. Final results are often determined by less than three points.

This would allow a less-than-honest judge to sway the results permitting his "preferred" skater to garner more points than the skater whom he don't want to medal. Rossano goes on to state that it is highly possible for bloc of judges to turn what should be a slim margin into a major one, thereby, insuring that the skater whom they wish to medal, does so.

According to the article, the ISU alleges that they have made this change to "save money." Now, who in their right mind really thinks that is true, LOL. I certainly don't. My greatest fear is that there will be a repeat performance of the 2002 Olympic judging scandal. This judging change certainly ups the chances that such an repeat event could occur.

To those who may think none of this is important, note that the member federations had no say in any of this because the ISU gained the right to make these kinds of changes at the 2006 governing board congress. Little did the turkeys who voted for that realize what they were allowing the ISU officials to do...or maybe, they did know which makes the whole situation even worse. There is no opportunity for the member federations to vote this judging change out because they won't meet again until after the 2010 Olympics! I find it highly suspicious that the ISU made this change, knowing full well that the member federations could do nothing to rescind it prior to the 2010 Olympics.

What irks me even more is that, with Brian primed for another run for an Olympic gold medal, some judging bloc will most likely have a hand in whatever the outcome may be. I would rather Brian win his Olympic gold medal fair and square than have the results skewed in his favor or, worse yet, skewed away from his favor!

Mary C.

I confess that I swim a bit concerning GOE etc , I hope that judges will be uncommitted next year otherwise skating will take a blow!!
J'avoue que je nage un peu concernant le GOE etc ,j'espère que les juges seront impartiaux l'année prochaine sinon le patinage en prendra un coup !!

wow, wow, wow.. now this is serious.
it's a strange decision. especially with Olys ahead. money problem? I don't believe it.
it's certain that it won't be changed before the 2009/2010 season, right?