Figure Skating - blahblah

[Mac_Bug]

Russian pair got 5 out of 9 votes and wins #1

Immediate public outcry, commentary on 'communist countries' and 'the West'

Subsequent inquiry

French wildcard, surprise surprise, came forward claiming 'pressured'.

IOC tries to cover up ASAP, ISU wants to investigate further, meeting on Monday

Next day IOC awards Canadian pair gold, and let the Russians keep theirs.

Scandal far from over.

Anything wrong with this picture?

Reporters on TV claim that this could have potential to 'tarnish' this Olympics 'forever'. Suddenly figure skating became 'hell' for the past 60 years, cite back to 1998, and then interview old people who 'lost' their medal due to back room deals.

Suppose this whole thing didn't happen. What is figure skating? 'Jewel of Winter Olympics'.

At least, that's what they said before the event happened.

Suppose that the Russians skated 'perfect', would they have then won the gold medal and people all agree they did, and even though the French judge was 'pressured to vote for them', would we have found that part out?

Suppose the French judge wasn't pressured, and she simply thought the Russians superior, along with FOUR OTHER judges.

What are they going to do then?

We like to think the rest of the world thought the Canadian pairs won as well. I'm sure the Russians thought their pair skated better, and the West is going into another conspiracy against them to overthrow their 40 year dominance of the sport too.

If you think yourself a rational and unbiased and still thought the Canadian won, how do you perceive the other side?

I'm sure the other side thought themselves rational and unbiased and liked the Russians better. Who's right, who's wrong?

Isn't this a judging sport? Perceived honesty isn't what this is all about. Suppose there was perceived honesty, then we'd never have any changes to the judging rules.

This reminds me of the US election and the electoral crap. As far as I'm concerned, Gore is the official US president because he won the popular vote because MORE PEOPLE VOTED FOR HIM. But as far as Americans are concerned, Bush won because he won the only vote that matters...

Now suppose the other 4 judges honestly thought the Russians were better. Suppose next time same event happens, and 5 of the judges honestly thought the RUssians were better, and the rest of 'us' thought the Canadians were on top.

This isn't 'award the guy with fastest time'.

Of course I presume the French judge would've voted for the Canadians had she not been pressured (after all she never did say she would've, only rest of the media implied). Then in that case, the Canadians wins fair and square ...

Hey wait a minute, there are 4 judges who thought Russians were better, not to mention the entire Eurasian region!

Should the Russians be allowed to keep their gold, when after all it becomes clear they did not deserve it?

At the same time we argue sports turn out winners and losers, we talk of the Olympic spirit, that it did not matter whether you win or lose.

That's why they have pictures of the gold medalists in the Olympics museum, while the girl from some unknown country who finished last never as remembered.

Olympic Spirit?

Mumble jumble outta my head 2 in the morning.

Discuss

[mecha]

Nice rant, but the matter is a little more than just opinion and who you liked better, I think the argument is that the Russian pair made a mistake on one of their jumps with Anton Sikharulidze stumbling on the landing. The Candian pair made a technically flawless performance. Anton said that "It was a gold-medal performance. We tried to skate with emotions, with everything. There was no fall, no big mistake. If something was wrong with my jump, it was a minor thing." Other judging events have automatic mark penalties to the technical mark for mistakes to remove this sort of judging anomaly and to remove doubt when the result comes down to the presentation mark. Opinion does differ on which pair had the best presentation but the technical question is the heart of the argument. The two gold medals are justified by saying that after the French judge was removed it was a tie. And as for the enitre Eurasian continent being behind the Russians, uhm, no, maybe east of Germany but not the entire continent.

[Mac_Bug]

:)

[ceejayoz]

Mac - question... did you actually watch the event?

Almost everyone who watched thought the Canadians had it - the announcers even, who are former figure skaters themselves... the crowd knew it, the announcers knew it, etc. Afterwards there was an online vote on the official Olympics site... 98% said the Canadians had won.

In other words... you sound as if you're ranting without having watched the competition :)

[Thorn]

I watched that...
Canada won, no question there...
The Russians fell down..
The Canadians didnt fall once (at least, I dont remember, figure skating is the one that I usually get up for food in)

[Walker]

The Canadians clearly won. It was blindingly obvious. Not that I care.

[Mac_Bug]

Almost everyone who watched thought the Canadians had it

There goes my first contention, only 'everybody in the world' thought the Canadians skated better.

the announcers even, who are former figure skaters themselves... the crowd knew it, the announcers knew it, etc.

I'm sure that's why the entire Russian population thought the Russians were more artistic and 4 judges thought them better too.

Afterwards there was an online vote on the official Olympics site... 98% said the Canadians had won.

You know as well as I do that poll hardly represent 'everybody'. Btw, I voted for the Canadians on that.


The Canadians clearly won. It was blindingly obvious

So if it was so blindingly obvious, I wonder why we have this problem in the first place.

[EchoEffect]

Thats the problem with ice skating, People can argue over who was better. Its not like nearly every other olympic sport where its "highest" "fastest" "quickest".

However, its not to do with being "fair". The australian won that speed skate, even he admitted he didnt really deserve to win. In fact, if we were being fair, Salt Lake City wouldn't even HAVE the olympics, seeing as they bribed their way to it.

I like ice skating, sort of, was great fun watcing Torvil and Dean when they were still around. hmmmmmm.

[Mac_Bug]

http://www.msnbc.com/news/710146.asp

Whoopie

[StarHawk]

Reasons I think the Canadians won:
1. They did not fall on their asses in the long program thing.
2. They looked more gracefull less powerhouse Russian type thing of "WE will crush pairs skate".
3. The Canadian woman is better looking and more graceful in skating [she's also better looking as a woman :D ]
4. It was all the eastern judges vs all weastern judges [Canada voted for them, USA voted for em, the other weastern country voted for em.]
5. The counties that voted for Russia were Russia [big surprise there eh boys], Ukrain [ties to Russia], China [dont like us weasterners.], France [well typical French thinking they turn on the other guys when theirs trouble then when they get punished too they change their minds again.].
6. The thing was the Pairs Judges did NOT want to give up the "Russian Dynasty" to CANADIANS!!! THE HORROR!

So there you go my rant and my two cents [and yea I had to keep watching replay after replay after replay of watching the Russian guy slide and fall then bounce back up like a rubber ball.]

[Mac_Bug]

The French judge throws interesting curve balls.

Now she's labeled 'full of shit' when she said she honestly thought the Russians were better.

Yet we believed her the first time around.

Suddenly the world explodes, and everyone 'always knew' judging was unfair.

Yet had this whole thing not taken place and the French judge voted for Canadians...

Nothing would've changed.

No new rules, nada.

And nobody's complaining about the judging.

The IOC criticized ISU for scheduling the meeting on Monday, and therefore went ahead to reward the gold.

The ISU stated on Thursday night that they do not have any conclusive evidences and thus wanted to wait until all the facts are on the table before holding the meeting and discussing anything.

Now it would seem there is little evidence to support either way, after all the key witness, the French judge, contradicted herself.

Put it in Letterman's way, if the IOC was running the 2001 Elections, America'd have two presidents.

[EchoEffect]

Er, because our public transport was amazing before :wtf: