W.T.F.
Ah, the Olympic figure skating judging controversy begins! Although not really, since the asshole French Federation president (oh, I hate him!!) is completely twisting former judge Joe Inman's comments to say that he's encouraging judges to be biased against European skaters. OMFG, THAT'S NOT WHAT HE'S SAYING AT ALL. He's saying that judges have to mark what they see on the ice fairly. (Shock, horror!) And it was the French Federation who arranged the judging collusion in Salt Lake City, so spare me.
What spurred Inman's comments was this from Evgeni Plushenko:
"If the judges want someone to place high, they can arrange it. Like in Tallinn [in Estonia at the European championships last month] Brian Joubert got more points for his transitions than me, although we did exactly the same transitions on the ice.
"In fact, we don't have any transitions because we focus on our jumps."
Plushenko himself is admitting that his transitions suck! (And good on him for that. I can respect him more for being honest.) The transition score is part of the second mark, the presentation mark. This is obviously the mark with the most wiggle room for judges, and clearly some of them are still overmarking. (Good transitions between elements are, for example, a jump that comes right out of footwork. It's linking the elements of the program together through the choreography so they flow seamlessly. So it's not just, stroke, stroke, jump. Stroke, stroke, stroke, jump.)
But instead of the headlines reading, "Top Skater Admits to Being Overmarked," it's somehow about judges being anti-European. O_O I have to say, that is spin at its very worst. (Or best, depending on your perspective.) Amazing.
What spurred Inman's comments was this from Evgeni Plushenko:
"If the judges want someone to place high, they can arrange it. Like in Tallinn [in Estonia at the European championships last month] Brian Joubert got more points for his transitions than me, although we did exactly the same transitions on the ice.
"In fact, we don't have any transitions because we focus on our jumps."
Plushenko himself is admitting that his transitions suck! (And good on him for that. I can respect him more for being honest.) The transition score is part of the second mark, the presentation mark. This is obviously the mark with the most wiggle room for judges, and clearly some of them are still overmarking. (Good transitions between elements are, for example, a jump that comes right out of footwork. It's linking the elements of the program together through the choreography so they flow seamlessly. So it's not just, stroke, stroke, jump. Stroke, stroke, stroke, jump.)
But instead of the headlines reading, "Top Skater Admits to Being Overmarked," it's somehow about judges being anti-European. O_O I have to say, that is spin at its very worst. (Or best, depending on your perspective.) Amazing.