Are judges really scoring figure skaters fairly?
By: Suhani 11.3
Figure skating. This sport is no stranger to controversy, whether it’s doping, back-door deals or corruption. Most of it has been festering under the ice for decades, accumulating concern from its fellow followers. But there has been one question looming over this elegant sport for years, one that’s never firmly been answered.
Are figure skating judges scoring fairly?
Unlike other sports in the Olympics, figure skating is judged in a different manner. In many sports, the winner is evident due to impartial things like timings, marks and finish lines. However, this isn’t how it works on the ice rink. Over here the scoring systems are subjective to each judge on the panel. Which forms the question, how credible are these scores and do they contain bias?
The relevancy of this problem can be seen just recently, in the Beijing 2022 winter Olympics. Huang Feng has returned and is eligible to serve as an official at the Olympic games. Huang Feng was previously serving his one-year suspension, for biased judging at the Pyeongchang Olympics pairs figure skating tournament, in 2018. He was also warned for his ‘clear support for the two Chinese pairs’ in 2017. Yet he is returning to the rink.
Unfortunately, this is not the only time something like this has happened. Looking into the history of figure skating an apparent pattern of biased scoring and lenient penalties emerges.
In 1998, a Canadian judge recorded a conversation where a Ukranian judge openly detailed which skaters would receive a medal, fixing their positions, before the Winter Olympics even took place. After the revelation of this tape the judge was suspended for one year.
In 2002, Salt Lake City Olympics. Despite a flawless performance by Canadian figure skaters the gold medal was awarded to the Russian duo. Apparently, The Russian Mafia had bribed judges to fix the pairs figure skating competition. Some of the judges were even directed to rank the Russian pair first, and after further investigation it was revealed that a quid pro quo was arranged between Russian and French votes. The judges were suspended for three years.
In 2014, Yuna Kim from South Korea was predicted to win the gold medal, but the results bestowed shock upon everyone. Russian skater Adelina Sotnikova took home the gold medal despite making a major mistake in her routine. The Atlantic reported seeing, after her skate, Sotnikova hugging a judge which only caused further questions to arise. Unfortunately, the ISU disregarded the claims.
Despite the prevalence of corruption, there are new precautions being implemented into the world of figure skating to prevent further controversies. For example, in the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics, it was the first time where judging wasn’t anonymous. It allowed judges to be held accountable for biased scoring and encouraged fair voting for the skaters. Chloe Katz, former American competitor, stated “We work our entire lives for this. You give up so much, and you would hope that the judges are fair.” Maybe this transparency can lead to more repair of the current system, leading to a fairer and more credible Figure skating competition. It is what the ISU owes our figure skaters.
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