Figure Skating Controversy

[rabid1st]

So, Evan Lysacek took the Gold and Evgeni Plushenko settled for the Silver. But what sets my teeth on edge was Johnny Weir got robbed. I mentioned the other day that I find a lot to love in the new judging system. I think it removes some of the subjectivity from judging and it makes the whole process more transparent for the skaters. Fair is fair. You have the point value in your program and you execute it flawlessly...and you win. But sometimes doing things "by the numbers" leads to perplexing results for the audience. Case in point, Lysacek's robotic performance wasn't nearly as moving as Plushenko's all or nothing passion. Johnny Weir skated a beautiful program and landed every jump flawlessly, and yet, he's beaten by a man who fell and another man who was frankly exhausted and exhausting to watch. There is no doubt in my mind that Johnny should have been fourth at the very least.

Meanwhile, Elvis Stojko is upset because Evgeni Plushenko successfully landed his quad and a number of other amazing jump sequences. Elvis might be a little biased toward the athletic side of figure skating, however, as he was noted more for his jumping ability and often struggled with his artistic marks.

http://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/vancouver/figure_skating/news?slug=es-thoughts021810&prov=yhoo&type=lgns

I do agree with Elvis though about the caliber of Olympians we might be producing in light of these new rulings. Johnny decided to "play it safe" and not break out his quad jump. Had he used it and landed it, he might have scored the points that his otherwise stellar performance failed to achieve. A point system is fair...but it can't reflect artistic soul. I would think that would favor skaters like Plushenko or Stojko, who can put together powerful jumps, but apparently the old fashioned subjective, heartfelt judging is what they want. They want the quad to set them apart. I want figure skating to make me stand up and cheer. I noticed people were standing and cheering for Johnny...even without the quad.

Comments

[wickedgillie.livejournal.com]

I totally agree Johnny was robbed. It was a simply beautiful performance. I think he earned himself some new respect. He's so flamboyant to the extreme that I don't think many took his skating seriously. I think he changed a lot of minds this week.

Now, I don't think Evan's performance was robotic, although it definitely wasn't as free flowing as his short program. There was a lot of grace there, intricate choreography, and he didn't front-load his program. I actually didn't care for Evgeni's long program at all, quad or no quad. I've seen him do so much better, and last night, I don't think it added up to a gold. It's my opinion that the better over-all athlete of the two won.

But yes--back to your original point, Johnny Weir was not properly rewarded for the difficulty of his program nor its sheer artistry. I don't think it's so much a matter of the point system not working in his favour, because I am fairly ok with the new system. I think he was seriously underscored and easily put in a bronze-worthy performance.

[binah1013.livejournal.com]

Just an irreverent comment, didn't Lysacek look like the old school master in both his routines? Or at least a death eater in his free skate?

Heh.

[jwaneeta.livejournal.com]

I really don't understand why Johnny Weir was scored so shockingly low. I mean, it was almost like the judges were trying to send a message, but about what?

Skate judges are so weird... not to say corrupt.

[phdelicious.livejournal.com]

I agree that Johnny was robbed, but I'm completely not in agreement about Plushenko. I think he was incredibly arrogant thinking that he could come back for just ~6 months and win gold and I didn't think his long program was that great. He may have landed his jumps but they weren't well done.

[rabid1st.livejournal.com]

I was probably a bit too harsh on Evan and a bit too generous with Plushenko there. I think Evan was elegant and precise in his performance. Clean, but not very imaginative and, for me, not very interesting to watch. Plushenko brings the arrogance, as you noted. It was very arrogant of him to think he should have the gold...he didn't skate cleanly and of the two of them I definitely think they have them in the right order. My point was more to the global concept of the new judging...it is designed, apparently, to keep people like Plushenko, who front loads his program and relies on his jumping power to simply dominate by aggressive skating from dominating. But, sadly, it still allows the divine program by Johnny Weir to be overshadowed by bigger jumping.

There is a disconnect somewhere in that judging process, I think. Either you reward clean, precise, artistic skating...and medal Weir...or you reward power jumpers and reward Plushenko...but they seemed to reward power one moment and precision the next.

Rae

[phdelicious.livejournal.com]

Ok. I think I've been increasingly disposed to snap at Plushenko supporters because he's seemed to me to be increasingly disrespectful in his media appearances.

I think Plushenko didn't play the game right - the system, from what I can tell, rewards putting harder elements in the back half of the program and he front loaded. I think if more of the jumps had been in the back to get the bonus points it might have gone differently.

I have no explanation for how Johnny got shafted to badly.

One of my friends actually found a copy of the score sheet for Lysacek and Plushenko if you'd like me to fwd it to you...

[rabid1st.livejournal.com]

I would be interested in seeing those, yes. You can forward them to Rabid1st@yahoo.com if you like. I would be more interested in a peek at Johnny Weir vs. the Swiss skater (who I felt was just awful). I don't have much of a problem with the placements, as I said.

I think the arguments for Plushenko are nuts because the athletic prowess is in being artistic while exhausted after 4 minutes of skating. I find him a passionate skater, as I said in my post...with a lot of power behind his jumps...something he has in common with Elvis Stojko...but I never liked him as a skater. He reminds me of Pete Sampras in tennis. Yes, Pete can hit a tennis ball with percision and speed so that nobody can return his serve...but that's not good tennis. Tennis is the whole game. And skating is the whole show...not just landing one particular jump...no matter how showy that particular jump might be.

However, again, if it wasn't about the showiness of the jumps...then there is no way Weir isn't in third from those performances. On the other hand, I suppose it is possible that Weir did skate too conservatively as Dick Button assured Access Hollywood viewers tonight. Then it comes back to the idea that the judges might have awarded him a bronze if HE had added his quad.

Rae

[kojote.livejournal.com]

Lambiel seemed really exhausted and botched his jumps, but if you go back and look at his footwork and spins, they are incredible. The footwork was as clean-edged and precise as the jumps were sloppy, and I'm just blown away by his spins, which generally were just incredibly stable. (Most skaters seem to travel when spinning, so the axis of the spin bobbles or shifts.) And the position of Lambiel's arms, legs, and hands make for truly interesting angles and symmetries. (What can I say? I'm a sucker for beautiful spins.)

That said, I wholeheartedly agree that Weir's long programme was cleaner and more consistent than Lambiel's (or the Japanese skater whose name I'm forgetting), and it was certainly more interesting than the Japanese skater's programme. I'm not sure if Weir's long programme should have been scored high enough to make up for the vast gulf in short programme scores between the top three and the next three skaters, so that he could win the bronze, but my impression of how the different programmes were scored does lead me to the conclusion that he definitely should have been awarded a lot more for the long programme and that he definitely should have ranked above Lambiel.

I do NOT understand why Weir was awarded so poor a score. I really would have appreciated if some of NBC's overpaid talking heads had hypothesised about what the judges did (or didn't) see that led to such low scores.

[gwendolynflight.livejournal.com]

Well, I think Weir lost a lot of points on his transitions - or lack thereof. If you watch Evan's performance, he has something on every second of that program, whereas a lot of Johnny's program was getting from one thing to the next. At least, that's what my roomie and I decided, because otherwise he should've been ahead of that Swiss guy. It's gotta be transitions ....