Article - Skating Body Sets Hearing Date (LA Times)

[adrianchew]

http://www.latimes.com/sports/nationworld/wire/sns-ap-oly-skating-scandal0314mar14.story

[quote:94e4b4678d]LAUSANNE, Switzerland -- The International Skating Union will hold a hearing April 29-30 on the figure skating scandal that shook the Winter Olympics.

"The ISU has given and will still give all those concerned every opportunity for defense," it said. "However, the ISU has deliberately not taken any position on certain statements and accusations since it considers that this would not be proper will the case is pending." [/quote:94e4b4678d]

I wonder what the conclusions will be of this. :roll:

[Beth2000]

it will be interesting won't it?

[Schmeck]

I'm surprised that they're not holding the hearing on April 1st...

Now that everyone's had plenty of time to "get their stories straight", I think it's going to turn into a she said/he said, with the French now blaming it on the North Americans and the press.

I really don't believe that the ISU will do much to change the situation, since the Olys will have been over for months and out of the media spotlight by the time this hearing happens. But I will be happily surprised if changes are made that benefit the sport.

Schmeck, hoping that something good will come out of all of this, but...

[sulin]

At least there is going to *be* a hearing. I was afraid that after the 2nd set of gold medals was awarded the entire scandal would disappear into obscurity.

Since there were several witnesses to the original confession, I'm really hoping they will all have the oportunity to take the stand and then all parties involved should be questioned......assuming they're not too "high up" in the ISU to have to be questioned! :roll:

Unfortunately since the "French Judge" has changed her story so many times, it's going to be pretty hard to believe anything she says and I'm sure she'll end up being the scapegoat in this entire mess. :(

[blades]

8)

they can change the judging system all they want...the problem is systemic...get rid of cinquanta, a couple of refs and a few very bad judges and things will improve...

it's not the system...it's the people running the system that is the problem...skaters can't get a fair contest when there exists corruption at the highest levels...

[Dustin]

[quote:eeabe36996="blades"]8)

they can change the judging system all they want...the problem is systemic...get rid of cinquanta, a couple of refs and a few very bad judges and things will improve...

it's not the system...it's the people running the system that is the problem...skaters can't get a fair contest when there exists corruption at the highest levels...[/quote:eeabe36996]

[b:eeabe36996]Very[/b:eeabe36996] good post. Some judges are fair and believe in where they put their skaters and what they did the right thing. However, Cinquanta and other top officials never seem to live up to their promises. They handle the media well when pressure is on them, but they never follow up. That is what makes me mad. :x

[Jim D]

Changing the judging system would not have any significant or meaningful effect on the current situation, nor would it prevent the repetition of such incidents in the future. … It would merely be a cosmetic change that would ultimately signify nothing, other than an attempt to calm the waters and give the appearance that the ISU is making strides toward solving the problems that have become overly apparent and rather well publicized of late.

Like blades, I do not think that there is anything basically wrong with the judging system as it exists today. The problem lies within the organization itself. … What other sport (excepting the WWF :roll:) would allow judges, such as Absaliamova, Babenko, Balkov, and Korytek to continue to actively participate as judges at international competitions? … I might be mistaken, but I do not think that the ISU has within its' rules an actual provision for permanently banning a judge, who is found to be guilty of misconduct. … If indeed such a rule/regulation does exist, why has it not been employed? … Six-month or One-year suspensions are a mere slap on the wrist. … It is not the judging system that needs to be changed, it is the rules and/or regulations that cover the conduct of the judges, and the penalties that might be applied for misconduct that must be amended!

While I agree that it would be best were Cinquanta to be replaced, how might this be possible? … I think that it is fairly safe to assume that he can almost automatically count on the votes from the Speed Skating community to help him retain his position.

Jim

[Dustin]

Sorry - I need to rant again.

Jim's post brought up another topic - why should a speed skater be in charge of figure skating? He showed slipups at the Olympics during the press conferences when he admitted he did not know that much about figure skating. I think figure skating should be governed by its own body with people in control that actually know about the sport they are in contol of. :x

[sulin]

That's a good question, Jim. How [b:0e7c9b30e5]would[/b:0e7c9b30e5] you go about changing it so that the head of ISU would at least know something about figure skating? Does anyone know exactly how the ISU works as far as the numbers of representatives from each type of skating and how they get in?
And what exactly are their job descriptions?

Dustin your suggestion would solve one problem, but how do you go about making the change?

[tangos]

As with most investigations in fs, will this hearing also be behind closed doors!!!!!!??????????

[Lee]

[quote:9de3e470b3="Dustin"]Sorry - I need to rant again.

Jim's post brought up another topic - why should a speed skater be in charge of figure skating? He showed slipups at the Olympics during the press conferences when he admitted he did not know that much about figure skating. I think figure skating should be governed by its own body with people in control that actually know about the sport they are in contol of. :x[/quote:9de3e470b3]

The biggest obstacle to separating the two is that of the 56 member nations in the ISU, only 16 have separate 'figure skating' and 'speedskating' home federations. A proposal to split the two sports into separate international federations would have to have the approval of the general membership of the ISU, and with the overwhelming majority not having separate groups, the chances of that happening are pretty slim.

FWIW, Cinquanta is running unchallenged at the upcoming ISU Congress in June.