Scott
06-03-2002, 01:41 PM
I read with interest the stories in the newspaper today concerning the debate that is going on at the ISU meeting in Japan concerning the "Crisis"in figure skating judging. The stories all were talking about changes in the methos of scoring ranging from starting at a "0" mark and then adding for elements or starting from a high mark of six and then deducting and throwing out high and low marks. I think that a new system may be good but the emphasis in the news seemed to emphasize that the change in marking would stop scandals such as we had in Salt Lake City from happening. Well, I am confused because I thought that the main problem at Salt Lake was the undue influence of a skating federation on one of its judges. Quite frankly, if we had used any of the scoring methods that are being discussed I think that the Russians would have clearly won the competition because of the higher level of difficulty in their program. This would particularly be true if we used the method that the President of the ISU wants to employ ( start at "0" then add on for difficulty). I also wonder how the artistic mark would be judged in this new proposal. At any rate, I think we may be missing the boat here. How do we control trading marks in the future? That is the real problem.