Code of Ethics for judges.

[kia]

What is the opinion of judges who socialise with competitors and competitors parents. Could a close association of a judge with a competitor/and or parent formed through skating be considered as unethical ?

[blades]

8-)

known a lot of judges that were close friends with competitors and/or their families, yet still judged fairly...

just depends on the person...but...most people take the high road...

often was the case that judges i was close to were actually harder on me...a natural reaction in order to avoid any appearance of impropriety...

[skaternum]

I think it would be unreasonable to expect judges to eschew friendships with skaters or coaches. People who go into judging typically have long histories of involvement in the sport. (Who else would want to give up all your free time and spend the money to become a judge?) If you're that involved in a sport, that's going to become a social circle by default. If you're around a rink so much because your kid skated for 15 years or you skated for 20 years, you're simply going to become friendly with that bunch of people. You can't expect a judge to stop being friends with someone they've known for 10 years, nor can you expect them to avoid making friends with other participants. Also, judges can be fair whether they're friends with a skater or not. Besides, where would you draw the line? How would you define "friends"?

What you can expect is for a judge to be fair and impartial, regardless of who is on the ice. I've never seen this principle sacrificed because of friendship.

[kia]

Being involved in the legal profession I just thought it interesting that in legal cases judges have to declare any possible association with cases and step down if there is a possible conflit of interests. It would be unreasonable to expect judges to not make friends among the skaters but if there is a very close friendship is it fair to the other skaters in the competition even if though they may judge impartially. eg in one case I know of the judge was doing the skater's hair before they went out to skate when the judge was judging the event.

[dooobedooo]

There is plenty of slightly unfair judging around; very often judges are affected emotionally by the pack instinct, by a skater's previous performances or record, by a skater's physical good looks or bodyweight, by the presence of the skater's coach, by the coach's clout/position, by previous acquaintance with the skater/coach/skater's family, by tiredness after a long day's judging .... the list goes on ....

That is why there are always several judges required at any competition or test - the higher the level, the more judges are required.

This system will generally expose any glaringly unfair judging. At the end of the day, the judges want to continue their judging career, so they are unlikely to consciously exhibit a significant bias. Although they are unlikely to seriously mark down a skater with plenty of political clout or contacts, they are also unlikely to push that skater up more than a couple of places above their true level; doing such a thing would put their own judging career at risk.

[intro]

Kia I think at the lower levels you cannot expect the judges and skaters or coaches not to be friends. Most provincial level sport is run by volunteers and the referee is some-ones parent or relative or Friend. It is at the higher levels or where prize money is involved, there could be seen to be issues. In my country the senior judges are also the national executive committee members and the people for determining who is chosen to represent the country. Close frienships with skaters or coaches in this situation has the potential for graft and corruption. At the international level or at any level where there is significant prize money close social contact could have even more potential for corruption and unwarrented influence as they try to talk up their skater -or coach friends or - national skater. I believe you can't stop judges from being on panels at lower levels because they are close friends with some-one but at the international level judges should be independent and accountable. Accountable in that they should declare close social contact with any skater and not judge that competition, and independent of their federations. Does any one know if there is a code of ethics for judges?

[JKlink]

The judges help to define where this sport is going and most of them will gladly give the coach and skater feedback on what needs to be improved. Some competitions offer critiques as a way of encouraging more skaters to attend. I agree with a previous post in that if a judge knows the skater well, they will hold them to a higher standard.

When you talk with the judges, you will find that most of them have a pet peeve for lack of a better word. It might be something that they focus on first, or use as a tie breaker when they have comparable skaters. It could be timing or interpretation of the music, or the way they hold their arms, shoulders and hands. It could be as simple as eye contact with the audience or more technical like the quality of the stroking and edging.

Quality is the word, and the top skaters tend to have all these things and more. They are hard to beat even when they don’t skate their best. I think this is often an issue when people think some skaters are being placed higher based on their previous accomplishments. A point that is often missed is the base mark for the elements in the program. Some programs are technically superior to other programs based on the elements in them. This is often overlooked by parents and others when they try to figure out why their skater didn’t placed as high as another skater that didn’t skate as well. The other skater’s program just had a higher base mark to start and earned a higher mark because of it. JK

[manleywoman]

Along these lines, what do you all think of journalists hanging out with the athletes about whom they write?

I ask only because after the Ladies Long at Worlds this past year, all the skaters and volunteers went to the hotel bar to eat and hang out and enjoy the end of the week. Christine Brennan was sitting in the booth behind me with Brian Boitano, Scott Williams, Karen Kwan, Amber Corwin and others who came in and out, and she was definatly socializing, and not taking notes for any articles.

Personally I find it unethical. Then again, she and Boitano wrote a bokk together, right? So maybe they are friends (if so my opinion of him has lowered! ):lol:

[blades]

8-)

though i do disagree with christine on many occasions...and i do find that she does have favourites...i find her to do enough honest and fair articles (not to mention her occasional rips into the isu and other official entities) to keep my overall respect...

her friendship with athletes is less important to me than her overall fairness of her articles...key word: overall...

skating is a small subculture...hard to be a part of it without being a part of it...yaknowhatimean????

[intro]

With Christine is it a genuine socially close friendship or just a working relationship with a superficial friendship. Everyone is any work situation develops superficial work place friendships-even judges..

[blades]

8-)

kinda all the above i'd guess...

personally, i don't know her well...but what little contact i've had with her, i find her quite plesant (even though she knows i disagree with her on many occasions...) and easy to talk to...and i get the feeling that she's a "real" person, who really does love the sport...

[loveskating]

The problem people are talking about as to figure skating judges seems to be parallel with "undue influence" or a conflict of interest, in which case the solution is to recuse oneself...it happens all the time even in the judiciary...say a defendant brought before a judge turns out to be his business partner, the judge must recuse himself, and another judge will be found. There is noting wrong with sociable behavior...its PRIMARY relationships that are of concern, either familial, close circle of friends or business interests.

For instance, if a judge were a secret lover with Michelle Kwan's coach, then that judge ought to recuse themselves from any competition she is in.

With the press, its a whole other thing...the press in a free nation ought to have very few restrictions, although I believe they should be subject to slander suits with mega damages if found guilty, and they were until a case that occured when Ronald Reagan was President. Now, the press can say almost anything the public will allow, can straight up lie and never be called to task for it by anyone except within the media company and generally, by the public in the sense that they stop buying.

I don't like Brennan -- for her article on the "bump" at 2002 Nationals alone IMHO she showed herself to be a partisan lier -- for it was on its face clearly a hatchet job by an attack dog. I know far too much about skating (including bumps in not only warm ups, but at freestyle sessions) to ever believe that a tiny little bump like that warranted an article at all, much less such a really vicious one.

I also don't like the way she sensationalizes things, including so-called "rivalries"...in general, she seems determined to appeal to the public based on ANYTHING except skating itself...sexy bodies, rivalries, corruption (at SLC in particular, but also in general), ANYTHING other than the magnificence and beauty of skating as a sport/art...but in general, from Paglia to the other end of the spectrum, I find "feminst" perspectives on skating to be totally superficial and/or an attempt to politicize skating, which renders skating less than it is, and politics far less than it is.