VANCOUVER — Olympic figure skating begins today. So does the head scratching.
Do you know the difference between a good score and a bad score? What does the number 200 signify? Quick — define “grade of execution.”
If you can’t answer any of those questions — or if you’re scratching your head right now — don’t feel bad. It has been six years since the International Skating Union dumped the old, comfy 6.0 system for the International Judging System. It totals points like a pinball machine, yet only a wizard can understand it.
Even Frank Carroll, who has coached skaters from Linda Fratianne to Evan Lysacek in his Hall of Fame career, is confused.
“Big time,” Carroll said. “We’re all asking each other, ‘What’s your take on this rule? What’s your understanding of this rule?’ They spent millions and millions of dollars on it. I can’t say I like the way it’s going.”
The International Olympic Committee ordered the ISU to change its scoring system after a judging scandal turned the 2002 Olympic pairs competition into a tie for the gold medal. In order to keep its sport in the Olympics, the ISU developed a point system which put more emphasis on artistry and elements between jumps than it does overall flair.
A technical panel has been added that gives a “grade of execution” ranging from minus-3 to plus-3 for each element. To help eliminate scandals, the new system eliminates the high and low score for each skater.
Instead of the old perfect 6.0, a 200 mark is a major achievement for women, and a 240 for men.
Got it? Many don’t, including those who saw Cheyenne Mountain High School senior Rachael Flatt beat Mirai Nagasu for the national title last month despite what some felt was a flawless long program by Nagasu.
Here in Vancouver, word broke that U.S. skating judge Joe Inman sent an e-mail to more than 60 North American judges urging them to give credit only when credit was due in the Olympics. Inman was responding to comments by defending gold medalist Evgeni Plushenko from the European Championships, where he said he and third-place Brian Joubert received credit for transitions they didn’t do.
Critics say it’s gone beyond confusing to the point where it’s made skating dull and repetitive. Skaters are so busy trying to pick up points for each move, they leave no room for artistry.
“To get the proper score, everybody has to do the same thing,” Johnny Weir of the U.S. said, “so watching a competition is like watching just a different variation of costume and music with the exact same elements.”
Carroll agrees. A lifetime lover of the arts, Carroll is furious skating has become more a matter of checking elements off a list than the beauty that originally made the sport popular.
“First of all, you have to do all these difficult elements with ease before you can even think of interpretation and music, right?” Carroll said. “How can you interpret music when you’re worrying, ‘I’ve got to land this triple flip. Oh, God! I’ve only landed it three times in my life. Meanwhile, what’s playing? I don’t know.’ “
Neither Lysacek nor Weir plan to do a quadruple jump for the Olympics, Lysacek because of a sore foot and Weir because his strength is his artistry, which he says is no longer emphasized.
“I think that quickly ended when people learned how to work the system,” Weir said. “And right now it’s kind of a multiplication table.”
It figures that one of the wizards who understands the system is Flatt, the lifetime straight-A student. She has even served as a trial judge for a few competitions.
“I have taken the time to learn the system,” she wrote in an e-mail, “and as a result, I have come to realize that it is the skater who can recover during their programs if necessary when they make a mistake, (and) figure out what else they can do in the program to make up those lost points.”
While some observers felt Nagasu deserved the national title, judges ruled that her seemingly perfect jumps, after being reviewed, were actually under-rotated.
“Divers, if they go over or under, are penalized,” said Tom Zakrajsek, Flatt’s coach. “So why wouldn’t our sport that involves rotation have the same kind of consequences?”
But it’s not at all clear to the naked eye why one skater wins or loses. Many feel neither is this scoring system.
“I don’t have to understand diving to say, ‘Wow, that’s a good dive,’ ” Zakrajsek said. “How much do the fans have to understand the scoring system? When it was the 6.0 system, they didn’t understand it, either.”
Carroll doesn’t believe the IJS eliminates scandal. He said a Russian and French judge could agree to highly inflate each other’s skaters’ scores. One would be thrown out, but one would stay.
Zakrajsek may have the best solution of all.
“The way I work with my athletes is, they should not even be in the review box,” he said.
John Henderson: 303-954-1299 or jhenderson@denverpost.com
