Anonymous Judging on the Table for ISU Congress

Next month in Dublin, the International Skating Union will be discussing a proposal to scrap anonymous judging during its annual congress. It's an effort to increase the transparency of the judging system, spawned by controversy around Adelina Sotnikova's win in Sochi.  Anonymous scoring was designed to make the judges feel less pressure to vote their conscience. However it seems to have made things worse, in that it's easier to secretly conspire to rig results.

I haven't said too much about how I really feel about the outcome of the ladies event in Sochi. Truth be told, I don't have much to say. Yes, there was most likely some rigging going on--there's no way you can argue the wife of the former president of the Russian Figure Skating Federation, who was caught on camera hugging gold-medalist Adelina Sotnikova after the competition, wasn't a part of some scoring shenanigans. What are you gonna do about it? A big fat nothing. We can protest and sign petitions until we're blue in the face, but frankly, most of us would rather be on the ice practicing.

I don't know if it's sad or funny that my reaction to allegations of results-fixing in figure skating is a calm, "Yes, and?" It may not be right in the eyes of justice, but for many of us skaters, we just kind of accept that it's how it is. Many of us tend to look at it from an earn-your-stripes kind of perspective. Do your time in the bottom or middle of the pack, and the judges will eventually notice you. Kind of like what happened to Adelina Sotnikova.

And maybe that's part of the problem that all of us are so willing to just move on and practice harder. Maybe we should be carrying signs and marching outside ISU President Ottavio Cinquanta's house. Maybe we should be lobbying the ISU or trying to get a seat at the table. I'll be honest though and say I'm probably not ever going to do that.

I've been the both the victim and the benefactor of biased judging. At regionals one year, I very clearly outskated several skaters during the short program portion of the competition. Skaters that placed ahead of me fell on required elements, multiple times. I ended up in fifth place, when I should have been at least third, if not second. My coach spoke to one of the judges afterward, who confessed that she placed other skater above me for political purposes. She said I had the best double axel of any of the skaters in the field. But that didn't count for beans.

Yet a year later, I crashed and burned during a long program, and earned a silver medal for my efforts, placing above at least 5 other more deserving skaters. It was blatantly unfair, but all I could do was collect my medal and go home. Don't want to appear a sore loser, or you'll fall out of favor with the judges.

Anyway, I hope that whatever is decided during the annual ISU Congress will have a beneficial effect on the sport overall. Maybe getting rid of anonymous judging within the new ISU system (versus the 6.0 system) will improve the objectivity in judging.