In the wake of one of the sport's most public scandals, International Skating Union president Ottavio Cinquanta on Monday unveiled a plan to completely overhaul the way figure skating is judged.
The revelation that French judge Marie Reine Le Gougne may have compromised the results of the Olympic pairs skating competition last week sparked a firestorm of questions about the integrity of the judging system. And though the public outcry over the tainted pairs event died down when the ISU and International Olympic Committee agreed to award Canadians Jamie Sale and David Pelletier a gold medal, the debate over the judging system continued to gather steam.
Under tremendous pressure to heal the system's ills, Cinquanta said late last week he had a plan, and he presented his ideas to the 11-member council Monday morning. If it is approved by ISU member federations, Cinquanta's plan would scrap the current system entirely.
"Now, there is, in the current light, a necessity," Cinquanta said. "It was, in my personal opinion, time to find something new."
To address the possibility of vote swapping and collusion, Cinquanta's proposal calls for changes to the actual structure of the judging panel. Instead of the nine judges (plus one alternate) used at major events like the Olympics, there would be a panel of 14. Each judge on the panel would score the event, but a computer would randomly select seven of those judges to tally the skater's score.
"I promise you that this system will reduce to a minimum the possibility of bloc judging," he said. Because no one would have the power to know which judges' marks were included in the final score, Cinquanta asserted, they would be "absolutely protected" from influence or intimidation.
In addition, Cinquanta proposed changing the 6.0 system currently used to judge both figure skating and ice dancing. Under his proposal, skaters would start from zero and be given points for the elements performed. Each element ? jumps, spins, footwork, etc. ? would be assigned a numerical value by a technical committee. The higher the level of difficulty and the better the execution, the more points a skater would receive.
For example, if one skater performed a triple Lutz perfectly, under Cinquanta's system she would be awarded the maximum number of points allowed for that element. If the jump is only average, she would receive fewer points.
Additionally, the judges would give additional points for the execution of the program, similar to the existing "presentation" mark. The skater's total score would be an average of the total points awarded by the judges.
Meanwhile, Le Gougne said Monday in the French press she was not pressured to support Russians Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze, as had been previously reported, but that she was told by the head of the ISU technical committee to blame the French skating federation when asked about why she voted the way she did.
Cinquanta said the investigation had been turned over to a separate ISU investigative commission and that he urged the commission to work quickly. But, he said, Le Gougne's statements to the French media contradicted a declaration she signed stating she felt pressured by the French federation to support the Russians. He and the ISU committee head, Sally Stapleford, denied threatening Le Gougne.
"She was put in the best conditions," Cinquanta said. "She read the minutes of the declaration, she signed the declaration. Now after four days, Madame Le Gougne has added something, or changed something. Sure, the commission will consider this."
Cinquanta did not have a firm end-date for the investigation. However, he is running up against a tight deadline to have his proposal heard by the ISU. If it is not ready, or if the ISU members do not allow it to be added to the agenda in time for the group's congress in June, Cinquanta may have to wait until the next scheduled meeting in 2004. Any rules changes must be approved by the ISU congress.
Athletes responded to Cinquanta's announcement with cheers and continued grumblings about the current system.
Kati Winker, a German ice dancer, applauded the changes.
"I think it sounds great," she said. "They definitely need to make a change."
"Amen," said Margarita Drobiazko of Lithuania, who with her husband Povilas Vanagas finished fifth in the ice dance competition.
"After the Italians fell on the required elements, the judges put them before us. It was funny, just funny. We skated better even tonight than them, and they fell, and nothing changed. Funny sport."
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