Monday produced more evidence that the International Olympic Committee is serious about reform.
Last Friday it was announced that Canadian pairs figure skaters Jamie Sale and David Pelletier would also be awarded gold medals and that French judge Marie-Reine Le Gougne would be suspended indefinitely because of judicial misconduct.
That was due primarily to IOC President Jacques Rogge's determination that what had become known as "Skategate" would not take over the Games.
This page applauded Rogge's action but noted that much still needed to be done to clean up the sport of figure skating. Thankfully, that is taking place.
Previously it took years or even decades for the IOC to implement substantive change, but spurred by Rogge's swift action to rectify the figure skating fiasco, substantive changes, or at least proposals, are being produced in days.
Give International Skating Union President Ottavio Cinquanta credit for following Rogge's lead. On Monday Cinquanta announced he had a plan that would rid figure skating of vote swapping and collusion.
While his proposal merits debate and still needs to be approved by ISU member federations, the fact that he is coming forward with a plan so quickly is laudable.
Both substantiated and unsubstantiated acts of collusion have detracted from figure skating's credibility. In the latest incident, Le Gougne signed a statement that she had been pressured by her own federation to vote for Russian skaters Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze over the Canadian pair.
Cinquanta believes his proposal will neutralize the possibility of vote swapping and collusion by doing the following:
Fourteen judges instead of the current nine would be used at major events like the Olympics. And while each of the 14 would score the event, a computer would randomly select seven of the judges to tally the skater's score. Since no one would know which judges' marks would be selected for the final score, the judges would be protected from influence or intimidation.
Cinquanta also proposes changing the 6.0 system currently used for figure skating and ice dancing. Skaters instead would start from zero and be given points based on the elements performed ? spins, jumps, etc. Those elements would each be assigned a numerical value, with more points being awarded to those elements with a higher degree of difficulty.
What is refreshing is not so much his proposal but what it represents.
The International Olympic Committee and those federations associated with it are leaving the Ice Age and entering the Space Age. Glad to have you aboard.