Figure skating judges get a 10 for duplicity
Scoring reforms after 2002 actually increased favoritism and dirty deals
By Bruce Bower
At the Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, figure skating judges’ impartiality may tumble hard to the ice.
Judges’ tendencies to jack up scores for performers from their own countries and to arrange mutually beneficial vote exchanges among themselves have actually increased following scandal-inspired rules changes about a decade ago, says economist Eric Zitzewitz of Dartmouth University.
At the 2002 Winter Olympics, five judges allegedly arranged to rank a Russian figure-skating pair first in exchange for the Russian judge giving high scores in other skating events to athletes from the colluding countries. In response to that and other judging scandals, the International Skating Union decided to stop reporting which member of a judging panel issued which score. Anonymity was seen as a way to discourage vote trading.