Pairs judging under scrutiny

MSNBC ^ | 2/12/2002

[Tacis]

Hey, give him a break. The French judge has a wife and three growing childrem and a mistress with two very young children. All of the really high paying French jobs in European bureauracy go to the graduates of the grande ecoles. All that was left was this French judge's job in olympic skating. Bribe, kickback, and payoff opportunities are very limited and the poor judge has to take advantage of every one. So, give the guy a break. He is just trying to maintain his life style. And, there is a lesson here to be learned; in the next Olympics, maybe some aspiring skaters will just raise a little more cash. A word to the wise, si vous plat.

[FixitGuy]

"The Russians received higher artistic marks than the Canadians did, and that was the difference last night."

But would you agree that Sale and Pelletier were, in fact more artistic?

[Leto]

They have a system where they rank the skaters by place the Russians were awarded 4 first place and 3 second the cancdians were awarded 3 first and 4 second places, case closed Russians win.

Judged sports like skating, free syle skiing/snowboarding, gymnastics and the like aren't sports. They're exhibitions.

[GuillermoX]

I just called the Whaaaambulance for you. It's on its way.

[PBRSTREETGANG]

And who will judge the judges?

[Utah Girl]

Personally, I would. But I prefer the artistic style of the Canadians. The Russians were very traditional artistically. Right now, that seems to be the name of the game.

[who knows what evil?]

The corruption involved in the 'Olympic' games are among the reasons I don't pay any attention to them. I pity these skaters; I'm sure they put an immense amount of time and effort to get to this point, but they shouldn't be surprised when this happens. OLYMPICS = CORRUPTION. Maybe a little controversy to boost the television ratings? You never know...

[bduet]

By no means am I saying I agree with the outcome, but I was wishing the Canadian team would mess up and lose. I can't stand Canada. Speaking of the land of snide, pompus, arrogant liberals. Canada sucks.

[Utah Girl]

And the Canadians acknowleged that in the interview to NBC. They said they skated their best, and then it was up to the judges to judge them. And they didn't win. Ice skating has been like this for years, ice dancing is the worst one though. I don't know how the ISU plans on changing it though.

[FixitGuy]

Cute...

But it really is about fairness!

Bless ya anyhow!

[EllaMinnow]

Here's where the fix is:
The French ice dancers have been guaranteed the gold medal in exchange for the French judges vote last night.
I have watched Olympic skating since I was old enough to watch TV. Some of the greatest pairs to ever perform were Russian. They won the golds, and they deserved them.Remember Gordeeva and Grinkov - incredible! But those two last night were not only not as good as the Canadians, they weren't even as good as the Chinese - who would have made the whole judging mess even more confusing if they had managed to land the quad axel.

[GuillermoX]

If you think the EC is so unfair, I suggest you write your Representative and 2 Senators and ask them to amend the Constitution.

[FixitGuy]

EC? What the .... are you talking about?

[GuillermoX]

Uh, the EC = Electoral College. Did you forget what you were talking about?

[codebreaker]

So much for Quebec independance.

[2sheep]

>>>said coach Tamara Moskvina said, ... "...So now it is our time."

Uh oh.   Dan. 7:25.

The Real Axis of Evil.

[FixitGuy]

Oh yeah..My focus was on the skating not the EC.

BTW writing reps and senators is a real good way to effect change...Right!

You really don't think they care what you think, do you.

I thought not.

[GuillermoX]

Listen, the only recourse to the "unfair" Electoral College is a Constitutional amendment. If enough people want it, it will happen. I suggest you let your Congrescritters know about it. They will take your thoughts into account, and if their district/state has a substantial amount of voters clamoring for the amendment, they will either introduce one or vote for one. It's that simple. One thing is for sure: When a large majority of the American people clamor for a Constitutional amendment, they get it.

[Utah Girl]

Well, my head is spinning from last night. I've seen much live skating competition, and in the audience you start to get a fell for how they are skating, and how the judges are going to score. I really wish I would have been in the audience last night. And did you hear? The Chinese judge for ice skating has gone home ill to China! Hmmm, what is going on? Much corruption. And I have heard that ice dancing is rigged, bribery is going on. Even the IOC is considering jerking ice dancing from being an Olympic sport.

[EllaMinnow]

WOW! The men's skating tonight is about the best I've ever seen!