Addendum to Last Post: More Officials Speak Out

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The March 15 entry of Save Skating entitled “Top Officials Say Judging System Seriously Flawed" addressed serious allegations made against the new judging system by high-level officials in the sport: Olympic figure skating judge Patrick Ibens and former referee and long-time ISU official Sonia Bianchetti.  

Since then, more top-level ISU officials have followed up with further stinging criticism of the system. They are Sally Stapleford, former chair of the ISU Technical Committee, and Britta Lindgren, a former member of the ISU Technical Committee. Here are some quotes from their column. Read and weep. Or better yet, join those of us who speak out to keep this system from destroying our sport for good. 

Quotes:

The ISU should reflect on the fact that they’re creating judges that are far less accountable … Incompetent/dishonest judges can sit at the meeting after the event without explaining anything in regards to their scores, and no one can accurately gauge their knowledge or lack of it. 

If you were a honest/independent/ knowledgeable judge you would relish the  opportunity to explain fully your rationale for certain marks/placements, as we both did when we were judging. But the system that is now in place favours mediocrity and discourages independence. 

Sadly some of the creators of this current judging system have never been judges, and, consequently, know very little of what is in the best interests when it comes to producing fair and honest judging... Hopefully now they will realise the error of their ways - which was totally predictable – by blindly going along with a Speed Skating President and his followers.  

When are the ISU going to "wake up and smell the roses?" They need to realise that they should scrap the famous "corridor" and return to a system that encourages judges not to worry about being in the "corridor" or "in line", but to judge fairly/ honestly and independently. 

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