Bad calls in sports

[Hoosier_Daddy]

Hoosier Daddy, I appreciate your thoughtful post and think that there is a lot of truth in it.

But I would challenge the last sentence, quoted above.

A month ago, at Synchronized Skating Nationals (U.S.), the coach of the winning Junior team called for a review of the scores (which meant reviewing the videos, too). Her team had won by .5 points, in spite of a 1 point deduction for a fall.

This excellent coach, one of the best in the world, thought that her team might have taken two falls, not one, and should have had another point deducted, which would mean that the 2nd place team would win.

So the review was done, and the determination was made that the “fall” was not a true fall, but just a break in a line, so no deduction.

The coach explained that she didn’t want this competition to go down in history as a “bad call” and that everyone would be saying that her team should have lost . She wanted to make SURE that her teamed had earned that extra .5 point.

Isn’t that amazing and wonderful of this coach? There are a lot of good coaches in the sport, BTW, and most of the judges are excellent. They train for many years and pass some difficult tests before they earn the certification to judge figure skating. It’s not as bad as people think. I personally think that it’s the judging system that’s bad, especially the old 6.0 system, but the new system (IJS) needs some tweaking, too.

I love that example. That is what a coach should be like.

 

[Mary_Gail_36]

Oksana Baiul never should have beaten Nancy Kerrigan in the 1994 Olympics.

Baiul’s jumps were two-footed, while Kerrigan’s jumps were clean and sharp.

As for “artistry,” Swan Lake beat Kerrigan’s contemporary piece because of judge PREFERENCE. A different set of judges might have preferred the contemporary piece. Thankfully, “artistry” is no longer the tie-breaker in figure skating competitions. In fact, if Kerrigan and Baiul’s programs were judged under the current judging system, Baiul wouldn’t have been anywhere near the medal podium and Kerrigan would have won Gold.

It’s been 20 years, and I still get upset when I think about this “bad call.”

I’m not sure she wouldn’t be near the podium at all…Oksana would have gotten at least silver. They were only 1/10 of a point apart on technical merit, according to this video. It’s footage from the time. Oksana performed better technically than the other ladies.

youtube.com/watch?v=iFv_tPbTQ2s

Here’s Oksana’s performance, (seems like the music is a Broadway medley)

youtube.com/watch?v=p_fvrG3f0fI

And here’s Nancy’s:
youtube.com/watch?v=N7RvWbnaDZk

Not that I know anything about how technical merit is judged, both ladies seemed to do very well by my lay person standards.

 

[jimmy]

Next you’ll be telling me pro wrestling is rigged too.

No I won’t because I know that’s real.

 

[Cat]

I love that example. That is what a coach should be like.

I agree.

She should be a television celebrity and be receiving a 6 or even 7 figure salary.

Instead, I’m guessing she is paid $60,000 tops, for 12 hours a day, 7 days a week, 11-12 months a year, at that ice rink, leading all of her teams to National championships and World medals, without a soul being aware of her existence or of her teams’ existence.

The Haydenettes are featured on NBCs Today Show a few times each year, and it should be coming up soon, since Worlds are next weekend. But the Today Show never mentions their coach. They should.