2nd worst Olympic figure skating decision ever

[joubertelegant]

As the Olympics nears one think the skating world will be looking for (some with a bit of excitement) is the next big controversy that is always inevitable in Olympic Figure Skating competition. Since most are in agreement the worst ever was Sotnikova's win in Sochi, what was the 2nd worst figure skating decision ever at the Olympics. Some that come to mind are:

-SLC pairs 2002. I totally agreed with Berezhnaya & Sikharulidze winning the first time around and IMO Sale & Pelletier are one of the most overrated pairs ever, but by the reaction that is not how most saw it. There was also controversy over Ina & Zimmerman not placing better than 5th, and some thought they were robbed of the bronze as Shen & Zhao and Totmianina & Marinin were both subpar and below their best that night. Some though Petrova & Tikhonov in 6th were very undermarked as well, and Zagorska & Siudek in 7th very overmarked.

-Gritschuk & Platov win in 1994. It seems many thought Usova & Zhulin should have won instead, and some others thought Torvill & Dean should have. In fact many had both teams over G&P and G&P only bronze, as did 3 or 4 of the judges interestingly enough.

-Blumberg & Seibert 4th place in 1984. It seems most people believe they should have won silver, to not even win bronze was an outcry and a sign of the anti NA bias in dance at the time. It is a travesty B&K being 4th in 98 got nearly as much focus.

-Lake Placid singles results. Fratianne vs Poetzsch, Hoffmann vs Cousins. Since it seems these are almost equally controversial and debated I will just merge them into one.

-Witt gold 1988. It seemed a lot felt she didn't do enough to win overall and that Manley probably should have won instead, Thomas should have been further ahead going into the LP in which case she might have done a much better long, Ito should have won or placed higher in the SP and LP even though she couldn't realistically win, etc...

-Zayak and Chin Sarajevo. It seems a lot feel both these ladies were unfairly marked and that Ivanova beating out both for the bronze overall was an unjust result, particularly as the future figures specialist Ivanova wasn't even that great in figures yet (she was 5th but with ordinals as low as 12th) and bombed her LP badly.

-Tim Wood losing gold in 1968. This became a major controversy, even if it otherwise wouldn't have been, since it was later learnt a judge's score had been calculated incorrectly and that Tim Wood should have won by the actual points.

-Hamilton gold 1984. I have heard a lot of different people say they didn't agree with Scott's win in 84, and even if it was due to figures that he was held up and overplaced in the SP and especialy the LP, and that Orser should have won here.

-Recogzy & Sally losing gold in 1980. This is probably the most controversial ice dance result ever at the Olympics, even a big over 1994.

-Kerrigan vs Baiul. Personally I think Kerrigan was overmarked and should have been off the podium in 4th place, but it seems a lot of others believe she was robbed of the gold so I guess I have to include this.

 

[joubertelegant]

My choice is Blumberg & Seibert in Sarajevo. I am still mad about that one. What a huge robbery of a great team who was a trailblazer for U.S dance. That was the silver medal performance that night all the way (despite the U.S commentators only considering them for bronze).

 

[StasiyaGalustyanLove]

I am confused! The thread says the worst and the poll says the most controversial. It almost seems like one person wrote the title and another made the poll.

I think that Elvis Stojko never winning the Olympics is by far the worst decision that has ever happened in figure skating aside from when Michelle Kwan disrespected the President but that did not happen at the Olympics. I also hear there are people who are still very angry about when Evan L. beat Plushenko with no quadruple jumps. It sort of surprises me that eight years after that happened, people are still so angry about it that it effects their mood and tone!

 

[supergirl573]

The title to the thread and the poll makes me want to change my answer.

 

[caseyedwards]

The worst by far is lysacek over brilliant plushenko.

 

[olympic]

^Quelle surprise de @caseyedwards ...

Seriously, I would put Oksana over Nancy as 2nd worst decision ever. I usually think of that as the worst Olympic decision in terms of the Ladies event.

But, including all four events, Blumberg / Seibert getting dropped to 4th by a single, rogue judge was IMO the worst decision of all time. IIRC, the Italian judge self-corrected for '84 Worlds, defeating the reason she gave for dropping them in the first place in Sarajevo '84, that they weren't skating to 'dance' music, and B/S were back on the podium.

Interesting personal story. Back in 1991, I was in NYC and went to the Brooklyn Academy of Music to see an Opera singer. I was w/ a friend who introduced me to a man who turned out to be Michael Seibert who was w/ a male companion! I didn't get a chance to speak beyond exchanging pleasantries, but my friend said 'You know, he and his partner were robbed at the Olympics by the Italian judge!' He is not an FS fan, so I was kinda floored by the amount of knowledge he had about the event.

ETA - I can see that 2002 is still a sore spot for many, but if you are B/S fans, they did not lose the gold medal, and if you are S/P fans, they were not robbed but rather vindicated: The French judge admitted to wrongdoing and her marks were dropped from the final tally. So, for the vindication I don't see this as a worst ever situation

 

[bardtoob]

The worst by far is lysacek over brilliant plushenko.

Plushenko is brilliant, but it does not change that his program construction was less well suited for competition than his previous OGM winning program. It seems silly that he would call the IJS new when he had already won under it at the biggest competitions.

 

[Vagabond]

1912. No competition at all. WHYYYYYY?

 

[caseyedwards]

Plushenko is brilliant, but it does not change that his program construction was less well suited for competition than his previous OGM winning program. It seems silly that he would call the IJS new when he had already won under it at the biggest competitions.

On one hand absolutely yes but Even though he didn’t do 3 jump combo he went from 6-2 to 5-3 which wasn’t the proper 3-5 but still better. Of course the ideal program would not have included any quads and been 3/5 jump distribution and he would have hired Lori Nichol as choreographer. But for what he did do it was better than 2006 if he wasn’t getting rid of quads. That was a huge error.

 

[gk_891]

Definitely B&S in Sarajevo for me. I remember the Italian judge had said that you can dance to Bolero but you can't dance to Scheherazade (or something along those lines). I find that really puzzling because one could 'dance' to any music, couldn't you?

G&P didn't deserve to win in 1994 but like it or not, emphasizing speed and energy over content that season definitely got the judges attention. Because from 91 to 93, their skating didn't capture the judges' attention in spite of having superior difficulty and content over skaters like U&Z and D&D. So I can understand why they won in 94 even if it was for the 'wrong' reasons.

I also agree that B&S (pairs from 2002) deserved to win on their own. But then again, I'm very biased as I couldn't stand S&P. I'm fine with S&Z taking bronze but I would've put I&Z ahead of T&M. But again, I'm far from an unbiased source as T&M was another team I could barely watch for whatever reason.

 

[blue_idealist]

What about other - Belbin and Agosto finishing 4th in 2010.

 

[olympic]

What about other - Belbin and Agosto finishing 4th in 2010.

Yeah. That was politik. No way were TPTB going to allow NA to take all spots on an Ice Dance olympic podium.

 

[lala]

Krisztina Regőczy-András Sallay

 

[Wyliefan]

As the Olympics nears one think the skating world will be looking for (some with a bit of excitement) is the next big controversy that is always inevitable in Olympic Figure Skating competition. Since most are in agreement the worst ever was Sotnikova's win in Sochi

Define "most."

 

[briancoogaert]

I'm not sure Sotnikova's win is the worst decision.
Of course, 2002SLC Scandal is far worse. And IMO, Baiul over Kerrigan in 1994 was even more of a joke !

 

[Bellanca]

Most of these choices on the poll are not the worst decision or most controversial result at all. The skaters listed who won the titles should have won the titles.

Sotnikova has an asterisk by her name (sorry, no offense, but...) because of the judging environment @ Sochi. I'll give you that one, for sure.

 

[caseyedwards]

Yeah. That was politik. No way were TPTB going to allow NA to take all spots on an Ice Dance olympic podium.

The reigning world champs had only ever been dumped to bronze! Just like FP/M! People need to explain the facts and truth on d/s 2009 worlds win! B/a , v/m or d/w should’ve won. Why didn’t they?!?!?!?!

 

[skateboy]

Since most are in agreement the worst ever was Sotnikova's win in Sochi

Not even close to the worst decision.

 

[MsZem]

Since most are in agreement the worst ever was Sotnikova's win in Sochi, what was the 2nd worst figure skating decision ever at the Olympics..

I don't think so. The worst was probably the judges marking Theresa Weld down at the 1920 Olympics for doing Salchows and loops. Perhaps this was the origin of "it's figure skating, not figure jumping"?

 

[berthesghost]

SLC pairs is absolutely in a class of its own.

Although some of the others like wood in 68 and b/s in 84 have the judge saying stupid shyte aspect to them, neither resulted in the medal standings being changed, only SLC.

Although some of the others, like LP singles came with rule changes on how results were calculated, none of them resulted in a completely new half baked and mostly unpopular scoring system as the baby was thrown out with the bath water officially, only SLC.

As an initial decision, b/s over s/p wasn't the most scandalous on the list. Who would have thunk this rather mundane close call result would turn the whole sport inside down like no other.

 

[Anyasnake]

This is not a scandal at all (or refi=uted for that matter) for seeing Delobel/Schoenfelder getting 4th place after that amazing Free Dance in Torino 2006, left a very bitter taste to me...

 

[dawnie]

In total agreement that Sotnikova's win was the worst and most blatantly wrong decision.

-Her PCS scores in both programs should have been about 5 points lower than what she received.
-Her personal best FS score magically went up almost 20 points from Euros where she skated better in my opinion, even without landing the opening 3lutz/3toe.
-A judge (the wife of the President of the Russian Skating Federation) and the assistant technical specialist did not even try to hide the fact they were biased when they were photographed hugging and weeping with Sotnikova after the event.
-One word: Russia. Need I say more? If the competition was held anywhere else in the world, she would have been the bronze medalist.

Anyway, I voted Kerrigan losing as the 2nd worst decision ever. But even that was easier to make sense of because at least Baiul was World Champion unlike Sotnikova, who's best finish was 9th at her only appearance at Worlds. It seems like everyone else needs to pay their dues except if you're Russian skating in Russia.

 

[julieann]

Plushenko only has himself to blame for losing the gold. He lost by 1.32 points, that had nothing to do with Evan's lack of quads, it had to do with Plushenko's -1. He simple should've performed a little bit better that day. He was out-skated. A better 3A and he would have a different outcome.

 

[lala]

Plushenko only has himself to blame for losing the gold. He lost by 1.32 points, that had nothing to do with Evan's lack of quads, it had to do with Plushenko's -1. He simple should've performed a little bit better that day. He was out-skated. A better 3A and he would have a different outcome.

If we don't talk about the SP scores( Evan was highly overscored without quad. He received 90+ ! LOL) I mention this fact :
Even the NYT wrote about it:

From NY Times ( /2010/02/20/sports/olympics/20¬longman.html) : Lysacek received only a judges warning for a wrong-edged takeoff on his triple flip, not a 2- or 3-point deduction that would have changed the outcome, which was narrowly decided in his favor by 257.67 points to 256.36. Lysa's first 3A was prerotated 1/4 but got unfairly +0.6 GOE

I'm just saying

https://twitter.com/chiburahakkai/status/953067006864982016
"US skating media:
2010 Olympics - quads are trash, artistry and transitions mean real skating!!!! (Fxck Plushenko because he’s Russian)
2018 Olympics - quads are artistry, transitions, and real men skating!!! (Fxck those who do transitions that are not crossovers, that’s girly)"

 

[eurodance2001]

^Quelle surprise de @caseyedwards ...

Seriously, I would put Oksana over Nancy as 2nd worst decision ever. I usually think of that as the worst Olympic decision in terms of the Ladies event.

But, including all four events, Blumberg / Seibert getting dropped to 4th by a single, rogue judge was IMO the worst decision of all time. IIRC, the Italian judge self-corrected for '84 Worlds, defeating the reason she gave for dropping them in the first place in Sarajevo '84, that they weren't skating to 'dance' music, and B/S were back on the podium.

Interesting personal story. Back in 1991, I was in NYC and went to the Brooklyn Academy of Music to see an Opera singer. I was w/ a friend who introduced me to a man who turned out to be Michael Seibert who was w/ a male companion! I didn't get a chance to speak beyond exchanging pleasantries, but my friend said 'You know, he and his partner were robbed at the Olympics by the Italian judge!' He is not an FS fan, so I was kinda floored by the amount of knowledge he had about the event.

ETA - I can see that 2002 is still a sore spot for many, but if you are B/S fans, they did not lose the gold medal, and if you are S/P fans, they were not robbed but rather vindicated: The French judge admitted to wrongdoing and her marks were dropped from the final tally. So, for the vindication I don't see this as a worst ever situation

There were two different Italian judges though. The Italian judge at the Olympics was Cia Bordogna while at Worlds it was a man, Vinicio Toncelli.. Damage had been done tho, that 5.5 for artistic impression from CB was ridiculous..

 

[butyrskafanatic]

Personally I did not think Plushenko's program was that good at all. Just one mediocre quad landed on toepicks, and overall an otherwise blah even if semi clean performance. He was a shadow of the skater he had been in 2006, and if he had won it would have been by default since everyone else (except Lysacek) screwed up. Chan, Lambiel, Takahashi, or probably even Joubert or Abbott going clean win this easily with no controversy.

That said the issue I have with Lysacek winning is not just winning without a quad, but a guy without a quad who also is not an exceptional artist, spinner, or really anything winning without the quad to boot. The whole thing just feels bizarre. If it were Jeff Buttle winning the Oly Gold without a quad it would feel a lot more believable.

I sort of feel Takahashi maybe should have won even with his fall, but really whoever won the Oly Gold that night, be it Lysacek, Plushenko, or with his mistakes Takahashi. Similar to how whoever won in Sochi would have been a blah and unremarkable winner given the performances.

 

[caseyedwards]

Plushenko only has himself to blame for losing the gold. He lost by 1.32 points, that had nothing to do with Evan's lack of quads, it had to do with Plushenko's -1. He simple should've performed a little bit better that day. He was out-skated. A better 3A and he would have a different outcome.

You are wrong. It’s entirely due to lysaceks lack of quads because by eliminating hardest element and only training triples he was able to maximize goe on easier elements. This is why if you are only looking at the system in place for 2010 Olympics plushenko probably should have eliminated all quads from his programs and tried to have been like buttle in 2008 or lysacek in 2009. They found a way to maximize points much more effectively but ultimately it was wrong and disgusting but if you only cared about winning and not respect than lysacek and buttles way were eight and what most skaters adopted for Vancouver. Oda abandoned all quads under coaching of morozov because it was smart. So did brezina, Amodio, weir, ten, Chan, and virtually everyone in the men’s competition! The anti-lysacek revisions to cop after this competion were entirely necessary and led to glorious amazing Sochi and the even more amazing and Glorious current Chen Jin uno era.

Nyt has an extreme salute to quadlessness and clean quadlessness programs that are really worthless right now.

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive...nter-olympics-figure-skating-jason-brown.html

Personally I did not think Plushenko's program was that good at all. Just one mediocre quad landed on toepicks, and overall an otherwise blah even if semi clean performance. He was a shadow of the skater he had been in 2006, and if he had won it would have been by default since everyone else (except Lysacek) screwed up. Chan, Lambiel, Takahashi, or probably even Joubert or Abbott going clean win this easily with no controversy.

That said the issue I have with Lysacek winning is not just winning without a quad, but a guy without a quad who also is not an exceptional artist, spinner, or really anything winning without the quad to boot. The whole thing just feels bizarre. If it were Jeff Buttle winning the Oly Gold without a quad it would feel a lot more believable.

I sort of feel Takahashi maybe should have won even with his fall, but really whoever won the Oly Gold that night, be it Lysacek, Plushenko, or with his mistakes Takahashi. Similar to how whoever won in Sochi would have been a blah and unremarkable winner given the performances.

The Godfather was not very good display of all plushenko magnetism. And he doubled a jump!

 

[butyrskafanatic]

Lysacek's quad was weak and inconsistent as heck too. It made sense for him to leave it out, if he had tried it he most likely falls and ends up as the bronze medalist behind Takahashi who also fell on his quad, or even 4th behind Lambiel given how Takahashi and Lambiel were almost tied. I would say he took the smart move for himself, but it also ensured he would need a lot of mistakes to win. Fortunately for him he sure got them, of all the contenders only Plushenko didnt make them, and even he was visibly subpar with many tight landings and a poorly thought out COP jump layout which didnt even capatilize on the potential base value advantage of a quad.

 

[julieann]

It didn't matter what Evan was or wasn't scored, Plushenko knew he needed to deliver by the time he skated and he made silly mistakes. -.36 on the 3A when all he need was to skate good and he didn't. If he had landed a good 3A and received a 1.00 he would've come out ahead. I'm sure it still haunts him in a sport where tiny mistakes are the difference between gold and silver but it was all his fault. Don't blame the quad.

 

[caseyedwards]

Lysacek's quad was weak and inconsistent as heck too. It made sense for him to leave it out, if he had tried it he most likely falls and ends up as the bronze medalist behind Takahashi who also fell on his quad, or even 4th behind Lambiel given how Takahashi and Lambiel were almost tied. I would say he took the smart move for himself, but it also ensured he would need a lot of mistakes to win. Fortunately for him he sure got them, of all the contenders only Plushenko didnt make them, and even he was visibly subpar with many tight landings and a poorly thought out COP jump layout which didnt even capatilize on the potential base value advantage of a quad.

At 2009 four continents Chan easily beat lysacek even though Chan was quadless and lysacek was almost clean on every single element including a quad. Lysacek did not have a bad quad. The quad was better than triple axel. But doing quads was so dumb. He lost to Chan. You did not need to hope for mistakes doing a quadless program because all triple programs with great goe and in a 3/5 layout made quads meaningless in that Version of cop. The best way to maximize points was going quadless and getting tons of goe. That was the lesson of 2009 four continents and why lysacek never did a quad again in international competition. The whole thing about injury was false. It was PR. The attempt of a quad by lysacek at nationals was just pr. Plushenko had no tight landings. He leaned in air twice. There was no bad landings.

It didn't matter what Evan was or wasn't scored, Plushenko knew he needed to deliver by the time he skated and he made silly mistakes. -.36 on the 3A when all he need was to skate good and he didn't. If he had landed a good 3A and received a 1.00 he would've come out ahead. I'm sure it still haunts him in a sport where tiny mistakes are the difference between gold and silver but it was all his fault. Don't blame the quad.

Plushenko didn’t make any mistakes on his jumps. What does it say when one Lean in the air can take make a quad triple irrelevant? I do blame the quad. If he wanted to win he wouldn’t have done one. That’s the strategy almost everyone else had in Vancouver! 4 quads in the short programs. I mean everyone knew not to do quads. That doing quads was dumb.