SOCHI, Russia – Elvis Stojko got ready. It absolutely was times following women’s Olympic figure skating opposition, and Stojko have an in depth benefit sheet at hand. The guy started to tick down, factor by element, why the guy think Adelina Sotnikova of Russia earned to beat defending champ Yuna Kim of Southern Korea and Carolina Kostner of Italy.
“Adelina came loaded,” Stojko said. “performed another two have more stunning skating? Absolutely. But it’s an activity, and this also was actually totally reasonable.”
It actually was no surprise that Stojko, a two-time Olympic gold medalist from Canada recognized for his athleticism, may have these an opinion about a result sure to end up being among the most shady and debated in figure skating’s checkered judging records.
His opinion that Sotnikova had earned her surpris actuallye victory Thursday according to the math of the scoring system, adopted after the 2002 pairs skating scandal, was shared by several other former skaters, including some known more for their artistry and style, such as Olympic medalists Philippe Candeloro of France and Paul Wylie of the U.S.
“There isn’t a problem with the result, other than the (margin) of it,” Wylie mentioned. “The objectives happened to be they were gonna crown king Yuna one last time, when it didn’t started to move, its like, ‘How did that take place?’ “
But even they’d questions regarding the judging, which smelled of house cooking to sate a roaring Russian crowd within Iceberg Skating residence
Sotnikova, 17, ninth in this past year’s world championships, turned into this lady nation’s first Olympic ladies singles winner by 5.48 points over Kim. The Russian’s combination of larger jumps, performance and energy generated the outcome for strengthening that margin from inside the technical marks, also it brought the judges for overly enthusiastic so she don’t drop they regarding ingredient scores.
“The ratings http://besthookupwebsites.org/bgclive-review/ are given because of the evaluator,” Kim said. “I am not in the proper situation to touch upon it. There is nothing that changes with my words.”
Yesterday, 2010 Olympic winner Evan Lysacek on the U.S. have wondered whether Kim’s insufficient a multiple cycle hop into the no-cost skate might harmed the lady. That showed prophetic: Kim did six triple leaps, Sotnikova seven, together with seventh was actually a triple loop that the Russian received 6.7 information.
Sotnikova done with points to for Kim. Kostner was 3rd at . The three had gone in to the free of charge skate divided by not as much as a point.
“Maybe Yuna don’t get sufficient information for the brief program simply because they did not want to returning just what have occurred in Vancouver, where we know prior to the free of charge skate who was gonna win,” Candeloro said.
S. was last, with teammates Ashley Wagner and Polina Edmunds seventh and ninth, respectively. The U.S. lady moved without a medal in consecutive Olympics for the first time since 1948.
Russia’s Yulia Lipnitskaya, 15, that has come to be a major international experience for her brilliant skating in team show, fell in singles tools and finished fifth.
Canada’s Jamie Sale, just who obtained a pairs silver medal on 2002 Olympics after a French assess accepted she is pushed to repair the results in favor of deal’s victorious Russian opponents, tweeted she got merely observed the ladies’s free skate once more and “I STRONGLY DISAGREE w/results like other other individuals. #ISU now what?”
The worldwide Skating Union has generated a rating system so mathematically complex, truly incomprehensible. On top of that, it permits judging and technical sections for substantial disputes interesting (one assess on Thursday’s board, Alla Shekhovtseva, is actually partnered into former Russian Skating Federation chairman) and can include cheaters (another assess, Yuri Balkov of Ukraine, was in fact suspended for their role in prejudging a conference).
Joannie Rochette of Canada, the 2010 ladies’ bronze medalist, discover Thursday’s result “weird” but wouldn’t discuss the evaluator because she is, like many enthusiasts, merely puzzled.
“I becamen’t sure we fully understood because I read plenty top quality in Yuna, and I also see a new lady in Adelina with unrefined minutes,” Browning stated. “But I happened to be wise adequate to stand and check out the marks before we said anything.”
Gracie Gold associated with U
Browning noticed obvious explanations for exactly why Sotnikova’s technical markings are 5.85 information better than Kim’s, including the South Korean obtaining paid down base prices on a spin and a maneuvering series. What perplexed him had been how Sotnikova’s element score Thursday could possibly be almost nine guidelines higher than the lady average component results in four previous games this coming year.
Sotnikova produced one lightweight technical mistake, a two-footed landing about third leap in a combination, that she got penalized.
“I happened to be waiting around for the blunders she usually makes, and she never ever produced all of them,” stated 1984 Olympic winner Scott Hamilton, posting comments for NBC.
“I looked over what sort of component get (guidelines) is authored, and Adelina inspections off every field. It’s not as aesthetically pleasing as Yuna or Carolina, but she does everything the judges seek.”
Sotnikova’s complimentary skate showed far more refinement than her helter-skelter short regimen, even though she hammed it right at the end with a trend within evaluator. They known that with the second-highest free of charge skate rating of all time.