A positive spin on sophisticated scoring system
TURIN -- How can Sasha Cohen have the worst skate of her life and still win a silver medal? How can Tanith Belbin and Benjamin Agosto finish sixth in the compulsory dance and fourth in the free dance and still place second? How does Evan Lysacek leap from 10th to fourth in a single bound?
It was the scoring system, with its dozens of moving parts. What went on at Olympus during the past fortnight is what has been happening on lesser stages ever since the code of points went into full effect last season. But for the average televiewers who don't pore over the International Skating Union circulars or lurk in the skating chatrooms, the results probably appeared bizarre. All they know is that two women who fell down ended up with medals ahead of several people -- Fumie Suguri, Joannie Rochette, Kimmie Meissner -- who did not.
At least there was no Skategate scandal this time, no collusion or corruption, as least as far as we know. And despite the rogue-result possibility inherent in a format where five of 12 marks are discarded, the ''right" people -- as in nine of the 12 reigning world medalists -- ended up on the medal stand.
Still, it was the ugliest week of skating in Olympic history. Three of the final five couples in the original dance had a pratfall, with Canada's Marie-France Dubreuil ending up in the hospital. Evgeny Plushenko could have won the men's crown by default, as world titlist Stephane Lambiel looked like a man skidding on the sidewalk while chasing the last Arborway car. And Shizuka Arakawa, a notoriously unstable unit who'd finished eighth, first, and ninth at the last three global championships, was the only women's medalist who didn't end up on her backside.
What's been made clear here is that the world's best skaters are struggling mightily to adapt to the new scoring format, which requires them to upgrade jumps, spins, and footwork to remain competitive. Either they try to go beyond themselves and crash -- Chinese pairs skater Zhang Dan nearly snapped herself like a wishbone on a quadruple throw salchow -- or they play it safe to survive.
Arakawa has two triple-triple combinations in her arsenal. She chose to do neither in the free skate and ended up landing only five triples, which is what women were doing 25 years ago. Irina Slutskaya managed only three clean triples, two of them in the first minute, and went down on an easy triple loop. ''I think it was obvious that the standard of skating wasn't particularly good," observed coach John A.W. Nicks, who watched pupil Cohen splatter twice in the first 35 seconds.
Yet when the numbers went up, Arakawa (the oldest women's gold medalist in 86 years), Cohen, and Slutskaya all were on the podium. ''I was lucky," Cohen acknowledged later. ''Yeah, you were," Nicks agreed.
This was the final gasp for the 6.0 Generation, which grew up under an ancient system that used only two marks (one technical, one artistic) and made it easy to prop up favored skaters. Not that the judges still can't do it. They've learned quickly how to manipulate the five program components that make up the second set of marks, just as they used to throw out a 5.9 or 6.0 presentation bouquet to keep a champion afloat.
That's what saved Cohen after her disastrous beginning. She was able to regain her feet, weave together a series of lovely steps and spins and get enough component points (second only to Arakawa) to give her the silver. ''The system has changed but the people don't change," said Slutskaya. ''We still have judges, still have people who push the buttons. So I don't know how it changes."
Though much was made of the grades of execution (from +3 to -3) that can be assigned to each technical element, most judges ignored them, except to hang skaters with -3 for falls. Of more than 150 GOEs given to Arakawa, half were 0, meaning average. Only eight were +2. This for the woman who's arguably the best skater on the planet.
Plushenko, the three-time world champion who destroyed the men's field, received only one +3 in the long program, and that for a straight-line step sequence. Tatiana Totmianina and Maxim Marinin, who won the pairs, received no +3s for their free skate, nor did dance champions Tatiana Navka and Roman Kostomarov. ''The Olympics is always strange," said Canadian dancer Shae-Lynn Bourne. ''I experienced that myself three times. It's not like a world championship. It's like a whole other world when you come here."
This world, though, has been in transition since Salt Lake City and many of the Olympians who stuck around for another quadrennium found themselves out of rhythm with it, especially the women, who were being chased by teenagers such as Meissner, Emily Hughes, and Elene Gedevanishvili, who weren't quite ready now but will be next year.
This was the first time in Olympic history that the best women's skater -- Mao Asada, Japan's 15-year-old aerialist -- was too young to compete. She knocks off triple axels as if they're bunny hops and triple-triple combos are a bowl of rice for her. She beat Arakawa at the Japanese championships and slammed Slutskaya at the Grand Prix final. If she's smart, Asada will demand a title shot next month -- right after she's done with the world juniors.
