Judging system changes, but not all think for better: Critics say nationalism lingers and conflicts of interest still abound - ProQuest

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• skating officials overhauled the scoring and judging systems, trying to make the sport more objective and less susceptible to corruption.

• The current scoring system,

• a code of cumulative points, has left skating incomprehensible for many casual fans and even some Olympic champions.

• here 6.0 was once a universally understood measure of perfection

• Unlike the 6.0 system, which provided only one overall mark without explanation for technical merit

• oday's system assigns a numerical value to every jump and spin,

• The skater who accumulates the most total points after the short and the long programs becomes the winner.

• "From an athlete's perspective, you leave an event knowing exactly what your strengths and weaknesses are,

• favor of the current system

• Many skaters and coaches think that performance now more easily triumphs over reputation

• Still, under the current system, now a decade old, nationalist partiality and corruption, such as vote trading, have actually increased

• Under the cover of anonymity, judges still give higher marks to skaters from their own countries than do other judge

• Judging bias under the current system is roughly 20 percent greater than in the 6.0 system, where each score was publicly connected to the judge who gave it, Zitzewitz said.

• Under the 6.0 system, fans and reporters could more easily scrutinize the scoring for potential favoritism. Each judge's vote was made public by name and country. Now, only a composite score for each skater is flashed on the scoreboard.

• Anonymity was granted to the judges in an effort to lessen pressure placed on them by their respective national skating federations. But this makes it extremely difficult to detect collusion and nationalistic bias, Garbato sai

• Disconcerting to many is that disgraced officials can regain power in the sport, most conspicuously Didier Gailhaguet of France, who was at the center of the vote-trading scandal at the 2002 Salt Lake Games

• That Ten, then 19, could essentially come from nowhere to win a silver medal confirmed to some that the current system was superior to the 6.0 system, where skaters often had to wait their turns behind those with more established resumes.

• the current system, to encourage risk taking, skaters are still rewarded at least 70 percent of the value of a jump on which they fall.

• In the 6.0 system, Chan said, one tiny mistake could keep a skater off the medal podium and the judging seemed based more on failure than success.

• In the previous system, a skater received one score for artistry or presentation. Under the current system, the component score is actually five scores given for skating skills, linking footwork and movement, performance, choreography and musical interpretation.