BuzzFeed News crunched the numbers and showed judges prefer skaters from home countries

[NoStefaniaNo]

How Figure Skating Judges May Have Shaped The Olympic Podium
An analysis by BuzzFeed News shows that judges displayed a strong preference for skaters from the same country at the 2018 Winter Olympics, and that it may have made a difference in a gold medal finish.

https://www.buzzfeed.com/johntemplo...udges-may-have?utm_term=.rcd0ENaEW#.raqxDYNDG

 

[sk9tingfan]

Well, there goes my retirement project!

 

[Wyliefan]

And in other news, the sky is blue.

 

[NoStefaniaNo]

No, it isn't shocking, but it's interesting to see the data.

 

[ChiquitaBanana]

They should have known that the highest and lowest score are taken out, so their thesis does not work. And what about the technical panel being biased? What about other judges having increased marks when it is not deserved (like the twizzle sequence of P/C)? Nice try, but there are some other factors to ponder in to make it stand the road.

 

[NoStefaniaNo]

They did note that the highest and lowest scores are taken out.

"Figure skating's scoring system reduces the effect of extreme judgments by throwing out the highest and lowest score for each part of a performance. But very high scores can still influence the outcome by preventing the next-highest score for each part from being discarded."

 

[ChiquitaBanana]

They did note that the highest and lowest scores are taken out.

"Figure skating's scoring system reduces the effect of extreme judgments by throwing out the highest and lowest score for each part of a performance. But very high scores can still influence the outcome by preventing the next-highest score for each part from being discarded."

So technically, they want no judge from the country of the competitors...

 

[DreamsofBliss]

No, it isn't shocking, but it's interesting to see the data.

I agree, thank you for sharing. And Canada is lucky that Virtue and Moir are so popular or there would have been a bigger outcry probably (even given the SD since VM's levels were also questioned). Skating needs to do better.

 

[casken]

And in other news, the sky is blue.

I dunno, talk about US and Canadian judges being biased has been kind of met with hand waving in the past. It's refreshing to see the acknowledgement.