The World Competes

On Thursdays, I’d like to take a look at different Olympic sports. Sometimes it helps to know a little bit more about how the events are scored, or the rules, so they make a little more sense when you watch them.

After 2002, the International Skating Union changed the scoring. If you remember, there was a controversy during the 2002 Olympics where the French judge in the pairs competition was bribed to vote for the Russians over the Canadians. Afterwards, they changed the scoring system (although how that will stop bribing judges in the future is beyond me).

The new scoring system is a lot more technical than the old system with scores that go up to six. There are two components to the new score, a total element score, and a program component score. The total element score gives points to the skaters for performing certain elements; some elements are worth more than others. There are twelve judges on the panel; nine of their scores are picked at random, and the high and low score of the remaining judges are thrown out. The program components score scores the skaters based on different components: skating skills, transitions, performance, choreography, and execution. In this part of the score, judges give a value from 0 to 10, in .25 intervals, with 5 being an average score. Points are deducted when a skater makes a mistake. The final score comes from adding the total element score and the program components score.

Pairs and singles skaters skate in a short program and a free skate, while ice dancers skate a compulsory dance, original dance, and a free dance.