It has been nine years since the scoring system in figure skating dramatically changed since the embarrassing scandal rocked the sport at the 2002 Olympic Winter Games in Salt Lake City.
Is the revised judging system better? Sure it is. But at the same time, there are definite flaws that continues to confuse the average figure skating fan.
Firstly, the whole issue of deductions seems to have its problems. In the pairs competition on Wednesday at the World Figure Skating Championships in London, Ontario, several figure skaters in the pairs competition had a touch down. This is something athletes obviously want to accomplish in football, but not figure skating. However for numerous teams,they did not receive a deduction for the mishap.
According to the United States Figure Skating Association, "the technical controller and technical specialists decide on deductions for falls and illegal elements."
So why isn't a touch down not considered a fall?
The other issue with the deductions is that figure skaters can make numerous errors in the program and only receive a deduction of -1. Figure skaters should receive a deduction of -1 for every error made.
Finally, to promote accountability, it would be nice to see a return of the public knowing where each judge is from when he or she decides on a particular grade.
Can these problems be fixed? Yes, but whether or not anything is changed prior to the 2014 Olympic Winter Games in Sochi remains to be seen.
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