Scoring Whoring Over Ice? Two Million Irate Ice Fans Demand Investigaion of the Judging of Women's Figures

 Robbery on ice:  Did Russia Steal Gold from South Korea?

 Russia's Adelina Sotnikova beats out South Korea's Yuna Kim

Skategate  in Sochi?

Were the judges pimping for Russia?  On the take?   Swapping scores in a fix?

I did not watch the event. Seems an avalanche of angry fans believe the South Korean was robbed of the Gold, which went to the Russian.

First of all, artistic skating is NOT a sport.  Never was.  Never will be. If ice skating was ONLY about athleticism, the skaters would be rigorously confined to demonstrating a series of jumps and spins, etc.  There would be no music.  No creative expression.  Then, the judging too would be easier to judge by spectators at large.  For this to be, turn off the music.  Fire the choreographers, the managers, the creative consultants, et all.  Never will happen.  The crowd would turn its fickle attentions elsewhere, just as it did to the old school figures and, more lately -- I assume -- to the set compulsory dances.

Ice skating is a virtual  entertainment industry, elevated, funded, glorified by Big Money.  Careers, sponsorships, ego, and national pride ride the results. 

Secondly, two people can view the same program very differently.  All judging of any artistic event  involves a degree of subjectivity.  So it would be near impossible to prove a judging error, short of documented evidence of collusion.  It's happened before and it could happen again.

Nonetheless, here looms a potential Olympic-sized whopper, a public relations disaster in the making.

No, no! will cry the insiders -- just more publicity for our darling sport, so cunning in its shrewd capacity to reap yet more scandal and lure in more fans. 

Watching all of this fake gold unfold from the sidelines is quite fascinating.  And considering possible corruption behind the scenes, driven by insatiable greed, the surly image of Tanya Harding comes to mind.  Sorry, but I think a reality check is in order.

You of the ice crowd:   Please tell us how you saw the event.  Do you believe it was a reasonable call, or possible fixed?