wow
They were saying last night that they weren't going to decide anything till Monday.

I didn't realize one of the top officials was French (International Skating Union president Ottavio Cinquanta). It must have been a tough pill for him to swallow. In a way I feel bad for the Russians. They look like villians when I doubt they had anything to do with the judging.

It's an odd solution to give two golds for an event, especially after it was decided two judges cheated. The Russian apparently was swapping votes for a competition with a French athelete that comes later. The Russian judge was kicked off the panel at the last Olympics for cheating.

This somehow fits perfectly in this Olympics after the scandal of Salt Lake City bribing the committee for the games. I wonder if Enron is the official sponsor....

Justice?

HA!

Nonsense, the IOC crumbled under the public opinion. The audience figured the Canadians should've won, the judges figured otherwise and all of a sudden there is "cheating" because they differ on opinion and after much commotion and _media hype_ both get gold? Bullshit.

This strengthens my opinion that figure skating has no place in the Olympics.

To "craeonics":

I'm curious. Just how much experience do you have in the arts? It smells as though you are in favor only of sports that can be judged unequivocally, where there is no argument in ANYONE's eyes as to who came first, second or third. Sure, there is basic inherent value in that, but to summarily exclude something as beautiful and passionate as figure skating is terrible.

On the one hand, figure skating is less clear-cut, but that is taken into account with separate marks for technical and artistic merit. On the OTHER hand, beyond a certain point it does become clear that obvious mistakes should count for a mark beneath first... and from where I stand, the judges abused their power.

This is not a case which is so cut-and-dried so that people like you, Craeonics, can just vent your pompous opinion and proclaim it gospel.

"What makes your opinion any more valid or important than craeonics'?"

DUH, opinions are validated based on experience and observation of all angles! (Plus the fact that Craeonics chose to punctuate with the term "Bullshit," which illustrates his infinite wisdom in this matter to no end.)

Let's consider some unrelated analogies. To be absolutely blunt, if you are a Caucasian you will never experience the full effect of what it is like to be called "chink" or "nigger" by the typical white lummox who would use these terms. To a milder extent, a typical teenager who hangs out at McDonald's will not appreciate the subtleties of French or Vietnamese cuisine. Similarly, the average adolescent with Linkin Park in his headphones will not understand the superior maturity and intelligence required of his peer to play the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto. To a stronger extent, a small-minded MoPar or Ford enthusiast will spare no saliva in denigrating Japanese cars even though he (unlikely that women would be so stupid) has never touched or set foot in an import due to his pea-sized brain and consequent biases.

Now back on topic. Your suggestion that figure skating is not a sporting event lowers your credibility. Figure skating IS a sporting event; like ski slalom, luge, bobsledding, hockey and every other 'conventional' event, it requires years of focused training, pushing one's mind and body to the maximum, exploring the limits of strength, dexterity and stamina, and doing incredible things ordinary mortals cannot. All Olympic figure skaters are athletes without question. The successful expression of one's soul in this form CAN be rated in the current scale of technical and artistic marks, and if you have spent a lifetime in arts of any kind you learn to make distinctions; hence, competition, and the concepts of gold, silver and bronze medals.

I will wait for you or craeonics to come forward sharing experience of your own and/or of your children in figure skating.

Damnit, something ate my [enter]s...

Actually, over the past century, much HAS already been written or typed on the debate regarding the validity of music competitions, but that's such a large can of worms that it really belongs on a separate forum or newsgroup even.

What about gymnastics? This is something I like to watch, for many of the same reasons in figure skating. But aren't things such as the floor exercises seem subject to subjectivity?

And then there's 'luck'....the Aussie short-course speed-skater who didn't crash, and went on to score the first ever Gold for Oz in the winter Olympics...

What? Ozzies can skate? Do you have ice over there?

Er...that would be 'ski', not 'skate'....oh well, I DID say I'd never seen it falling....

craeonics can't stop kicking in them doors

Furthermore, "snow" is the stuff that fall from the sky and of which you can make snowmen and such. "Ice" is frozen water, same as the stuff you put in your drinks, but on a larger scale. Sometimes ice falls from the skies, it's called "hail" then.

And if you still mix up snow and ice, have someone throw a snowball and an iceball at you. You'll feel the difference once you wake up.