TIME FOR A CHANGE ON ICE TOP OFFICIAL CALLS FOR OVERHAUL.Byline: Steve Dilbeck Staff Writer SALT LAKE CITY - No more perfect scores, no more open scoring, no more magical 6.0s. No more cheating and bloc voting Bloc voting (or block voting) refers to a class of voting systems which can be used to elect several representatives from a single multimember constituency. There are several variations of bloc voting depending on the ballot type used; however, they all produce similar ? That's the plan behind the International Figure Skating Figure skating is a sport enjoyed all round the world. Originally based in European countries, the sport is enjoying a major expansion in the countries of East Asia. The international governing body of the sport is the International Skating Union (ISU). Union's proposed radically new method of judging figure skating figure skating Sport in which ice skaters, singly or in pairs, perform various jumps, spins, and footwork. The figure skate blade has a special serrated toe pick, or toe rake, at the front. announced on Monday. Coming in the immediate wake of last week's pairs skating controversy, ISU ISU Iowa State University ISU Issue ISU Idaho State University ISU Illinois State University ISU Indiana State University ISU International Skating Union ISU International Space University ISU I-Shou University (Taiwan) president Ottavio Cinquanta Ottavio Cinquanta (Rome,1938)is President of the International Skating Union and a member of the International Olympic Committee. He has held the ISU position since 1994 and the IOC position since 1996. announced a plan that would reverse the current method of scoring and create a new system of selecting judges. ``It is a total revolution in the history of the International Skating Union The International Skating Union (ISU) is the international governing body for competitive ice skating disciplines, including figure skating, synchronized skating, speed skating, and short track speed skating. ,'' Cinquanta said. Although most of the details are to be worked out, the new proposal would eliminate the current method of scoring in which judges start at 6.0 and then mark deductions for errors. In its place would be a merit system System used by federal and state governments for hiring and promoting governmental employees to civil service positions on the basis of competence. The merit system uses educational and occupational qualifications, testing, and job performance as criteria for selecting, , in which skaters start at zero and then are awarded points based on the difficulty and number of jumps, spins and lifts, and how well they are performed. In addition, instead of the current nine-member judging panel, the new plan calls for 14 judges all to score the performance, with a computer randomly selecting just seven of the judges' scores. ``I promise this system will reduce to a minimum the prospect of bloc voting,'' Cinquanta said. Cinquanta said the concept has been unanimously approved by the ISU council, and a commission of judges and coaches will be formed to work out the scoring details. It must be approved by two-thirds of the entire federation, which is not scheduled to meet again until next June in Kyota, Japan. Cinquanta said he did not expect the new plan to be completed by then. The world of figure skating has been turned upside down since Feb. 11, when the Russian pairs Elena Berezhnaya Elena Viktorovna Berezhnaya (Russian: Елена Викторовна Бережная and Anton Sikharulidze Anton Tarielyevich Sikharulidze was born October 25, 1976. He is a Russian pairs figure skater, currently professional and partnered with Yelena Berezhnaya. With Berezhnaya, he won a silver medal at the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano and a gold medal at the 2002 Winter Olympics in defeated Canadians Jamie Sale and David Pelletier For the American pair skater, see . David Jacques Pelletier (born November 22, 1974 in Sayabec, Québec) is a Canadian pairs figure skater, who is partnered with Jamie Salé. Early career Pelletier achieved early success as a pair skater with Julie Laporte. , despite a flawless program by the Canadians. In the ensuing uproar, an investigation uncovered that French judge Marie-Reine Le Gougne Marie-Reine Le Gougne, often known simply as The French Judge, was a central figure in the 2002 Olympic Winter Games figure skating scandal. Le Gougne took up figure skating as a child in France, but never competed at a high level. was pressured by her federation to vote for the Russian pair. Le Gougne was suspended and Sale-Pelletier were awarded dual gold medals on Sunday. In an attempt to avoid future controversy, the new plan offers a simpler and clearer method of scoring. The plan is closer to the way Olympic boxing and diving are scored. Carol Probst, owner and president of Ice Castle International Training Center in Lake Arrowhead - home to Olympians Michelle Kwan and Alexander Abt - said early indications are positive for the proposal. ``I think it could work,'' Probst said. ``The only thing I worry about is the personality in skating and how that's going to be rewarded - the artistic side. ``But it looks good to me. I'm not a judge, but to me it looks more like a fair way to come up with a score, because there's no reason to buy a judge.'' Cinquanta said it would become useless to try to influence a judge, because you would not know if the judge's score would be included. Also the initial scores announced would not be attributed to specific judges, so it would not be known how any judge actually voted. Doug Williams, a former international skater, current national judge and the president of the 2002 U.S. Nationals Figure Skating Championship, remained skeptical. ``I think this is all reactionary and not well thought out,'' Williams said. ``Just because you don't like a decision by the Supreme Court, you don't throw out the entire court.'' Under the current proposal, skaters would turn in their proposed program knowing the total maximum point total they could reach, not counting an additional factor for presentation. Judges would put a value on how well each axel or double-toe loop was performed. CAPTION(S): photo, 3 boxes Photo: (color) CINQUANTA Box: (1) TODAY'S HIGHLIGHTS (see text) (2) SALT LAKE CITY WEATHER (see text) (3) MEDAL COUNT |
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