LILLEHAMMER / ’94 WINTER OLYMPICS : THE JUDGES : Eyes Will Be on These Two While They Score Skaters

Judging controversies are as much a part of figure skating as sequins, but two judges in the women’s competition that begins tonight in the Winter Olympics will be particularly scrutinized.

Alfred Koritek of Ukraine is the father of the man who coached gold-medal contender Oksana Baiul for seven years. When his son emigrated to Canada in 1992, leaving Baiul behind, Koritek, the president of Ukraine’s figure skating association, made the telephone call that brought the skater together with her current coach, Galina Zmievskaya.

Asked if that constituted a conflict of interest, International Skating Union technical delegate Chuck DeMore of the United States said, “No comment, but it’s a good question.”

The other judge with a close tie to a skater is Germany’s Jan Hoffman, the 1980 silver medalist in the men’s competition. He was coached by Jutta Mueller, who is Katarina Witt’s longtime coach.

The ISU selected judges from a pool of 10 countries based on the results of last year’s World Championships. A blind draw was held to determine which nine would have a representative on the panel.

Losing out was France, but that will not necessarily restrict its highly rated skater, Surya Bonaly. The United States had no judge in 1992, when Kristi Yamaguchi finished first and Nancy Kerrigan third.

The U.S. judge this year is Margaret Ann Wier of Park City, Utah. The sister of Hugh Graham, former U.S. Figure Skating Assn. president, she was the last woman to win medals in the national championships in singles and pairs until Yamaguchi did it in 1989.