Scoring Systems Will Create Some Confusion

Still seeking judging and scoring systems that will restore the credibility figure skating lost during the Salt Lake City judging scandal, the International Skating Union is trying two experiments this weekend at Skate Canada, the second competition in the six-event Grand Prix series.

The interim judging system -- 10 judges evaluate skaters’ performances but a computer randomly chooses seven marks that count -- was used at Skate America last weekend and is being used again at Skate Canada in Quebec City. Skate Canada, however, is also testing a system in which skaters accumulate points based on the elements they perform.

“This is a very confusing year,” said Phyllis Howard, president of the U.S. Figure Skating Assn.”It’s really a transition year. It remains to be seen how these new systems will work, and they’re still being tested. They’re very different, and it will take time for people to adjust.”

Under the interim judging system, skaters are marked on the basis of the traditional 6.0 perfect score, but marks are displayed in ascending order without indication of which judge awarded which score.

U.S. pairs skater Garrett Lucash said the system is confusing. “I’m not crazy about it,” he said. “I’d like to see who gives me what.”

“People were concerned about the anonymity of the judges,” Howard said of the test at Skate America. “Proponents say it frees the judges to judge without influence from their federations, but people also say judges need to be accountable.”

That system will determine the rankings at Skate Canada, but a separate panel is using the cumulative scoring system. Proposed during ISU meetings last June in Japan, the cumulative system has been tested once before, at the Nebelhorn Trophy event. That panel’s decisions will not be made public.

Under the cumulative system, judges assign each skater a technical mark and a presentation mark. The technical mark is divided into three categories: elements, skating technique and technical transitions. The presentation mark is based on performance, choreography and interpretation.

A random draw will produce 16 judges, with one serving as referee and another as assistant referee. Of the remaining 14, the scores of only seven will count.

An expert will be assigned to identify each element skaters perform. This expert will then put a confirmation into a computer, which matches the element with a predetermined point value. Each judge then will award a mark for quality, adding or subtracting three points per element. For the presentation mark, judges have written criteria and will mark skaters on a scale of 1-10. The technical and presentation marks, given equal value, will be added to produce the cumulative total.

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New Ideas to Wrestle

Women’s wrestling is scheduled to make its Olympic debut at Athens in 2004, so the recent launch of a women’s resident wrestling program at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs couldn’t have been better timed.

“Once the U.S. Olympic Committee and the training center opened the doors for the program, the response was incredible,” said Terry Steiner, hired in April as the first full-time U.S. women’s national wrestling coach. “A lot of these women have been waiting and yearning for this.”

Steiner, who won an NCAA title under Dan Gable at Iowa, has a seven-woman team at the World Championships this weekend at Halkida, Greece. Four U.S. women have won silver medals at previous World Championships and the team will contend for a medal, but Japan, China, Russia and Canada will offer formidable competition.

Steiner, who has been an assistant coach of men’s teams at Wisconsin and Oregon State, said he finds few technical differences between working with men and women but finds women to be more communicative.

“It’s a real life commitment for the women,” he said. “They want to win and they want help. From that standpoint, it’s very similar and they’re very easy to work with. They’re very hungry and they listen to your guidance.

“There’s definitely a feeling out there that this should be a guy’s sport exclusively, forever. There will be those feelings until we start to change people’s perceptions. Even [at the training center], a lot of men freestyle and Greco-Roman wrestlers think, ‘Oh, it’s just a hobby,’ but now they’ve seen the women here twice a day, five or six days a week, it’s hard not to respect that. Wrestling teaches life skills. Why would we want to limit that to half the population?”

Women will compete in seven weight classes at the world competition but in four classes at the Olympics, from 48k (about 105 pounds) to 72k (about 158). There aren’t enough women’s college programs for the NCAA to sanction the sport, and Steiner said only Texas and Hawaii sanction girls’ high school wrestling, leaving many girls to wrestle on boys’ teams.

Fourteen women are in the resident program, which also offers help with nutrition and psychological preparation. Twenty women will be in residence by the end of the year.

“You know coming into this position you’re fighting attitudes and history,” Steiner said. “I can’t think about that. I’ve got to worry about the people in front of me, and to me, they’re simply athletes.”

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She’s Not Run of the Mill

Marla Runyan will continue her transition to longer distances Sunday, when she makes her marathon debut in the New York City Marathon.

Runyan became the first legally blind athlete to compete in the Olympics when she finished eighth in the 1,500 meters at the 2000 Sydney Games. She has since moved up to longer races and won the U.S. 5K and 10K road race titles this year. She also finished second in the Philadelphia half marathon last month, not long after she married her coach, Matt Lonergan. Her concession to the wedding was to run “only” 65 miles that week instead of her usual 100.

Runyan’s blindness is the result of Stargardt’s disease, which causes the retinas to degenerate. She has enough peripheral vision to follow the painted blue line along the New York marathon route, and she’ll have an escort on a bike to keep her apprised of her split times and water stops.

The elite women’s field, which will start before the men’s field for the first time, also features Sonia O’Sullivan of Ireland and defending champion Margaret Okayo of Kenya. Defending men’s champion and course-record holder Tesfaye Jifar of Ethiopia and 2002 Boston Marathon winner Rodgers Rop lead the men’s field. Also entered is Eamonn Coghlan of Ireland, the former world indoor mile record holder.

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Here and There

Tim Goebel has resumed full training with Coach Frank Carroll in El Segundo after a hip injury forced him to withdraw from his two Grand Prix events.

Todd Eldredge, six-time U.S. men’s champion, was granted a waiver that allows him to keep his Olympic eligibility while he performs in the Stars on Ice tour. Eldredge, 31, can also enter the U.S. championships in January at Dallas. The question, though, is whether he should. Isn’t it time to let some youngsters gain national and international experience?

Local skaters Beatrisa Liang and Yebin Mok finished second and third, respectively, at the recent Junior Grand Prix event at Beijing. Liang, of Granada Hills, moved up from fifth after the short program. Mok, of Los Angeles, led after the short program.