SKATEGATE

[Allan]

Why all this fuss about ice skating - surely any so-called 'sport' which is judged on dress-style and artistic interpretation rather than first past the post can't ever be properly competed.

[incitatus]

You've never been involved in judging one, I take it. The code for judging is very strict in such sports and when evenly applied is fair. The fuss is that peple have found out that the judges are partisan (shock).

[andy hughes]

A bit of a cat-among-the-pigeons approach there I think! As you know there are a large number of sports that don't involve a simple 'first' system of judging, and as the redoubtable Incitatus advises, judging is very strict. The fuss is because one judge appears to have been 'influenced' in her decision, and such action would be deemed unfair in any sport for which people comete, rgardless of how frivolous some observers may find its content. The fuss is less about the skating, than the notion of 'leaning' on judges to obtain a patently unfair result.