🚀 go-pugleaf

Anyone who routinely follows the amateur competitive scene in figure skating
knows that the judging can be less than fair, where "established" skaters
can skate poorly but still win, whereas younger skaters can be brilliant,
but lose anyway.  However, I have never seen a case as blatant as what
happened to my friend Derrick Delmore this past weekend.

Derrick was skating in the Junior Mens' competition.  He, along with two
other boys, Michael Weiss, the eventual champion, and another, skated
perfect technical programs.  All three had comparable difficulty
(triple-lutz combinations).  After the technical program, Michael was in
first, this other guy in second, and Derrick was NINTH.  The person in
fourth fell, the guy in sixth did a double-double combination...I could go
on, but basically, Derrick was severely cheated.

His coach made a formal complaint to the referee, who was "extremely
defensive."  Carol Heiss, coach of Lisa Ervin, also complained to the
judges, and she's not even direcly involved with Derrick's coaching.

In the long, Derrick completed all of his triple jumps except his triple
axel, which he fell on (he was the only Junior to attempt one).  Michael
Weiss double a couple of his triples and fell on his triple flip.  Yet
Michael received five first place votes and Derrick was marked sixth best to
finish seventh overall.

One of the comment's made to Derrick's coach by Carol Heiss was that the
judges thought he was small and young (he's only 14).  I think that's a poor
excuse to downgrade a skater so severely, and we certainly didn't see that
in the Ladies' Competition!

The whole philosophy behind "waiting your turn" is very flawed (although
most people are glad we send Paul Wylie to the Olympics instead of Mark
Mitchell).  I suppose it "really" doesn't matter that Derrick didn't win this
year, as there are no Junior Worlds in the immediate future (there are
Junior Worlds, but team members are selected, not competing for spots on the
team).  However, finishing sixth probably cuts his chances for being
selected for international competitions in the upcoming year.

I have lost a lot of respect for the competitive sport in the last week and
I hope that the national judging will improve in years to come.


--PPZ III	<<sk82wind@jhuvms.hcf.jhu.edu>>