2018/19 List of Officials (judges and co) | Golden Skate

2018/19 List of Officials (judges and co)

Andrea82

Medalist
Joined
Feb 16, 2014
2018/19 List of Officials + Judges Draw 2019 Championships

ISU have published today the list of Referees, Judges, Technical Controllers, Technical Specialists, Data & Replay Operators season 2018/19 for Single & Pair Skating, Ice Dance and Synchronized Skating.

Link to the full list: https://www.isu.org/communications/17794-2187-list-officials-fs-id-sys-2018-19/file

As a reminder

Olympic Games, ISU Championships (World, Junior World, Europeans, 4 Continents) and GP Final (both Senior and Junior): everyone should have ISU status

Senior GP events: Technical Controller and Specialists, Referee and Data Operator must be ISU status while Judges can be International

Junior GP events: International status allowed for Judges and Referee; Technical Controllers/Specialists and Data Operator must have ISU status

other competitions: International status is enough for all roles


ISU being ISU, I expect some mistakes being included. For example, I see that Alexandre Gorojdanov hasn't been delated…and 2 former ice dancers I know they passed the exam last month at Frankfurt seminar to become International Technical Specialists are not in the list...


Anyway, I attempted to cross-check with 2017/18 list to see changes

TECHNICAL CONTROLLERS

SINGLES

Promoted from International to ISU status
Ms Benson Cynthia (Canada)
Mr Huang Feng (China)
Ms Kulik Zanna (Estonia)
Ms Faig Ulla (Germany)
Ms Kozhemyakina Olga (Russia)
Mr Rosenbluth Robert (USA)

New International
Mr Ganner Georg (Austria)
Ms Yordanova Tatiana (Bulgaria)
Ms Fang Dan (China)
Mr Grainge Richard (Great Britain)
Ms Chen Dan (Hong Kong)

Retired/out of the list
Ms Rehorick Sally (Canada)
Mr Levin Peter (Sweden)
Ms Walder Alice (Switzerland)

PAIRS

Promoted from International to ISU status
Ms Derby Andrea (Canada)

New International
Ms Wang Yu (China)
Ms Barbacci Levy Diana (Switzerland)
Ms Enzmann Wendy (USA)

Retired/out of the list
Ms Rehorick Sally (Canada)

ICE DANCE

Promoted from International to ISU status
Ms Andreeva Julia (Russia)

New International
Mr Kozubek Marcin (Poland)

Retired/out of the list
[/U]Mr Zuccaro Walter (Italy)

SYNCHRONIZED



New International
Ms Ciceri Laura (Italy)

Retired/out of the list
Ms Tillmann Kirsten (Germany)

TECHNICAL SPECIALISTS

SINGLES


Promoted from International to ISU status
Mr Borounov Evgueni (Australia)
Mr Sutherland Corey (Canada)
Mr Larasser Eugen (Germany)
Ms Wagner-Kutinova Monika (Germany)
Mr Hartley David (Great Britain)
Ms Lee Tze Ching Phyllis (Hong Kong)
Ms. To Hiu Tung Helen (Hong Kong)
Ms Sheiko Julia (Israel)
Mr Shipov Maksim (Israel)
Mr Paluchowski Bartosz (Poland)
Ms Fernandez Laura (Spain)
Mr Stiller Filip (Sweden)
Ms Gaynor Whitney (USA)
Ms Williamson Denise (USA)

New International
Mr LeBlanc Raoul (Canada)
Ms Cao Yue (China)
Ms Muzikova Lucie (Czech Republic)
Ms Ojasaar Kristel (Estonia)
Mr Wood Samuel (Great Britain)

Demoted from ISU to International status
Ms McLean Maria (Denmark)
Ms Garcia Villarreal Nilda Nancy (Mexico)
Ms Lee Eun-Hee (South Korea)
Mr Dungjen Jason (USA)

PAIRS

Promoted from International to ISU status
Ms Ding Yang (China)
Mr Tewanian Sarkis (Poland)
Ms Graham Dana (USA)

New International
no-one

Demoted from ISU to International status
Mr Dungjen Jason (USA)

Retired/out of the list
Mr Moellenkamp David (Canada)
Mr Rolland Vivien (France)


ICE DANCE

Promoted from International to ISU status
Ms Borounov Maria (Australia)
Ms Senft Lauren Helena (Canada)
Ms Gustafsson Pia-Maria (Finland)

New International
Mr Stefano Mattia Caruso (Germany)
Mr Ivan Volobuev (Russia)

Demoted from ISU to International status
Ms Ellinger Angelika (Austria)
Ms Krytskaya Anna (Belarus)
Mr Rauer Thomas (Germany)

Retired/out of the list
Mr Hockaday Chris (Great Britain)
Mr Ponomarenko Sergei (Russia)
Mr Kunya Tomas (Slovakia)

SYNCHRONIZED

Promoted from International to ISU status
Ms Latva Henriikk (Finland)
Ms Kobazeva Daria (Russia)

New International
Ms Pazin Petra (Croatia)
Ms Crisafulli Carolina (Italy)
Ms Szymanek Aleksandra (Poland)
Ms Hawkes Barbara Anne (South Africa)
Ms Duss Sarah (Switzerland)

Retired/out of the list
Ms Haslemore Aleisha (New Zealand)

JUDGES


in progress as the list is too long...


I apologize in advance for any mistakes. Please, feel free to highlight any error.
 

Andrea82

Medalist
Joined
Feb 16, 2014
ISU updated the file spotting some mistakes

Alexandre Gorojdanov is gone.

Ms Christine Hurth (France) is back as ISU Referee, judge and technical controller in Ice Dance.

Mr Matteo Ballabio (Italy) is back as International Technical Specialist in Ice Dance

New International technical specialists in Ice Dance are:

Mr Stefano Mattia Caruso (Germany)
Mr Ivan Volobuev (Russia)

Iand 2 former ice dancers I know they passed the exam last month at Frankfurt seminar to become International Technical Specialists are not in the list...

I was referring to Caruso and Volobuev who have now been added.
 

Andrea82

Medalist
Joined
Feb 16, 2014
The exam to be promoted to ISU judge level will take place during Nebelhorn Trophy (26th to 29th September). ISU level is the one required to judge in ISU Championships.

For Single and Pairs it consisents in 3 parts:

1) elements identification

2) written part with 50 questions (mix of true/false, multiple choice and written answers): 20 are about Single (Short and Free Skating), 20 abour Pairs (SP and FS), 10 general on regulations and technical rules. To pass they need to answer correctly to 84% of the questions overall with 70% correct in each part.

3) practical part: judging of selected skaters from Nelbelhorn

For Ice Dance it is only 2 parts:

1) 40 questions: 10 for Pattern Dance Elements, 10 for Rhythm Dance, 10 for Free Dance and 10 general questions. To pass they need 84% correct answers overall with at least 70% in each of the 4 groups

2) Practical part: a) the judging of the Rhythm Dance and the Free Dance of the 2018 Nebelhorn Trophy competition b) screen judging on DVDs of previous events, including Pattern Dances Elements for the 2018/19 season (Tango Romantica and Argentine Tango), Rhythm Dance and Free Dance.

If the Technical Committee think that the English skills of a candidate are not good enough, his/her ISU member will pay for his/her expenses (ISU cover meals and hotels for candidates).
Given that all these candidates for promotion already have "International" qualification (which is enough to judge at GPs), I am a bit puzzled why some of them may not know English well enough. This point is also present in Referee's reports after competitions: there is a column to indicate if their working knowledge of English is yes, partly ("understands, but cannot discuss. will not be considered for promotion") or no.
Therefore, it is a more structural issue: do they need a better English language knowledge to judge at Worlds compared than to judge in GPs? Are the round table discussion more "light" at GPs and Senior Bs? Which duties of an ISU judge are exempted at lower level competitions?

Successful candidates will immediately be added to the current lists of ISU Judges.

This is important in relation to the Draw for ISU Championships 2019 in case new ISU members get an ISU level judge before the end of the month allowing them to partecipate to the draw.
The Judges draw will take place in Geneve on October 11th. It's ISU members (federations/associations) that are drawn. Individual judges will be later nominated by the drawn federations.

By October 1, ISU members must indicate in which ISU Championships (World, Junior World, European and 4 Continents) and in which individual disciplines of these Championships they intend to participate in the respective draw. ceremony.
Given that a judge must not serve in more than one discipline per ISU Championships, it means that Federations with only 1-2 ISU level judges are more limited as they can't have judges in all other disciplines.

For European Championships, only Euro ISU members can partecipate to the draw.
13 ISU members will be drawn for each discipline.
At first the draw is done among ISU members who had skaters having taken part to that discipline in previous year's Euros. If they are less than 13, a further draw is made among all other ISU members that expressed an interest in judging in that discipline.

For Worlds and Junior Worlds, the procedure is the same apart that it involves all ISU members and not just European ones.

For 4 Continents, they draw only 9 ISU members per discipline. They start with drawing among ISU members with a skater in 2018 4CCs in that discipline. If they are not enough, they make a further draw to complete the panel considering all other ISU members outside Europe wishing to judge in the event. If it is still not enough, they complete the panel drawing the remaining judges among European feds that expressed willingness to judge in the event.

Currently, the number of ISU judges per memeber stands at

Single/Pairs

Australia: 11
Austria: 9
Azerbajian: 1
Belarus: 2
Belgium: 2
Bosnia: 1
Bulgaria: 4
Canada: 17
China: 9 (but 2 are suspended for this season)
Taipei: 2
Croatia: 3
Czech Rep: 6
Denmark: 3
Estonia: 3
Finland: 9
France: 8
Georgia: 1
Germany: 14
Great Britain: 9
Greece: 2
Hong Kong: 2
Hungary: 5
Israel: 2
Italy: 11
Japan: 11
Kazakhsta: 2
Latvia:1
Lithuania: 1
Mexico: 2
Netherlands: 6
New Zealand: 2
Norway: 4
Poland: 6
South Korea: 5
Romania: 4
Russia: 14
Serbia: 4
Slovakia: 4
Slovenia: 7
South Africa: 1
Spain: 3
Sweden: 6
Switzerland: 9
Turkey: 3
Ukraine: 4
USA: 18
Uzbekistan

Ice Dance

Australia: 3
Austria: 1
Azerbajian: 1
Bosnia: 1
Bulgaria: 1
Canada: 10
China: 2 (but 1 suspended)
Czech Rep: 2
Finland: 3
France: 5
Georgia: 1
Germany: 7
Great Britain: 6
Hungary: 5
Israel: 2
Italy: 6
Japan: 3
Latvia: 1
Lithuania: 1
Netherlands: 1
New Zealand: 1
Poland: 4
South Korea: 1
Russia: 6
Slovakia: 2
Spain: 2
Switzerland: 4
Turkey: 1
Ukraine: 2
USA: 11
 

ancientpeas

The Notorious SEW
Record Breaker
Joined
Jan 11, 2014
I wonder what you have to do to be demoted?

you and I are twinning. Jason D. was demoted twice. Could it just be the amount of time you have to devote to that aspect of skating? Maybe having more coaching jobs?
 

TontoK

Hot Tonto
Record Breaker
Joined
Jan 28, 2013
Country
United-States
you and I are twinning. Jason D. was demoted twice. Could it just be the amount of time you have to devote to that aspect of skating? Maybe having more coaching jobs?

His was the name that caught my eye. I don't recall any specific incident, even unsubstantiated gossip, concerning him.

Perhaps as you say, it might just be that he's unavailable, or that his coaching gigs disqualify him as a conflict of interest, or something like that.
 

el henry

Go have some cake. And come back with jollity.
Record Breaker
Joined
Mar 3, 2014
Country
United-States
Poor Jason Dungjen, one of the few names we recognize:biggrin:

I think “demotion” is a word that sounds harsher in English than it needs to sound. I have absolutely no idea, but knowing certifications, I would guess 1. Jason did not keep up with continuing education credits, or 2. Jason did not keep up whatever memberships are needed, or 3. You need to work a certain amount of comps, and Jason didn’t do that.

It’s not like he lost all his knowledge:laugh:
 

Andrea82

Medalist
Joined
Feb 16, 2014
you and I are twinning. Jason D. was demoted twice. Could it just be the amount of time you have to devote to that aspect of skating? Maybe having more coaching jobs?

yes, almost all "demotions" are due to lack of service as judge/controller/specialist and/or lack of required seminar attendance.

For example to be re-appointed as ISU Technical Specialist, you need

a) have served, during the twenty-four (24) months preceding July 31st of the calendar year of the nomination preceding the nomination, as Technical Specialist in:
- two (2) International Competitions
or
- one (1) ISU Figure Skating Championships or one (1) Grand Prix event or Final (senior or junior) or one (1) Challenger Series (senior) event and one (1) National Competition

b) have completed, during the thirty-six (36) months preceding July 31st of the calendar year of the nomination, an ISU Seminar for first appointment or re-appointment of ISU Technical Specialists (see Rule 417). Seminar attendance in Pair Skating counts also for Single Skating. Seminar attendance in Single Skating does not count for Pair Skating.

If someone doesn't meet the two points, he is directly transfered from ISU to International status

Another possible reason for moving from ISU to International list (or from International to out of the list) is that the judge/controller/specialist has accumulated too many assessments procedures by the Technical Committee because of errors. In these cases, they are usually singled out with an ISU Communication about them. Same as when demoted because of lack of working English (Yuri Balkov).

So, all in all, I believe JD simply didn't attend a seminar or didn't serve as TS in 2 International competitions in the last 2 years
 

Andrea82

Medalist
Joined
Feb 16, 2014
Judges who passed the ISU examination and got promoted last week

Single and Pairs

André Marc Allain (Canada)
Anny Hou (Taipei)
Tuire Kuronen (Finland)
Angelika Ullm (Germany)
Kyung Han Young (South Korea)
Todd Bromley (USA)

Ice Dance

Fan Yang (China)
Ekaterina Zabolotnaya (Germany)
Maria Gribonosova-Grebneva (Russia)
Olena Lisova (Ukraine)
Kathaleen Cutone (USA)
Eric Hampton (USA)

Sylvain Guibord (Canada) has sadly died
https://skatecanada.ca/2018/09/skating-community-mourns-the-passing-of-sylvain-guibord/


Going back to the previous discussion, Jason Dungjen has served as Technical Specialist at Autumn Classic (Pairs). Nancy Garcia from Mexico who was also moved from ISU to International also served as Assistant Technical Specialist at Autumn Classic (Ladies). Therefore, if lack of required service was the reason they were moved, they would now need only a national competition to meet the requirements and moving back to ISU level (it's either 2 international competitions or 1 ISU CHampionship/GP/Challenger + 1 National in the previous 24 months).
 

DSQ

Record Breaker
Joined
Apr 14, 2018
Country
United-Kingdom
His was the name that caught my eye. I don't recall any specific incident, even unsubstantiated gossip, concerning him.

Perhaps as you say, it might just be that he's unavailable, or that his coaching gigs disqualify him as a conflict of interest, or something like that.

I’m not sure conflict of interest is an issue or Simon Briggs from GBR would be out. He and Debby Briggs coach out of Dundee and are quite popular. Among the senior girls the last three champions were from Dundee.
 

Andrea82

Medalist
Joined
Feb 16, 2014
Judges draw for 2019 ISU Championships


Europeans

Men: Belarus, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, Great Britain, Italy, Norway, Poland, Russia, Spain, Turkey and Ukraine

Ladies: Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Netherlands, Norway, Russia, Slovakia, Spain

Pairs: Austria, Croatia, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Hungary, Israel, Italy, Poland, Russia, Slovenia, Switzerland, Ukraine

Ice Dance: Bulgaria, France, Great Britain, Hungary, Israel, Italy, Poland, Russia, Slovakia, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine

4 Continents

Men: Australia, China, Taipei, Hong Kong, Japan, Kazakhstan, Mexico, South Korea, USA
Alternates: Canada, Croatia, Slovenia, Russia

Ladies: Australia, Canada, China, Taipei, Hong Kong, Japan, Kazakhstan, South Korea, USA
Alternates: South Africa, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Lithuania

Pairs: Australia, Canada, China, Taipei, Japan, New Zealand, South Korea, USA; Uzbekistan
Alternates: Mexico, Austria, Belarus, Netherlands

Ice Dance: Australia, Bosnia, Canada, China, Georgia, Japan, New Zealand, Poland, USA
Alternates: Switzerland, Great Britain, Slovakia, Germany


Worlds

Men: Canada, China, Taipei, Croatia, Czech Republic, France, Georgia, Israel, Mexico, Poland, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey

Ladies: Austria, China, Taipei, Czech Republic, Estonia, Germany, Great Britain, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Norway, South Korea, Slovenia, USA

Pairs: Australia, Austria, Canada, China, Germany, Great Britain, Hungary, Israel, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Russia, Switzerland

Ice Dance: Australia, Bulgaria, China, France, Germany, Hungary, Israel, Japan, South Korea, Poland, Russia, Turkey, Ukraine

Junior Worlds


Men: Australia, Azerbajan, Belarus, Bulgaria, Croatia, Estonia, Great Britain, Hong Kong, Israel, Italy, Japan, Sweden, Turkey

Ladies: Austria, Belarus, China, Great Britain, Hungary, Mexico, Romania, South Korea, Slovakia, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine

Pairs: Bulgaria, Canada, China, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Israel, Italy, Japan, Russia, Spain, Ukraine, USA

Ice Dance: Bulgaria, Canada, China, Czech Republic, France, Georgia, Israel, Italy, Japan, Russia, Spain, Ukraine, USA

Synchronized Skating

Worlds: Austria, Canada, Croatia, Czech Republic, Finland, France, Germany, Great Britain, Hungary, Japan, Russia, Sweden, USA

Junior Worlds: Australia, Canada, Croatia, Czech Republic, Finland, France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy; Russia, Sweden, Switzerland, USA




Source: https://www.isu.org/inside-single-p...ications-fs/18289-isu-communication-2204/file

The 9 judges for the SP will be drawn on site 45 minutes before start of the segment. The 4 judges not used in SP will serve on the FS along with 5 drawn from the SP panel (drawn 45 minutes before the start of the segment)

_________

Federations will now nominate the individual judges (only those with ISU qualification can be appointed). However, in some cases we already know who the judge will be given some Feds have only an ISU judge

The Azerbajan judge at Euro (Ladies ) and Junior World (Men) will be Yurii Kliushnikov
The judge for Georgia at Worlds (Men), 4 Continents (Ice Dance) and Junior Worlds (Ice Dance) will be Salome Chigogidze
The Latvian judge at Worlds (Ladies) and Euros (Ladies) will be Agita Abele
The Uzbekistan judge at 4 Continents (Pairs) will be Saodat Numanova
The Lithuanian judge at Euros (Ladies) will be Laimute Krauziene
The New Zealand judge at 4 Continents (Pairs) will be Susan Petricevic

The New Zealand judge at 4 Continents (Ice Dance) will be Sandra Williamson-Leadley
The Bosnian judge at 4 Continents (Ice Dance) will be Ubavka Novakovic-Kutinou
The Bulgarian judge at Worlds (Ice Dance), Junior Worlds (Ice Dance) and Euros (Ice Dance) will be Tatiana Yordanova
The South Korean judge at Worlds (Ice Dance) will be Chi Hee Rhee
The Turkish judge at Worlds (Ice Dance) and Euros (Ice Dance) will be Tanay Ozkan
The Israeli judge at Worlds (Ice Dance) and Junior Worlds (Ice Dance) should be Alexey Beletsky (given Albert Zaydman must serve in Pairs or Single given they have been drawn for both and they have only 2 ISU judges)
 

Baron Vladimir

Record Breaker
Joined
Dec 18, 2014
After all the accusations of bad judging/national bias, China is the only country having judges in all four disciplines at Worlds :confused:
 

Andrea82

Medalist
Joined
Feb 16, 2014
I am a bit surprised that Spain opted to take part to Ladies draw instead of Pairs (guaranteed to be drawn given there were less than 13 countries with skaters at 2018 Euro) at Euros
Theoretically they could have taken part to all 3 disciplines because they have 3 ISU Judges (but I read Delfa is taking time out of judging this season)
 

Andrea82

Medalist
Joined
Feb 16, 2014
As this season concludes today, some stats...

In Single and Pairs International competitions (Senior and Junior), 395 judges were used during the season. 233 of them have the ISU qualification while 162 have the International status. 71 of them also served as Referees.
The 395 judges comes from 51 different countries.
Canada (26), Germany (25), Russia (24), USA (23) and Japan (22) are the countries with most judges who have been active.
Considering that some individuals judged in multiple events, Russia had a judge or referee in 57 competitions followed by Canada (54), Japan (53), USA (51) and Italy (46).
Most active individuals: Albert Zaydman (Israel, 14 competitions as judge or referee), Irina Medvedeva (Ukraine, 10), Franco Benini (Italy, 10), Zoai Yordanova (Bulgaria, 8), Yuriy Guskov (Kazakhstan, 8), Jeroen Prins (Netherlands, 8), Yuri Kliushnikov (Azerbajan, 8), Eddy Wu (Taipei, 8) and Anna Kantor (Israel, 8).


In Ice Dance, 132 judges from 33 countries were used. 83 of them have the ISU qualification. 27 also served as referees during the season.
Russia (15), Canada (12), USA (11), (Germany (8), Great Britain (8) and Italy (8) are the countries with more judges active during the season.
Russia (42), USA (35), Italy (28), Germany (27) and Hungary (26) were the countries who had at least one judge or referee in most events this season.
Most active individuals: Anastassiya Makarova (Ukraine, 10 events as judge or referee), Csba Balint (Hungary, 9 events), Lolita Labunskaiya (Russia, 9 events), Malgorzata Sobkow (Poland, 8 events) and Salome Chigogidze (Georgia, 8 events), David Munoz (Spain, 8), Albert Zaydman (Israel, 8).

62 individuals judged both Pairs/Singles and Ice Dance.


113 Technical Specialists (including Assistants) from 39 countries served in Single. 90 of them have ISU status while 23 have only International qualification.
Germany and Italy had 8 specialists who have served in technical panels during the season. Then Russia with 7, Canada with 6 and Hungary, Japan, USA with 5 each.
Most active specialists: Evelyn Rossoukhi-Schneider (Austria, 11 competitions), Monika Kustarova (Slovakia, 7), Sandra Pavic (Croatia, 7), Vera Vandecaveye (Belgium, 7), Ivana Jakupcevic (Serbia,6) and Grety Marton (Romania, 6)
Austria had a technical specialist in 16 competitions, Germany in 15, Croatia, Italy and Russia in 13.

In Pairs 27 specialists were used in representation of 14 countries.
6 of them were from USA, 4 from Russia and 3 from Canada.
Most active individuals: Larisa Fedoseeva (Russia, 6 competitions), Simon Briggs (Great Britain, 6), Artem Knyazev (Ukbekistan, 5) and Lorenzo Magri (Italy, 5)
Russia had a technical specialist in 16 competitions, USA in 10 and Italy and Great Britain in 6.

14 technical specialists served both in Single and Pairs.


In Ice Dance, 41 technical specialists from 19 countries served in technical panels.
Most present individuals: Candice Towler Green (Great Britain, 6 competitions), Denis Samokhin (Russia, 5), Michael Webster (Germany,4), Sergei Baranov (Ukraine,4) Gyorgy Elek (Hungary, 4), Svetlana Lyapina (Russia, 4) and Olga Akimova (Ukraine, 4)
Most present countries: Russia (13), Ukraine (10), Great Britain (10), Italy (9) and Slovakia (7)
 

Andrea82

Medalist
Joined
Feb 16, 2014
Some new requirements and speciifcations related to current rules in appointing judges and technical panel.

https://www.isu.org/figure-skating/rules/fsk-communications/21534-isu-communication-2265/file

Highlights:

- Technical specialists who coach skaters who will take part of Senior GP can't serve in any Senior GP event. Technical specialists who coach skaters taking part to Junior GP can't serve in any Junior GP event.

- Technical specialists can't serve in ISU Championships, Olympics or GP events in which a skater participates with whom they have "a special relationship".

- The Technical Panel in Olympic Games can't have members from feds that placed a skater in top 5 in previous year's Worlds in that discipline. Same for Referee

- When appointing the Technical Panel and Referees in ISU Championships, they should try to avoid naming specialists, controllers or referees from Federations likely to have a top 5 contender. If it is not possible, they should try to have a technical panel with all people from top contenders.

- Technical Panel, Referees and Judges at Olympics can't judge in national competitions from ISU members other than their own

- Feds' heads (presidents, vice-presidents, general secretaries, sport directors) can't serve in technical panel in ISU Championships, Olympics or GPs. Presidents can't serve as judges either in these top competitions
 

chuckm

Record Breaker
Joined
Aug 31, 2003
Country
United-States
Some new requirements and speciifcations related to current rules in appointing judges and technical panel.

https://www.isu.org/figure-skating/rules/fsk-communications/21534-isu-communication-2265/file

Highlights:


- When appointing the Technical Panel and Referees in ISU Championships, they should try to avoid naming specialists, controllers or referees from Federations likely to have a top 5 contender. If it is not possible, they should try to have a technical panel with all people from top contenders.

And this is an improvement, how??!!
 

ruga

Final Flight
Joined
Oct 20, 2017
And this is an improvement, how??!!

Agree, if TP decide not to judge correctly, but benefit their own skaters (and this happens often), this change will only mean that skaters from bigger federations won't get called at all.
 

Tavi...

Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 10, 2014
Whether you think it’s an improvement or not, the rule change us interesting. It seems to me that a lot of ISU rule changes are in response to criticism. So what, specifically, prompted this change?
 

Ice Dance

Record Breaker
Joined
Jan 26, 2014
Whether you think it’s an improvement or not, the rule change us interesting. It seems to me that a lot of ISU rule changes are in response to criticism. So what, specifically, prompted this change?

Well, it's very common criticism to see people argue that there shouldn't be tech panel representatives from contending countries. As we see it on the boards every season, then it's probably common criticism off the forums as well. And, obviously, the thing about federation leaders not calling events . . . we heard quite a bit of complaining about that one recently. (The example I'm thinking about was the Canadian lady, but obviously that wasn't the only example over the course of time).

Perhaps they're working on the theory that the various biases will cancel each other out?

My questions would then be how do we define likely top contenders?

And what makes having a panel of non top-contenders impossible? Are we to assume this will only happen with smaller competitions then? I find that quite interesting.

Excuse me while I delve into ice-dance examples because that is the only discipline I follow closely enough to follow the tech panel in:

Last year we had almost or possibly an entire GP with tech callers that did not have contending teams in those particular Grand Prix events. (Note that I said callers, not the larger panel. The technical specialists alone). I thought it was very interesting, and I really thought it possible someone had gone to some effort to make that happen because there are only so many callers and it is quite common to see them come from powerhouse ice-dance countries. It has not been uncommon over the years to see them call events for their neighbors or at home.

But then we got to the end of the season, and we had the reverse. Where the panels seemed to be full of powerhouse representatives. (France & Russia were on the Worlds panel. Canada & USA were on the Junior Worlds panel. USA and France were on the GPF panel. Canada & Russia were on the 4CC panel. USA was on the Europeans panel).

Now, to me, the way these new rules are written, that should not happen. (It could happen at Europeans & 4CCs with powerhouse representatives from the other side, but otherwise it shouldn't happen). I mean, there should be no reason that it should be impossible to find a non-powerhouse technical panel for such major events. For smaller ones, maybe; but not for the bigger ones, correct? Why would it be impossible?


As far as the theory behind when-otherwise-impossible, include all representatives from contending countries; well, I suppose the thinking is that the worst scenario is to have only one representative from a contending country. That to have only one would swing the balance too far in that one country's favor. And that if all the members come from different contending countries then there should be balance because those panel members won't share the same interests. (Quite often that would be true; however, in some cases not. I mean it only takes 2 members to control a panel. You put together a dance panel with Canada & France, then you have a pro-Gadbois panel. You put together a dance panel with Canada & USA, then you have a pro-North American panel. You put together a dance panel with Russia & France, you have a pro European panel. Theoretically, I mean. You'll hear people complain about the likelihood of such a thing regardless of whether the numbers bear it out in reality. And we all have the lovely "block-judging" controversies of the cold war & post cold-war era as evidence of that). But to me, that isn't the major story.

The major story would be if this means we will not see any powerhouse representatives on the dance panels in major competitions. Because this would be a big change. However, if this just means we're going to have a bunch of dance panels full of Canadian & Italian representatives because the remaining teams from those countries finished outside the top 5 at Worlds, then they've probably just exchanged one cause of complaint for another one.


*It probably also means we'll see more of the same handful of specialists. (Some of whom will make some people oh-not-so-happy).;)
 
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