More Judges, New Scoring Proposed for Figure Skating
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Back in this country, now. In Salt Lake City, the judging scandal that has rocked the Winter Games, leading now to calls to scrap the current skating judging system and replace it with a new format. Rusty Dornin now, live in Salt Lake, to give us a preview of what they may do here if all the -- I guess -- the new rules pass muster. Hey, Rusty, good afternoon. Good morning to you in Salt Lake.</s>RUSTY DORNIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Bill, you know a lot of folks all week long after the controversial skate had been calling for major changes in figure skating, to overhaul it. Well, lo and behold, those proposals were announced yesterday by the International Skating Union, and it is a revolutionize -- it could revolutionize the way they score and judge the events. Already some folks are saying, of course, it doesn't go far enough. But, first of all, there will be 14 judges that will be judging each and every event, instead of 9. Out of the 14, 7 of those scores will be chosen at random by a computer, and those will be the scores that are computed to figure out the winner. No one will know who the 7 are out of the 14. Now, the International Skating Union feels that this is one way to put a stop to vote blocking and behind closed door deals and that sort of thing, because no one will know if their vote will count or not until after the competition and after the votes have been tallied. Also, figure skating, from its very beginnings, has always used the 6.0, the perfect score. That's how the skater starts out and then, as each mistake goes on, the scores are deducted. Well, now, they will start from zero, and they will accumulate scores. So that when they do a performance, and they do double axels, let's say, that's given a certain number of points. They do a triple axel, that's given a certain number of points. Then that's multiplied by how each judge feels they performed on that element. That's more like how they score diving. Of course, it is a subjective sport. There will always be criticisms about the way things are judged. But at least one former Olympic skater says it looks like that things are getting a bit better.</s>OKSANA BAIUL, 1994 OLYMPIC GOLD MEDALIST: It is unfortunate what happened here, and we all have to go through that. We have to support our skaters, and when we're on the ice, we're doing the best performance which we could do. But, when we're off the ice, it's not up to us to decide. So, I think the decision they made last night, it's worthwhile trying.</s>DORNIN: Now the controversy, of course, that prompted this big overhaul was the supposed misconduct by the French judge Marie-Reine le Gougne, who, now keeps flip-flopping on what she says happened. It's really turning into a he said-she said thing. Originally she said that she was pressured by her own skating federation. I spoke to the skating federation president yesterday, who denied he had any involvement, that he never pressured her, that other people must have been involved in it. She ended up telling the French press that she actually voted in good conscience, and that she felt the Russian pairs deserved to win the gold medal. So, it will be interesting to see, after all of this, what ends up coming out, if we ever really hear the truth about what happened. In the meantime, as far as this judging overhaul, that will be voted on at the International Skating Union congress in Japan, in June. Bill?</s>HEMMER: Hey, you know, Rusty, when this was going down all last week, we asked countless people how they would change the skating side. you might remember it. We were asking former Olympians to tell us how they'd change it. They seemed practical. Have you gauged whether or not many people would go for it?</s>DORNIN: Well, I -- the people I've spoken to say, "you know, it is a start." It's a -- you know -- using the 14 judges. I had heard that suggestion from a couple of different people, and then taking these -- the 7 or half of the judges' scores randomly, I'd heard that from a couple people. But, I think there are also some skaters out there, and coaches, who say it still doesn't go far enough. It's still not going to stop, you know, the lack of credibility that's -- really seems rampant in the sport right now.</s>HEMMER: Is this still the buzz out there in Salt Lake or have things, let's say -- have they tempered down a little bit, Rusty?</s>DORNIN: Well, I think we're buzzing about it. I thin folks on the ground are trying to enjoy the Olympic venues. Of course, getting excited about the women's figure skating tonight.</s>HEMMER: That's true.</s>DORNIN: Michelle Kwan takes to the ice.</s>HEMMER: You got it.</s>DORNIN: So, it's dying down.</s>HEMMER: And men's and women's hockey later in the week. Good deal. Rusty, thanks. Talk to you later. Stay warm. Rusty Dornin, live in Salt Lake.