Figure skating at the 2014 Winter Olympics
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The figure skating events at the 2014 Winter Olympics took place from 6 to 22 February at the Iceberg Skating Palace in Sochi, Russia. Medals were awarded in men's singles, women's singles, pair skating, ice dance, and the team event. The team event was a new addition to the Olympic Games this season. It combined the four Olympic figure skating disciplines (men's singles, women's singles, pair skating, and ice dance) into a single event; skaters earned points based on their placement in each discipline, and the gold medals were awarded to the team that earned the most placement points. Yuzuru Hanyu of Japan won the men's event; Adelina Sotnikova of Russia won the women's event; Tatiana Volosozhar and Maxim Trankov of Russia won the pairs' event; Meryl Davis and Charlie White of the United States won the ice dance event; and the team from Russia won the team event. Several world record scores in figure skating were set at the Olympics, including by Hanyu in the men's event; Volosozhar and Trankov in the pairs' event; and Davis and White in the ice dance event.
| Figure skating at the XXII Olympic Winter Games | |
|---|---|
| |
| Venue | Iceberg Skating Palace, Sochi, Russia |
| Dates | 6–22 February 2014 |
| Competitors | 149 from 30 nations |
Qualification
A total of 148 quota spots were available to athletes to compete in figure skating at the 2018 Winter Olympics. Each National Olympic Committee (NOC) was allowed to enter a maximum of 18 skaters, with a maximum of nine men or nine women.[2] The results of the 2013 World Figure Skating Championships determined 83 total spots: 24 entries each in men's and women's singles, 16 in pair skating, and 19 in ice dance.[3] The remaining quota spots were allocated based on the results of the 2013 Nebelhorn Trophy.[4]
| Nations | Men's singles | Women's singles | Pairs | Ice dance | Team event | Add. | Skater(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Australia |
1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 4 | ||
 Austria |
1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 4 | ||
 Azerbaijan |
0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | ||
 Belgium |
1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | ||
 Brazil |
0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | ||
 Canada |
3 | 2 | 3 | 3 |  | 17 | |
 China |
1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | | 9 | |
 Czech Republic |
2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | ||
 Estonia |
1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
 France |
2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | | 9 | |
 Georgia |
0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | ||
 Germany |
1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | | 10 | |
 Great Britain |
0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1[a] | 6 |
 Israel |
1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | ||
 Italy |
1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | | 11 | |
 Japan |
3 | 3 | 1 | 1 | | 10 | |
 Kazakhstan |
2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
 Lithuania |
0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | ||
 Norway |
0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | ||
 Philippines |
1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | ||
 Romania |
1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | ||
 Russia |
1 | 2 | 3 | 3 | | 15 | |
 Slovakia |
0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | ||
 South Korea |
0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | ||
 Spain |
2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | ||
 Sweden |
1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
 Turkey |
0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | ||
 Ukraine |
1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | | 6 | |
 United States |
2 | 3 | 2 | 3 | | 15 | |
 Uzbekistan |
1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | ||
| Total: 30 NOCs | 30 | 30 | 20 teams | 24 teams | 10 teams | 1 | 149 |
Team event
For the team event, scores from the 2013 World Championships and the 2013–14 Grand Prix of Figure Skating season were tabulated to establish the top ten nations.[7]
Entries
A total of five figure skating events were contested: men's singles, women's singles, pair skating, ice dance, and the team event. All events were held from 6 to 22 February at the Iceberg Skating Palace in Sochi, Russia.[8][1] Countries began announcing their entries following the 2017 World Championships. Skaters or teams denoted with ● were eligible for the team event only.
Two countries were represented in figure skating for the first time at the 2018 Winter Olympics. Isadora Williams of Brazil was the first Brazilian skater to qualify for the Winter Olympics.[9] Likewise, Michael Christian Martinez of the Philippines was the first Filipino skater to qualify.[10] Alisa Agafonova and Alper Uçar became the first ice dance couple from Turkey to compete at the Winter Olympics.[11]
Competition schedule
All times are in local time (UTC+4).[33]
| Date | Time | Event |
|---|---|---|
| 6 February | 19:30 | Team event (men's short program) |
| Team event (pairs' short program) | ||
| 8 February | 18:30 | Team event (ice dance short dance) |
| Team event (women's short program) | ||
| Team event (pairs' free skating) | ||
| 9 February | 19:00 | Team event (men's free skating) |
| Team event (women's free skating) | ||
| Team event (ice dance free dance) | ||
| 11 February | 19:00 | Pairs' short program |
| 12 February | 19:45 | Pairs' free skating |
| 13 February | 19:00 | Men's short program |
| 14 February | 19:00 | Men's free skating |
| 16 February | 19:00 | Ice dance short dance |
| 17 February | 19:00 | Ice dance free dance |
| 19 February | 19:00 | Women's short program |
| 20 February | 19:00 | Women's free skating |
| 22 February | 20:30 | Gala exhibition |
Medal summary
Yuzuru Hanyu of Japan (men's singles); Adelina Sotnikova of Russia (women's singles); Tatiana Volosozhar and Maxim Trankov of Russia (pair skating); and Meryl Davis and Charlie White of the United States (ice dance)
Medalists
Medal table
| Rank | Nation | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Russia | 3 | 1 | 1 | 5 |
| 2 | United States | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| 3 | Japan | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 4 | Canada | 0 | 3 | 0 | 3 |
| 5 | South Korea | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 6 | Germany | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Italy | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
| Kazakhstan | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
| Totals (8 entries) | 5 | 5 | 5 | 15 | |
Records
The following new record high scores were set during this competition.
| Date | Skater(s) | Event | Segment | Score | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9 February | Team event (Ice dance) |
Free dance | 114.34 | [35] | |
| 11 February | Pair skating | Short program | 84.17 | [36] | |
| 13 February | Yuzuru Hanyu |
Men's singles | Short program | 101.45 | [37] |
| 16 February | Ice dance | Short dance | 78.89 | [38] | |
| 17 February | Free dance | 114.66 | [35] | ||
| 116.63 | |||||
| Total score | 195.52 | [39] |
Controversies
Allegations of votes swapping
French sports newspaper L'Équipe, quoting an anonymous Russian coach, alleged that Russia and the United States would swap votes, with the U.S. voting for Russian athletes in pairs figure skating and team events and Russia voting for the U.S. in ice dance.[40][41] The allegations were categorically denied by U.S. Figure Skating.[42]
Women's singles results
Immediately after the final scores were announced, confirming Russia's victory, journalistic questions arose regarding whether Russian 17-year-old Adelina Sotnikova's performances deserved higher scores than the performances of 23-year-old Yuna Kim from South Korea.[43][44] Questions over the judges, the judging system, and the anonymity of scores were also raised in the press.[45]
Official responses
On 21 February 2014, the International Skating Union (ISU) issued a statement which asserted all rules and procedures were applied during the competition and that no official protest had been filed by any participating nation concerning the results of the competition.[46] Such a protest must be done within 30 minutes of the event.[47]
ISU's 21 February 2014 statement declaring their confidence "in the high quality and integrity of the ISU judging system". Adding "judges were selected by random drawing from a pool of 13 potential judges" and all nine judges on the free skating panel were from different nations.[46]
On 10 April, the Korean Olympic Committee (KOC) and the Korean Skating Union (KSU) filed an official complaint with the ISU Disciplinary Commission (DC) concerning judging. The complaint was regarding "the wrongful constitution of the panel of judges and the unjust outcome of the competition". It requested that the DC conduct a thorough investigation, "take appropriate disciplinary actions against the concerned individuals", and institute corrective actions. On 14 April, the DC ruled the complaint inadmissible because a general request for investigation is not within DC's jurisdiction and the complaint was not addressed at an individual or federation as required.[48][49][50]
On 30 April, the KOC and KSU filed a second official complaint with the DC. This time the complaint was against Alla Shekhovtsova and the Figure Skating Federation of Russia (FSFR), specifically citing a hug Shekhovtsova shared with Sotnikova, and Shekhovtsova's marriage to the current Director General of the FSFR. On 30 May, the DC dismissed the complaint. It ruled Shekhovtsova "is not responsible for the judging panel's composition", her marriage did not create a conflict of interest, and since Sotnikova initiated the hug, Shekhovtsova did not break any rules by responding.[48][49][50]
Opinions
USA Today reported "A high-ranking Olympic figure skating official … said the geographic makeup of the judging panel 'was clearly slanted towards … Sotnikova.'"[51] The free skating panel included two Russian officials, a Russian judge and a Ukrainian judge.[52] Journalists questioned the appointments of Russian judge Alla Shekhovtsova, the wife of the former president and the current general director of Figure Skating Federation of Russia Valentin Piseev, and Ukrainian judge Yuri Balkov, who was suspended for a year after being caught on tape attempting to fix the ice dancing competition at the 1998 Winter Olympics.[53] The technical panel, that oversees correct execution of elements, is headed by fellow Russian Alexander Lakernik.[44] Shekhovtseva was photographed hugging Sotnikova in the arena, raising another question of bias.[54] The detailed score sheet shows that one judge gave Adelina Sotnikova +3 grade of execution (GOE) on all except two elements. In contrast, the score sheet of short program shows that one judge gave Yuna Kim +0 grade of execution on her triple flip, of which the NBC commentator Tracy Wilson commented as 'another perfect flip'.[44][55]
Journalists and experts argued that scores given to Adelina Sotnikova were inflated both in the short and long programs. She was inexplicably scored above all others in the free program, where most believed she merited only 4th place in the phase behind Yuna, Mao Asada, and Carolina Kostner. Many among them cite that certain judges gave generous scores along with fellow Russian competitor Yulia Lipnitskaya. In particular, numerous +3 grade of executions were handed out to the two Russian skaters as well as nods in component scores compared to other skaters.[43][44] Others noted that Sotnikova made a mistake by stepping out of one of her jumps which got a -0.9 grade of execution in the scorecards. Ryan Bradley, 2011 US champion, asked "Are we just going to ignore that she botched the landing of her 3 jump and pretend she was perfect?"[56][57] There are also debates about whether Sotnikova's triple lutz had a wrong edge on takeoff and the triple toe loop in her first jumping pass was under-rotated. Neither error was flagged by the event's technical panel. Retired national-level figure skater Tim Gerber wrote a letter to the ISU, claiming that Sotnikova's triple triple combination jump should have received wrong edge and under rotation. Gerber also asserted that the step sequence levels were not correctly awarded for Kim and Sotnikova. He stated that Kim's step sequence should have received a level four (instead of three) and Sotnikova's step sequence should have received a level three (instead of four), as Sotnikova's step sequence elements in free skating didn't meet the requirements to get level four, and Kim's met the requirements enough to get level four.[58]
Katarina Witt, a two-time Olympic champion, stated "I am stunned by this result, I don’t understand the scoring."[59][60] Several experts have also pointed out how Kim and Kostner's programs have significantly better artistry, choreography and skill on ice that should translate to higher component marks to other skaters. One judge in the scoresheets gave out significantly lower marks to Kim and Kostner in the component marks. Sonia Garbato, seven-time Olympic figure skating judge and former high-ranking ISU official, wrote: "No fair judge … could have awarded to Adelina higher marks in choreography, performance/execution, and interpretation of the music."[61] Four-time world champion Kurt Browning also expressed his surprise at the results, declaring that he did not understand how Kim and Sotnikova could have been so close in the programme component scores. He also pointed out how Sotnikova had her component scores boosted compared to her previous programs [62] Michael Weiss, a two-time world bronze medalist, wrote "couldn't disagree more that Yuna and Sotnikova had basically same Component marks?..in Both short & long? Home field inflation." Dick Button, two-time Olympic champion and longstanding skating analyst, commented: "Sotnikova was energetic, strong, commendable, but not a complete skater."[44][63]
A petition in Change.org against the results of the event demanding an investigation and rejudgment has amassed over 2 million supporters breaking several web traffic records on the website.[64]
Notes
- Matthew Parr of Great Britain competed in the team event, but not the men's individual event.[6]