The names of the Beijing Olympics judges were disclosed, and I did some checking. First, I associated the names with the disciplines for which each nation was drawn. In some cases the nations will send only one judge competent to judge a particular discipline, so we know with certainty that, for example, the Belgian Francoise de Rappard will judge the Women’s competition and the American Jennifer Mast that of Ice Dance. In the artistics disciplines China will send four qualified judges, in the dance three, so we have no idea who will judge what.

The names are grouped by discipline, distinguished by color, and arranged by nation. In the last line, which I have left with a white background, I have indicated for which discipline of the Team Event each nation will have to provide judges. Austria will send two judges, but only one will be able to judge an individual event, the Women’s competition, as well as the Team Event. The other will be engaged only in the Team Event.

Edit: I replaced the table with an updated one because, as explained by communication 2454, Czech Republic (Pairs and, in Team Event, Women and Pairs) and Japan (Ice Dance and, in Team Event, Ice Dance), have given up sending their judges.

I crossed out two names with a diagonal line: Fan Yang and Marta Ologazarre. As far as I know both are the only judge in their nation qualified to judge the Ice Dance competition at the Olympic Games, so they will judge that competition and the other judge (or other judges) will judge the other competitions.

I also checked the national bias of all judges. To find out how I calculate the national bias you can read this introduction. Data is updated to Four Continents 2022. Obviously these are not all the competitions judged by these judges. All of those are missing up to and including the 2015-2016 season, because until the end of that season we didn’t know who had assigned a particular mark. Competitions are only Challenger Series, Grand Prix (senior and junior), continental championships, World Championship (senior and junior), World Team Trophy and Olympic Games (including Team Event). The Grand Prix competitions of the 2020-2021 season are missing from my stats because both the judges and the skaters were local and it is not possible to make serious statistics. I could not consider the competitions in which these judges have played a different role because they were the referee or were part of the technical panel. And forcibly there are no competitions in which their compatriots were not present. For the rest, we can try to see for each of them how he is used to give the marks, at least in relation to his compatriots. In some cases I will dwell a little longer.

Until last season for the women’s competitions I used the initials L. Now the correct initial is W. I have not changed the indication in the old results, so depending on the year in which the competition was held you will find a different initial. For the alphabetical order I have based the list on my table, which means that I have used not the names of the countries but their international abbreviation.

One last detail. Just before PyeongChang BuzzFeed published an article in which it listed some judges who would judge the Olympic Games which, according to their calculations, tended to favor their compatriots. From my own calculations, which are somewhat broader than BuzzFeed‘s, I have found the same names and many others. Many of those judges will not be present in Beijing. Some have retired, in other cases the federations have preferred to send different judges. These are the judges who, according to BuzzFeed, were biased in 2018 and who will also be present in Beijing: Nicole Leblanc-Richard (CAN), Marta Olozagarre (ESP), Anna Kantor (ISR), Elena Fomina (RUS) and Olga Kozhemiakina (RUS) ).

Austria

I dwelt on a competition judged by Binder here.

Azerbaijan

When a judge changes nationality, I always wonder if there is some political game behind it. The skater, especially in a couple discipline, does it to be able to compete, but a judge?

Belgium

Belarus

Canada

I confess: during the Nebelhorn Trophy the skater I cheered the most for, all disciplines considered, was Roman Sadovsky. I really hoped he could win a second spot for Canada, I got worried when he made a lot of mistakes, and I finally breathed a sigh of relief. But I’m not a judge. I think Andrea Derby felt the same emotions I felt. But he could do something to help Sadovsky, and apparently he did. Sadovsky would have won the spot even without the presence of Derby, but are we sure this is the correct way to judge a competition?

Nicole Leblanc-Richard has already judged the previous Olympic Games. She was not the worst of the Canadian judges (Jeff Lukasik, thankfully absent now, really gave his all in the Men’s programs of the Team Event, but Leanna Caron in Ice Dance has also shown that she really appreciates her compatriots), but if it were for Leblanc-Richard Kaetlyn Osmond would win silver, not bronze. Why can she judge in Beijing? In PyeongChang the IOC excluded from the Games without a justified reason some skaters. Why can athletes be excluded without there being a clear disqualification due to the infraction of some rule, but judges who assign clearly biased marks are not stopped?

China

Fang Dan? We are sure? If it goes well, she give her marks correctly, but if it goes wrong…

Czech Republic

Spain

Javier Fernandez has always received considerable support from his compatriots, Pairs and Ice Dance couples have had much less. Could it be because they don’t fight for the title? Perhaps we can hope to have correct judgments. We can hope.

Estonia

Does the name of Zanna Kulik mean anything to you? Yes to me. She was one of the judges of the Ladies’ free skate in Sochi 2014, I wrote about Kulik and the competition here.

Finland

Can we clone Tarja Ristanen and have panels composed only of her? There are some other judges who are not influenced by the national bias, but it is easier to see the opposite.

France

Great Britain

Germany

I was checking something else when I accidentally noticed a detail that I had forgotten. Rist is one of the three members of the technical panel (the others were Shin Amano and Fernand Fedronic) who at the Nebelhorn Trophy awarded a q at half of the jumps landed by Vincent Zhou. Here she is a judge, not the technical controller, so she will not have the problem of having to evaluate the rotations. We will see how she goes.

Hungary

Israel

Why can Anna Kantor judge the Olympic Games? I correct myself. Why can Anna Kantor still judge any competition? Isn’t it obvious enough how she vote? ISU, do you control your judges?

Italy

Claudia Brambati is another judge who does not seem influenced by the national bias. As for Michela Cesaro, she risked suspension. I told her story (in Italian) here, but if you are interested you can read the whole document published by the ISU. She has been suspected of national bias on two occasions. In the first case the charges were dropped because they were presented late, in the second (where the marks were less absurd) the Disciplinary Commission acknowledged that her marks were incorrect, but she said she didn’t do it on purpose and everything finished there. In subsequent competitions she was actually corrected. Did she learn her lesson? We can only hope so, but I would not have sent her to Beijing.

Japan

As mentioned, Japan has renounced sending the judge for the Ice Dance competitions (single event and Team Event). But why send Maeda? Normally with marks as hers, I would say that she is a fair judge, but the marks can raise some suspicion, they can give us the certainty that there is a certain type of bias, but they cannot tell us everything. As I have always said, the competitions must be watched. And I have already noticed Maeda’s work on some occasions.

In the free skate of the 2019 Grand Prix final after Binder, who gave really absurd marks, Maeda was the most severe judge with Hanyu, with very low marks especially for the technical aspect. +3 to the two initial quadruples? +2 to triple lutz? +1 to quadruple salchow? In truth, in that competitions the absurd marks are so many that a very long analysis would be needed, but Maeda still managed to stand out and not in a positive sense.

And then there is the National Championship of the 2020-2021 season, with the sit spin of the short program canceled because, according to Maeda, who was Technical Controller on the occasion, on the second foot Hanyu would not have completed the two revolutions in the correct position. These are the two revolutions, the last screenshot of the first line is also the first screenshot of the second line.

I really would have preferred to have another judge, not Maeda. In Turin she lost some bullets, in Nagano she lost a piece of rotation, will she remember to take her glasses with her in Beijing?

South Korea

With the sole exception of the triple axel, which she assigned a +5, in Hanyu’s short program at the Four Continents 2020 Na Young Han gave a +4 to all elements, and I would like she to explain which bullets were missing so as not to assign a +5. And no, for this post I am not checking all the marks awarded by the judges to Hanyu, nor all the competitions in which they judged him, I am only citing the episodes that have remained most etched in my memory.

Latvia

In this case we know for sure which competition Agita Abel will judge, I just hope that unlike what happened at PyeongChang in 2018, when she assigned a +2 to the quadruple salchow and the quadruple toe loop-triple toe loop combination of Hanyu’s short program, and a +1 to his triple axel-euler-triple salchow combination and triple loop of the free skate, remember to give the elements the mark they deserve.

Lithuania

Laimute Krauziene is a name that is well known to me. Because? Because in 2017 he was scolded because he has violated the duties of a judge. The sentence is a quote from ISU Communication 2079. What had that naughty boy done to get scolded? While he judged a competition he cheerfully chatted with Russian judge Sviatoslav Babenko. The two spoke loudly enough to disturb all the other judges, even though judges are forbidden to speak while they are judging a competition, and they spoke in Russian, not English, while any conversation (!) must take place in English, so that everyone can understand and be sure they are not saying anything illegal. Babenko, who was a repeat offender, was suspended, Krauziene was not. An account of this episode can be found on pages 35 and 36 of the proceedings of the 57th ORDINARY CONGRESS SEVILLE 2018.

Just to put things in perspective, I checked the national bias using some math. I do not see everything, and sometimes a judge may seem biased but he is not and it was the others who voted incorrectly, but I find the most sensational cases. When two judges agree, I vote for your skater and you for mine, how do you find them? How do you find them if they are not shameless like Babenko and Krauziene? What the two judges did is much more difficult to detect, and can more easily false the result of the competitions.

I tried to do a cross-check for nations only on the most important competitions in the Men’s category. I found some sympathy, but it is not enough. My numbers may raise doubts, but they are not proof, and with this type of calculation I can see some general trend, but not a possible agreement made just for the occasion. The ISU should always watch all competitions and ask the judges why they voted in a certain way. Even what the referee declares is not enough, because for referee Philippe Meriguet, a few months ago at the Stockholm World Championship Salome Chigogidze voted correctly. And the case of Michela Cesaro reminds us that sometimes checks are carried out with considerable delay, assuming they are done.

Mexico

Below you can see the protocol of the free skate of the Four Continents 2017. I have not yet decided if it makes me more angry the +1 on the initial quadruple loop, the 0 on the quadruple salchow, the +1 on the quadruple toe loop, the +1 on the combination triple axel-triple toe loop, the +1 on the quadruple toe loop-double toe loop combination or the 0 on the final triple axel. Probably the marks on the two axel. Remember that a 0 means that the jump was done correctly, there are no errors, but there is nothing to give it value either. In truth rules are not exactly like this, there are precise bullet to be assigned and deductions to be calculated, but an element that deserves a 0 is nothing special, the skater has only completed it. Even if there has been some bullet, its value has been balanced by some mistake. If the GOE is positive, it means that the positive aspects outweigh the negative ones. From the 2018-2019 season the bullets have changed, but the concept behind the marks remains the same. You can only get a positive mark if you execute your jump with something that has value and make no mistakes, or if you execute an extraordinary jump with only a small imperfection. I suppose that over the years not only the bullets have changed, but also Martinez’s ideas of what a great jump is, because Hanyu’s quadruple salchow and triple axel were nothing special, while the quadruple lutz with touch down with the free foot with which Vincent Zhou started his free skate at the Cranberry Cup 2021 deserved a +2.

The fact that only on two occasions, when he assigned the 0, no other judge assigned the same mark as Martinez, while the +1 has always been flanked by the +1 of some other judge, means little. With Boyang Jin fourth after the short program and Hanyu third, the Chinese judge was really strict on Hanyu’s GOEs. And judge 2 was Lorrie Parker, one of those judges who doesn’t hold back when it comes to helping a fellow countryman, so also her mark were strangely low. I’ve never looked at how the Australian judge, Lisa Jelinek, awards marks (beyond that +4, all alone alongside eight +5, on Hanyu’s triple axel in the Skate Canada 2019 short program), maybe I should do it. Four judges, Jelinek, Parker, Martinez and New Zealander Sandra Williamson Leadley, judged that that day the best free skate was the one skated by Nathan Chen.

At the Four Continents Championship Martinez liked Chen, and a few months later, at Skate America 2017, Martinez judged Chen again. There were several judges on the panel of judges that one could write about at length, but she still managed to stand out. Do you remember that I have written several times about how high marks in one competition can affect the judges of the next competition? Well, do you think Martinez gave high marks?

To understand, not even at the 2018 National championship did the American judges have the courage to award to Chen the marks that Martinez gave him that day.

I know, I’m dwelling on Martinez for a really long time. Im’ short on the Autumn Classic International 2019, I remember only that in the free skate she was able to give Aymoz higher marks in components than Hanyu. The best mark? Interpretation: 8.75 Hanyu, 9.75 Aymoz.

In some cases I have inserted the link to SkatingScores, the site is very well done and it helps to notice many details of the protocols. For the Four Continents 2020 I am mounting two details alongside, the Hanyu protocol and part of the ranking with the Martinez version highlighted.

With eight of the top ten skaters Martinez was a generous judge, with six of them she was very generous. With only two she was strict. According to her, Hanyu performed the fourth free skate, not the first. I think it goes without saying that I do not regard she as an impartial judge.

Netherlands

Poland

I have never checked the way Malgorzata Sobkow assigns marks, but these numbers are enough to make me say that she is a judge who should no longer be allowed to judge competitions.

Russia

Over a year ago I took a closer look (in Italian) at some marks awarded by Julia Andreeva. From this table her national bias is low, but an experienced judge, and Andreeva is, manages not to stand out in the most superficial checks. We should always watch competitions by competitions, watch the videos and check all marks. The problem? There isn’t enough time. We need better technologies and to give less power to the judges.

As for Andreeva, in the past I had also carefully looked at some of Elena Fomina’s marks.

To Kozhemiakina (or Kozhemyakina, the transliteration of names from one alphabet to another always creates some problems) I did not pay the attention that I dedicated to Andreeva and Fomina, at a certain point I started to do some other type of control and I never came back to my old country lists. But I briefly mentioned her in another post (in Italian), one of a series in which I checked the judges who were present in PyeongChang. It goes without saying that I have little faith in all three Russian judges.

Sweden

Ukraine

Also for Makarova I only checked a few competitions over a year ago, but at that point I had started writing some posts in my bad English. And Makarova, in my opinion, should also watch the competitions on the TV.

United States

Sometimes I have looked closely at the behavior of an American judge, but I have never really watched Peggy Graham, Kristina Lungren and Jennifer Mast. The only one thet I’ve watched in a single competition, and only for the marks given to two skaters, is Peggy Graham. According to her, at the last World Championship Karen Chen’s short program was better than Elizaveta Tuktamysheva’s. No other judge had the same impression. The post also contains a special mention for Francoise de Rappard.

I should also check the referee and the technical panel, but… maybe another time.