Figure Skating Scoring

[Sandman]

I don't get it...

Sarah Hughes skated and the judges ranked her #1.

Michelle Kwan skated and the judges ranked her #1, pushing Hughes to #2.

Irina Slutskaya skated and the judges then ranked her #2, pushing Kwan to #3 and Hughes back to #1.

Anyone else have trouble seeing the logic of this?

[Elfenwolf]

Did anybody else notice how much Sarah Hughes looks and talks like that girl in "American Pie?" The one who played the flute and attended band camp? Dead ringer. I've never wanted to be a musical instrument so much in my life.

[Wotan]

damn dude its chics on ice skates......

who the fek cares........

I heard they replaced the chic that dressed as Barney at the Ice Capades.............thats the true tragedy

[koala]

Michelle Kwan skated and the judges ranked her #1, pushing Hughes to #2.

Actually Sandman, they didn't rank her #1.  If you saw the scores come up they ranked her #2 behind Hughes in the long program.  But I think Kwan at the time was still #1 overall because she was well ahead of Hughes in the short program.

Hughes needed help from Slutskaya to move Kwan to #3 in the long program for her to win the Gold, which is what happened.

At least I think that's how it all worked out.  It's pretty much a guess tho

[Nifty]

Koala is spot on.

it's like Aces High rankings.  You get two rankings, one for short program, and one for the free skate.  You add them together and get final rankings based on who has the lowest combined score, ties going to the higher free skate score.  the kicker is the short program rankings are on 0.5 scale (0.5 for first, 1.0 for second, 1.5, etc...) and the free programs are on a 1.0 scale.

so Kwan had a 0.5 going in, while Hughes had 2.0 (for 4th in the short program).  After Kwan skated her free program, she had a 2.5 (0.5 for 1st short, and 2.0 for 2nd free) and Hughes had 3.0 (2.0 for 4th and then 1.0 for 1st).  The Russian comes in and skates and gets 2nd in the free.  her scores are 1.0 and 2.0 for a 3.0 ranking, which is the same as Hughes.  Kwan now has 3.5 ranking points, behind Hughes and Slutskaya.  Since there was a tie for first, the gold goes to who had the best free skate, which was Hughes.  Hughes wins the gold.

It's amazing what you can learn by going to espn.com!  

[Cobra]

Where's Natedog when you need him!!

Cobra

[Sandman]

Originally posted by koala


Actually Sandman, they didn't rank her #1.  If you saw the scores come up they ranked her #2 behind Hughes in the long program.  But I think Kwan at the time was still #1 overall because she was well ahead of Hughes in the short program.

Hughes needed help from Slutskaya to move Kwan to #3 in the long program for her to win the Gold, which is what happened.

At least I think that's how it all worked out.  It's pretty much a guess tho

I think I found the answer... damned if I can understand it though...

According to this, Kwan was ranked higher than Hughes after her set.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/olympics/2002/figure_skating/news/2002/02/21/cazeneuve_explainer/

Short Program
Standing Skater Country Placement
1 Michelle Kwan  0.5
2 Irina Slutskaya  1.0
3 Sasha Cohen  1.5
4 Sarah Hughes 2.0

Standings before Slutskaya skated
Standing Skater Country Short Pgm Long Pgm Total
1 Michelle Kwan  0.5 2.0 2.5
2 Sarah Hughes  2.0 1.0 3.0
3 Sasha Cohen  1.5 3.0 4.5
4 Irina Slutskaya  1.0 ??? ???

Final Standings
Standing Skater Country Short Pgm Long Pgm Total
1 Sarah Hughes  2.0 1.0  3.0*  
2 Irina Slutskaya  1.0 2.0 3.0
3 Michelle Kwan  0.5 3.0 3.5
4 Sasha Cohen  1.5 4.0 5.5
* Hughes won the tiebreaker, because of better long program

[Sandman]

Originally posted by Elfenwolf
Did anybody else notice how much Sarah Hughes looks and talks like that girl in "American Pie?" The one who played the flute and attended band camp? Dead ringer. I've never wanted to be a musical instrument so much in my life.

This one time... at band camp...