Joannie Rochette wins bronze medal by a pity vote American skater Mirai Nagasu flawless performance won fourth place
Posted by
the philosophizer
Feb 26
Athletes spend many years preparing for the Olympics and in the end it all comes down to how well you perform physically. With that being said, it is my humble opinion that Canada’s Joannie Rochette won the bronze medal based on an emotionally biased decision made by the judges.
I watched the entire winter Olympics and it appears that many athletes were facing gravely difficult personal obstacles in one way or another. In any other sport no one cares about your personal life, you either score or you don’t; you don’t get bonus points because of what’s happening in your personal life (there is no pity vote); Joannie’s mother passed away as she was on her way to see her daughter perform at the 2010 Olympics; a tragedy felt by many.
Although I deeply sympathize with Joannie her performance was not flawless. In fact, she almost fell on one of her jumps and the rest of her performance simply didn’t compare to the other skaters. American skater Mirai Nagasu gave such a brilliantly flawless performance that the sportscasters raved on and on while she performed stating SHE would get the bronze. However after a strangely prolonged deliberation, the judges issued the marks and gave the bronze to Rochette pushing Nagasu into fourth place; no chance for a medal.
To add insult to injury when the results were been issued the same sportscasters hypocritically applauded Joannie taking the bronze. They did make some indirect comments stating otherwise but I guess it would’ve been deemed insensitive and politically incorrect to simply directly ask, “How in the hell did she get the bronze over Nagasu?” It is unfortunate that none had the courage to be honest. Bear in mind, I was watching a Canadian channel with Canadian sportscasters; more bias; nationalism.
I do applaud Rochette for being able to perform as she did given the circumstances, I don’t know if I would’ve had the courage to do so. However, I think it is also a tragedy that Rochette did not earn her Olympic medal and that the one who rightly deserves it did not receive it. I do hope the Americans will launch an appeal to this decision and see to it that the medal is given to the athlete that performed the best physically, not emotionally.
Before posting your comments on this article be sure to watch both performances, I guarantee you will be as stunned as I am and outraged. Please also note that I am a Canadian and proud of it.
Written by Antoinette Forsythe Copyright © All rights Reserved, Image Credit: Joannie Rochette by Scribblez, Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic License.
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Tags: joannie rochette, Joannie Rochette long program, Joannie Rochette mother, joannie rochette overrated, Joannie Rochette performance, Joannie Rochette pity, joannie rochette pity bronze, joannie rochette pity medal, joannie rochette pity points, Joannie Rochette pity vote, Joannie Rochette short program, joannie rochette vancouver 2010, Joannie Rochette video, mirai nagasu, Mirai Nagasu 2010, Mirai Nagasu olympics 2010, olympic 2010 blog, olympic 2010 figure skating, olympic games 2012, olympic gold medal, olympics politics bias, pity bronze, pity medal, pity points, pity rochette, pity vote, pity vote olympics, pity vote rochette, questions 2010 olympics, vancouver 2010 olympics
I agree with you! -
I totally agree with you!!
I don’t think that Joannie’s performance in the short program was more than 70 points performance. Ando Miki was much, much better than Joannie in SP and Free. Nagasu was also much better than Joannie in the free program.
But Ando Miki should have won Bronze in the total scores, and Nagasu Mirai should have been in the fourth place, and Joannie in the fifth.
I thought this too as I watched it. As she finished, I thought to myself “there’s no way she got a medal.. the American was so much better!”
Then, it took them forever to give the vote after Nagasu skated. It was as if the judges were thinking: “Ok.. how can we give the her 4th place after a flawless performance like that?”. Or perhaps they were just trying to figure out whether they should be honest, or whether they should give the pity vote.
I think that it was a very sentimental thing they did for Rochette, and it definitely shows human decency on levels our society often don’t show, but at the same time it wasn’t very honest to Nagasu who trained as hard as she did to get there…..
In the end, they should have given Nagasu a bronze medal and Rochette a different kind of award or even perhaps a SECOND bronze medal. I don’t think Rochette should have left empty-handed after what she did, but I don’t think she deserved to take it away from someone else.
If the Olympic Committee rewards Rochette for performing under the circumstances that she did they have to do this for ALL the athletes that were facing personal tragedy. Furthermore they would’ve had to reward the Jamaican bobsled team for crossing the finish line as they did; that was also in my opinion heroic and brave.
It is NOT the responsibility of the Olympic Committee to reward her, I think they crossed a line and stepped outside of their current jurisdiction. If they felt so strongly about what she did they should have created a separate award named after her; at each Olympic thereafter it can be rewarded to the athletes demonstrating her courage.
It is the responsibility of Canada on their own accord if they so choose, to acknowledge her efforts to represent them in spite of; name a street after her for example.
Glad to know that you’re all experienced judges. I guess you’ll all be at the next Winter Olympics in the judges’ seat ….
I know absolutely NOTHING about figure skating so I rely on the commentaries of the sport casters, many of which were previous Olympians or professional skaters themselves; having the capacity to judge. My opinion and comparison of these two performances is based on THEIR EXPERTISE and my own common sense.
If these sportscasters are clueless on what the judges are looking for, then, they have no business in being given the duty of educating the TV audience, speaking on behalf of the judges and being sportscasters on an Olympic level.
Until THEY step forward and retract ALL the comments they made during both performances and thereafter, I STAND BY MY OPINION.
My understanding of the new figure skating scoring system is that it is nigh unto impossible to select the final position of the current skater or any previous ones in the middle of judging, through bias. I’m not saying that I totally disagree with you, however, I would never say it without first researching the new system, thoroughly checking for any factors that could be manipulated by things such as pity or bias. Some factors to remember: Most people only watch the Free Skate and forget about the Short Program. Sometimes skaters’ scores from their Short do come back to bless or haunt them in the end. Also, if a skater can rack up the points through difficulty points, that might boost their scores above those of a more flawless skate. In the end, I am saying that, until some research is made into the new scoring system saying that her score could have been inflated, I congratulate her on a performance well done and am very proud of her. Way to go, Joannie!
Yeah “way to go Joannie,” not taking that away from her at all; she did great “all things considered” and this is what the sportscaster kept repeating; therein lies the source of my confusion. I did like her short program and do understand the point system as it was explained over and over to the tv audience. As far as I know, most people don’t do any research when watching sports on TV. I mean, I really don’t anyone that does unless they are very serious about the sport.
My attention is this article is focusing on the fact that the commentators (professionals) appeared to be floored that she got the bronze AND the delayed results given by the judges; that in itself opens the door further inquiry.
I am certain we will hear a lot more about this issue; why did the judges take sooo long to issue the results; what on earth were they discussing?!?!?
…thanks for mentioning the scoring system and how it works
Here is a review that I just found by the Canadian Media”
Kim wins figure skating gold, Rochette bronze
“Rochette, from Île Dupas, Que., came out strongly with a triple Lutz/double toe/double toe sequence while skating to Samson and Delilah by Saint-Saens, but landed awkwardly on a triple flip, eliciting a groan from the crowd.
The 24-year-old quickly regained her composure and impressed with her spiral sequence. Her remaining jumps weren’t technically the best, but Rochette displayed her mettle by fighting to land them.” – , CBC Sports, Feb 26, 2010 by Chris Iorfida
um, if she were from any other country would you say that?
god, they arent going to give a medal to someone because their mom died. you should know that.
My argument is that I do not think she earned her medal athletically. I made no argument whatsoever that she received pity points base on the fact she was a Canadian. I did however point out the hypocrisy of the Canadian sportscasters who i felt considered her race in their shock-n-awe.
Yes they would give a medal to someone out of pity; we have seen this in sports, awards shows (music, theater, movies, etc) countless times; the pity vote is not a new phenomenon, it exists at the professional and amateur level.
If you can find someone that taped the Olympics, take a listen to the commentators during her final performance.
does that mean the next winter olympics you’ll be judging?
sure joannie nearly fell. but she DIDNT fall.
the american didnt have as much skill as joannie.
if she had more? why did she finish with 126 and joannie finished with 131, huh?
IT WASNT PITY!
the olympics are based on skill, not personal life!
she earned that bronze!
at least she had the courage to perform at the olympic finals after her mom dies!
would YOU do that?
i would never have the strength.
the whole canadian country and even some other countries are proud of joannie.
she so earned the medal.
saying it was a pity vote makes you sound like such a brat!
Aira your comments have already been responded to above.
Amber you are more than welcome to post nine millions reasons as to why I am wrong in my opinions; I welcome that. However if you are not capable of posting your opinion without belittling me/other users please do not return to this site; that type of commentary is not acceptable here; Respect is a must.
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