Comments on: Joannie Rochette wins bronze medal by a pity vote American skater Mirai Nagasu flawless performance won fourth place

By: the philosophizer

the philosophizer — Sun, 13 Jun 2010 22:38:11 +0000

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.

Example:
You’re an idiot
you sound like an idiot
all you white people are…
all you black people are…
profanities
racial slurs
sexist remarks etc

By: Amber

Amber — Sun, 13 Jun 2010 06:04:59 +0000

she so earned the medal.
saying it was a pity vote makes you sound like such a brat!

By: Aria

Aria — Sun, 13 Jun 2010 04:36:51 +0000

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.

By: the philosophizer

the philosophizer — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 04:55:50 +0000

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.

By: Aria

Aria — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 22:04:12 +0000

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.

By: the philosophizer

the philosophizer — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 03:47:28 +0000

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

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 13:05:30 +0000

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!

By: the philosophizer

the philosophizer — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 00:00:09 +0000

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.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 22:43:52 +0000

Glad to know that you’re all experienced judges. I guess you’ll all be at the next Winter Olympics in the judges’ seat ….

By: the philosophizer

the philosophizer — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 20:42:19 +0000

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.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 06:26:57 +0000

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.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 02:23:49 +0000

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.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 15:57:30 +0000

I agree with you! -