Sochi Olympics: Adelina Sotnikova of Russia wins figure skating gold

It was minutes following ladies’ Olympic figure skating competitors and Stojko have a detailed outcome piece at your fingertips. The guy started initially to tick off, aspect by element, precisely why the guy felt Adelina Sotnikova of Russia deserved to conquer protecting champion Yuna Kim of southern area Korea and Carolina Kostner of Italy.

a�?Adelina emerged crammed,a�? Stojko said. a�?Did one heated affairs dating apps other two have more beautiful skating? Absolutely. But it is a sport, and this also was entirely reasonable.a�?

S. lady moved without a medal in straight Olympics for first-time since 1948

It actually was no surprise that Stojko, a two-time OIympic gold medalist from Canada known for their athleticism, might have these an impression about a consequence sure to feel being among the most dubious and debated in figure skating’s checkered judging record.

His feeling that Sotnikova had generated the lady shock victory Thursday according to the math of this rating system ended up being shared by several some other former skaters, such as Olympic medalists Philippe Candeloro of France and Paul Wylie from the united states of america.

But also they’d questions relating to the judging, which smelled of room cooking to sate a roaring Russian audience at Iceberg Skating residence.

a�?There isn’t an issue with the result, except that the [margin] of it,a�? Wylie said. a�?The objectives happened to be these were planning crown king Yuna one last time, as soon as they didn’t come to pass, it is love, a�?just how performed that happen?’a�?

Sotnikova, 17, ninth in this past year’s community titles, turned into this lady state’s very first Olympic ladies singles champ by 5.48 things over Kim. The Russian’s blend of huge jumps, performance and power generated the fact for building that margin during the technical marks, therefore led the evaluator getting overly enthusiastic so she didn’t miss they regarding ingredient results.

a�?The score are offered from the judges,a�? Kim stated. a�?I am not within the correct situation to discuss it. There is nothing that may change using my statement.a�?

Sotnikova done with points to for Kim. Kostner was next at . The 3 had opted in to the complimentary skate separated by significantly less than a point.

a�?Maybe Yuna didn’t have adequate information from inside the small plan simply because they don’t would you like to duplicate exactly what have occurred in Vancouver, in which we understood prior to the no-cost skate who was gonna victory,a�? Candeloro mentioned.

Gracie silver from the U.S. had been 4th, with teammates Ashley Wagner and Polina Edmunds 7th and ninth. It intended the U.

Russia’s Yulia Lipnitskaya, 15, who had come to be a major international experience on her behalf brilliant skating when you look at the teams event, dropped in both singles applications and finished fifth.

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The Global Skating Union has created a rating system so mathematically intricate it is incomprehensible. On top of that, it allows judging and technical panels for substantial disputes of interest (one judge on Thursday’s section, Alla Shekhovtseva, is hitched to the former Russian Skating Federation president) you need to include cheaters (another regarding the judges, Yuri Balkov of Ukraine, was in fact suspended for his part in prejudging a meeting.)

a�?I found myselfn’t positive we understood because we read a whole lot high quality in Yuna, and I also see a young girl in Adelina with unrefined moments,a�? Browning said. a�?But In my opinion I found myself wise enough to remain true and check out the marks before we mentioned something.a�?

Browning spotted obvious explanations for exactly why Sotnikova’s technical markings happened to be 5.85 points much better than Kim’s, including the southern area Korean acquiring lowered base prices on a twist and a maneuvering series. Just what perplexed your is how Sotnikova’s aspect score Thursday maybe almost nine information more than this lady normal ingredient score in four past games this coming year.

Sotnikova produced one small technical mistake, a two-footed landing regarding 3rd jump in a combination, which is why she was actually punished.

a�?I found myself awaiting the blunders she normally tends to make, and she never generated all of them,a�? mentioned 1984 Olympic winner Scott Hamilton, commentating for NBC.

a�?I considered what sort of element score (rules) are written, and Adelina monitors off every field. It’s not as great looking as Yuna or Carolina, but she do everything the evaluator need.a�?

Sotnikova’s cost-free skate showed more sophistication than the lady helter-skelter small plan, regardless if she hammed it up right at the end with a wave during the evaluator. They known by using the 2nd finest no-cost skate score in history.