During the Olympics Billions of dollars are spent in all aspects of the massive event. It has never seemed to me that the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has been overly eager to save a few dollars in exchange for a compromised event outcome. In fact, it has always appeared quite the contrary as the Olympics is the pinnacle of sporting competition, the organizers of the event should strive to ensure the fairest of competition no matter the cost.
This is the debate that is now underway as FIS (International Ski Federation), the body largely responsible for freeskiing’s inclusion into the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, is seeking judges who can judge both freeskiing and snowboard events. This potential of “crossover” judges has Olympic hopefuls and industry professionals in arms.
“In an attempt to promote “efficiency and economy” in the addition of new sports to the Winter Olympics, the International Ski Federation (FIS) has confirmed it is seeking judges who can judge both freeskiing and snowboarding events at the Sochi Winter Olympics in 2014.” – ESPN
The freestyle skiing coordinator for FIS, Joe Fitzgerald dampened some initial negative reactions to the headlines by clarifying that,
“It’s unlikely there would be any crossover between head judges, which will be unique to each discipline. But between scoring judges and ‘score verifiers’ (officials who make sure each score is recorded correctly), there could be some who, for example, work ski slopestyle as well as snowboard slopestyle.” – ESPN
However, the fact reamins that freeskiing and snowboarding are very different sports, especially at the Olympic level. The amounts of spins and flips and grabs going on in each sport in mind blowing these days and a judge simply cannot be proficient and up-to-date in each sport. Freeskiing judge Josh Loubek, Olympic medalist Scotty Lago, Olympic hopeful Kaya Turski, and snowboarding judge Tom Zikas are all outspoken against any mixing of the judges.
“There’s no reason, with how far skiing’s come and how far snowboarding’s come, to do this. I think it would compromise the integrity of the results. I enjoy watching ski pipe and ski slope, but do I feel like I should be judging them? Definitely not. If they’re trying to save a buck, it seems very unnecessary.” – Tom Zikas to ESPN