Proposal to Judge Ice Skating Judges Is Announced After Controversy

BALTIMORE — For a sport as subjective as figure skating, whose officials usually take it for granted that there will be disagreements over the judging, the reaction to the controversy over the scores in the pairs freestyle program Friday night at the U.S. championships was exceptional.

Hugh Graham, president of the U.S. Figure Skating Assn., called a news conference Saturday to announce a proposal that would establish a technical committee to review the performance of the sport’s judges.

He said the proposal has been under consideration for some time, but he acknowledged that the timing of the announcement was appropriate considering the previous evening’s questionable judging.

“Our judges have not had very much accountability,” he said.

The proposal, which will be presented to the USFSA board of directors in May, does little to correct the damage done to Katy Keeley and Joseph Mero. The pairs team from Costa Mesa was deprived of a berth in the world championships next month at Paris by finishing third in the national championships.

Only the first two teams, champions Kristi Yamaguchi of Fremont, Calif., and Rudi Galindo of San Jose and runners-up Natalie and Wayne Seybold of Marion, Ind., will represent the U.S.

The problem Friday night was not that Keeley and Mero were scored too low but that the Seybolds were scored too high.

The Seybolds, 1988 Olympians, were in first place entering the freestyle competition, but they experienced difficulties almost from the outset of their 4 1/2-minute program. Natalie fell twice and twice turned double jumps into singles.

After the second fall, a little more than 3 minutes into the program, the Seybolds interrupted their routine and approached the referee to ask for a chance to repair equipment. Natalie complained about a loose lace on her right boot.

She later said that the lace loosened early in the program, blaming that for the team’s miscues.

At the time, the referee rejected that argument. USFSA official Chuck Foster said that the referee, who was not available for comment, ruled that the loose lace did not impede the performance.

But according to the rules, the Seybolds were allowed to repair the equipment before resuming their program. “I thought we had a disaster on our hands,” said Ron Ludington, who coaches the Seybolds at Wilmington, Del.

The judges disagreed. The Seybolds finished second in the freestyle program to Yamaguchi and Galindo. Two judges gave the Seybolds 5.8s on a scale of 6.0 for their presentation.

“I’m completely baffled,” said John Nicks, who coaches Keeley and Mero at Costa Mesa. “After 24 years in the sport, I’m learning something new every year.”

What did he learn this year?

“Never in any way to think my evaluation of a performance will be corroborated by our judging friends,” he said.

Graham said the USFSA judging committee agreed with Nicks.

“I’m sure all the judges on the panel had their own reasons,” he said. “But there were significant questions raised by the judging committee. The judging committee had the Seybolds ranked lower than the panel.”

No judges were available for comment because the USFSA Code of Ethics prohibits them from discussing competitions that they have scored.

Although no appeals process is available to protest the judges’ scores, Keeley and Mero could have been selected to represent the United States at Paris by the USFSA’s international committee.

But after a 30-minute meeting that was described by two persons who attended it as contentious, the international committee voted, 13-10, to send the first two teams to the world championships.

Keeley and Mero have not been favorites of the judges in recent years. In three of the last four national championships, there has been a perception by neutral observers that the Costa Mesa team has been judged unfairly.

“I was shocked last year, but not this year,” Keeley said. “These things happen, but you don’t have to be happy with it.”