Russian Skater Slams Olympic Judges for ‘Unprofessional’ Scoring

Japanese figure skaters Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara delivered their home country its first ever Olympic gold medal in pairs skating on Monday, earning a world-record score of 158.13 points in the free skate.

This outstanding score saw the Japanese pair jump all the way to the top of the podium after notching a fifth-place finish in the short program portion at the Milano Cortina Winter Olympics.

Russian pairs figure skater Dmitri Kozlovskii, a one-time European champion and three-time national champion, believed the scoring in Monday’s free skate showed “unprofessional, disrespectful and unreasonable” conduct from Olympic judges.

Kozlovskii felt that Miura delivered a great performance, but Kihara left a lot to be desired.

“I see a very clean, well-coordinated partner [Miura]. However, when I look at her partner [Kihara], I see absolutely no lines. A pair is evaluated as a pair. We cannot just judge the female partner and say, ‘She skates beautifully, and he doesn’t, but let’s still give them a 9.50.’ Miura handles her blade well for pair skating, but from Kihara’s side, I see no proper lines,” Kozlovskii said on an Okka broadcast, as translated by FS Gossips.

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“I have to say this is just too much. A 158 for the free skate is an absolute overreach for this pair,” Kozlovskii continued after Miura and Kihara were awarded their 158.13 score. “They do not skate at that level. Are they trying to suggest now that Sui Wenjing and Han Cong, with their quad twist from four years ago, would have lost to these two? No, this is completely unreasonable behavior from the judges. Giving them such scores is unprofessional and disrespectful toward the other athletes who are waiting to perform. What does this mean? Should we just declare the competition over already?”