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[Blwe_torch]

Chinese assisted by 'complicated' element to crash
By Tom Knight in Turin

Officials from the International Skating Union have defended changes in the sport's judging system that allowed Zhang Dan and Zhang Hao to hang on to their silver medal in the extraordinary conclusion to the pairs final.

The Chinese pair had to take a four-minute break during their free-skating routine after misjudging their attempt at a throw quadruple salchow. With their programme only 38 seconds old, Hao launched his partner into the air, but when Dan came out of the spin too early, she crashed to the ice.

Dan, 20, landed on both hands and knees and slid, Bambi-like, into the barrier surrounding the Palavela rink. Shaken and clearly hurt, she struggled to recover and, as she bent double in pain, the music stopped and Hao helped her from the ice.

After several seconds of confusion Hao consulted the referee, Hely Abbondati, who allowed them the statutory two minutes in which to regain their poise and resume their programme.

As their accompanying music - Hou De Jian's The Offspring of the Dragons - restarted, the Chinese did return to pick up their routine where they left off but, to untrained eyes, it looked as if the pair's failed attempt at the most technically difficult throw in figure skating would mean their dropping out of medal contention behind the two-time world champions and runaway winners, Tatiana Totmianina and Maxim Marinin.

In the event not only did the Chinese retain second place but their final score of 189.73 points was a personal best. If judges still marked skaters out of six, for technical merit and artistic impression, the Chinese medal prospects might have suffered.

But the rules of figure skating were changed following the corruption scandal at the 2002 Games in Salt Lake City, where the International Olympic Committee were forced into awarding two gold medals for one event and the French judge, Marie-Reine Le Gougne was suspended for three years. Now, the scoring system is more complicated and the judges more accountable. Skaters are judged on the technical content of their programme, with a failed attempt at a complicated manoeuvre worth more points than successful completion of something simple.

George Rossano, a skating expert and statistician from Los Angeles, said: "It's like judging a baking competition by judging the ingredients. The old system judged the cake."

Dan and Hao won China's first Olympic figure skating silver medal because they were technically brilliant and the only element on which they lost points was the failed throw. Despite Dan's discomfort, the pair completed a double axel, triple toe loop combination and a high triple twist that was deemed one of the best of the entire competition. The enforced break in their programme was within the rules.

Devra Pitt-Getaz, the ISU spokeswoman, said: "When Dan fell, it was clear that she needed time to recover. The referee stopped the competition, and that's her role. When the competition was resumed, their programme had some very complicated technical elements, all considered level three or four.

"At the first Olympic Games using the new judging system, the ISU are very pleased that the rules were followed so well."

Fredi Schmid, the ISU general- secretary, confirmed that the referee had acted correctly. He added: "I don't think the interruption offers any advantage. This skater had the courage to finish when she finished, obviously in pain."

Dan blamed herself for the fall, saying that she had let go of Hao's hand too early. She said she had never thought of giving up.

With Chinese skaters second, third and fourth, the level of competition illustrated why many believe that the 42-year Soviet and Russian domination of the Olympic pairs event is coming to an end.

China is a relative newcomer to the discipline. Pairs skating did not exist in the country before 1980, and yet their skaters are continually striving to push back the barriers of what is possible.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/main.jhtml;jsessionid=TKYWENJSGM2O3QFIQMGCFF4AVCBQUIV0?view=HOME&grid=E&menuId=-1&menuItemId=-1&_requestid=144479

[dextrous]

They used to say snow is not the only white thing at winter olympics. guess its changing slowly!