WASHINGTON — Under pressure over the secrecy issues in the judging of figure skating, International Skating Union president Ottavio Cinquanta promised to provide more statistics and information on scoreboards and screens. However, it became clear that the ISU is considering using statistics derived from the obscure, complex and confusing one-by-one system, in which a skater's performance is compared, one by one, with all the others. ISU general secretary Fredi Schmid said the ISU couldn't give details about how it would present the information ''in a way that the public will understand it.''
The public has been crying for a return to the showing of ordinals or placements, which are not shown to spectators but are simpler and quickly tell a story of how judges make decisions. Cinquanta rejected the showing of ordinals, saying: "The ordinal at the moment is negative. We do prefer to look at other and more interesting options for the audience."
At a news conference, Cinquanta said he decided to look into the issue after pressure from the media. He said he will wait for a response from technical people within the sport and within the computer world, but that the ISU may work out a soluation at a council meeting in June.
He did not answer questions about a protest by skating fans on Friday, and he made no comment on whether the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation interviewed him during his stay in the United States. The FBI is investigating the judging scandal that erupted at the Salt Lake Olympics. "I do not respond, because it is a private matter," Cinquanta said.
He also said he had evidence that the ISU's new systems had drastically reduced influence on the judges. Asked to reveal the evidence, Cinquanta said only that the accountability of judges had become more stringent because ISU officials examine judges' marks three times a year instead of one. Pressed further on this evidence, Cinquanta said there was a delay in producing the results of assessments and they will be ready in about two weeks.
Schmid urged the media to read Communication 1197, which governs judges event review meetings and caused U.S. referee Ron Pfenning to resign from his post on the ISU's technical committee. Pfenning claims Communication 1197 was never discussed or passed by the ISU congress and contravenes rules already in place.
On the issue of Hungarian judge Judit Fuerst-Tombor's removal as a judge minutes before she was to report for duty in the women's event last week, Cinquanta said it was not an ISU decision, but a move taken by the Hungarian federation.
Asked how small federations could afford the costs of a new judging system that he is proposing, Cinquanta suggested they could receive help from national Olympic committees. He said he is confident the ISU council will help solve the problem.
He reiterated that the new system will be implemented at Grand Prix events next season, as well as at Obertsdorf, Germany, the first international competition of the season.
Cinquanta would not reveal the budgets allotted for speed skating and figure skating, citing contractural obligations. But Schmid said speed skating makes up 30 per cent of ISU expenditures and revenues.
"We are very careful to keep a balance in both ends," he said. "Speed skating is totally self-sufficient. Nothing from figure skating goes into speed skating."
