Olympic figure skating is on thin ice again. The new scoring system designed to banish bias among judges could itself influence the choice of medal winners.
During the 2002 Winter Olympics, Russia won gold for pairs figure skating thanks to a dubious score from one of eight judges, who later admitted being under pressure to rig the vote. To prevent this happening again, the International Skating Union introduced a more complex scoring system, now in use at the Winter Olympics in Turin. Twelve judges vote anonymously and a computer randomly discounts the scores from three of them.
However, John Emerson…
