Chan wins silver at worlds

Source: CBC

Two small errors in his free skate likely cost Patrick Chan a gold medal Thursday night at the world figure skating championships in Los Angeles.

Toronto's Chan finished second behind American Evan Lysacek and just ahead of France's Brian Joubert, who took home the bronze.

Chan's silver marks the second year in a row Canada has medalled in the men's event. Jeffrey Buttle of Smooth Rock Falls, Ont., won gold last year.

"Jeez, I thought I was just going to walk home with a bronze, but to win a silver medal is just like icing on the cake," Chan said after watching Joubert fall twice during his free skate.

"Getting off the ice, I had a huge smile on my face because I just didn't expect to be where I am now after just my second worlds, and I'm only 18. It's a big shock. It's going to be weird going back to high school, because I have to be a regular guy again."

I watched a bit of the figure skating this weekend and I have a real beef with the scoring system. I used to understand the old system. Each of the nine judges would give a technical and artistic mark. Highest would be 6.0. Plus they would rank all of the skaters. For example if skater A went up against Skater B, Skater B might lose to Skater A by 5 judges to 4. Yes it could cause cheating but at least I understood it!

But now? Someone beats someone by 155.55 to 153.67 and we have no idea how that mark came about. No more 6.0s! Similarly, gymnastics no longer as a perfect 10! It's now 16.38 or something dumb like that. Similarly Olympic boxing has judges pushing buttons. You can hit a guy five times and get no points. Judged sports are getting dumber and dumber. Diving might be the only one that makes sense still.

Here is his long program, almost flawless!


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Related stories:
Chan takes another bite out of judges (Globe and Mail)
Chan pleased but puzzled about judging (Toronto Star)