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Olympic Judges Q&A

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00000000
Posts: 11075 - Karma: 82,508
Hey everyone! A handful of the Olympic judges have agreed to entertain a few of our questions tomorrow morning. Judging a ski competition is one of the hardest jobs out there, and this crew busted their balls to do their best in Sochi. Hopefully the majority of you are able to recognize and appreciate that, whether or not you agree with their decisions. These guys are taking the time out of their busy schedules to answer YOUR questions, because (regardless of what you may think) they really do care about the sport and the community we've built around it.

Want a breakdown of a specific run? Want to see them compare two separate runs? Want to know how they are doing on Tinder in Sochi? Ask it here. We just encourage you to keep it on-topic and respectful -- any replies failing to do so risk being deleted.

The judging staff is made up of (in no particular order): Mike Atkinson, Dion Newport, Rafael Regazzoni, Greg Tuscher and Simon Tjernström

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"Watching video , and after all the discussion it is a pleasure to work with this crew as our hearts are 100% passionate about the sport...like yours... good luck tonight guys! Looking forward to the ladies on thursday. Doing our best to judge a sport that is so tough to judge! - Mike Atkinson, Olympic Freeski Judge (Canada)
Feb 18 2014 6:05PM
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SkiBum.
Posts: 3597 - Karma: 3,895
What status or qualifications does it take to become a judge of a contest like this, or even like a FIS or X Games comp?

And how did you all get picked?
Feb 18 2014 6:08PM
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JahLiam
Posts: 2321 - Karma: 7,823
why do you hate blunck so much?
Feb 18 2014 6:09PM
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fillup
Posts: 4904 - Karma: 568
How many Russian bribes were you offered?
Feb 18 2014 6:10PM
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Grahamhem
Posts: 37 - Karma: 70
Why was jossi's qualifying run in pipe scored so low?
Feb 18 2014 6:11PM
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BlakeG
Posts: 1450 - Karma: 1,030
Who were youre predictions of slopestyle podium going into the games (mention Tom or else the kids will flip shit)
Feb 18 2014 6:16PM
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00000000
Posts: 11075 - Karma: 82,508
If you had to pick one ski resort from your home country to ride at for the rest of your life, what would it be?
Feb 18 2014 6:33PM
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J.D.
Posts: 21362 - Karma: 5,141

Does the lack of replay available to you influence your ability to properly score the runs?

Given all the backlash from the way the podium ended up, explain what about Nick's slope run needed improvement to get better marks than Gus's and Joss's runs?

Feb 18 2014 6:37PM
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Blurst
Posts: 13577 - Karma: 10,168
Why were there no women on the judging panel?

Feb 18 2014 6:39PM
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00000000
Posts: 11075 - Karma: 82,508
To be honest, I expected it to be a lot more harsh by now. People on Facebook were pretty livid -- to the point where I had to take down a few comments.

I'm actually just interested in their answers / curious to see who they are as skiers, not just judges.
Feb 18 2014 6:46PM
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Holte
Posts: 10730 - Karma: 7,744
How much discussion/deliberation goes on for an average run? I mean do you guys tend to be in general agreement, or does there tend to be serious discussion about the weight of certain components on any given run?
Feb 18 2014 6:52PM
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00000000
Posts: 11075 - Karma: 82,508
Between all the events, which is the hardest to judge and why?

Who's single run was the hardest to judge? Which one took the longest? Why?
Feb 18 2014 6:53PM
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JGP.
Posts: 2785 - Karma: 474
Do you consider a trick unnatural if the skier can ONLY do it that way?

Where and why did you dock Nick's run to arrive at a final score of 92.4?
Feb 18 2014 6:53PM
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stupendous-man
Posts: 8637 - Karma: 13,293
At what point does the line have to be drawn between execution and technicality? e.g. does a perfectly grabbed and stomped rodeo 9 with a tweaked safety sent deep trump a triple 14 mute with a sloppy landing?
Feb 18 2014 7:01PM
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GrandThings
Posts: 2940 - Karma: 28,846
What skier do you think has the best "style" in a non-contest setting?
Feb 18 2014 7:03PM
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Barefootin_Fiend
Posts: 7618 - Karma: 4,727
what does it take to postpone an event? is that your call, or is there some other committee that makes that decision? if it is up to the judges, did you consider postponing ski pipe? why didn't you?

conditions looked about as bad as they could get....would have been nice for the world to see what skiers can really do instead of the tamed showing they received today.
Feb 18 2014 7:03PM
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Brettersonn
Posts: 82 - Karma: 102
If it were up to only style and technicality didn't matter.... how many other olympians have you guys fucked??
Feb 18 2014 7:10PM
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Holte
Posts: 10730 - Karma: 7,744
Let's do it: Give us a side by side, feature by feature judged comparison of Nick Goepper's first slopestyle finals run and Joss Christensen's first slopestyle finals run.
Feb 18 2014 7:15PM
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S.J.W
Posts: 7609 - Karma: 31,182
how many times do you guys watch the replays on runs in order to get the right score?
Is every hit weighted the same or does the money booter get more discretion over say the top rail?
Do you guys score the first runs less than the second runs to give yourselves room to move?
Feb 18 2014 7:15PM
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Peter.
Posts: 23796 - Karma: 13,012
if you could go back and change anything about the final standings from slopestyle, a week after with tons of time to look at replays, would you change anything?
Feb 18 2014 7:17PM
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Iraq_Lobster
Posts: 1866 - Karma: 4,904
Do you guys care about rails much anymore or is it pretty much jumps, I feel like rail's are just overlooked and are "just in the way" of the actual run if that makes sense
Feb 18 2014 7:27PM
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Seth.S
Posts: 630 - Karma: 1,626
Why wasn't Henrik scored higher when he did two tricks no one else can/has done (nose butter triple 16, switch tail butter double 10).
Feb 18 2014 7:35PM
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TACO-DOG.exe
Posts: 11986 - Karma: 12,239
have there been any heated conversations/debates about a run?
Feb 18 2014 7:39PM
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holla@cha_boy
Posts: 58 - Karma: 348
Are the days of going deep into landings over? It seems like you guys are searching for perfect landings so if you go deep your landings won't be as perfect
Feb 18 2014 7:45PM
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holla@cha_boy
Posts: 58 - Karma: 348
And for pipe, how much are they docked for leaving room for one more hit? should they just do a simple trick like a flat 3 or just end it with a bang and leave some room left
Feb 18 2014 7:52PM
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PDoyle
Posts: 337 - Karma: 2,228
Who are each of your own personal favourite freeskiers (who weren't competing in the olympics)? Or your favourites who are still skiing and from those who have retired.
Feb 18 2014 8:10PM
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kmart7606
Posts: 181 - Karma: 169
Out of everything,

Henrik's slopestyle final run could have been higher.
and Aaron Blunck threw THREE 10s and TWO doubles and got 7th in pipe.

I'll just leave that there.
Feb 18 2014 8:10PM
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Drail
Posts: 14011 - Karma: 10,001
Is there every a discrepancy between what you, the judges think should score well and what the athletes think should be scored well? Ultimately, who do you think should have more control in the direction competition side of the sport ends up going?
Feb 18 2014 8:42PM
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KingTaco
Posts: 2510 - Karma: 2,824
is it possible to even consider a 180 unnatural? i mean come on

think about it:
3 flips over the left shoulder (same direction as the double corks)=1080
plus 180 spin to the right = 1260
Feb 18 2014 8:48PM
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ski0
Posts: 2321 - Karma: 5,370
Do you keep track of which skiers are spin left/right naturally vs. switch left/right. Or is it more about having a variety of spins?


Side note: I have no idea why everyone thinks Joss's triple was unnatural.. The guy spins rightside naturally when switch doesn't he?
Feb 18 2014 8:50PM
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Am_park
Posts: 162 - Karma: 831
why didn't henrik place or do better i know he didn't land great on the last jump but my estimate is he stomped that run would be around a 91 or 92 that's 6 or 7 points because his hand touched the ground?
Feb 18 2014 8:53PM
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ski0
Posts: 2321 - Karma: 5,370
Can you explain a little bit how "overall impression" works?

( In my mind, it would be a lot easier to score each hit individually and then add up the scores._

Do you have a list of tricks and values/scores/difficulties associated with each?

How do you think that the judging system could be improved? What is it's biggest flaw?
Feb 18 2014 8:59PM
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NinetyFour
Posts: 8650 - Karma: 13,409
When deciding scores what method do you most prefer; ouija board, magic 8 ball, dice roll, or dartboard?
Feb 18 2014 9:00PM
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Alex_G
Posts: 11902 - Karma: 1,018
hey mike atkinson what kind of deodorant do you use
Feb 18 2014 9:22PM
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skodeo7
Posts: 14949 - Karma: 9,234
On a related note...

Do you think judges should be allowed to view replays of runs? Instant replays have been crucial in sports like hockey or...well I only really follow hockey (I'm guessing baseball, football, etc.).

If so, do you think replays should only be allowed in real time or should judges be able to view slow-mo? Obviously reviewing would add time but it might allow for more accurate scoring. Please discuss your thoughts on this.

I feel like with the advent of insanely technical tricks, replays should almost be required. There is so much that can be missed the first time it's almost unfair to the riders. Maybe no slow-mo, but even a real-time replay could really help.
Feb 18 2014 9:25PM
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Mr.LemonPie
Posts: 4100 - Karma: 1,625
I'd love an in depth explanation of why Nick/Gus/Joss came out the way they did.
Feb 18 2014 9:51PM
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Alex_G
Posts: 11902 - Karma: 1,018
mike atkinson: you invented the zero spin. why was jossi's run not scored higher?
Feb 18 2014 9:56PM
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BennettAllen
Posts: 187 - Karma: 692
What goes through your minds when waking up on the morning of a big comp. (X games, Olympics, Dew tour ect.)

Is it stressful knowing if you screw up the score of any given run you may start a fire storm of angry yelping from a bunch of little goons on the internet?

Is there any certain routine you do leading up to the judging of a comp? Ranging anywhere from the night before to 5 minutes before the first run.

What are your favorite colors?
Feb 18 2014 9:58PM
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Substitute
Posts: 1375 - Karma: 2,270
What is your deffinition of freeskiing? If they answer anything other than it cant be difined then they are stoopid
Feb 18 2014 10:03PM
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Caleb.E
Posts: 3556 - Karma: 1,014
Break down Hendricks second qualifying run compared to pk hunders. I feel as pk got robbed and henricks hand slaps should of been weighed against him as hard as they were against other competitors
Feb 18 2014 11:23PM
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BlakeG
Posts: 1450 - Karma: 1,030
have you guys fought eachother or flipped a coin to settle a score between two judges
Feb 18 2014 11:27PM
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FUUUCK
Posts: 18426 - Karma: 4,888
Wtf are you talking about?
Feb 18 2014 11:32PM
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Malcolm
Posts: 15949 - Karma: 9,431
Which run did you guys have the biggest disagreement over?

Also, do you guys ever read the comments on here to see what people thought of the judging?
Feb 18 2014 11:33PM
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STAUSS
Posts: 8232 - Karma: 3,311
all judging criteria aside, out of all the skiers who stoked you up the most?
Feb 18 2014 11:36PM
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DIX~
Posts: 4695 - Karma: 6,502
Are you guys starting to weigh style more heavily than previous years? Sure seems like you're trying but it's a bit inconsistent
Feb 18 2014 11:39PM
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Toaster-Tony
Posts: 3531 - Karma: 5,850
He punched the ground on the last hit. No one on the podium did that.
Feb 18 2014 11:43PM
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Nate.Dog
Posts: 1672 - Karma: 2,098
Sorry bro, but you're wrong.. it was rightside through and through, you just got a little disoriented,
Feb 18 2014 11:47PM
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Arty
Posts: 235 - Karma: 60
It seems that judges are willing to reward runs with more difficult tricks performed earlier in superpipe runs and not so for difficult tricks performed on earlier jump features in slopestyle runs. Why is there an inconsistency between risk and reward in slopestyle and superpipe comps? How do you judge an athlete's style when ones perspective of style is so subjective?
Feb 18 2014 11:50PM
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RudyGarmisch
Posts: 25443 - Karma: 13,844
What do you want to say to all the people out there that hated the judging?
Feb 18 2014 11:55PM
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joelski
Posts: 1014 - Karma: 736
what where your thoughts on Lisa Zimermans run compared to Dara Howells run?

where there any competitors you wish had made qualified for finals because of tricks they might do in the finals but who didn't have good qualifying runs?

how often do you strongly disagree? can you give an example?
Feb 18 2014 11:58PM
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skier_boy26
Posts: 11295 - Karma: 502
Does the frequency of a trick affect scoring? Seems simple but I want to know, damnit.
Feb 19 2014 12:05AM
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