Scandal in Sochi: Nearly two million call for investigation into 17-year-old Russian skater's surprise win in front of home judges
- Russian Adelina Sotnikova beat out favorite South Korean Yuna Kim to the figure skating gold medal
- Many questioned the win and argued Kim skated a winning program
- A petition demanding an investigation into the judging decision has been signed almost 1.8 million times
- Critics say the judging panel is made up mostly of Eastern Bloc states and the scoring is anonymous
- One judge has previously been caught trying to fix an event at the 1998 Winter Olympics
- Another is married to the head of the Russian Figure Skating Federation
- Another Russian, Yulia Lipnitskaya, fell multiple times but beat American Ashley Wagner, who did not fall
By ALEX GREIG
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More than 1.7 million people have signed a Change.org petition demanding that an investigation into the judging decisions in Thursday night's women's figure skating competition be opened.
On Thursday night, Russian 17-year-old Adelina Sotnikova won the figure skating gold medal over reigning Olympic champion Yuna Kim, 23, from South Korea.
Sotnikova finished with a total score of 224.59, beating Kim's score of 219.11 by 5.48 points after the free skate program, becoming the first female Russian skater to win in the category.
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Controversial win: Adelina Sotnikova of Russia (center), Yuna Kim of South Korea (left) and Carolina Kostner of Italy stand on the podium during the flower ceremony for the women's free skate figure skating final at the Iceberg Skating Palace
Kim would have been the third woman in history to defend her Olympic gold medal after her landslide win at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics where she beat her closest rival by 23.06 points.
However, that title eluded her when Sotnikova was announced as the gold-medal winner with Kim in second and Italian Carolina Kostner with bronze.
The reaction was immediate and vocal, with more than 700,000 people signing the petition within six hours.
Many called for greater transparency in the judging panel, which was overwhelmingly made up of Eastern Bloc nations.
Petition: This Change.org petition has been signed almost 1.8 million times since Thursday
Shock: Many in the figure skating world expressed surprise that Yuna Kim did not win gold for her performance
Upstart: The young Russian dethroned the 'Queen' Yuna Kim, to the chagrin of many
One of the judges, whose votes were anonymous, was Yuri Balkov of the Ukraine who was caught on camera trying to fix an event at the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano.
Another, Alla Shekhovtseva, is married to the head of the Russian figure skating federation, reports USA Today.
Critics pointed to another Russian skater in the competition, Yulia Lipnitskaya, who fell more than once during her program yet still managed to beat American Ashley Wagner, who came in seventh.
'I feel gypped,' Wagner said at a news conference Thursday.
'People don't want to watch a sport where you see people fall down and somehow score above someone who goes clean.'
Historical: Carlina Kostner won Italy's first-ever Olympic figure skating singles medal
The current scoring system rates the technical elements of a skater's routine, then the execution and presentation using a cumulative system.
The most problematic impact of the system is that judges are now allowed to give their scores anonymously, Eric Zitzewitz, an economist at Dartmouth University who has studied judging bias, told ABCNews.com.
Judges' tendencies to inflate scores for athletes from their own countries and trade votes with other judges has increased 20 per cent since the rules were changed in 2004, according to Zitzweitz.
Second place: Silver medalist South Korea's Yuna Kim smiles during the victory ceremony for the figure skating women's free skating program
Triumph: Gold medalist Adelina Sotnikova of Russia celebrates during the medal ceremony for the Women's Free Figure Skating on day fourteen of the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics
Stoic: Kim did not question the judges' scoring of her program at the press conference following the figure skating finals
Kim herself remained above all the fuss being made over the alleged robbery of her second Olympic gold medal.
'The scores are given by the judges, so I am not in the right position to comment on it,' Kim said. 'There’s nothing that will change with my words. The biggest thing was I felt relieved because it was over.'
Sotnikova seemed oblivious to the questions raised over her win.
'I won. It's my gold medal. I can't believe it,' she said. 'Two years ago, all of my competitions were very bad. I didn't know if I had what it takes to be successful. Now I know that I do.'
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