From: Sandra Loosemore Subject: scoring in the pairs short program Newsgroups: rec.sport.skating.ice.figure Date: 09 Feb 1998 13:45:16 -0500 Organization: Psychosian Figure Skating Team Since people have expressed confusion about it, here's the full scoop on why Meno & Sand swapped places with Eltsova & Bushkov in the pairs short program after Ina & Dungjen skated. Before Ina & Dungjen skated, Meno & Sand and Eltsova & Bushkov were basically in a tie for 4th place. Neither of the pairs had a majority for 4th place, and they both had equal majorities of 6 for 5th place. Meno & Sand were listed above Eltsova & Bushkov in the standings only because of the tie-breaker (total ordinals of majority): KAZAKOVA & DMITRIEV 1 1 4 1 3 1 1 1 1 7/1 WOTZEL & STEUER 2 2 1 2 1 2 3 2 2 8/2 BEREZHNAYA & SIKHARULIDZE 3 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 3 9/3 MENO & SAND 5 4 3 4 4 6 6 6 5 6/5 TOM = 25 ELTSOVA & BUSHKOV 6 7 5 5 7 4 5 5 4 6/5 TOM = 28 After Ina & Dungjen skated, the ordinals of the top 6 looked like this. Note that Meno & Sand have dropped a spot on the cards of judges #1 and #9 who formerly had them in 5th place, while Eltsova & Bushkov lost only one of their former 5th place votes (judge #8). As a result of this, Meno & Sand no longer had a majority for 5th place and Eltsova & Bushkov still did, which broke the tie between them for real. KAZAKOVA & DMITRIEV 1 1 4 1 4 1 1 1 1 7/1 WOTZEL & STEUER 2 2 1 2 2 2 3 2 2 8/2 BEREZHNAYA & SIKHARULIDZE 4 3 2 3 3 3 2 3 3 8/3 INA & DUNGJEN 3 4 7 6 1 4 7 4 4 6/4 ELTSOVA & BUSHKOV 7 8 5 5 8 5 5 6 5 5/5 MENO & SAND 6 5 3 4 5 7 6 7 6 7/6 Finally, something else to keep in mind about the judging of this event: as far as Ina & Dungjen's placement was concerned, it didn't matter at all that two judges had them as low as 7th. Remember, in the ordinal system it's the *majority* placement that counts, not erratic marks from one or two judges. -Sandra