Blades of Fury

Remember the old days when the figure skaters would get their individual scores from judges from various countries? Inevitably the American skaters would get 5.7-5.9 (out of 6.0) from judges in the Western Bloc and 5.2 from Eastern Bloc judges, especially the Russians. When a Russian skated a decent program he'd get 5.5, maybe 5.6 from the West and 5.9 from the Russians. That was standard fare for many a Winter Olympics

Well, the scoring systems have changed but the old East/West grumpiness lingers:

The International Skating Union changed the scoring system after Salt Lake, mandating specific points and guidelines for each element. It made the judges more anonymous, and threw out two scores randomly.

Still, there is the outrage.

There is always the outrage in figure skating, whether it is a 6.0 or a 257.67 in dispute. And so Friday, on the morning after Evan Lysacek won gold, much of Russia was aflame about his tight victory over Evgeny Plushenko in the men's figure skating on Thursday night.

Plushenko told a Russian news outlet, RIA-Novosti, this was supposed to be "men's figure skating, not ice dancing." His wife, Yana Rudkovskaya, called for a thorough investigation. An official declaration of sorts sprung from the office of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, who sent a telegram to Plushenko that his silver was "worth a gold medal."

Which left poor Lysacek Friday to defend the gold medal that hung around his neck, even before he had a chance to get some sleep.

"Every event here has been so accurate, this event has been exceptionally judged, that anyone who argues doesn't understand the scores," Lysacek said. "(Plushenko) has been a real positive role model. I guess it was a little disappointing that someone who was a role model would take a hit at me in the most special moment of my life."

What goes around, comes around, and probably never ends. Suddenly, this was the pairs scandal of 2002 all over again - only it was the Russians screaming this time, and the North Americans playing defense. The East vs. West thing may no longer drive global politics, but it remains very much the engine and the divisive wedge in figure skating.

It was all a shame, really, because Lysacek had skated well enough to win that medal on Thursday night, in an Olympic year when there was no emerging star. The American did not attempt a quad jump, yet he was steady on all but a triple axel, landing neatly enough to avoid kicking up any snow.

He was precise and swift on his spins and footwork.

"I don't know why a coach would put into a routine something that you're not 100% sure of," Lysacek said about the decision to avoid a quad, "because you're probably going to go down under that pressure."

Plushenko landed a quad in combination, and afterward scolded the other skaters: "One needs to learn another quad." But he spent a significant middle stretch of his program mugging at the crowd, then blew a flying sit spin and became positively sloth-like by the end, showing every bit of his 27 years.

Lysacek's routine was better tailored to the new scoring system, which rewards every step sequence along the way. Yet the U.S. skater insisted Friday it was Plushenko who had tried so very hard to engineer his program for points.

"Unlike him, each step wasn't plotted out to get a gold medal," Lysacek said. "The goal was to skate the way I skated."

Before the Games Putin had challenged his team to bring home something like 40 medals, a feat they won't come close to reaching (as of today they have 5, the U.S. has 20). He's just like the communist leaders of old - get medals or get to Siberia.

I saw Lysacek's interview on NBC last night and I thought he was very gracious in how he's handling the noise from the Russkies. He did what he had to do to win, and that's that. He's a good role model for men's figure skating, and thankfully, he didn't dress up as a swan.