American Olympians Evan Lysacek and Johnny Weir have done what they can to distance themselves from American judge Joe Inman this week. Inman came under fire for sending out emails to International Skating Union judges which criticized the scoring on Russian Evgeny Plushenko's transition moves in the program components section. Read more here.
We blogged that a few days ago, Johnny Weir harshly criticized Inman. Now, Lysacek is saying the judging has been good, according to AFP:
Despite suggestions that Plushenko, who returned last year, scored too highly at Europeans despite shortcomings in his transitions, steps linking elements together, Lysacek said he had confidence in the judging system.
"I haven't competed against him (Plushenko) since Torino," he said. "From my own competitions, and ones I've been at I think they've been pretty darn accurate."
Lysacek has done a pretty good job of remaining above the fray and staying PC over the years. He stayed out of the Brian Joubert/Patrick Chan quad debate at last year's world championships and end up being the one to take home the gold.
Lysacek also commented that he is not afraid of competing against Plushenko:
"I don't think anyone is unbeatable right now because of the way the sport is judged," said Lysacek.
"A positive grade of execution can make up for a quad. This is going to be my strategy. I looked back at the scoresheets, saw where I gained points and saw they were more valuable than the quad."
Lysacek has been up and down as far as grade of execution this season, so hopefully he can get some good scores at the Olympics. The trouble with his strategy is that Plushenko does get good grade of execution scores too. As well as program components. Since he is scored so strongly in all areas, skaters who are coming in with much lower technical difficulty will need him to err in order to truly compete.