SOCHI, Russia, Feb. 21 (UPI) -- IOC spokesman Mark Adams says that there is no substantial credibility to the accusations that the ice skating judging was biased in favor of Russia.
"I think you're getting a little ahead of yourself," said Adams to reporters. "I think first off we have to see if there's an official complaint, because the people concerned I'd assume would make a complaint and it would go to the federation. I'm not aware there's been such a complaint and if there was they'd got through the federation. I don't think it's even happened yet. If it does that will be the first step to go through if there isn't a credible complaint we wouldn't take it any further."
The accusations come after Russian figure skater Adelina Sotnikova won the gold medal in an upset over South Korean defending champion Yuna Kim and 15-year-old Russian skater Yulia Lipnitskaya. She received higher marks than skaters who had a clean skate while she fell during both programs.
There were also no South Korean or American judges on the panel, which was mostly composed of Eastern Europeans. Adams, however, did not put much merit into the supposition.
"I think we need a little of a reality check here," he said. "I don't know much about skating I saw some of it last night and her performance was agreed by many to be absolutely fantastic. I'm not an expert. The IOC has a pretty sophisticated judging system with safeguards in place and each of the judges has a video review where they can review each of the jumps so there's a number of things in place."
Despite Adams' statement there are many who disagree. There is a petition on Change.org for an investigation into the judging and U.S. skater Ashley Wagner has called for a change to the judging.
[USA Today]
