Why Did Sotnikova Win The 2014 Sochi Women's Figure Skating?

I'll admit, I'm a massive, and I mean a massive fan of #figureskating. I love Yuna Kim who was labelled the Queen of the Rink before she retired, she won 2 Olympics medals in her career, Vancouver 2010, where she won the gold and broke the world record as well as Sochi 2014 where she won silver. Soon after the Sochi Olympics finished, the nosy reporters picked up that something was wrong. I was very young when this incident happened, making me dig into it recently. It didn't take long for me to analyse all the mistakes in her free skate.

She messed up the triple Lutz and triple toe loop combo, by taking off on the back inside edge on the Lutz instead of the back outside edge, resulting in a triple Flutz, a full blade for the toe loop and an under-rotated toe for 1 point? It should’ve been negative. Both jumps had mistakes, and there is no reduction. Her triple flip was pre-rotated and her GOE for it was higher than a perfectly executed triple flip by Yuna. Also, the triple flip, double toe loop and double loop combo, the double loop had zero flow and was double footed, which resulted in a –90 GOE, which is a reluctant reduction by judges. Another important cheated element was the step sequence, which is a Level 3 step sequence, instead, it was upgraded to a level 4 step sequence which is extremely hard to do.

Sotnikova’s identical routine at TEB 2013 didn’t include so many mistakes, but it was somehow 10 points lower than her Olympics 2014 score? The judges obviously inflated her score at Olympics 2014. This was the long program, in the short program, the judges inflated Sotnikova’s PCS selectively, closing the gap between her and Yuna. She performed the exact same program at GPF 2013, inflating the PCS by 4.70. Yuna did not receive this treatment, in reality, after the short program, Sotnikova would’ve been in 3rd place instead of second. 

In addition to this, during the same Olympics, Mao Asada’s under rotations and edge violations were all noted by the same panel, while Sotnikova’s were unrecorded. Mao Asada also perfectly pulled off a triple Axel, which Sotnikova did not do, who instead did a double Axel. Mao Asada did a Level 4 step sequence, which was correctly judged, unlike Sotnikova’s sequence which was elevated from a Level 3 to a Level 4.  In all ways, Mao Asada did better than Sotnikova. 

In conclusion, Sotnikova did not deserve the gold medal in the 2014 Olympics as the judges inflated her score greatly, as she had many mistakes during her free program, including a Flutz and an under-rotated toe loop, point deductions were given reluctantly or not given at all where they should’ve been. She would’ve been third at best and the gold medal should’ve gone to Yuna Kim.