The ladies'
single skating
Single skating is a discipline of figure skating in which male and female skaters compete individually. Men's singles and women's singles are governed by the International Skating Union (ISU). Figure skating is the oldest winter sport conteste ...
competition of the
2014 Winter Olympics
The 2014 Winter Olympics, officially called the XXII Olympic Winter Games () and commonly known as Sochi 2014 (), were an international winter multi-sport event that was held from 7 to 23 February 2014 in Sochi, Russia. Opening ro ...
was held at the
Iceberg Skating Palace
The Iceberg Skating Palace (Russian: Дворец Зимнего Спорта Айсберг) is a 12,000-seat multi-purpose arena at Sochi Olympic Park in Sochi, Russia. The venue hosted the figure skating
Figure skating is a sport in which ...
in
Sochi
Sochi ( rus, Сочи, p=ˈsotɕɪ, a=Ru-Сочи.ogg, from – ''seaside'') is the largest Resort town, resort city in Russia. The city is situated on the Sochi (river), Sochi River, along the Black Sea in the North Caucasus of Souther ...
,
Russia
Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...
. The
short program took place on 19 February 2014, and the
free skating
The free skating segment of figure skating, also called the free skate and the long program, is the second of two segments of competitions, skated after the short program. Its duration, across all disciplines, is four minutes for senior skaters ...
took place on 20 February.
Adelina Sotnikova
Adelina Dmitriyevna Sotnikova ( ; born 1 July 1996) is a retired Russian figure skater. She is the 2014 Olympic gold medalist in ladies' singles, a two-time European silver medalist (2012, 2013), a two-time Rostelecom Cup bronze medalist (20 ...
of Russia won the gold medal, generating much controversy over the partiality of the judges and the new scoring system.
Result and subsequent debate
With an overall score of 224.59 points, seventeen-year-old
Adelina Sotnikova
Adelina Dmitriyevna Sotnikova ( ; born 1 July 1996) is a retired Russian figure skater. She is the 2014 Olympic gold medalist in ladies' singles, a two-time European silver medalist (2012, 2013), a two-time Rostelecom Cup bronze medalist (20 ...
became one of the youngest figure-skating Olympic champions, edging out silver-medalist and defending-champion
Yuna Kim
Yuna Kim (; born September 5, 1990), also credited in eastern name order as Kim Yuna or Kim Yeon-a, is a South Korean figure skater. Known for her well-rounded skills, achievements, popularity, and impact on the sport, she is one of the most ...
and bronze-medalist
Carolina Kostner
Carolina Kostner (born 8 February 1987) is an Italian figure skater. She is the Figure skating at the 2014 Winter Olympics, 2014 Olympic bronze medalist, the 2012 World Figure Skating Championships, 2012 World champion, a five-time European Figu ...
.
After the short program, Kim was in first place, .28 points ahead of Sotnikova.
In the free-skate program, Sotnikova performed, in terms of base points, a more challenging routine than Kim, giving her more opportunities for points.
In addition to more triple jumps and more difficult footwork (as determined by the caller), Sotnikova performed a double
Axel-triple
toe loop
Toes are the digits of the foot of a tetrapod. Animal species such as cats that walk on their toes are described as being ''digitigrade''. Humans, and other animals that walk on the soles of their feet, are described as being ''plantigrade''; ...
, challenging combination that Kim did not attempt.
However, Sotnikova's routine also featured a relatively significant error—she stepped out of a jumping combination— while Kim's program was executed without any glaring missteps.
The judges assessed Kim's free-skate program as having demonstrated greater artistry; her component score was .09 points higher than Sotnikova's.
But Sotnikova's base technical score (a measurement of the difficulty of executed moves) was 3.94 points higher than Kim's, and her grade of execution score (based on the average technical evaluation of each element, examining whether the proper edge was used, the speed carried into and out of a jump, jump positioning, and more) was scored 1.91 points higher.
The result sparked a debate over the judges' objectivity,
spurred in part by the composition of the judging panel, which included judges from four former Soviet bloc nations, including Russia.
The Russian judge,
Alla Shekhovtsova, was one of several people Sotnikova embraced prior to the flower ceremony.
Over 1.7 million people signed a
Change.org
Change.org is a website which allows users to create and sign petitions in an attempt to advance various social causes by raising awareness and influencing decision-makers. The site is a US-based for-profit company and claims to have 551 million ...
petition calling for an investigation into the outcome.
That petition attracted a million signatures faster than any previous Change.org petition; at one point, it was attracting 100,000 new signatures every 15 minutes, with 90% of signatures coming from inside Korea.
Several commentators attributed the result to the revised scoring system that had been adopted in 2006, a system generally thought to "favor mathematics at the expense of artistry":
Alice Park, writing for ''
Time
Time is the continuous progression of existence that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, and into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequ ...
'', suggested that, contrary to popular belief, Sotnikova's surprising win was a consequence of objectivity rather than subjectivity: specifically, she argued, the redesigned scoring system heavily rewarded technical difficulty, giving a substantial advantage to those with more challenging starting programs, while de-emphasizing the judge's impression of performers.
Bryan Armen Graham, writing for ''
The Atlantic
''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher based in Washington, D.C. It features articles on politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science.
It was founded in 185 ...
'', contended that the polarized reaction to the result was due to a generational gap brought about by the changed scoring system, saying, "Those who came up watching figure skating under the old 6.0 system are probably accustomed to more leeway in the judging."
Some in the skating community also seemed to take this view:
While noting that she "personally enjoyed Yuna Kim's performance more,"
Michelle Kwan
Michelle Wingshan Kwan (born July 7, 1980) is a retired American competitive figure skating, figure skater and diplomat who served as List of ambassadors of the United States to Belize, United States Ambassador to Belize from 2022 to 2025. In ...
, two-time Olympic medalist and five-time World champion, stated, "Under the scoring system, hands down, Adelina won."
Four-time men's champion
Kurt Browning
Kurt Browning (born June 18, 1966) is a Canadian figure skater, choreographer and commentator. He is the first skater to land a ratified quadruple jump in competition. He is a four-time World Champion and Canadian national champion. He comp ...
said that "Yuna Kim outskated
otnikova but it's not just a skating competition anymore—it's math." And
Scott Hamilton, the 1984 Olympic champion, said that, while Sotnikova's skating was not as aesthetically pleasing as Kim's, her athletic style "check
doff every box" and "d
deverything the judges are looking for."
Beyond the scoring system, the results seemed to divide former professional skaters:
Katarina Witt
Katarina Witt (, ; born 3 December 1965) is a German former figure skater. A two-time Olympic champion, Witt is regarded as one of the greatest ladies' singles figure skaters of all time. Her Laureus profile states that "she is remembered mos ...
, a two-time Olympic champion, said, "I am stunned by this result, I don't understand the scoring."
Two-time bronze medalist
Michael Weiss Michael Weiss may refer to:
Sports
* Michael Weiss (figure skater) (born 1976), American former figure skater
* Michael Weiss (swimmer) (born 1991), American swimmer
* Michael Weiss (triathlete) (born 1981), Austrian triathlete and cyclist
* Michae ...
attributed Sotnikova's scores to "home-field inflation." But three-time world champion and two-time Olympic silver medalist
Elvis Stojko
Elvis Stojko, (born March 22, 1972) is a Canadian figure skater. He was a three-time World champion (1994, 1995, 1997), two-time Olympic silver medallist (1994, 1998), and seven-time Canadian champion (1994, 1996–2000, and 2002).
Persona ...
said that the result "was totally fair," as "Kim didn't have enough technical ammunition."
And
Alexei Mishin
Alexei Nikolayevich Mishin (; born 8 March 1941) is a Russian figure skating coach and former Pair skating, pair skater. With partner Tamara Moskvina, he is the 1969 1969 World Figure Skating Championships, World silver medalist and Soviet Fig ...
, the Russian 1969 world medalist and coach to three Olympic champions, said that "Sotnikova's victory
asabsolutely natural and objective," and claimed that "some are
implyjealous of Sotnikova's success."
Official responses
On 21 February 2014, the
International Skating Union
The International Skating Union (ISU) is the international sport governing body, governing body for competitive ice skating disciplines, including figure skating, synchronized skating, speed skating, and short track speed skating. It was founded ...
(ISU) issued a statement which asserted all rules and procedures were applied during the competition and declared confidence "in the high quality and integrity of the ISU judging system", noting "judges were selected by random drawing from a pool of 13 potential judges" and that all nine judges on the free skating panel were from different nations.
On 10 April, the
Korean Olympic Committee
The Korean Sport & Olympic Committee (, KSOC) is the National Olympic Committee of Republic of Korea (competing as Korea) for the Olympic Games movement and inbound sports issue. It is a non-profit organization that selects players and team ...
(KOC) and the Korean Skating Union (KSU) filed an official complaint with the ISU Disciplinary Commission (DC) concerning judging. The complaint was regarding "the wrongful constitution of the panel of judges and the unjust outcome of the competition". It requested that the DC conduct a thorough investigation, "take appropriate disciplinary actions against the concerned individuals", and institute corrective actions. On 14 April, the DC ruled the complaint inadmissible because a general request for investigation is not within DC's jurisdiction and the complaint was not addressed at an individual or federation as required.
["Case No. 2014-03 – Decision of the ISU Disciplinary Commission"]
. International Skating Union
The International Skating Union (ISU) is the international sport governing body, governing body for competitive ice skating disciplines, including figure skating, synchronized skating, speed skating, and short track speed skating. It was founded ...
. 30 May 2014. Retrieved 6 June 2014.
On 30 April, the KOC and KSU filed a second official complaint with the DC. This time the complaint was against Russian judge
Alla Shekhovtsova and the
Figure Skating Federation of Russia
The Figure Skating Federation of Russia () is the national sport governing body for figure skating in Russia. It is recognized as such by the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) and the International Skating Union (ISU). No individual membership exist ...
(FSFR), specifically citing a hug Shekhovtsova shared with Sotnikova and Shekhovtsova's marriage to the current Director General of the FSFR. On 30 May, the DC dismissed the complaint. It ruled Shekhovtsova "is not responsible for the judging panel's composition", her marriage did not create a conflict of interest, and, since Sotnikova initiated the hug, Shekhovtsova did not break any rules by responding.
[
]
Records
For complete list of figure skating records, see list of highest scores in figure skating
The ISU Judging System (IJS) is the scoring system that has been used since 2003 to judge the figure skating disciplines of Single skating, men's and women's singles, pair skating, and Ice dancing, ice dance. It was designed and implemented by th ...
.
The following ISU season best scores (2013–2014) were set during this competition:
Schedule
All dates and times are (UTC+4
Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) is the primary time standard globally used to regulate clocks and time. It establishes a reference for the current time, forming the basis for civil time and time zones. UTC facilitates international communicat ...
).
Results
Short program
The short program (SP) took place on 19 February 2014.
Free skating
The Free skating
The free skating segment of figure skating, also called the free skate and the long program, is the second of two segments of competitions, skated after the short program. Its duration, across all disciplines, is four minutes for senior skaters ...
took place on 20 February 2014.
Overall
The skaters are ranked according to their overall score.
Judges and officials
Short Program judges
Judge 1: Robert Rosenbluth
Judge 2: Karen Howard
Judge 3: Franco Benini
Judge 4: Birgit Föll
Judge 5: Diana Stevens
Judge 6: Nobuhiko Yoshioka
Judge 7: Katarina Henriksson
Judge 8: Adriana Domanska
Judge 9: Koh Sung-Hee
Free Skating judges
Judge 1: Birgit Föll
Judge 2: Yuri Balkov
Judge 3: Franco Benini
Judge 4: Zanna Kulik
Judge 5: Nobuhiko Yoshioka
Judge 6: Alla Shekhovtsova
Judge 7: Hélène Cucuphat
Judge 8: Karen Howard
Judge 9: Adriana Domanska
* Technical controller: Alexander Lakernik
* Technical specialist: Vanessa Gusmeroli
* Assistant technical specialist: Olga Baranova
* Referee: Diana Barbacci Levy
* Data operator: David Santee
* Replay operator: Alexander Kuznetsov
References
External links
Sochi 2014 Figure Skating – Ladies' Singles page
Sochi 2014 Figure Skating Results Book
2014 Winter Olympics page
at the International Skating Union
The International Skating Union (ISU) is the international sport governing body, governing body for competitive ice skating disciplines, including figure skating, synchronized skating, speed skating, and short track speed skating. It was founded ...
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Figure skating at the 2014 Winter Olympics - Ladies' singles
Ladies
''Lady'' is a term for a woman who behaves in a polite way. Once used to describe only women of a high social class or status, the female counterpart of lord, now it may refer to any adult woman, as gentleman can be used for men.
"Lady" is al ...
Women's events at the 2014 Winter Olympics
Oly