Now, That's Cold!

Ashley Wagner became the face of Olympic ice skating 2014.         Getty/Pool

Many, obviously including Ashley Wagner herself, thought she had skated a medal-worthy performance, and South Korean Yuna Kim's loss to Russian Adelina Sotnikova has been the subject of much talk. A medal-winning former pair skater explains the new International Judging System that caused these Olympic-size controversies. Like so many blanket rules that snub the more ethereal aspects of life, like grace and creativity, this new system was an answer to the previous, more open system's tendency to fall victim to cheating (like the Russian vote-trading episode of 2002): http://www.economist.com/blogs/gametheory/2014/02/judging-figure-skating?spc=scode&spv=xm&ah=9d7f7ab945510a56fa6d37c30b6f1709