Athlete selection The United States' selection of
Ashley Wagner over
Mirai Nagasu for the Olympic team caused some controversy as Nagasu finished ahead of Wagner at the
2014 U.S. Championships. The results at the pre-Olympic nationals often play a major role in the decision process but
U.S. Figure Skating never stated that they would be the only results considered. Wagner was selected on the body of her work, instead of her performance at that event. This was the first time that U.S. Figure Skating selected a skater who had competed in the pre-Olympic nationals and lost over another on who had also competed. On previous occasions, this was done for skaters who had been injured and unable to compete at nationals. The selection of
Evgeni Plushenko by the Russia Olympic Team for figure skating caused some controversy, as he had been beaten by
Maxim Kovtun at the
2014 Russian Figure Skating Championships. Plushenko said he won’t participate in
European Championships and will give spot at men's singles for Kovtun and he will participate in the team event only. ISU president
Ottavio Cinquanta cautioned the
Figure Skating Federation of Russia, "If one of your skaters has sustained the same injury for years. You should not enter him or her." Plushenko skated strongly in the Short and Free Programs for the Team Event, however in the Men's individuals he withdrew right before the start of the Short Program which left host Russia without an entry since it was too late have Kovtun as a replacement. Russian figure skating officials defended the initial selection of Plushenko by noting that Kovtun had done poorly at international events.
Allegations of votes swapping French sports newspaper ''
L'Équipe'', quoting an anonymous Russian coach, alleged that Russia and the United States would swap votes, with the U.S. voting for Russian athletes in pairs figure skating and team events and Russia voting for the U.S. in ice dance. The allegations were categorically denied by U.S. Figure Skating.
Ladies' singles figure skating results Immediately after the final scores were announced, confirming Russia's victory, journalistic questions arose regarding whether Russian 17-year-old
Adelina Sotnikova's performances deserved higher scores than the performances of 23-year-old
Yuna Kim from South Korea. Questions over the judges, the judging system, and the anonymity of scores were also raised in the press.
Official responses On 21 February 2014, the
International Skating Union (ISU) issued a statement which asserted all rules and procedures were applied during the competition and that no official protest had been filed by any participating nation concerning the results of the competition. Such a protest must be done within 30 minutes of the event. ISU's 21 February 2014 statement declaring their confidence "in the high quality and integrity of the ISU judging system". Adding "judges were selected by random drawing from a pool of 13 potential judges" and all nine judges on the free skating panel were from different nations. On 30 April, the KOC and KSU filed a second official complaint with the DC. This time the complaint was against
Alla Shekhovtsova and
Figure Skating Federation of Russia (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. The free skating panel included two Russian officials, a Russian judge and a Ukrainian judge. Journalists questioned the appointments of Russian judge
Alla Shekhovtsova, the wife of the former president and the current general director of
Figure Skating Federation of Russia Valentin Piseev, and Ukrainian judge Yuri Balkov, who was suspended for a year after being caught on tape attempting to
fix the ice dancing competition at the
1998 Winter Olympics. The technical panel, that oversees correct execution of elements, is headed by fellow Russian Alexander Lakernik. The detailed score sheet shows that one judge gave Adelina Sotnikova +3 grade of execution (GOE) on all except two elements. In contrast, the score sheet of short program shows that one judge gave Yuna Kim +0 grade of execution on her triple flip, of which the NBC commentator Tracy Wilson commented as 'another perfect flip'. Journalists and experts argued that scores given to
Adelina Sotnikova were inflated both in the short and long programs. She was inexplicably scored above all others in the free program, where most believed she merited only 4th place in the phase behind Yuna,
Mao Asada, and Carolina Kostner. Many among them cite that certain judges gave generous scores along with fellow Russian competitor
Yulia Lipnitskaya. In particular, numerous +3 grade of executions were handed out to the two Russian skaters as well as nods in component scores compared to other skaters. There are also debates about whether Sotnikova's triple lutz had a wrong edge on takeoff and the triple toe loop in her first jumping pass was under-rotated. Neither error was flagged by the event's technical panel. Retired national-level figure skater Tim Gerber wrote a letter to the ISU, claiming that Sotnikova's triple triple combination jump should have received wrong edge and under rotation. Gerber also asserted that the step sequence levels were not correctly awarded for Kim and Sotnikova. He stated that Kim's step sequence should have received a level four (instead of three) and Sotnikova's step sequence should have received a level three (instead of four), as Sotnikova's step sequence elements in free skating didn't meet the requirements to get level four, and Kim's met the requirements enough to get level four.
Katarina Witt, a two-time Olympic champion, stated "I am stunned by this result, I don’t understand the scoring." Several experts have also pointed out how Kim and Kostner's programs have significantly better artistry, choreography and skill on ice that should translate to higher component marks to other skaters. One judge in the scoresheets gave out significantly lower marks to Kim and Kostner in the component marks. Sonia Garbato, seven-time Olympic figure skating judge and former high-ranking ISU official, wrote: "No fair judge … could have awarded to Adelina higher marks in choreography, performance/execution, and interpretation of the music." Four-time world champion
Kurt Browning also expressed his surprise at the results, declaring that he did not understand how Kim and Sotnikova could have been so close in the programme component scores. He also pointed out how Sotnikova had her component scores boosted compared to her previous programs
Michael Weiss, a two-time world bronze medalist, wrote "couldn't disagree more that Yuna and Sotnikova had basically same Component marks?..in Both short & long? Home field inflation."
Dick Button, two-time Olympic champion and longstanding skating analyst, commented: "Sotnikova was energetic, strong, commendable, but not a complete skater." A petition in
Change.org against the results of the event demanding an investigation and rejudgment has amassed over 2 million supporters breaking several web traffic records on the website. == Qualification ==