h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

We've already had one minor kerfuffle. On Monday, the men's qualifying round had Johnny Weir (US) in third place and Chengjiang Li (CHN) in fourth in Group A. Later in the day the ISU announced:

'Due to a human input error entering the level of difficulty of an element of Mr Chengjiang Li (CHN) the results have been recalculated. The corrected results is published as correct bulletin. There will be a re-draw for short program start order for the skaters placed 1 to 6 in each of the qualifying groups.'

Afterwards Weir and Li changed placed. The problem is that this is in clear violation of the ISU's own rules. Regarding protests, Rule 123, paragraph 5 states:

'Members are reminded that the 2004 ISU Congress has clarified this Rule through the acceptance of the following wording: "In Figure Skating, no protests against evaluation by judges of skaters' performances are permitted. For Figure Skating and Speed Skating, protests against results are permitted only in the case of incorrect mathematical calculation."'

They further clarify that 'A wrong identification of an element or of a level of difficulty, although it results in a lower or higher score, is a human error and not an incorrect mathematical calculation.'

Thus, according to the ISU's own rules, the standings after the qualifying round should not have been changed, as the incorrect point total was the result of human error.

I need a bangs-head-against-wall smiley...

aaaahhhh, but we're experienced in the banging-of-heads-against-the-wall by now, Quiz. (well, at least i am.)
as Major League Baseball and the US Congress is currently proving, there IS no 'Code of Ethics', it's only 'what you can get away with' and money (or favors) have just about always been exchanged.....when you combine sports AND politics, you may have hit the Mother Lode of corruption, because teevee money (sponsorships)just about make the whole thing what some call 'racketeeering.'
i've not 'followed' figure skating since peggy fleming, but the judging 'bias' would show even then.
i'd like to think that by writers pointing out these 'discrepancies' in media such as here, may, in the long run.......lead to more 'controversies' that future writers will expound about.
somehow 'tilting at windmills' pops into my haid, and i'm not sure what that phrase even means sometimes, or why i triped it and hit 'post message' but that's a subject for another column or two.