Jan Hoffman does it again!!!

[cruelladekwan]

He is the ref that called the "time penalty" on MK's short...

First he robbed Nancy of Gold in 94 (he is the judge who basically gave the gold to Oksana) and now he robs Michelle of it here in 2004! The guy should not be judging!!! What an idiot!

Ok enough of my rant...feel better now!

I am very proud of Michelle that she fought and got the bronze...I can't wait to see the "Roxanne" program next year and a triple triple!

Ta!

[Skatekwan6]

I don't agree with the things I've heard about Jan lately, and I don't like how these skating officials have lifelong positions because sooner or later, all they want to do is fulfill their OWN wishes and not the wishes of anyone else. That leads them to doing many things that aren't in the best interests of the athletes...heck, they stop doing what is right. But why do people consider Jan Hoffman the ONE who denied Nancy the gold? There were 4 other judges who voted for Oksana. Also, let's not forget, he was one of the 3 judges who voted for Kwan in Nagano.

[Beth2000]

Chad, Jan was the one judge who could have given the gold to Nancy in 94'. He was the one. He even admitted later on I believe I read it somewhere. I am not 100% sure but, he said, he did what he did b/c of what happened to him. He got a silver and in his mind he should have gotten the gold.

Other then that how could any judge give the gold to Oksana when she didn't do any 3/3's? Nancy did a couple of 3/3's. Nancy should have gotten that gold period.

Once I heard it was Jan I realized he was playing his hand once again. Who gives a rip that Michelle's sp was 2 seconds long. Michelle skated well and should have been in 2nd. From what I have read both the Japanese ladies either cheated their jumps or double footed them. I am not taking anything away from SA who won the gold. But, if a judge is going to ding Michelle for 2 seconds of going over then ding the other skater's who go over or who cheat their jumps or who double foot their jumps. Don't just pick on Michelle just because.

[Aria]

he did what he did b/c of what happened to him. He got a silver and in his mind he should have gotten the gold.
No, Jan, you were one of the least artistic skaters of all time, so you did NOT deserve the Olympic gold over Robin Cousins, one of the most artistic skaters of all time.

[Skatekwan6]

Chad, Jan was the one judge who could have given the gold to Nancy in 94'.

But the other 4 judges could have given it to Nancy too....

But I do not doubt that he is taking out his hostility on skaters now that he is a judge/ref...which is sad and extremely childish. Why can't these adults grow up already?

[angelofmine]

OK, I wish people would stop saying '94 is Hoffmann's fault. Even some of my friends think that and all the negativity toward him is nuts. I've always disliked how CBS portrayed him as the tie-breaking judge because it makes it seem like the result was all because of him. He just happened to be the last judge in the line, and his judging happened to be the one CBS honed in on. Because he's the last one to make his decision, it's suddenly all his fault? At least he carefully considered his scores, apparently unlike some of the others on that panel.

If people want to blame any of the judges for Oksana beating Nancy, why don't you blame the two or three judges who gave Oksana higher technical merit scores despite Oksana landing 3 clean jumps, none in combo, while Nancy landed 5 jumps, including a 3t/3t? I believe one of them was from the Czech Republic, and the other one was from China. There may have even been a third one but I can't remember for certain.

Anyway, why single him out and not any of the other four judges who chose Oksana?

[muri]

I think he ought to be investigated.
From what I have read, there were plenty of other skaters and their imperfect elements to referie (sp?) than Michelle's timing!

[GardenKitty]

I believe Jan had Michelle in first place in the LP in the Nagano Olympics, so I don't think he has any agenda against Michelle. I'm sorry Michelle had the time penalty, but if she really did go over, I don't blame him for doing his job as long as he enforces the rules equally for all the skaters.

[NikkiFinn]

Didn't Oksana get : Czech, E Germ, Ukr, China, Pol

Nancy got: USA, England, Japan, Canada

I think all of the judges who voted for Oksana were cheaters. At first the Chinese judge perplexed me, but of course China is communist just like the E bloc was. Another thing, a deal may have been made to give Chen Lu the bronze over Surya in case the results were. They didn't end up being close, but there was no way to know ahead of time that Surya would make those mistakes.
I have no respect for Hoffman because he cheated just like the rest of them. Kerrigan won hands down and it doesn't even take a highly trained judge to figure that one out.
But in all fairness to Hoffman, at least he gave Kerrigan higher technical marks. He essentially tied the two skaters, and Baiul's artistic mark broke the tie. However, Kerrigan should've been more than .1 ahead of Baiul on the technical. I would say at least .2, probably .3 or .4 .
Also that makes Hoffman look less guilty. He can also say, "Kerrigan was more athletic, but Baiul was more artistic." and still look somewhat honest.
The really obvious cheaters are the judges who gave Baiul higher technical marks. :rollin Baiul shouldn't have even come close! They made it so obvious that the results were fixed. Oh well, nothing ever came of their blatant cheating anyway, so I guess there was no reason to try and hide it.

[bekalc]

Didn't Hoffman put MIchelle ahead of Lipiniski at Nagano? Perhaps, if it did it just shows that he personally as a judge, dends to go for the more artistic skater (if its a close call.) Which was his defense for the Oksana win.
Obviously, seeing as he thought Michelle deserved to be Olympic champion he's not anti-Kwan.

IF Kwan was over her time limit, its her and her coaches fault not Hoffman's. Its his job just to maintain the rules. Give the guy a break, he wasn't the only judge who voted for Oksana.

[iloveskating]

I agree, 5 judges voted for Oksana and they all posted scores at the same time. It's not like the first 8 judges posted scores, it was a tie, and they said, Jan you break the tie. I think he was the 9th judge, which is why the decision was attributed to him, but there's no logic to saying that.

Also, I would like to know the name of one other skater at Worlds (this year or in past years) who went over their time limit according to the official clock.

[Beth2000]

Hayley, b/c I want to ;) :lol :b

[Janice]

Hoffmann went with Michelle in Nagano ... I'd rather give him a hug. Look people ... he's just following the rules. Good for him.