This week, as the figure-skating competition shifts to the women's event, the focus will be on the judges as much as the skaters. How do they make their decisions? Unlike in other sports, technical prowess counts for only so much. Winning is largely a matter of style. Evaluating the finer points of a skater's presentation, such as poise and emotive display, is subjective territory. But it could mean the difference between gold and silver, as Nancy Kerrigan learned in 1994, when judges ranked her flawless performance at Lillehammer behind Oksana Baiul's slightly flawed but more exuberant and stylish one.
Skaters can...
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