Figure skating is a very popular sport at the Winter Olympics. It has been on the programme the longest of all winter sports, having even been included in the Summer Olympics before the split in 1924. Just like in gymnastics, each contestant executes a routine consisting of elements, which are individually scored by a jury. This subjective aspect to judging skill always leaves room for heated discussion, but a huge scandal in the 2002 Winter Olympics, with allegations that the game had been fifixed, caused a transition to the new scoring system IJS. Points awarded to each element of the routine are known beforehand: A Lutz scores 0.60 points (but 2.10 for a double and 5.90 for a triple), a Salchow scores 0.40 (1.30 for double, 4.30 for triple), an Euler scores 0.50,et cetera. Then, points are added or subtracted by the jury based on execution. Consequently, a fifigure skater is able to estimate his or her score assuming average performance.

Olympics observers from the Bookmakers’ Association for the Prevention of Cheating are tasked with assessing the objectivity of the jury. They will compare the predicted ranking of the contestants with the fifinal outcome to determine who is the jury’s favourite. The favourite is the contestant who rose the most places between the predicted and fifinal scoreboard. Ties are broken by whoever ends up higher on the fifinal scoreboard. However, if no one did better than predicted, this raises some red flflags with the observers, which is declared “suspicious”.