U.S. judges give U.S. skaters higher marks at PyeongChang Olympics

When American figure skater Adam Rippon hit the ice in the team competition at the PyeongChang Olympics last week, Lorrie Parker of Morristown, N.J., liked what she saw.

Rippon skated well, with one misstep in a triple lutz during the free skate portion of the event. All nine judges factored that flaw into their scoring. But Parker, the lone American on the panel, gave Rippon a mark far higher than all but one of the other judges. Her score for Rippon's free skate was 15 percent above the mean for the panel of nine. Earlier in the short program, she also judged American skater Nathan Chen more favorably than all but one judge on the panel.

In two other international competitions in 2016 and 2017, Parker also gave American skaters higher marks than they received from judges of other nationalities, according to data reviewed by NBC News.


Source : Nbcnews