Referee Is Banished by the ISU

Figure skating referee Ron Pfenning was relieved of the responsibility of overseeing the women’s competition at next week’s World Championships in Washington because he refused to accept an International Skating Union mandate that eliminated judges’ post-event review sessions.

His banishment adds another twist to the controversy over how figure skating will clean up an image sullied by the judging scandal that erupted during last year’s Olympics. Reforms advocated by ISU President Ottavio Cinquanta have been protested by the U.S., British, Australian and Japanese figure skating federations, which contend they’re being adopted too quickly and without full disclosure.

Pfenning said Thursday that until the Four Continents competition last month in China he didn’t know that under the interim system in use this season the referee does not receive documentation of judges’ scores. Although that’s supposed to guarantee the judges anonymity and minimize chances for deal making, he said that leaves the referee unable to tell if a judge’s mark was out of line. He said eliminating the review wasn’t approved by the ISU Congress at its meeting last June and wasn’t mentioned in a subsequent publication labeled Communication 1197, which outlined judging procedures and post-event analysis.

“Every review meeting has always been an educational process because you get to hear the opinions of the judges,” he said, “but that’s gone.”

Pfenning said he asked the ISU on March 6 to restore the review, “because part of the job is to evaluate the judging at each event. I don’t believe they understood the ramifications when they eliminated it, and to me, they exceeded their authority.” He was notified Cinquanta had rejected his protest but said he was never told why. Pfenning was also given a deadline of Thursday morning to agree to accept the new procedures. Cinquanta could not be reached for comment Thursday.

“It came down at the last moment to, ‘You must accept 1197,’ and I could not do that,” Pfenning said. “I can’t protest something and then accept it. I told him I would abide by the constitution and all the rules but I couldn’t abide by that, and he removed me.

“I believe they’ve gone beyond what they’re supposed to do. No one else is standing up, but I felt I had to. It’s a matter of principle. I’m just so disappointed in the Council. I think the ISU has to look at itself and ask are they doing the best thing for this sport. The image and integrity are deteriorating.”

Veteran coach John Nicks is getting feedback from other coaches and skaters about changes in the judging system, helping the U.S. Figure Skating Assn. in its crusade to put off permanent changes until the proposals can be thoroughly examined.

“I’m very interested in it,” said Nicks, who plans to attend the World Championships, even though he doesn’t have a skater competing. “There’s been a tremendous backlash against the new judging system, originally by the TV people, but as it has gone on, coaches don’t like it and skaters don’t like it.”

Pain and Gain

John Baldwin competed for 17 years before he qualified for the World Figure Skating Championships. He’s not letting a flare-up of Achilles’ tendinitis in his left foot keep him and partner Rena Inoue out of next week’s competition.

“We’re not going to pull out,” said Baldwin, who teamed with Inoue to finish third at the U.S. championships in Dallas two months ago. “I’ve had this problem before and it’s just something you have to deal with as an athlete at this level. In pairs, everybody has injuries. It’s a matter of whoever can stay at least halfway healthy.”

Inoue and Baldwin, who live in Santa Monica and train at Paramount and Aliso Viejo, were scheduled for their first official practice today. The pairs competition begins Monday with the short program and ends Wednesday. The men’s competition also begins Monday, with the qualifying round. Ice dance begins Tuesday and the women’s event begins Wednesday.

Inoue and Baldwin were principal players in a strange finish to the pairs competition at Dallas. Fifth after the short program, they moved up to third and earned the final berth on the world team despite a nasty fall in which Inoue crashed into the boards and gashed her knee. Baldwin carried her backstage from the locker room to the awards ceremony, but she recovered quickly.

“We took about a week and a half off,” Baldwin said. “She wanted to go back after a few days. Luckily, the injury didn’t hound her.”

Baldwin said he feels discomfort doing the triple toe loop and double axel but is taking prescription anti-inflammatory medication.

“I think I’ll have enough adrenaline pumping to keep me going,” he said.

Here and There

Gymnast Tabitha Yim of Irvine, who has been hampered by ankle and Achilles’ tendon injuries, won the all-around title at last weekend’s American Classic competition in Burlington, Mass. The event was a qualifying competition for the U.S. championships, to be held in Milwaukee in June. Junior-level competitors Shavahn Church and London Phillips of the SCATS club of Huntington Beach won the uneven bars and vault, respectively, and qualified for the U.S. championships.

Blasts from the past: Bill Rodgers and Joan Benoit Samuelson have entered the USA Track and Field Masters Indoor championships next weekend in Boston. Rodgers, a four-time winner of both the Boston and New York City marathons, is 55. Samuelson, the U.S. women’s marathon record holder and the first women’s Olympic marathon champion, is 45. Both will run the 3,000 meters. Also competing at the meet are Willie Gault, 42, in the 60-meter dash, 60-meter hurdles and 200 meters, and former NFL player Billy “White Shoes” Johnson, 51, in the 60-meter dash and long jump.

The Great Race of Agoura has named its 5K race Saturday for former resident Deena Drossin, who holds the women’s 5K road world record and the U.S. records at 10,000 meters and 15K.

The U.S. women’s water polo team will play Brown today at its Los Alamitos training center, kicking off a series against college opponents. It will play at USC on Tuesday, giving goalkeeper Bernice Orwig of Anaheim a chance to face her alma mater, then will play UCLA on April 12.