With Alysa Liu securing Team USA’s first women’s figure skating gold medal in 24 years at the Winter Olympics, the sport has once again taken the nation by storm. As one of the most popular sports, its blend of technical precision and artistic expression continues to attract audiences. However, the scoring behind this sport has changed tremendously since the sport’s first inclusion in the Winter Olympics.
In the past, figure skating used the 6.0 system. Each judge gave skaters two marks: one for technicality, and one for artistry. The summed scores led to an ordering of the skaters for each judge, and the skater who achieved the most first place rankings received the gold medal. Instead of accumulating points, figure skating was determined by comparison to other competitors.
However, this system created no way to compare the points between competitions or track results over time. There was also no mechanism to hold judges accountable, as later controversies revealed
In 2002, Canadian duo Jamie Salé and David Pelletier performed a program that many spectators and experts believed was superior, yet they lost to the Russian pair Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze, who had visible technical errors. The audience was baffled until French judge Marie-Reine Le Gougne alleged her own federation pressured her to vote for the Russians regardless of their performance. To save the sport’s reputation, the International Skating Union (ISU) awarded a second set of gold medals to the Canadian pair and scrapped the old system completely.
Starting from 2004, the ISU upheld the International Judging System. Under these new rules, each performed element is graded separately on both difficulty and quality using defined point values. The Program Component Scores (PCS) awards additional points for artistry and presentation quality.
The new scoring structure prioritized high-difficulty jumps, shifting the sport’s competitive focus from artistic expression toward technical risk. Still, the emotional and artistic appeal of the sport continues: through turn and spin, song and rhythm, skaters continue to showcase their skills and artistry.
