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Samantha Hayes ReportingIn so many Olympic events, the judge is a stop watch and whoever finishes first, wins. Of course, it's a much more complicated process in ice skating. After the judging scandal in the Salt Lake Olympics four years ago, things changed.
Linda Leaver, Olympic Ice Skating judge: "I would say, by far most people are in the sport because they love it."
Linda Leaver is certainly one of the people who loves it.
Linda Leaver: "This has been my passion throughout life."
She has judged hundreds of competitions and soon she will add the most important credential- Olympic judge.
Linda Leaver: "The Olympics will have a special place, not quite sure where that's going to go."
Leaver is one of four Americans selected to judge ice skating. She will be judging ice dancing.
Linda Leaver: "This is a great opportunity for me and I'm excited about it."
After the 2002 Olympic judge scandal, Leaver believes it's also an opportunity to show the world things have changed.
Linda Leaver: "I was devastated. I thought it was terrible for the sport. I was upset and I think most people involved were upset. There are so many ethical people in the sport and it didn't look good for any of us."
The French judge admitted to being pressured to change her vote in the pairs figure skating competition. Canadians Jamie Sale and David Pelletier were later awarded gold medals. Now there is a new judging system.
Leaver says there is a three person technical panel responsible for identifying the elements the skater performs and assigning a level of difficulty. They will also be using slow motion to review each element. And judges will make five component marks for style and interpretation, instead of one.
Linda Leaver: "It's a lot more detailed than it used to be."
Leaver says there will be 12 judges on a panel, but a random draw determines which nine will count for an event, and of those, the high and low scores are thrown on. So far, she says, the athletes seem to like this new system more.
