Elite Physique

QUESTION: I recently competed and I was confused with my placing. I was wondering if you could tell me how an athlete can lose points?

ANSWER: Thanks for your question! Let me give you a brief background of my judging qualifications before I answer your query.

Becoming A Judge

I have been judging with the OPA for almost 10 years. I am a Provincially qualified judge. Yes, you actually have to qualify! When the OPA had 3 tiers a new judge would test judge at a Level 1 event. If their scores were in line with the other qualified judges then they are given qualifications to judge a Level 1 event. To move up to the next level a judge would have to have enough experience as a Level 1 judge and then test judge and pass at a Level 2 event. This continues all the way to the Nationals. So you can see that it takes quite a few years of consistently judging to progress to the more elite levels of competition. Currently the OPA has dropped one of the tiers but the same rules apply to move up the ranks. Not all judges who test judge move up to sit on the panel. I’ve seen test judges fail and fail again. Eventually, they stop test judging. Ok, now to answer your question! 

How Contests Are Scored

One of the biggest misconceptions is that the OPA uses a point system. They do not. They rank the athletes. So there are no points taken off because an athlete’s possesses small calves.. The judge just picks who is better. A judge looks for size, conditioning, proportion, symmetry and you know the rest. Essentially, they are looking for the athlete with the fewest flaws. Let me explain how a typical judging scenario is played out. When a group of athletes enter the stage they are already sorted in numerical order. Lowest competitor number on the left and the highest on the right. When a group is large enough initial comparisons are done sequentially. So, for example, there are 15 in a class (and we’ll use this example for the remaining discussion). Competitors 1-5 are compared, 6-10 are compared and finally 11-15 are compared. The athletes will be called to perform their mandatories by the head judge. This gives the judging panel a chance to critique the athletes in a smaller group.

What's On That Small Piece Of Paper?

After the preliminary assessment you may see some judges handing the head judge small pieces of paper. What they're doing is indicating who they would like to be called out after the sequential comparison. Normally, the head judge will call out the top 4-5 athletes and put them through their mandatory poses. At this time the judging panel will rank the athletes in order. A score of 1 will indicate that a particular athlete is the best in the class and the judge will record this data on their score sheet. Now a good judge will score the comparison poses. What I like to do is indicate on my scrap paper which athlete wins each pose. I rank them – notice no points are given or taken away. At the end of the comparison I tabulate my mandatory poses scoring and come up with a best athlete, second best etc. in the group. This type of scoring is continued until the class is finished.

What Happens Next?

The rankings of the athletes are sent to the statistician. For each athlete there will be 7 rankings (7 judges on the panel – test judges scores are not included). The highest and lowest score are removed and the other 5 rankings are totalled. So, if the all the judges thought an athlete was first their scores would look like this – 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1. A high (1) and a low (1) are removed and the remaining 5 1’s are added together to give a total of 5. When all the totals are tabulated the athletes’ placings are known. The lowest total is the winner of the class and the second lowest total is the second placed athlete…etc.

What Happens If A Judge To Screw Over A Competitor?

They can’t! Let’s say Judge #1 didn’t like an athlete so they gave then 15th place but all the other judges thought the athlete was the best. The scores would look like this – 15, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1. Again the high score (1) and the low score (15) are removed so that it still totals out to 5 which indicates the class winner. This is also true for a judge who wants to bump up his training partner. I’ve never seen such shenanigans in all my 10 years of judging – it just doesn’t happen.

Pre-Judging Scoring vs. Night Show Scoring

The majority of judging is completed at the morning show. At night, the only scoring is done during the overall comparison. The posing routine is not scored. This isn’t an excuse to pig out between the AM and PM shows. All of my business cards have shots of me during my posing routine and yours can too. Also, most family members arrive for the night show only. It is only in the athlete’s favour to maintain their conditioning for the evening show. It is a sign of maturity and professionalism. No one wants to see an athlete with a distended gut because they devoured an entire cheese cake after pre-judging. Trust me on this one – you’ll thank me later. 

Can Mistakes In Judging Happen?

Of course! The judges are only human. I’ve seen scores tabulated incorrectly – but once discovered the athlete is always given the correct placing. This will be resolved as the organization has access to a computer program (which I supplied to them at no charge) which will calculate the athletes’ placings. I’ve also seen less experienced judges rush though their scores. This is alleviated with more time on the judging panel. However, if they can’t keep up with the fast pace they are asked to step down (or leave on their own accord) or are just not asked to judge future events. Is the system perfect? Nope.

How Would YOU Improve The Judging?

The biggest flaw I see with judging is that the head judge telegraphs the placings. When the head judge brings out the top five for comparison they position the athlete who they think is the best in the center of the stage. Next the head judge calls out the remaining athletes so that they are positioned as if they are on the Olympic podium. Second place will be on left of center, third will be right of center…etc. What does this mean? Well, for one, astute audience members will pick up on this and know how the athletes are placed. Several times I’ve heard members in the audience say something like “You got it! You’re in the center,” when the head judge places an athlete in the center during the first comparison.

Secondly, if a judge isn’t competent they may just follow the lead of the head judge and rank the athletes as the head judge sees the line-up. This basically covers their ass. They will never go wrong if they follow the head judge’s lead. This is a crutch that needs to be taken away. I’m certain athletes will feel better knowing that they are actually getting the opinions of each individual judge and not of the head judge alone. This can be solved by simply positioning the athletes in sequential order and letting the judges do their job. Let’s face it, if the judge needs the head judge to give them cues they probably shouldn’t be judging. 

My Final Thoughts 

Now with all that being said I hope I wasn’t too hard on the OPA judging panel. I truly believe that we have the best judges in Canada. Why is that? I don’t mean to offend the other Provinces but it is simply a matter of numbers. Ontario has more shows to judge. More time at the judging table equates to better judges – plain and simple – you can’t argue that. I’ve worked with the same judges for many years and I strongly believe they are true professionals. It is the norm to have the keen eye of a Mr. Olympia judge sit on the panel at an OPA show. It really doesn’t get better than that. That is the Gold Standard of judging!

If you want Dan Kennedy to train you, visit www.ElitePhysique.ca