Adelina Sotnikova’s coaches hit back at claims she won gold due to judge’s favouritism

ADELINA Sotnikova’s coaches have hit back at claims her figure skating gold was due to favouritism by Russian judges.

Russia's Adelina Sotnikova performs her gold medal winning routine in Sochi.

ADELINA Sotnikova’s coaches hit back at suggestions the dramatic victory of Russia’s first ever women’s Olympic figure skating champion was the result of a voting fix in favour of the Winter Games’ hosts.

The 17-year-old surged to her first major title ahead of South Korean defending champion Kim Yu-Na and Italy’s Carolina Kostner on a night of drama and controversy at the Iceberg Skating Palace.

As she was being hailed by Russian media as a “super-sensation” who had saved national pride after the disastrous performance of its ice hockey team, questions were raised as to whether she merited the victory.

The 5.48 point gap between Sotnikova and Kim, bidding to become just the third woman to win back-to-back titles after Norway’s Sonja Henie and Germany’s Katarina Witt, raised eyebrows.

More than 900,000 people have signed a petition demanding an investigation into Sotnikova’s win.

Russia's Adelina Sotnikova performs her gold medal winning routine in Sochi.

But Sotnikova’s choreographer Pyotr Chernyshov said she was a worthy champion.

“We were following the rules that the modern game was offering and we won this game,” the former Russian-American ice dancer told a packed press conference on Friday.

“You have to be an expert in figure skating to know the rules now. When you ask a professional figure skater there is no doubt who won on the night.”

He added: “It’s not like track and field when you run faster. It’s very subjective.

“Not everyone has the same taste, somebody likes red, somebody likes blue... who’s right? Somebody likes more athletics, some more balletic, some like Swan Lake ... who’s right, who’s wrong?”

One of the nine judges at Thursday’s final was Ukrainian Yuri Balkov, who was suspended for a year for his involvement in a fixing scandal at the 1998 Nagano Olympics ice dancing competition.

Another judge, Alla Shekhovtseva, is married to Russian federation general director Valentin Piseyev.

Gold medalist Adelina Sotnikova of Russia celebrates after her performance.

But Shekhovtseva’s integrity was vigorously defended by Eteri Tutberidze, the Russian women’s coach who handles Julia Lipnitskaia, who was fifth in the final.

“She has been an international judge for many years and there have never been any allegations,” said Tutberidze.

“For me Adelina was the champion. I have never seen her before as concentrated and focused. There were jumps, spins, spirals and all those elements. Taken together Adelina is the winner.”

Neither Sotnikova nor Lipnitskaia commented on the controversy at Friday’s press conference.

Despite two-footing the landing on a jump, Sotnikova’s performance was technically more difficult than both Kim’s or Kostner’s, with her jumps carrying her to the top spot on the podium.

Both Sotnikova and Kostner did seven triple jumps, Kim did six. And while Kim did a triple lutz-triple toeloop combo and Kostner did double axel-triple toeloop, Sotnikova did both.