WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Timothy Goebel took second place at the World Figure Skating Championships on Thursday and said he really didn't expect to be judged any better.

"I think not doing the Grand Prix series was to my detriment this year," Goebel said. "I mean, I think if I put in a few performances like the one tonight throughout the season maybe I would have fared better tonight. But I mean you really just only skate one event well the entire season, I can't expect to be marked well because it could have been a fluke thing."

A fluke? Without flukes there would be no sport. You watch because you don't know who will win. So if the unexpected isn't valued, how can you still call it sport?

Using that criteria, Rulon Gardner never would have defeated Alexander Karelin at the Sydney Olympics. The Russian Bear always won in the past. But because performance matters, Karelin fell. A new champion was heralded.

In sport, on any given day, the best team wins -- unless there's a fifth down -- and the worst team loses. On any given day, someone can rise to the occasion and another can crumble. That's the drama.

Figure skating officials are concerned about interest and viewership. But why should anyone tune in if it's obvious who will win? Or the crowd can never understand why someone lost or someone won. Winner Evgeni Plushenko came off the ice believing he had skated well enough to take the gold medal Thursday night.

"I skate good," Plushenko said. "I skate clean and I think I won."

But who can tell? There are no stats sheets counting quads and triples. Fans are on their own. What's the criteria for artistry? The judges all agreed on Plushenko (in a bizarre twist 14 judges voted 5.9), but based on what? Plushenko is a charmer and maybe he did win cleanly. The problem is you can't tell.

The International Skating Union is taking the steps to fix that by doing a hard sell on their New Judging System. They're also trying to mend fences with skaters who felt they were told to stay out of the process. Alexei Yagudin said he was to meet with ISU president Ottavio Cinquanta later Thursday.

"I was upset, yes. I'm just a little person, but I still I think I've done something in figure skating," Yagudin, four-time world champion, said. "It's not like I want to create some other federations."

And so far, Yagudin, who sympathized some with those attempting to create change through separation, is impressed.

"I was kind of on that side that they wanted to change something, until I heard this new judging system," he said.

"We still need to try this on the competition to see how it works. ... It's not an easy step. It's really hard. It takes time, a lot of time."

Although Yagudin said there were "more positive sides than negatives," he was surprised to hear that the judges would be given anonymous numbers to track the system.

It remains to be seen if the criteria specified in the new system can truly eliminate and change the climate of a community that values consistency over immediate performance.

Figure skating might be the only sport where a competitor's reputation factors into their final placing. The NBA has favoritism with court superstar calls, but in figure skating superstar judging gives a skater an advantage before stepping on the ice.

In case the ISU is reading this, Goebel specifically said he was happy with his silver medal. "Delighted," coach Frank Carroll said.

But when pressed, Goebel acknowledged that it should be based on that day's performance.

"Yes, they should judge what they see at that moment," Goebel said, "but a lot of it is based on consistency, that's what this sport is about, that's why we have events like the Grand Prix final. It's about going out there competition after competition and performing well.

"The great champions of the sport have always been able to do that, you know, Michelle Kwan and Alexei Yagudin, they've go out in competition in event after event and perform well. I think really that was to my detriment this season not having that opportunity."

Consistency does make great champions, but it should be rewarded with a title that's given strictly for consistency -- not to determine a championship event. Grand Prix events could count toward the final trophy just like World Cup events count toward the overall World Cup title. In tennis, Lleyton Hewitt only won one Grand Slam tournament last year but through consistency he earned the year-end No. 1 ranking.

In the midst of it all, Plushenko is choosing to ignore the judging controversy around him.

"Actually, I do not think about judges and mischief and nonsense like that," he said. "I like to skate clean. I think if I skate clean, the judges will give it to me with the marks. I think so and I hope so."

It's great when it works. In Salt Lake City something incredible happened. Sarah Hughes skated as close to flawless as a human can get. She soared from fourth to first based on judgments from people under heavy scrutiny.

Hughes excitement in that moment is one of those images that will always be included in any montage of the Olympic Games.

Because that's the dream. That any athlete on any given day can be the star.

Cynthia Faulkner is the Olympics editor at ESPN.com and -- in the interest of full disclosure -- is also a Missouri grad.