Figure Skating Team Event - This is Really How the Scoring Works?

After tireless searching for the rules concerning the new team event at the Winter Olympics, I think I finally have figured out how it's being scored and I'm not sure they could have picked a worse way to score it.  The rational person would figure that they would just add up the scores of the four short programs and the four free skates to get a grand total, simple isn't it?

Of course not!

There are ten teams qualified, with each team have an entry skate a short program.  The top five teams will advance to the free program.  The skaters will be awarded placements for each event.  For each of the four short programs the top skater(s) will earn 10 points; 9 points for second; down to one point for tenth.  It seems to me (and don't quote me on this as it seems the ISU has been intentionally vague on the subject) that in the free skate the top skater(s) will earn 10 points, with fifth place earning six points.  This makes the short program more important than the free program and gives the Japanese (who may advance on the strength of their singles skaters) a real boost for their subpar dance and substandard pairs teams.

If we look at the skaters for the 10 teams and rank them, here are my predictions:

Pairs:
Volosozhar/Trankov, RUS - 10 pts
Duhamel/Radford, CAN - 9 pts
Peng/Zhang, CHN - 8 pts
Berton/Hotarek, ITA - 7 pts
James/Cipres, FRA - 6 pts
Castelli/Shnapir, USA - 5 pts
Wende/Wende,GER - 4 pts
Kemp/King, GBR - 3 pts
Lavrentieva/Rudyk, UKR - 2 pts
Takahashi/Kihara, JPN - 1 pt
 * Germany's Savchenko & Szolkowy are skipping the team event which could cost the Russians a point over their rivals as the Germans would be predicted to finish second in the pairs.  A seventh place finish in the short program for the Wendes vs. a second place finish for Savchenko & Szolkowy means that the Canadians, Chinese, Italians, French and Americans move up one spot - a additional point in the standings.

Men:
Patrick Chan, CAN - 10 pts
Yuzuru Hanyu, JPN - 9 pts
Evgeni Plushenko, RUS - 8 pts
Yan Han, CHN - 7 pts
Jeremy Abbott, USA - 6 pts
Peter Liebers, GER - 5 pts
Florent Amodio, FRA - 4 pts
Yakov Godorozha, UKR - 3 pts
Paul Bonifacio Parkinson, ITA - 2 pts
Matthew Parr, GBR - 1 pt

Ladies:
Mao Asada, JPN - 10 pts
Julia Lipnitskaia, RUS - 9 pts
Carolina Kostner, ITA - 8 pts
Gracie Gold, USA - 7 pts
Kaetlyn Osmond, CAN - 6 pts
Zhang Kexin, CHN - 5 pts
Maé-Bérénice Meite, FRA - 4 pts
Nathalie Weinzierl, GER - 3 pts
Natalia Popova, UKR - 2 pts
Jenna McCorkell, GBR - 1 pt

Dance:
Davis/White, USA - 10 pts
Virtue/Moir, CAN - 9 pts
Pechelat/Bourzat, FRA - 8 pts
Bobrova/Soloviev, RUS - 7 pts
Cappellini/Lanotte, ITA - 6 pts
Coombes/Buckland, GBR - 5 pts
Zhiganshina/Gazsi, GER - 4 pts
Heekin-Canedy/Dun. UKR - 3 pts
Reed/Reed, JPN - 2 pts
Huang/Zheng, CHN - 1 pt

Team Standings after Short:
Russia - 34 pts
Canada - 34 pts
United States - 28 pts
Italy - 23 pts
Japan - 22 pts
France - 22 pts
China - 21 pts
Germany - 16 pts
Ukraine - 10 pts
Great Britain - 10 pts

As one can see, it should be very close for the 4th and 5th spots moving on to the finals.  The tiebreaker will be the points accumulated in the two best disciplines.  This would give Japan the edge over France with 19 points between men and ladies; France would have 14 points between pairs and dance


Pairs:
Volosozhar/Trankov, RUS - 10 pts
Duhamel/Radford, CAN - 9 pts
Berton/Hotarek, ITA - 8 pts
Castelli/Shnapir, USA - 7 pts
Takahashi/Kihara, JPN - 6 pts

Men:
Patrick Chan, CAN - 10 pts
Yuzuru Hanyu, JPN - 9 pts
Evgeni Plushenko, RUS - 8 pts
Jeremy Abbott, USA - 7 pts
Paul Bonifacio Parkinson, ITA - 6 pts

Ladies:
Mao Asada, JPN - 10 pts
Julia Lipnitskaia, RUS - 9 pts
Carolina Kostner, ITA - 8 pts
Gracie Gold, USA - 7 pts
Kaetlyn Osmond, CAN - 6 pts

Dance:
Davis/White, USA - 10 pts
Virtue/Moir, CAN - 9 pts
Bobrova/Soloviev, RUS - 8 pts
Cappellini/Lanotte, ITA - 7 pts
Reed/Reed, JPN - 6 pts

Final Predicted Totals:
Russia - 69 pts
Canada - 68 pts
United States - 59 pts
Italy - 54 pts
Japan - 53 pts

Should boil down to a duel between Russia and Canada unless either Abbott or either Gold or Wagner can finish in the top 3 in their disciplines.  There exists the possibility that one team could have a large enough lead heading into the dance that it won't matter if they finish first or last.