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Great to see a fellow lover of the sport here on HN. In Figure Skating, HNers should also be aware of the issues surrounding the current sport of figure skatin

Great to see a fellow lover of the sport here on HN. In Figure Skating, HNers should also be aware of the issues surrounding the current sport of figure skating: 1) Women's Free Skate is the marquee event in the winter Olympics. Not other event comes close in the ratings, and therefore, the ad buys. 2) Russia. Figure skating, and especially women's skating, is completely jumbled up by the interference of Russia. To sum up a very complex topic (poorly), women's figure skating currently has a strange and deep relationship with Russia's ruling elite and has had one for a few decades. That leads to many scandals and a lot of bribing of officials. It's still playing out from the 2022 Olympics. The US team still has not gotten their medals from the team event. If you've not seen the end of the 2022 women's free skate, do yourself a favor and watch it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pgiuo4lHFt4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pgiuo4lHFt4 . The meltdowns here are just so emblematic of everything that Russia is today and the travesty of the Ukraine war. The drama leading into this event and the drama coming out of it are much better than any reality TV show. 3) Declining interest. The laws of physics are not kind to figure skaters. The push for quads is only leading to the push for qunits and hexes. The effort required to advance the sport is going to be larger than time allows for training. At which point, probably sometime around the 2050 Olympics, the sport will be 'solved'. Combine this with the explosion of new sports full of frontiers to be broken, and figure skating will no longer be the marquee event. Training so intensely for such meager gains is going to be a hard sell to the boys and girls that are to be the medal winners.

divan 3y ago
Great comment, thank you. I would just add that the russia thing is a direct consequence of the judge's system change (where russian officials are very much involved). The reason why russia was dominating medal standings for women (and not for men or ice dance), is precisely because russia could afford a stream of pre-puberty girls who win a medal at the cost of their physical and mental health. Also, needless to say, the russian sport system is still a direct copy of the soviet sport system, which was essentially created by Stalin when USSR first decided to participate in the Olympics in 1952 (guess, why USSR didn't care about the international sport before WWII). The way how sport is organized in russia goes against the sports autonomy principle that is sacred in democratic countries and is embodied in the Olympic Charter and European Sports Charter.
- Balgair 3y ago
  For the other HNers out there not deeply into Figure Skating, the other comments here go into the 'new' scoring system very well. One thing that I think needs stressing is that the base value score is a pretty good system; it's the Grade of Execution (GoE) score that is bad. The GoE is where all the shenanigans are hiding and where all the corruption lies. The 'new' system is a lot better than the old one, that is for sure, and it's a real improvement. But if you thought that Russia was going to let any system be implemented without the ability for them to bribe or threaten their way to a medal, you've got another thing coming. GoE scores are where that happens nowadays. As an aside, now is the time to revamp figure skating with Russia being sidelined. I hope that such an opportunity never comes again, but now is that opportunity. The lack of push to really get the sport ready for the 21st century just speaks to the deep and embedded corruption at the international level. I love the sport and still follow it. But my kids are not going to be participating at senior level (or whatever it's called these days) because of the futility and geopolitics.

divan 3y ago

Great comment, thank you. I would just add that the russia thing is a direct consequence of the judge's system change (where russian officials are very much involved). The reason why russia was dominating medal standings for women (and not for men or ice dance), is precisely because russia could afford a stream of pre-puberty girls who win a medal at the cost of their physical and mental health. Also, needless to say, the russian sport system is still a direct copy of the soviet sport system, which was essentially created by Stalin when USSR first decided to participate in the Olympics in 1952 (guess, why USSR didn't care about the international sport before WWII). The way how sport is organized in russia goes against the sports autonomy principle that is sacred in democratic countries and is embodied in the Olympic Charter and European Sports Charter.

Balgair 3y ago
For the other HNers out there not deeply into Figure Skating, the other comments here go into the 'new' scoring system very well. One thing that I think needs stressing is that the base value score is a pretty good system; it's the Grade of Execution (GoE) score that is bad. The GoE is where all the shenanigans are hiding and where all the corruption lies. The 'new' system is a lot better than the old one, that is for sure, and it's a real improvement. But if you thought that Russia was going to let any system be implemented without the ability for them to bribe or threaten their way to a medal, you've got another thing coming. GoE scores are where that happens nowadays. As an aside, now is the time to revamp figure skating with Russia being sidelined. I hope that such an opportunity never comes again, but now is that opportunity. The lack of push to really get the sport ready for the 21st century just speaks to the deep and embedded corruption at the international level. I love the sport and still follow it. But my kids are not going to be participating at senior level (or whatever it's called these days) because of the futility and geopolitics.