Sonia Bianchetti Garbato's take on Moscow | Page 2 | Golden Skate

Sonia Bianchetti Garbato's take on Moscow

Blades of Passion

Skating is Art, if you let it be
Record Breaker
Joined
Sep 14, 2008
Country
France
Blades, they shifted the marking for level 4 footwork: .7, 1.4, 2.1 now.

Yeah, I just read the changes for this upcoming season. Only minor alterations to the current rules. They made it a bit harder to gain levels in spins and they made Level 4 Footwork sequences and the "Choreography" Footwork/Spiral Sequences worth a bit less points. We will still see convoluted footwork and spins. We still still see skaters awarded a large amount of points for very flawed jump attempts. I predict we will especially see a TON of change-of-foot spins where the skater uses a hop to change feet. They forgot to limit that level-gaining feature to once per program.

Hopefully a plethora of people will sign my insightful rule proposals and we will see some massive, much-needed changes for the 2012-2013 season. *pray*
 

dorispulaski

Wicked Yankee Girl
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
Country
United-States
Yes--the big rule changes always seem to come (and rightly so) in the first year or two of the quad.
 

Blades of Passion

Skating is Art, if you let it be
Record Breaker
Joined
Sep 14, 2008
Country
France
Hopefully there will be many big scoring controversies this season where skaters win competitions because of the points obtained via messy Quads and other jumps, prompting ISU voters to be more receptive towards realizing how stupid the scoring system is right now and being glad that such a heavenly fix to the system fell into their lap. In their desperation to fix the system, they will vote through all of the other beneficial changes I've detailed which are attached to a better scale of values. The thinking will be done for them and all they will have to do is sign on the dotted line. :cool:
 
Joined
Jul 11, 2003
I just wish the ISU would take a "Whole Package" view of scoring. The nitty gritty CoP is supposed to add up to a Whole Package, but does it? I don't think so. Connecting steps before Jumps is not enough.
 
Joined
Jul 11, 2003
Hopefully there will be many big scoring controversies this season where skaters win competitions because of the points obtained via messy Quads and other jumps, prompting ISU voters to be more receptive towards realizing how stupid the scoring system is right now and being glad that such a heavenly fix to the system fell into their lap. In their desperation to fix the system, they will vote through all of the other beneficial changes I've detailed which are attached to a better scale of values. The thinking will be done for them and all they will have to do is sign on the dotted line. :cool:
BP - I think it is all tied to salaries and other financial woes. They are striking at all the wrong places to get the sport on track again. It's nice that skating buffs are able to see it on computer, and some of the best in show on TV, but is that all it is? Why not get an empresario to oversee how to get the masses interested again.
 

janetfan

Match Penalty
Joined
May 15, 2009
Why not get an empresario to oversee how to get the masses interested again.

Just wondering back to the 2010 pre-Olympic Natls, and if an "empressario for the masses" is enough.

Recalling the reaction from NBC commentators and other skating experts about the Ladies result it was clear they were not happy with the CoP judging results.

How in the world are casual US skating fans supposed to feel when Mr Skating USA thought the wrong girl won?

Perhaps if the CoP was more acceptable to skating legends like Scott, Dick, Brian, Peggy, etc the general audience would follow their lead.

But that doesn't seem to be the case :no:
 
Joined
Jun 21, 2003
It is interesting to speculate what would have happened if Sonia Bianchetti had been elected President of the ISU in 1994 instead of Ottavio Cinquanta.

From Bianchetti's point of view, Cinquanta was pushed through on a legal loop-hole as a puppet of the "good old boys gang" headed by the corrupt outgoing dictator Olaf Poulson. (The rule was that there could not be two representatives on the ISU council from the same country. By rushing Cinquata through on the speed-skating side, this disqualified Biannchetti from being a candidate for figure skating.}

Cinquanta immediately hit gold with Nancy and Tonya. He negotiated a twenty-million dollar deal with ABC television and was hailed as a financial wizard. By 2002 he had consolidated enough power to kick Bianchetti out of the ISU altogether.

Cinquanta, along with David Dore, were big CoP proponents even before the Salt Lake City affair. They were forced by the IOC to "do dsomething," but they were going to impose the CoP anyway.

Skating might have taken a different course altogether if Bianchetti had been at the helm.
 
Joined
Jun 21, 2003
I don't know.

Bianchetti's two big passions were (and remain) eliminating cronyism and politicking from ISU judging, and developing the artistic side of the sport with a view toward attracting bigger audiences, especially on television.

During her long crusade at ISU headquarter she never made nuch headway on the first. (Althgough she believed that ISU President Jacques Favart was an honest person, unlike his predessessor James Koch. She writes in her book "Thin Ice" that when she first came into the sport as a judge Koch told her outright in no uncertain terms who she was supposed to vote for.)

On developing figure skating as a television-friendly performing art/sport, she spearheaded the movement -- eventually successful -- to eliminate figures.

She also supported the World Skating Federation in 2002. That organization's raison d'etre was to address the problem of crooked judging. It is impossible to guess what tack Mrs. Bianchetti would have taken if things had worked out differently. Certainly she does not believe now that the CoP produces better-judged competitions or encourages greater honesty and competence in the judging ranks.
 

KKonas

Medalist
Joined
Oct 31, 2009
I don't know.

Bianchetti's two big passions were (and remain) eliminating cronyism and politicking from ISU judging, and developing the artistic side of the sport with a view toward attracting bigger audiences, especially on television.

During her long crusade at ISU headquarter she never made nuch headway on the first. (Althgough she believed that ISU President Jacques Favart was an honest person, unlike his predessessor James Koch. She writes in her book "Thin Ice" that when she first came into the sport as a judge Koch told her outright in no uncertain terms who she was supposed to vote for.)

On developing figure skating as a television-friendly performing art/sport, she spearheaded the movement -- eventually successful -- to eliminate figures.

She also supported the World Skating Federation in 2002. That organization's raison d'etre was to address the problem of crooked judging. It is impossible to guess what tack Mrs. Bianchetti would have taken if things had worked out differently. Certainly she does not believe now that the CoP produces better-judged competitions or encourages greater honesty and competence in the judging ranks.

Sonia's book was titled "Cracked Ice" published in 2004. Compulsory Figures was eliminated because most of the smaller countries simply didn't have ice in the summer and it took a lot of extra $$$ and time for the skaters to work on an aspect of the sport that was continuing to be seen as "unnecessary" with regard to the financial return (read TV wasn't interested). I don't know what Sonia's plans were to change the sport after 2002 as she doesn't really give any idea in her book. The World Skating Federation was doomed from the beginning. I was there at that first press conference. The WSF wanted to replace the ISU as the official skating body in the IOC. The WSF had no money at the time around $200,000. It was ridiculous to think that it could supplant the ISU who had many millions (and still do) as well as a very long history in the sport. I think judging has improved under COP because of the addition of the technical specialists and improved teaching seminars. I still don't llike the "secrecy" aspect of the judging panels, but maybe one day with older judges retiring and younger ones supplanting them, it will become more open. Cinquanta will be retiring soon. It will be interesting to see who takes his place.
 
Joined
Jul 11, 2003
^^^
Very informative post!! Much of elimination of School Figures was for monetary reasons, but I would add that adding a mini Free Skate to replace it took an improvement in the monetary factor.

Unfortunately, the ISU had the money to fight off the WSF by demanding that skaters who enrolled in the WSF would not be part of the ISU and therefore lots of media contracts woud be foresaken. The skaters had no choice. I think it would be advantageous to have WSF and an ISU with their respective champions skating for the Crown of the World - not unlike other sports having two leagues.

Cinquanta is actually more bareable now since he got hit with the OIC. I would appreciate more, if he would loosen up on the secrecy.
 

KKonas

Medalist
Joined
Oct 31, 2009
^^^
Very informative post!! Much of elimination of School Figures was for monetary reasons, but I would add that adding a mini Free Skate to replace it took an improvement in the monetary factor.

Unfortunately, the ISU had the money to fight off the WSF by demanding that skaters who enrolled in the WSF would not be part of the ISU and therefore lots of media contracts woud be foresaken. The skaters had no choice. I think it would be advantageous to have WSF and an ISU with their respective champions skating for the Crown of the World - not unlike other sports having two leagues.

Cinquanta is actually more bareable now since he got hit with the OIC. I would appreciate more, if he would loosen up on the secrecy.

Figure Skating does not have enough skaters and/or TV money to support two leagues like baseball, football, etc. unless you just have a pro league vs an eligible league, which is what the pro-am was supposed to achieve but was only successful for a few years.
 
Joined
Jul 11, 2003
Figure Skating does not have enough skaters and/or TV money to support two leagues like baseball, football, etc. unless you just have a pro league vs an eligible league, which is what the pro-am was supposed to achieve but was only successful for a few years.
It seems that ProAms have disappeared as did School Figures. When they were active, I do believe they were competitive. They just didn't produce enough profits for the media which is what has happened to competitive figure skating.

American tastes in Performing Arts are a changing! Pop singing celebs, Opera singing celebs, carry the interests of the country. American Idol is a case in point even without its nasty judge. Maybe its because the peoples vote is important. I dunno.
 
Joined
Jul 11, 2003
You mean a different course from the current, but the same as before, especially with regards to scoring system?
Did you have to go to the protocols for Patrick and Taka? The Gold and Silver were quite obvious under the old system as well. While the Bronze worked for the results, but there were enough questions raised to consider the new system not up to a better decision. There is nothing wrong about questioning or suggesting. Bianchetti has that right. Anyone can agree or disagree with her. That is anyone's right.
 
Top