Originally Posted by Hernando
What's interesting is that I have not read any comments that say the "Shibs are not really good" or that "the Shibs were overmarked."
Most of the comments are more along the line of "how dare such a young team win a medal at Worlds."
Sadly this is the legacy of Ice Dancing from the other side of the pond and I do think the CoP has done alot to make Ice Dancing not just more fair but also more of a sport.
I really like watching many of the dance teams even if I am somewhat clueless about how they should be scored.
That said, I really enjoy watching the Shibs and this team will get me, a longtime "singles fan" watching more Ice Dancning next season.
My favorites at the moment are V/M and going back in time it would be T/D and the fabuloulsy UNIQUE Duchesnays.
I have never bought into the Russo/Eastern Euro style of ice dancing because i find it seriously dated and never very original. So much of it is all the same and was never of much interest to me. I get it, you are imitating ballroom dancing from the 30's and you are pretending to be in love zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.
I happen to be a big fan of Adelina. Although she is a singles skater I somehow doubt certain posters will object if she wins medals next season in the GP or in her first eligible season as a senior skater at Euros/Worlds.
Scoring and judging in any sport should always be about how an athlete performs and never about how many years they have been on the circuit.
That type of thinking is so unsporting and belongs in the world of pageants.
Thank you for that. I completely agree, and the idea of having to "put in your time" before winning is ridiculous when wanting to be treated as sport. You either skate well according to measured standards or you don't. The PCS mark has the ability to separate the intangible elements like style, interpretation, musicality, originality, etc. (BTW, this is true of most judged sports like ski moguls, gymnastics, synchro swimming, etc.).
Right now, we have a bunch of really young teams that have achieved success very early. V/M are a once in a generation team. But they are not new together. They've been skating together since they were children. They have a unique and powerful mix of being perfectly sized for each other since childhood, tons of chemistry, strong work ethic, solid friendship and mutual respect, outstanding coaching when they were young which gives them an edge even today, current coaches/choreographer that understands their strengths and weaknesses and continually gives them outstanding programs for success. The Shibs have not suddenly appeared out of nowhere. They've been seeing success for many years. They are very, very good, and looking at potential, the closest team to achieve the level of V/M in the future. 4th at JW is not a tragedy, either. D/W the same thing. When I look at some of the past teams, one of my favourites outside of North America is D/S. They were Senior competitors for 10 years before they won their World title, never mind all the years at Junior. Dubreil/Lauzon, Wing/Lowe, Bourne/Kraatz all had the same experience. Some really bad years at Senior before finding their niche and achieving success. It took them that much time to gel together as a team in maturity, unison, interpretation of music, etc. A lot of stars aligned for Shibs this year. They had a tremendous vehicle that made their youth their strength. Other teams made some big mistakes. They were solid technically.
The issue with too many teams is that they do not understand that not everyone is going to have the set of circumstances required to achieve what is perceived to be by some as immediate success. That doesn't mean they will never achieve success. In fact, it is unusual that a young team will achieve instant success. I admire W/P for having the foresight to understand that they have to take disappointment and turn it into hard work, which results in improvement, and now they are 5th in the world. With age and maturity comes a new kind of expression. It is amazing to watch the performances of Dubreil/Lauzon and Delobel/Shoenfelder in those last few years. It truly is the merging of incredible technical skill, with beautiful art. Some of these young people need to put themselves and their current situations in context, figure out how to work better as a team, and then focus on the work and improving and innovating the sport. Thanks to CoP, when all of those things come together in a solid technical delivery with wonderful PCS, they will find themselves in winning spots. Every one of those big teams that have split have the potential to achieve the success they desire over time.
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