You Be the Judge | Page 6 | Golden Skate

You Be the Judge

gkelly

Record Breaker
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
My personal point of view:

There should be a competition for who can show the highest degree of skating skill with the most difficulty and variety and quality all in one program, and where skaters who have unique skills deriving from the use of blades on ice can get credit for them. Skaters who can use their technical skills for artistic purposes should be rewarded for doing so. But primarily it's a technical contest.

We can call it the well-balanced freeskate or the free program or the long program or whatever we want. And winning that competition is the pinnacle of the sport, because it requires showing the best overall combination of athletic, technical, and figure skating skills on that day.

The best skaters will be entertaining to watch because they are challenging themselves to such an extreme as they strive to outdo each others.
The less-than-best skaters will also challenge themselves on their own levels to try to place as well as they can, but their skill level will be lower, they may have significant weaknesses in some areas.

It's not an art contest or an audience pleasing contest. Audiences who want to watch skating competitions that put art or entertainment first and technical skill second should watch a different kind of event.

The free program should be "free"-er in the sense that skaters should have more choices about what kinds of skills to emphasize within the general basic structure of showing well-balanced variety. There still needs to be some structure to ensure a level playing field. It's not completely free in the sense of having no rules.

The competition for best all-around skater can have more than one part. The well-balanced freeskate could be the deciding final phase of the competition, and there could be one or more earlier phases that would serve the purposes of requiring specific skills, seeding the field, cutting down the field, rewarding extreme, specialist skills, etc.

Personally I'm partial to the idea of a separate jump contest, spin contest, and skating skills contest (that may also include an artistic component) that earn their own medals and also serve as qualifiers for the well-balanced final. But a short program with required elements like we're used to could also work. It could also be possible to add up the points for the jump elements and give a jumps medal, same for the spins, same for the step sequence+PCS, within the current basic short program format.

And then the Well-Balanced Freeskate competition either does or does not carry over scores from the preliminary events. Winning the combined or Well-Balanced world or Olympic championship or would be the pinnacle of the sport.

The ISU might also want to consider sponsoring alternative competition streams with their own championships and their own medals. Maybe some kind of Xtreme Skating circuit that's all about maximum athletic content and exploring the boundaries of what it's possible to do with blades on ice, and an Artistic Skating circuit that allows a limited or perhaps unlimited number of technical elements but is judged purely on PCS perhaps with audience input into the scoring.

Neither of those competition streams would be in the Olympics to begin with, but I could see the Xtreme Skating eventually fitting in there much more easily than the Artistic Skating.

Get rid of eligible/ineligible distinctions (aside from people who are banned for cheating, crimes against competitors or officials, etc.). Let skaters do events with or without competitive formats that aren't sponsored by the ISU with no penalty. But if there are skaters around the world, elite and developing and recreational, who want to participate in alternative events and audiences who want to watch the top levels, why shouldn't the ISU develop a structure of their own and find ways to market it?
 
Joined
Jun 21, 2003
Get rid of eligible/ineligible distinctions (aside from people who are banned for cheating, crimes against competitors or officials, etc.). Let skaters do events with or without competitive formats that aren't sponsored by the ISU with no penalty. But if there are skaters around the world, elite and developing and recreational, who want to participate in alternative events and audiences who want to watch the top levels, why shouldn't the ISU develop a structure of their own and find ways to market it?

Well, the ISU wants to control all competitive skating in the world, period. Skaters can do shows, but if it a competition of any kind then the organizers of the event must gain ISU sanction, use the ISU judging system, employ ISU technical specialists and judges, etc.

The ISU does not seem to be interested either in running their own "alternative events" or in letting anyone else do it.

In this I think they are short-sighted. A rising tide floats all boats. Anything that is good for figure skating is good for the ISU.

And then the Well-Balanced Freeskate competition either does or does not carry over scores from the preliminary events.

In a previous post (#91 above) ivy put the argument in favor of carrying over points in a new light for me. If Chan gets 90 in the SP and Takahashi gets 80, while Fernandez, Abbott and Hanyu get 70, 69.9, and 69.8, this still sets up an exciting finish.

Chan will probably win (but it is not absolutely certain), and Takahasjhi will probably get second (but it is not absulutely certain.) But never mind that, look at the dogfight we have going for bronze! :rock:
 

drivingmissdaisy

Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 17, 2010
In a previous post (#91 above) ivy put the argument in favor of carrying over points in a new light for me. If Chan gets 90 in the SP and Takahashi gets 80, while Fernandez, Abbott and Hanyu get 70, 69.9, and 69.8, this still sets up an exciting finish.

Chan will probably win (but it is not absolutely certain), and Takahasjhi will probably get second (but it is not absulutely certain.) But never mind that, look at the dogfight we have going for bronze! :rock:

For me, it wouldn't be that exciting to watch a dogfight for the bronze. I do think the judges will mark the top tier of skaters, if clean, near Chan and Takahashi. In years past we have always seen some of the top skaters get untouchable marks during the GP but when Worlds and Olympics rolls around the sport is under a microscope and the judges do seem to reward great performances.
 

spikydurian

Medalist
Joined
Jan 15, 2012
Briilliant proposition, gskelly. Way to go. :thumbsup: :biggrin:

It fulfills these desires:

There should be a competition for who can show the highest degree of skating skill with the most difficulty and variety and quality all in one program, and where skaters who have unique skills deriving from the use of blades on ice can get credit for them. Skaters who can use their technical skills for artistic purposes should be rewarded for doing so. But primarily it's a technical contest.

Those who enjoy watch pure skills competition of highest degree.


It's not an art contest or an audience pleasing contest. Audiences who want to watch skating competitions that put art or entertainment first and technical skill second should watch a different kind of event.

Make different type of fans happy.

Personally I'm partial to the idea of a separate jump contest, spin contest, and skating skills contest (that may also include an artistic component) that earn their own medals and also serve as qualifiers for the well-balanced final. But a short program with required elements like we're used to could also work. It could also be possible to add up the points for the jump elements and give a jumps medal, same for the spins, same for the step sequence+PCS, within the current basic short program format.

Recognise individual strengths and allow as many to medal thereby decreasing no. of unhappy fans .


Get rid of eligible/ineligible distinctions (aside from people who are banned for cheating, crimes against competitors or officials, etc.). Let skaters do events with or without competitive formats that aren't sponsored by the ISU with no penalty. But if there are skaters around the world, elite and developing and recreational, who want to participate in alternative events and audiences who want to watch the top levels, why shouldn't the ISU develop a structure of their own and find ways to market it?

Allow figure skaters to earn some monies to pay for high level training

The ISU might also want to consider sponsoring alternative competition streams with their own championships and their own medals. Maybe some kind of Xtreme Skating circuit that's all about maximum athletic content and exploring the boundaries of what it's possible to do with blades on ice, and an Artistic Skating circuit that allows a limited or perhaps unlimited number of technical elements but is judged purely on PCS perhaps with audience input into the scoring.

Get FS involved in the latest t.v. craze – reality shows like SYTYCD, IDOLS etc. so that the more flamboyant and popular skaters with less technical skills can win as well
 

skatinginbc

Medalist
Joined
Aug 26, 2010
Have you looked at other disciplines...? Maybe next week you could do 2012 Junior Worlds.
Junior Pairs Short: TES Mean (26.50) > PCS Mean (20.94). TES SD (3.05) > PCS SD (2.76).
Junior Men's Short: TES Mean (30.78) > PCS Mean (27.63). TES SD (4.91) > PCS SD (3.95).
Junior Ice Dance Short: TES Mean (27.17) > PCS Mean (21.75). TES SD (4.20) > PCS SD (3.76).
 
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