Figure skating needs CPR | Page 7 | Golden Skate

Figure skating needs CPR

Joined
Jun 21, 2003
All-American: representative or typical of the United States and its ideals.

Use in sentence: All-American figure skater Michelle Kwan, now U.S. State Department Senior Diplomacy Advisor, is scheduled to participate in the Secretary's 2013 Global Diaspora Forum on May 13-14. "The 2013 Global Diaspora Forum is the world’s largest gathering of diasporans and aims to recognize, celebrate, and inspire the work of American diaspora communities to contribute to sustainable development and diplomatic relations with their countries of origin." :)

http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2013/05/209252.htm
 

skatingpunk

Rinkside
Joined
Dec 8, 2009
I'm surprised no one has already said this, but what figure skating really needs is some larger corporate sponsors and huge increases in prize money. The singles winners at Wimbledon this year, male and female, will receive approximately U.S. $2.4 million. In contrast, if you can call it that, the winner of each Grand Prix event gets $18,000. The Final is worth $25,000. The winner of the World Championship gets $45,000. And not many even know this much because the broadcasters never mention it. Do the broadcasters on the Tennis Channel bring up prize money at the Grand Slams? You better believe it. When the prize money gets bigger, people will start paying attention, and I'm willing to bet a few more casual viewers will take the trouble to learn the rules of figure skating.
 

ForeverFish

Medalist
Joined
Aug 21, 2012
All-American: representative or typical of the United States and its ideals.

Use in sentence: All-American figure skater Michelle Kwan, now U.S. State Department Senior Diplomacy Advisor, is scheduled to participate in the Secretary's 2013 Global Diaspora Forum on May 13-14. "The 2013 Global Diaspora Forum is the world’s largest gathering of diasporans and aims to recognize, celebrate, and inspire the work of American diaspora communities to contribute to sustainable development and diplomatic relations with their countries of origin." :)

http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2013/05/209252.htm

I guess that could be said for most, if not all, of the US ladies--Wagner, Gold, Gao, Zawadzki, Nagasu, etc.
 
Joined
Jun 21, 2003
Wow, that is adorable. THAT'S the Christina I want to see on the ice. If she displayed this kind of joy and girl-next-door-ness during her programs, I would be enraptured.

Thanks for sharing!

This vid has a funny back story. Christina and her friends are enrolled in a course in "Chinese language for legacy students" at Harvard (that is, a course for students whose families already speak the language). This was their "final exam" project. Being typical Americans, naturally they waited until the last minute, then stayed up all night throwing something together. :laugh:
 

gmyers

Record Breaker
Joined
Mar 6, 2010
That really would require the isu to radically alter the concept of what it is again! It is about the skaters being professional athletes and not just have his eligible ineligible thing?!
 

ice coverage

avatar credit: @miyan5605
Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 27, 2012
Thanks for sharing your POV. But can I ask, in what I hope is a respectful way, what about Gao qualifies her as "All-American"? To me, she lacks the charm and force of personality that make Ashley and Gracie so popular.

No worries, Forever. I do not find the tone of your question disrespectful. :)

Any "it" factor, "All-American"-ness, charm, personality, etc., definitely are in the eye of the beholder. One person's cup of tea is not necessarily another's.
(That is why I used the phrase "whatever the heck [it] means" in an earlier post. The term "All-American" was not unfamiliar to me. I was alluding to its extreme subjectivity. Johnson happens to be a great fit for your ideal total package as well as mine. But we are not in lockstep as to which other athletes are "obvious" embodiments. And I can imagine that gymnastics forums have had intense debates over Johnson vs. Liukin vs. Douglas vs. any number of others as the "most" All-American gymnast, LOL.)

For me, Gao's tweets also show personality, humor, and charm that often make me smile, laugh, etc.
A couple of recent examples:

~ https://twitter.com/christina_gao/status/333007733471199233

~ https://twitter.com/christina_gao/status/329824045950464000

ETA:

All-American: representative or typical of the United States and its ideals.

I guess that could be said for most, if not all, of the US ladies--Wagner, Gold, Gao, Zawadzki, Nagasu, etc.

Yes. That is why my opinion is that no particular one would boost the image of U.S. figure skating significantly higher than any other as Olympic gold medalist.
Whoever succeeds on the ice will shine as an ambassador too. :)
 

zschultz1986

Final Flight
Joined
Mar 18, 2013
Automatic Deductions For Diving:

Balking (-2 on all judges scores. So if judges gave 7-7-7 on the dive, if it was completed, the scores would automatically be 5-5-5)
Crow Hopping (On a Back and Inward press, leaving the board with both of your feet as you oscillate the board before takeoff. This rule is RARELY enforced.)
Wrong Position (If a diver was supposed to do a front 2 1/2 SS Pike and did it Tuck instead. Max judges score of 2.)
Hitting the board but completing the dive (I forgot the deduction on this.)

Automatic Dive Fails:

Balking Twice in a row on the same dive. (Falling out of a handstand on platform is considered a balk.)
Doing the wrong dive (EG: Supposed to do a Front 2 1/2, instead does ANYTHING else, including a front with a different # of somersaults.)

Automatic DQ:

Failing Two Dives in the same List

So, say a diver completes the dive successfully. What are the criteria of judging? As Mathman said: the approach, the take-off, the flight, and the entry. If your entry is wrong, you usually screwed up something along the way. Judges see the entry last and as such, it has a big impact on the score (though all aspects of a dive are taken in to score.) Some deductions that aren't automatic and can vary from judge to judge:

Broken positions (Bent Pikes, "Cowboy" tucks. Now, if the pike were so bent that the judges deemed it a tuck, we would refer outselves to the automatic deductions for the wrong position.)
FLAT FEET (Toes that aren't pointed make dives look UGLY!)
Non-Vertical Entries
Position in relation to the board on entry (Too far out? To the side of the board? Turned?)


Interesting to note: Diving doesn't have Replay. Judges must make decisions without the aid of slow-mo.
 

dorispulaski

Wicked Yankee Girl
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
Country
United-States
Ironic that you think I'm being condescending towards you when you were condescending to Danica Patrick in the first place... saying she's less talent than an up and coming figure skater who hasn't even come close to being as prolific or win anything major. "Notice how she hasn't done anything since the Daytona 500 pole?" That was at the end of February 2013, not even 3 months ago! :laugh: She's only one of only two women to compete in both the Indy 500 and Daytona 500, has the highest finish for a woman at the Indy 500 (3rd), and the only woman to win an Indy Series race (let me guess, also 'pure car', right?). I'm not saying other women in motorsport aren't hardworking and all that, but to debase Patrick (and her achievements) as just someone whose career is based on her looking good in a bikini is even more insulting... and painfully cliché to see one woman talking smack and trying to bring down a prolific, well-liked woman who is beautiful and successful... jealousy, much? :rolleye:


You're both wrong. None of the women you mentioned was as accomplished in a motorsport as Shirley Muldowney:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shirley_Muldowney

In 1975, she was voted the first woman member of the ten-person Auto Racing All-American team by the American Auto Racing Writers and Broadcasters Association.
In 1976, she was named Drag News Top Fuel Driver of the Year and voted to the Auto Racing All-American Team for the second time.
In 1977, she won the NHRA Winston world points championship, becoming the first woman to claim drag racing's most prestigious title. Recipient of "Outstanding Achievement Award" from the United States House of Representatives on October 14, 1977. Named Drag News Top Fuel Driver of the Year for the second straight season. Named Car Craft Magazine Person of the Year during the annual Car Craft Awards Banquet, Indianapolis, Indiana. First Top Fuel driver to win three NHRA national events back-to-back.
1980 Won NHRA Winston world points championship for the second time.
1981 Won AHRA world championship. Voted to Auto Racing All-American team for the fifth time. Voted Car Craft Magazine All-Star Team, Top Fuel Driver of the Year, for the second year in a row.
1982 Won NHRA Winston points championship, becoming the first person to claim drag racing's most prestigious title three times. Voted to Auto Racing All-American Team for the fifth time.
In 1990, she was inducted into the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America.
In 2001, she was ranked number 5 on the National Hot Rod Association's 50th Anniversary list of its Top 50 Drivers, 1951-2000.[11]
In 2004, she was inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame.
in 2008, ESPN ranked her 21st on its list of the Top 25 Drivers of All Time, citing her record as the first woman to win a major racing championship.[12]

She even had a pretty good movie made about her life, "Heart Like a Wheel," starring Bonnie Bedelia.

And she did all this when resistance to woman in any kind of "non-girlie" sport was much higher, and when the governing body of her sport actively opposed her racing in Top Fuel at all.
 
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Joined
Aug 16, 2009
I remember that movie, Doris. Yes, they don't make such a fuss about her anymore, and I don't know why.

Skatingpunk, that's a very astute point. Corporate sponsors would serve two purposes: not only would they be able to increase the prize money, but they would also have many possibilities for publicizing skating to a wider audience. Skaters could appear in their ads and TV commercials. They could mount ad campaigns telling about competitions. They could throw their weight behind decent telecast times for competitions.
 

dorispulaski

Wicked Yankee Girl
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
Country
United-States
Obviously there is no time that is good for everyone, because as Jimmy Buffett & Alan Jackson sing, "It's only half-past twelve but I don't care. It's five o'clock somewhere.".

What can you do? It's a round world.
 
Joined
Aug 16, 2009
But decent telecast times for who? Not everyone's on US time...

Yes, but if they could at least get a good audience in the country they're skating for, it would make a difference. When they become international household words, we could worry about how the people of Austria could watch a good America skater at a convenient time. For now, let's at least give Americans some skating they can actually find on TV so we could grow a bigger fan base. Austria (for example) could do the same for Austrian skaters, sponsored by some Austrian corporation. Then everyone could meet on the Grand Prix circuit and at the Olympics. As they say, think globally, act locally. Gotta start somewhere!
 
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