Should figure skating be removed from the Olympic games? | Golden Skate

Should figure skating be removed from the Olympic games?

pec0

Match Penalty
Joined
Jul 29, 2013
Maybe figure skate should not be categorized as sports, and therefore is not appropriate for Olympic. Clear judge system seems not possible. Besides it is actually used for policital propaganda by some country repeatedly. If people think country with more Olympic medals is superior compared to those with less medals, then figure skate could be used for such assertion. It is not good.
 

Meoima

Match Penalty
Joined
Feb 13, 2014
Then you should remove gymnastics from the Summer Olympic as well. I bet no one dare that. Figure skating and hockey are the 2 major attraction when it comes to Winter Olympic. More scandals, more attraction. ;)
 

Sam-Skwantch

“I solemnly swear I’m up to no good”
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Dec 29, 2013
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United-States
Snowboarding is 100% a judged sport. At least Slopestlye and Halfpipe are. It seems to be growing in popularity and most people I spoke to really were impressed by it.

Why would we want to remove FS? I don't get it?:confused2:
 

WeakAnkles

Record Breaker
Joined
Aug 1, 2011
This is one of those topics that makes me think, Now, now, the new season will be here sooner than you think. Why not take up a rewarding hobby in the meanwhile...like knitting.

;)
 

makaihime

Final Flight
Joined
Feb 20, 2014
Maybe figure skate should not be categorized as sports, and therefore is not appropriate for Olympic. Clear judge system seems not possible. Besides it is actually used for policital propaganda by some country repeatedly.

:confused: Olympics sports like hockey, basketball, volleyball, depends on referee's/officals and calls are made using personal judgement so its not always "fair" or "correct" either and can make or break the game (e.g 1972 USA vs USSR). Gymnastics, synchro swimming are also sports that's also dependent on the scoring system with judges. So should we get rid of those too? Lol, The only sports with totally "clear" judging systems are those who solely rely on being Time/Distance measured.

And its not fair to punish the athletes for something that is completely out of their control.

It seems a bit obviously that this thread was made because of leftover bitterness from the results in Sochi rather than actually thinking of the Olympic Games well-being.
 

BusyMom

Medalist
Joined
Jan 10, 2014
Figure skate is the most watch sport during the OG. The money from sponsors and televise fees are IOC's major income. They wouldn't dare to cut off FS even they want to.

As for categorized aspects, if training 8-10 hours a day/7 days a week, involving that kind of physical demands,doesn't count as a sport I wouldn't want to know your kind of sport. I for one don't think athletes should be punished for something that not even their responsibilities. The Olympic Games is always the highest goal of their careers. Taking that option away, is ridiculous. Of course the politicking and manipulated judges are bad for sport and need to be fixed but there are so many sport in which generate the same amount or worst involving judge scandal (boxing and football for example).
 

fleeting

Queen Anissina
Medalist
Joined
Feb 19, 2014
No way! Figure skating is not only one of the most lucrative sports to have rights to (if used correctly - I'm looking at you NBC) and the physical and mental strength needed is huge compared to other sports. I trained as a skater and then a swimmer for several years and though I may have been young at the time, swimming was easier mentally, even when you're trapped inside your own head for hours a day. I had to swim laps and entertain myself but I wasn't physically doing anything dangerous if I dove in wrong - you cannot say that about all attempted jumps.

Anyways, so many sports are subjective in terms of style (snowboarding, gymnastics) or calls (basketball, hockey).
Even time-based sports, like swimming, can be subjective in terms of calling an illegal pullout or an early start therefore pushing a disqualification.

There is always going to be a degree of subjectivity in any sport you play or watch whether it's the refs or an incorrect timing malfunction or a badly called foul. I don't see the point in only penalizing figure skating.
 

Amei

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 11, 2013
As for categorized aspects, if training 8-10 hours a day/7 days a week, involving that kind of physical demands,doesn't count as a sport I wouldn't want to know your kind of sport.

I don't remember where I read or heard this, but somebody said the costumes and the make-up disguise how tough figure skating really is.
 

Sam-Skwantch

“I solemnly swear I’m up to no good”
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Matilda

Medalist
Joined
Dec 19, 2012
Absolutely not. As others have pointed out, FS is not the only judged sport. And eople who fail to see how difficult and demanding skating is are mostly willfully ignorant.
 

caelum

On the Ice
Joined
Nov 8, 2013
Snowboarding is 100% a judged sport. At least Slopestlye and Halfpipe are. It seems to be growing in popularity and most people I spoke to really were impressed by it.

Why would we want to remove FS? I don't get it?:confused2:

It's not exactly comparable because most of the skaters are doing the same tricks. While I can make arguments for why someone's 3Lz + 3T is superior to another persons, it's much easier for me to objectively say that a backside triple cork 1440 is more difficult than a double backside rodeo 900, for example. When everyone is doing mostly the same things, that's where it gets tricky. Plus, half of the score is components which obviously gets very tricky. While there is a "style" component to snowboarding judging, it's not even close to the importance the component scores have. Obviously there always will be some subjectivity, but it's not really comparable. Among snowboarders, rarely do we debate who should have won an event. Actually, probably the most controversial win among snowboarders in probably more than a decade was in Sochi slope style. I won't get into the details because I doubt most of us are snowboarders here, but essentially the Sochi judge panel unilaterally decided to score in a way completely antithetical to that done at the X-games, Dew tour, national qualifiers, most other international competitions etc. So, Sochi judging was just all around a mess actually …

But anyway, I don't think figure skating should be removed as an Olympic event. I mean, why would anyone? Assuming you are a fan of figure skating, you obviously want the sport to continue, and the best way to assure it's a financially viable activity is to keep it at its most visible platform. And I really don't buy the OPs nationalist propaganda argument. If people are so gullible that a figure skating result could change anything, then the level of nationalism is so extreme that any little thing could be used anyway.
 

CanadianSkaterGuy

Record Breaker
Joined
Jan 25, 2013
Snowboarding is 100% a judged sport. At least Slopestlye and Halfpipe are. It seems to be growing in popularity and most people I spoke to really were impressed by it.

Why would we want to remove FS? I don't get it?:confused2:

There is a difference in that snowboarding is actually judged appropriately, usually based upon the merit of what each athlete does. If an athlete messes up, it doesn't matter how "popular" they are.... In Sochi, Shawn White would have podiumed instead of placing 4th in snowboarding if it were judged the same way as figure skating.

Our sport is beautiful and very watchable but in terms of legitimacy as fairness we have got a LONG way to go.
 

CaroLiza_fan

EZETTIE LATUASV IVAKMHA
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Oct 25, 2012
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Northern-Ireland
Did someone really create this thread ??? :unsure:

Unlike the people that are getting angry that somebody would dare to suggest that figure skating should be removed from the Olympics, I am actually glad that pec0 has been brave enough to suggest this.

I should make clear - it is not that I agree with this suggestion. I disagree with this idea in the strongest possible terms!

The reason I am glad that is that this thread leads nicely into a thread that I started writing after the Paralympics finished. But because of family matters, I never got finishing it, never mind posting it.

I actually have about 5 threads that I started writing but never got finished. Including one that I started working on just after Skate America!!! :eek: But that one involved a LOT of photo editing, which I am no good at. However, I only have one photo left to finish off, so hopefully it should not be too long until I get it posted...

Anyway, I have just posted the thread that is related to this thread in the Olympics sub-forum:

What Sports Would You Like To See Added Or Dropped From The Olympics?

Perhaps this thread should also be moved to that sub-forum...

CaroLiza_fan
 

karne

in Emergency Backup Mode
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Jan 1, 2013
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Australia
There is a difference in that snowboarding is actually judged appropriately, usually based upon the merit of what each athlete does. If an athlete messes up, it doesn't matter how "popular" they are....

Don't know about that. There was a lot of complaining that the judges were judging the snowboard slopestyle completely differently at the Olympics to how they'd been doing it all season.
 

evangeline

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 7, 2007
There is a difference in that snowboarding is actually judged appropriately, usually based upon the merit of what each athlete does. If an athlete messes up, it doesn't matter how "popular" they are.... In Sochi, Shawn White would have podiumed instead of placing 4th in snowboarding if it were judged the same way as figure skating.

You need to watch more snowboarding :laugh: The judging of the slopestyle event was very controversial and there was a lot of press criticizing the judging:

Slopestyle Olympic Debut a Flop
Drama Continues in Slopestyle Debut
Tumbles, Olympic controversy dog slopestyle debut
 
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