Figure Skating Terminology & Other Questions

Figure Skating Terminology & Other Questions

Can anyone help me, it drives me crazy when I come across these terms so often yet I don't understand them. This coming from someone who can tell all the triples apart!

1. Popping a jump
2. Carriage
3. Line
4. One commentator prompted a remark at Olys 2002 on Michelle's 3F in her SP, "Slipped out of toe and still landed it!!". What does "slip out of toe" mean as far as toe-jumps are concerned?

Other questions:
1. Doing a Midori - I came across this sometime back, I forget what website. It said it was named after the incident when Midori jumped over an advertisement board at the rink side while attempting a triple! Gosh, was she hurt? I can't imagine the kind of injuries one would get doing that.

2. Jumps sequence - I know it has to involve a 1/2 Loop in between. Can someone explain how the 1/2 Lp is incorporated to connect with the 2nd triple? Also, since this isn't a combo jump, why didn't Michelle violate the Zayak's rule at Nationals 1998 in her LP. She did 3Lp-1/2 Lp-2T then did another 3Lp later.

Thank you in advance!

Re: Figure Skating Terminology & Other Questions

Some of your questions I can answer. Some of them can better be answered by others.

1. Popping a jump: This is what happens when you go to do a double or a triple and it turns into less than what you wanted. It's kind of a mental stutter that happens in the split second that you have to prepare for that bit triple or quad; the brain says, "Um, no," and the big jump turns into a little single or a double. This is also sometimes known as "chickening."

2. Slipped out of toe: On a pick jump such as a flip, you have to plant your toe pick securely in the ice to get the necessary height and rotation to complete your jump. Sometimes the pick doesn't set quite right and you slip slightly off center of your pick. This doesn't mean that you can't land the jump; it just means you need to muscle it around more in order to get to the landing.

3. Doing a Midori: Yes, she did, indeed jump over the boards. And no sooner than you could blink an eye, she was right back on the ice with no discernable injury. She even apologized to the cameraman. Amazing thing. She probably did get a bruise or two, but you'd never have known it from her performance.

The rest of the answers to your questions, particularly those of line and carriage, can be better answered by our local experts that know dance better than I.

Re: Figure Skating Terminology & Other Questions

Thanks megsk8z!

I rewatched Olys 2002 Rach and yes, finally I noticed her toe-pick was planted rather awkwardly just before take-off. I'm amazed the comentator was sharp enough to detect it in that instant.

About the Midori incident, she has my respect for her athleticism and humility.

Re: Figure Skating Terminology & Other Questions

Midori was badly hurt by that incident, and seriously considered withdrawing from the free skate. But she decided to skate because the Olympic berths were at stake. She finished 4th and could not secure three berths anyway.

Actually, she was hurt even before that SP. Latietia Hubert collided into her at full speed during the official practice. It was clearly Hubert's fault, but she never apologized, and the French Federation later apologized on her behalf. If she had done the same to a American skater, the US media would have been all over her.

Jump sequences are accepted under the Zayak rule. There are many cases in which a skater has used a half loop to jump a Salchow or a flip as the second jump. (You cannot do this without a half loop unless you land the first jump on the opposite foot like one-foot axel.)

A more dubious case is when a step or a turn is included between jumps. For example, I don't think the two 3toes at the end of Onda's program can be called a "jump sequence."

Re: Figure Skating Terminology & Other Questions

Line - this basically refers to the shapes and lines your body makes during movements and elements. Someone like Sasha has very good line because she has such good posture and extension. Someone with a bent leg, no extension, or not stretching at all during movements will not have good line.

Carriage - I think this basically means the way you carry yourself when skating, the way you hold your body, how you move etc. Michelle has very good carriage when she skates.

Re: Figure Skating Terminology & Other Questions

"Popping a jump" is basically the same as opening up on a jump - in other words not going into the jump properly and incompleting it.

Carriage - this is referring to the body. How the skater carries themselves. Are they standing up straight?

Line - Like a dancer. This is the body line the skater creates. The head should be up - slightly - shoulders and hips should be in line or "checked." The toes should be pointed. The skater should be poised. Good extensions.

Ladskater

Re: Figure Skating Terminology & Other Questions

Thanks guys! I understand now what carriage and line are.

Re: Figure Skating Terminology & Other Questions

Good questions, ApacheApache.