New Olympic Champion?

[OS]

If ISU/IOC gives OGM to make the reiｇning champion more famous and because of it they expect this sport becomes more popular, it's kinda comedy.

I agree entirely, what happens in Japan like NHK was a total joke, shouldn't be permitted to happen.

 

[Krislite]

Interesting question. Do you think that the IOC and ISU influence the judges in their decision making to a certain extent? Perhaps if two skaters are VERY close, I wonder if this crosses their mind at all, a subconscious kind of thing...

Yes. However, I doubt it's an overt conspiracy like some people think (though there have been cases of that in the past). It's more general sentiment and chatter among officials and judges that influence their opinions.

 

[drivingmissdaisy]

Interesting question. Do you think that the IOC and ISU influence the judges in their decision making to a certain extent? Perhaps if two skaters are VERY close, I wonder if this crosses their mind at all, a subconscious kind of thing...

I think if they are close, the technical level needed for Mao to achieve 150 would be a the tie-breaker I believe. A clean Yuna with six triples can get that. Mao would need 7 with 2 3A's and everything pretty much clean.

 

[chloepoco]

I agree entirely, what happens in Japan like NHK was a total joke, shouldn't be permitted to happen.

What does the NHK have to do with the OGM?

 

[pangtongfan]

I think the ladies winner in Sochi will be a win for figure skating. Kim winning her 2nd Olympic Gold would be a huge story and bring Worldwide attention. Asada winning the gold would be huge in Japan, where the skating market is hot and which brings in so much money to the sport potentially. A Russian lady winning the first ever gold on home ice, would also be noteworthy. Kostner being from the country of the ISU leader, an American winning....really there is almost no potential lose situation unless you go to the extreme of impossabilities.

Plushenko isnt winning his 2nd OGM (other than maybe in the team event which would not be his 2nd OGM in the same event) so not even worth discussing him.

Virtue & Moir or Davis & White winning are both positives for the sport, especialy in North America, and that is certain to happen. Although the Vancouver NA 1-2 did not get figure skating fans excited as some had hoped, but a first ever U.S dance gold, or a NA team repeating as Oly Champs would hopefully have a more meaningful impact.

The pairs will be over quickly as the first event on the first few days of the Games, and outside of Europe, and most of all Russia, there wont be huge interest in it and what happens either way.

 

[Alex D]

With respect, this is a stupid topic. In any sport, having a dominant athlete is a good thing. Think Usain Bolt. Do you want to spread out gold medals just so others can also be happy? Dynasty is good. Of course, Yuna has to earn it, but if she brings it, then I would want her to repeat as Olympic Champion even if I were not her fan.

I see this a tiny bit different to be honest.

If an athlete is totally dominant then this is fun for his or her fans, but its not good for the sport as it lowers the interest by the general crowd. Look at Formula one, Vettel is winning and winning and winning, its just boring to watch and the Formula one has lost a lot of its viewers throughout the years - just like it was with Michael back then when Hill retired and he started his domination at Ferrari after Häkkingen left.

Its not any different with Usain Bolt, why watch the 100m if he wins anyways?

Not sure if you know Bjoerndalen? He is most likely one of the best male athletes in Biathlon history and I would rank him equally to Daehlie in cross country. Since a few years he is not so dominant anymore, for me as a fan this is a pity as I loved to see him winning, but Biathlon as a whole is now much more open and a lot more athletes can actually win. If Ole however manages to grab a medal at Sochi, it would be the story of the games for sure! Its not any different with the women´s bracket or any sport for that matter. You need surprises, outsides that win - unpredictable things.

That is btw. the reason why the ISU does keep synchronized skating so "low". They said that its too dominant by the I think Scandinavian teams, so that it wont make sense to push it more forward into the public and the Olympic committee had similar thoughts about Baseball / Softball or American football.

Sports does live from the competition, if you have none it becomes predictable and that's not that good. Its actually a quite silly situation. On the one hand those big stars are invited to tv shows, give interviews, have their face printed on every wall in town. But then again, its just them - its not about the sport anymore or a close competition they had. Its just them, which is not desired either.

That said, I would love to see a close fight for each medal. To me it doesn't matter who wins, but to make FS more attractive again, a good competition would do wonders. People should talk about that amazing battle we saw for the gold medal, that would be something people actually start talking about. Just imagine Mao wins by 2 points before Yuna, it would be a big deal and could open tons of discussions not only at this very forum here. While if Yuna wins by 20 points, it would just be "ok, she won".

I might exaggerate a bit, but you get the idea I believe?

 

[Amei]

Unless I'm a huge fan of someone, I would rather see new champions. It gives an element of surprise to the competition.

I'm a Lipnitskaia fan (so I'm rooting for her to win) & it would be a nice story- winning on home ice would be a huge story for the Olympics, especially in probably the most glam Olympic sport.

 

[pitterpatter]

may the best skater on the day win! I don't mind either way, but I think what would be good for the sport is an OGM that doesn't retire right after the Olympic season. OGMs get a lot of exposure to a wider audience, and if some viewers get hooked and continue to follow the skater into the next skating seasons, they'll be exposed to more programs, other skaters, the GP etc etc and may develop a genuine interest in the sport.

 

[MsLiinaLii]

I absolutely adore Yuna, but don't get me wrong, I don't want her to win. And the reason for that is quite simple, I don't feel that it's fair that hasn't been participating in Grand Prix for 3 seasons. Some people say, oh, she doesn't have to do it and nothing would change. But, well, still...Others get tired a lot more during the season. Even if we compare Mao's number of competitions this year. Yuna = 3, Zagreb+Nationals+Olympics Mao=at least 6, Japan Open+GP+GP+GPF+Nationals+Olympics...

 

[Krislite]

I absolutely adore Yuna, but don't get me wrong, I don't want her to win. And the reason for that is quite simple, I don't feel that it's fair that hasn't been participating in Grand Prix for 3 seasons. Some people say, oh, she doesn't have to do it and nothing would change. But, well, still...Others get tired a lot more during the season. Even if we compare Mao's number of competitions this year. Yuna = 3, Zagreb+Nationals+Olympics Mao=at least 6, Japan Open+GP+GP+GPF+Nationals+Olympics...

Why is it not fair? The Olympics is not the end of a series like the Grand Prix Final. Anybody is allowed to enter and participate without having had participated much in previous competitions. In fact the only qualifications are a minimum age and minimum scores in the SP and LP.

If a 15 year old who has never won a Worlds medal can take the Olympic title, then no way is it unfair for Yuna to win another Olympic title.

"Fairness" is not about who put in the most effort. It doesn't matter if you skated nonstop in the last four years, if you don't deliver when it counts. The right thing is that the gold medal goes to whoever skates best during the Olympics, regardless of what happened before the games.

 

[spikydurian]

"Fairness" is not about who put in the most effort. It doesn't matter if you skated nonstop in the last four years, if you don't deliver when it counts. The right thing is that the gold medal goes to whoever skates best during the Olympics, regardless of what happened before the games.

Indeed. This is a sport not a show where one manipulates to attract audience. Think about the skaters. They trained hard and for years to win medals irrespective whether they have been on the scene for a long time or a newbie. It wouldn't be a competition if the criteria is to spread the medals around first and not performance of the day. Whether is it an old timer medalist like Yuna or Mao or newbie like Julia, how they perform on that day itself should determine the outcome.

 

[Crystallize]

I absolutely adore Yuna, but don't get me wrong, I don't want her to win. And the reason for that is quite simple, I don't feel that it's fair that hasn't been participating in Grand Prix for 3 seasons. Some people say, oh, she doesn't have to do it and nothing would change. But, well, still...Others get tired a lot more during the season. Even if we compare Mao's number of competitions this year. Yuna = 3, Zagreb+Nationals+Olympics Mao=at least 6, Japan Open+GP+GP+GPF+Nationals+Olympics...

Think about it this way: Mao has had more time to get it together. Competing throughout the season is an advantage.

 

[pec0]

I agree that the best performance should be awarded by gold medal. If not, another big pee stain will be left in the Olympic history and stink forever, so to speak.

 

[LRK]

Indeed. This is a sport not a show where one manipulates to attract audience. Think about the skaters. They trained hard and for years to win medals irrespective whether they have been on the scene for a long time or a newbie. It wouldn't be a competition if the criteria is to spread the medals around first and not performance of the day. Whether is it an old timer medalist like Yuna or Mao or newbie like Julia, how they perform on that day itself should determine the outcome.

Indeed. It's the Olympics, not the Oscars. Where you give X an Oscar because "Oh, this is such a great role, and they'll probably never be nominated again!", or "Oh, they should have won for X performance, but didn't, so let's award them an Oscar this year instead!" And you still end up with... Peter O'Toole with zero (proper) Oscars. Probably because "Oh, he's sure to win for something else, so it's okay - let's give it to X instead!"

 

[bebevia]

I don't think Yuna had put less "effort" than anyone else out there who "competed" more. If the number of competitions justifies fairness, shouldn't it matter that Yuna was "unfairly" withdrawn from her chances to compete?

 

[Krislite]

This whole talk over fairness is just a quibble. Had she competed fully during the last quad and dominated accordingly, people would still scream "unfair" but for different reasons.