Will US skating gain interest out of the Olympics?

[CarneAsada]

Will US skating gain interest out of the Olympics?

Does it ever? It's only ever a few weeks of attention followed by a slide back into obscurity until the next Olympics.

 

[usethis2]

We will be in a better position to assess how much has changed in terms of interest in four years time. But I think the interest will always be there. I'm almost 39 and clearly remember the Harding/Kerrigan farce and the Salt Lake scandal. They didn't alter things much in the long term despite some heralding the death knell of the sport. Those that believe Kim is a victim of injustice might feel the sport is doomed but I doubt it.

Really? I've heard the opposite from many others. Though some of them think the decline isn't necessarily due to scandals but because our culture evolved away from FS. Think about the music, costumes, choreo, and even attitude that are "required" by FS elites. Look at the dancers on TV and compare them with ice dancers with their costumes.. FS is stuck in 1940 mentality and 1940 level of corruptions. (we still call women "ladies" in this sport)

 

[hurrah]

wiki:

In 1967 there were 100,000 people playing soccer in the US; by 1984, that number had grown to over 4 million.[11] Girls high school soccer experienced tremendous growth in playing numbers throughout the 1970s and 1980s—from 10,000 in 1976, to 41,000 in 1980, to 122,000 in 1990.[12]

The 1970s and 1980s saw increased popularity of the college game. Women's college soccer received a significant boost in 1972 with the passage of Title IX, which mandated equal funding for women's athletic programs, leading to colleges forming NCAA sanctioned women's varsity teams. As part of the United States' bid to host the 1994 World Cup, U.S. Soccer pledged to create a professional outdoor league. That effort culminated in the launch of Major League Soccer in 1996, which helped develop American players in a way that was not possible without a domestic league. Many of these players competed in the 2002 FIFA World Cup, where the United States reached the quarterfinals, its best result in the modern era.

The growth of the women's game during the 1990s helped increase overall interest in soccer in the United States. The number of women's college soccer teams increased from 318 in 1991 to 959 in 2009.[18] Both the 1999 and 2003 FIFA Women's World Cups were held in the United States. The crowd of over 90,000 at the Rose Bowl for the 1999 FIFA Women's World Cup Final remains the largest crowd in the world to witness any women's sporting event.[citation needed]

I searched but could not find a source to any document, but I remember reading that one of the major reasons for surge in women's soccer in 1990's in America was because mothers in the 1980's saw this very inspiring women's soccer match and decided they all wanted their daughters to take up soccer, and that's how women like Abby Wambach and Hope Solo got into soccer even though their mothers hadn't been.

So I think it's possible for figure skating to make a come back, but they can't sell the sports as Miss Universe on Blades. Rather, it has to convincingly tell the story that simple involvement in the sport alone is reason enough to get involved. And it has to have inspirational stories about someone perservering and achieving excellence against the odds, like Mao's story. Of course, unfortunately, since it's well-accepted in Japan that figure skating competitions are corrupt, I don't think there will be too many mothers who decide to get their children involved in figure skating in Japan. The understanding of figure skating world as corrupt only makes us love and admire Mao more, and dislike figure skating more. If Mao had striven in a figure skating world which was deemed to be fair and uncorrupt and had achieved excellence under fairness, I think we would have had mothers in Japan sending their children to figure skating lessons.

So you know, I think it would be the worst scenario possible if Gracie Gold with her fake blonde hair were to win something by getting an artificial boost from the judges, and then for her to make some faux paux comment in an interview, and for the soccer moms to hear about that, or perhaps come to know of her previous divisive comments which is already public knowledge and then also read about all the judging controversies that figure skating competitions are constantly mired in. I think the soccer moms all over the United States will think, 'I'll just have my daughter will stick with soccer practice.' It's a cheaper sport and provides better opportunities for their daughters to experience better life lessons. (If Gracie Gold were to win with clarity, that would be different of course. A fair win by an American is a win for American figure skating, and even if Gracie Gold were to reveal herself to be not so exemplary as a person, well, it would not be ideal, but it would only reflect on her, and not on figure skating.)

 

[CanadianSkaterGuy]

Of course! With Gold's gorgeous Hollywood looks and 4th place finish a la Mirai, how can interest not be at an all-time high!

 

[jcsamex]

Really? I've heard the opposite from many others. Though some of them think the decline isn't necessarily due to scandals but because our culture evolved away from FS. Think about the music, costumes, choreo, and even attitude that are "required" by FS elites. Look at the dancers on TV and compare them with ice dancers with their costumes.. FS is stuck in 1940 mentality and 1940 level of corruptions. (we still call women "ladies" in this sport)

I couln't agree more. That's why I like people like Johnny Weir or Ashley Wagner (even Gold's biatchy faces), real people. I'm done with the little miss perfect ice princess concept. The minute USFSA understands that figure skating will never be seen as a masculine-stereotype mainstream sport or a ladies' social behavior little school (since everybody knows very few guys are straight anyway and most of our top girls are tough and agressive competitors), that is accepting the spot they have in the sporting world, then they might have a change differenciating the sport and making it somewhat more interesting to the non fan eye.

 

[Icey]

This will die down and leave public consciousness, so "no" is the answer to your question.

 

[Enero]

I couln't agree more. That's why I like people like Johnny Weir or Ashley Wagner (even Gold's biatchy faces), real people. I'm done with the little miss perfect ice princess concept. The minute USFSA understands that figure skating will never be seen as a masculine-stereotype mainstream sport or a ladies' social behavior little school (since everybody knows very few guys are straight anyway and most of our top girls are tough and agressive competitors), that is accepting the spot they have in the sporting world, then they might have a change differenciating the sport and making it somewhat more interesting to the non fan eye.

I think this sport's bread and butter in the US is the women. I don't think we'll ever (at least not anytime soon) have a strong interest in the men unless a male skater comes along who is a man's man skater like a a Plushenko who does skate with masculinity and is dominating the sport. The US is becoming more progressive when it comes to gays, but IMO not so progressive that they want to see men skating as feminine as the women.

Ironically, I do agree with your point about the women though. I think people are more likely to be drawn towards imperfection eta. Ashley Wagner than perfection Gracie Gold. Though I think Gracie is a wonderful skater, she comes off as too ice princess-y and thus stuck up and unrelateable in her performances. Watching Ashley I felt like she was a real person. If a female skater came along who could bring that realness and dominate the sport like a Kim Yuna or Kwan then perhaps the US would start to pay attention again. As it stands now people only care every four years including myself.

 

[Mathman]

*whole post*

About soccer in the U.S., the interesting thing is that the sport has become more popular as a participatory activity, but not as a spectator sport. Also, it is the women's side of things that has grown. The Title IX boost to girls sports in schools was crucial, as the Wikipedia article mentions.

The USA is quite upside down compared to the rest of the world. Americans don't care a lick about men's soccer (the main reason being that we are terrible at it), while to everyone else the World Cup is Armageddon. In the late 1990s Mia Hamm and Michelle Kwan traded back and forth all of the "people's choice" awards for favorite female athlete.

 

[noskates]

I think with Gracie Gold and Jason Brown, figure skating in the US could take an upturn. There really hasn't been a "star" in recent years. Jeremy Abbott was not a good interview, Ashley Wagner doesn't have the warm fuzzies and comes across as somewhat arrogant and chilly, so there really hasn't been anyone that the public could latch on to and care about following their careers. I expect Davis & White will make the rounds of the talk shows, etc. What would really be a shot in the arm is if Stars on Ice or come such group could be more successful. I think people got tired of going to see the same skaters all the time without an influx of new talent.

I don't know if this is wishful thinking, but we do have some "stars" now that could turn things around.

I think the so-called "judging controversy" is being blown all out of proportion on this board and that the general public knows little or nothing about it and doesn't care.

 

[hurrah]

About soccer in the U.S., the interesting thing is that the sport has become more popular as a participatory activity, but not as a spectator sport. Also, it is the women's side of things that has grown. The Title IX boost to girls sports in schools was crucial, as the Wikipedia article mentions.

I don't see why ice skating can't become part of PE classes or why junior high schools and high schools can't start having figure skating clubs. I grew up in the States until I was 15 and I remember being taken to the local bowling alley on a school bus for bowling classes as part of the PE curriculum in high school.