The Leg Wrap | Page 2 | Golden Skate

The Leg Wrap

Joesitz said:
The axel is taken from a Basque folk dance (Saute Basque, for you balletomanes) where the free foot is properly placed near the ankle of the landing leg. Depending on the character of the music the free leg can be higher, more turned out at the knee, or remain where it is while the dancer is facing the audience in a procenium setting. But that's Dance, and Dance is a freer form of 'art' than competitive figure skating.
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Wow, you never know what you will learn by reading Golden Skate. :)

Axel Paulsen must have been a man of many interests. He was a champion speed skater, who set the record of 25 miles in 1 hour and 33 minutes in the 1880s. He did his first "Axel jump" (on speed skates) in 1882.
 
Mathman said:
Wow, you never know what you will learn by reading Golden Skate. :)

Axel Paulsen must have been a man of many interests. He was a champion speed skater, who set the record of 25 miles in 1 hour and 33 minutes in the 1880s. He did his first "Axel jump" (on speed skates) in 1882.
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You are full of interesting facts yourself, I have learned a lot since I started reading this forum ..... thanks
 
I just checked out her 2007 lp or sp on youtube and the wrap is much worse than I remembered.

I seem to recall that in the past she crossed the landing leg with the ankle of the free leg, just higher than usual as Midori Ito did (technically not a wrap) but in this video she was definitely crossing the knees and it was .... pretty unattractive.
 
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Mafke said:
I just checked out her 2007 lp or sp on youtube and the wrap is much worse than I remembered.

I seem to recall that in the past she crossed the landing leg with the ankle of the free leg, just higher than usual as Midori Ito did (technically not a wrap) but in this video she was definitely crossing the knees and it was .... pretty unattractive.
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IMO, that will ruin her professonal career,but there is no law against the wrap in the figure skating judging.

Joe
 
I'm going to say what I've said before when this topic comes up -- IMHO, the leg wrap is improper technique and by the time a skater gets to the World level, this should have been corrected long ago. I don't care if the leg wrap enables a lady to do a quintuple, it, to me, is just as objectionable as a "flutz".

That being said -- I never actually noticed Midori's leg wrap until it came up on this board a couple of years ago. This was no doubt in part to her quick, fast jumping style. Yukari's is more noticeable, but it's not bad enough to make me cringe every time she takes off, like with Silvia Fontana. Regardless of how subtle it is, however, I still feel it's a technique problem.
 
When I saw her wrap first, it was very much disturbing and her jumps made me really nervous:laugh: But I got accustumed to it and now I don't care it that much. I even think it as her signiture movement.:biggrin:

I doubt it is intentional because I read on the web somewhere that she is working on it but it appears when she gets nervous. Maybe her muscle gets tensed and it brings those wraps.....? Anyway that is what I want to believe at least.

IMO as Mizu_iro already mentioned above, her wrap is already reflected in the GOE as zero sum. It seems like she seldom gets positive GOE for her wrapped jumps.
 
Would this adversely affect a pairs team if one partner was a wrapper and the other did not? They'd look out of sync?
 
Tinymavy15 said:
why? She cant double foot... so why the problem?
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I suppose it depends in part on one's personal sense of aesthetics. Personally, that picture alone -- never mind seeing the entire jump from takeoff to landing -- makes me grind my teeth. Every time I see someone with a leg wrap that blatant take off, I'm always surprised when she actually lands the thing cleanly -- to me, it just doesn't inspire a lot of confidence. (I don't find Nakano's to be THAT blatant, so it doesn't bother me as much as it did with Fontana.)
 
The Wrap

Have been watching and keeping track of skating for years. The wrap is nothing new. It is, however, somelthing which is distracting and plain ugly. Any skater who does it would never get my vote. When I see a skater doing this at a very high level I always wonder where the heck the coach has been all the years. Midori was able to get by with it because she was so fast and so good technically in spite of the wrap. Midori was not the most beautiful skater to watch and neither is any other skater who has the unfortunate habit of wrapping. You hear Peggy and Dick talking about it because it is plain ugly to watch and detracts from an otherwise very good program.
 
I find leg wrap to be a problem only if it contributes to or masks underrotation.

It might lower the aesthetic value of the jump in the air, but for a jump that is rotated and has other good qualities I don't think a wrap would preclude the jump receiving positive GOE or at least base value.
 
The wrap is a not a big deal. It makes me less enthusiastic to give positive GOE for the jump but it's not something that warrants a deduction in and of itself. Yukari is funny with how she wraps too:

Lutz, Flip, Loop - wrap

Axel, Salchow, Toeloop - no wrap

Unique. She's a great skater and I really want to see her pull in a medal at Worlds.
 
While the ISU judging system is very concerned about the landing of jumps, and somewhat concerned abou the, take-off in jumps, there does not seem to be any concern about leg wrap.

It would seem plausible to me that since the GoEs for jumps are scored (I believe) on posture, Boitano-like arm, Carriere-like both arms as well as speed and flow of the whole jump that the leg wrap would be included. It's not, and it's legal.

Joe
 
gkelly said:
I find leg wrap to be a problem only if it contributes to or masks underrotation.
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8 times out of 10 a skater who wraps is underrotating their jumps. It's just too hard to get all the rotations in without a tight air position. The wrap also makes it harder to see the ur because the focus is on the wrapped leg other than the landing leg.
And besides that it look funny.
 
I think I'm the only one who likes the wrap. It makes the rotation look so much harder and faster. Of course I also like the closed jump. But either one is fine with me as long as the jump is completed and the landing skate is in the correct position
 
Yukari's wrap used to be distracting to me, but I hardly notice it anymore. I think she's a lovely skaters besides, and I'd rather watch her with a wrap than a lot of other skaters without one.
 
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