It's time to draw the curtains on my time with figure skating. Anyone joining me?

[Ambivalent]

It's time to draw the curtains on my time with figure skating. Anyone joining me?

Hi everyone,

I have been a fan of figure skating since 2006 when I saw Arakawa win the OGM with a fantastic skate. My favourite soon became none other than Kim Yu-Na who took my breath away at 2009 Worlds with her Danse Macabre and was later awarded the OGM with two great programs. But as time has gone by, my interest has started to wane because what I felt or perceived as unfair judging has interfered with my love of the sport.

How do I continue to love a sport where...

• It's acceptable for judges previously suspended to be allowed back to re-judge an event as big as the Olympics?
  
• It's easier than ever to collude with one another so as to pre-determine outcomes, especially as there is anonymous judging?
  
• Where there are no possible avenues of appeal or investigation of results that are deemed to be suspicious?
  
• Where artistry, grace and flow don't count as much as one's technical abilities? Where someone like Mao receives third place for a monumentally beautiful free skate in Sochi? In what universe should her components and artistry scored <70?
  
• Where as a layfan I can hardly understand the scoring system let alone its nuances?
  
• Where it's OK to mark early skaters down?
  
• Where Carolina, Mao and Yu-Na will not skate competitively after this season? Where their last Olympic skates were met with not raucous ovation but instead with a hostile crowd?
  
• Where poor Adelina's victory is now going to be forever tainted by accusations of unwarranted homeground inflation? The poor girl skates her heart out and her win is forever tarnished by this controversy.
  

It was very apparent to me, being someone with little technical knowledge of this sport, but in hearing the commentary from Katarina Witt, Kurt Browning, Robin Cousins and Dick Button, that something had gone wrong. I respect their opinions very much, so it is difficult for me to argue otherwise.

This is not about Yu-Na or Carolina not winning the gold. This is about a sport where I do not see fair judging for all competitors who should begin each competition on equal footing. I think I am going to let go of this sport. I cannot continue to support it any longer. It makes me so sad.

 

[karne]

Yes it is. You're basically throwing a temper tantrum because Sotnikova played to her strengths and won.

Goodbye, figure skating won't miss you.

 

[Dots]

Hi everyone,

I have been a fan of figure skating since 2006 when I saw Arakawa win the OGM with a fantastic skate. My favourite soon became none other than Kim Yu-Na who took my breath away at 2009 Worlds with her Danse Macabre and was later awarded the OGM with two great programs. But as time has gone by, my interest has started to wane because what I felt or perceived as unfair judging has interfered with my love of the sport.

A four triple program took your breath away? Give me Kwan any day!

 

[Ambivalent]

Yes it is. You're basically throwing a temper tantrum because Sotnikova played to her strengths and won.

Goodbye, figure skating won't miss you.

I have no problems with Sotnikova. I have problems only with the judging. If some of the judges could explain why that free skate had a better components than Carolina and Mao, maybe I would understand. As it stands, her TES should have been 1st without doubt.

 

[Ambivalent]

A four triple program took your breath away? Give me Kwan any day!

Kwan is my favourite skater of all time. I actually discovered her programs after learning she was Yu-Na's hero. Since then I've watched 2004 Nationals LP about a billion times.

Yu-Na's Danse Macabre was a short program, so yes there were three triples.

 

[thomas0914]

Yes it is. You're basically throwing a temper tantrum because Sotnikova played to her strengths and won.

Goodbye, figure skating won't miss you.

:disapp:you sound like the one with temper, i wonder why?

 

[volk]

:disapp:you sound like the one with temper, i wonder why?

I wonder how many multiple account users we have now? Anyway, controversy has always been part of the sport and won't go away. Learn to deal with it.

 

[vtgal]

Hi everyone,

I have been a fan of figure skating since 2006 when I saw Arakawa win the OGM with a fantastic skate. My favourite soon became none other than Kim Yu-Na who took my breath away at 2009 Worlds with her Danse Macabre and was later awarded the OGM with two great programs. But as time has gone by, my interest has started to wane because what I felt or perceived as unfair judging has interfered with my love of the sport.

How do I continue to love a sport where...

• It's acceptable for judges previously suspended to be allowed back to re-judge an event as big as the Olympics?
  
• It's easier than ever to collude with one another so as to pre-determine outcomes, especially as there is anonymous judging?
  
• Where there are no possible avenues of appeal or investigation of results that are deemed to be suspicious?
  
• Where artistry, grace and flow don't count as much as one's technical abilities? Where someone like Mao receives third place for a monumentally beautiful free skate in Sochi? In what universe should her components and artistry scored <70?
  
• Where as a layfan I can hardly understand the scoring system let alone its nuances?
  
• Where it's OK to mark early skaters down?
  
• Where Carolina, Mao and Yu-Na will not skate competitively after this season? Where their last Olympic skates were met with not raucous ovation but instead with a hostile crowd?
  
• Where poor Adelina's victory is now going to be forever tainted by accusations of unwarranted homeground inflation? The poor girl skates her heart out and her win is forever tarnished by this controversy.
  

It was very apparent to me, being someone with little technical knowledge of this sport, but in hearing the commentary from Katarina Witt, Kurt Browning, Robin Cousins and Dick Button, that something had gone wrong. I respect their opinions very much, so it is difficult for me to argue otherwise.

This is not about Yu-Na or Carolina not winning the gold. This is about a sport where I do not see fair judging for all competitors who should begin each competition on equal footing. I think I am going to let go of this sport. I cannot continue to support it any longer. It makes me so sad.

Such good points, Ambivalent. I'm totally with you. In particular -- what is the deal with "holding down" skaters who skate earlier in order to leave room for those who come later? This made sense (sort of) under the 6.0 and ordinals system, but under CoP it really shouldn't matter at all WHEN a skater skates but HOW they skate. In other judged sports at this Olympics, you didn't see earlier athletes being held down to make room for later athletes. It's really hard to be a figure skating fan when this kind of crap occurs, and it would be one thing if it only happened here but it doesn't just happen here. Such a bummer. And I do feel bad for Sotnikova because it isn't her fault - she should not be blamed for the messed up judging.

 

[Ambivalent]

I disagree in that I am not the biggest Mao or Carolina supporter but definitely believe they could have (should have) scored above my favourite Yu-Na. That's all.

 

[sky_fly20]

Yes it is. You're basically throwing a temper tantrum because Sotnikova played to her strengths and won.

Goodbye, figure skating won't miss you.

I for one am glad the veterans are retiring, bring in the new blood
looking forward to Gracie, Julia, Elena, Polina, Adelina maybe Zijun and Tuk too

 

[Tonichelle]

There was a mass exodus when the last Kween left the sport. Her fans that were adamant they were fans of the sport, not a particular skater, came up with excuses as to why they "didn't love the sport" anymore too. Just admit that without your favorite you aren't interested. There's nothing wrong with that.

 

[BounceAround]

Please don't leave! Results are not the end all be all of skating, and I think many skaters themselves realize this . It's so hard to find people who love the sport, and if you still do, then you have something to contribute to this community.

Sorry if I sound corny, haha.

P.S. I am a big fan of Arakawa too. You can still watch and discuss videos of her (and Yuna's) past performances!

 

[jenaj]

A four triple program took your breath away? Give me Kwan any day!

Shizuka did five triples at Torino. Or if you were referring to Danse Macabre, Yuna did three (short program).

 

[vtgal]

Hey, guess what Bluebonnet and Karne -- a fair result is a fair result regardless of who wins. This wasn't a fair result in many, many experts' minds. Why would you want to have an Olympic medalist of any color who gets a victory under this kind of cloud? It's not fair to them. Figure skating, to keep its fans - and financial support - needs to fix the very clear problems that still exist in judging even under CoP. Figure skating WILL miss all the fans who leave as a result of this latest controversy. Don't you think it does already? Don't you remember the days when the skating shows were so popular and opened up lots of opportunities to top amateurs once they retired? Who can have a post amateur skating career nowadays like Scott Hamilton, Brian Boitano, Katerina Witt, Kristi Yamaguchi? Answer -- no one. Why? Lots of reasons, but one is the complexity and lack of transparency of the CoP and another is the crap judging that happens from time to time as it did in Sochi.

 

[Ambivalent]

There was a mass exodus when the last Kween left the sport. Her fans that were adamant they were fans of the sport, not a particular skater, came up with excuses as to why they "didn't love the sport" anymore too. Just admit that without your favorite you aren't interested. There's nothing wrong with that.

Sorry Tonichelle, but you're wrong on this one. In the chance I may be impressed with a figure skater in the future, it is unlikely I will follow them as much as my current favourites (which include Kim, Mao, Carolina, Akiko, Wagner, Gold, the list goes on) I don't think I will be interested because I know that the scoring will be such that I won't understand.

Furthermore, I have said before that if Sochi was fairly judged and Yu-Na did the best she could and ended up out of the podium, I would have been happy just to see her skate for the last time because it would have meant that the other skaters outskater her. As it stands, I don't think this happened which is why it's hard to continue supporting a sport where I must accept that the judging is politically driven.

 

[Ven]

There was a mass exodus when the last Kween left the sport. Her fans that were adamant they were fans of the sport, not a particular skater, came up with excuses as to why they "didn't love the sport" anymore too. Just admit that without your favorite you aren't interested. There's nothing wrong with that.

While that will undoubtedly be true in some cases, that's a pretty out of touch blanket statement overall. Undoubtedly there will be many people who reject figure skating after this scandal?

At the start of the olympics, I got some men on another forum interested in figure skating for the first time. They said they could normally care less, but the stories I told about the ladies and the videos of their best skates, they thought it was cool and some of them actually stopped to watch figure skating videos for 30 minutes or an hour or whatever.

Now after this scandal, all anyone has to say is

lol figure skating

lol joke "sport"

etc.

 

[Tonichelle]

I didn't really fangirl about any of the top three at these games, but I also don't have my panties in a wad about it. I think the outcome was right.

 

[Ambivalent]

I didn't really fangirl about any of the top three at these games, but I also don't have my panties in a wad about it. I think the outcome was right.

Right or wrong, the competition in Sochi just reiterated the fact that in order to be a fan of this sport is to accept that judging is politically driven/motivated. As it stands, I can't do this anymore... I can't continue to poor my efforts into supporting skaters who I know may never achieve their dreams because of opaque judging.

 

[Ven]

I didn't really fangirl about any of the top three at these games, but I also don't have my panties in a wad about it. I think the outcome was right.

Sotnikova scores 60, 60, 60, 60 over and over again in PCS, then she's named to the home Olympic team, and she goes to 69 and almost 75 just like that?

She botches a jump, has junior choreo, one less element, and scores within 0.11 of world record? Sotnikova of all people?

And then the "experts" like Hamilton go on tv and blatantly lie in order to cover up the scandal by reducing everything down to a 7 vs. 6 triple LP debate? The same guy who said Evan deserved 2010 because of higher PCS and GOE? These people just make up whatever they want and lie to the public and then laugh about it in order to keep predetermined places?

How can anyone who cares about figure skating not be pissed off about the judging results? Or at least be able to point by point defend why they think the marks are correct?

 

[Ambivalent]

Let's not turn this into a Yu-Na Adelina thing because if I am correct, I think all girls were robbed of a fairly judged event. This is actually not about Yu-Na or Carolina or whoever. This is about no longer supporting a sport where skaters are not scored mainly on merit. I say "mainly" because I recognise FS is a subjective sport, but this shouldn't mean propping up or holding down skaters.