The Olympic team event | Page 4 | Golden Skate

The Olympic team event

Skater Boy

Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 24, 2012
Yes you could get some interesting results like an Italian man who skates on the team and gets a team bronze whereas a skater like Takhashi, Hanyu, Asada, Suzuki or Kozuka get nothing in singles or team.
 
Joined
Jun 21, 2003
That may be true. But what are you trying to imply here and with your previous comment that national federations should not select athletes who refuse to participate in the Team event? That TV audience is the most important issue and that selection of athletes by their national federations should make TV ratings a selection criteria?

How do you reconcile this with your previous frequent pronouncements about USA Nationals, that the strict order of finish (mathmatically) should be the only determinant of Olympic/Worlds berths? What happens if USA Nationals finishers (pick any discipline) #1 and #2 decline to participate in the Team event? If you were the USFSA would you bounce them off the team in favor of #3 and #4? Send four burly men to their homes to make them an offer they can't refuse? You can't have it all ways...

IMO, compelling athletes to participate against their will in what is a poor format-constructed event that smacks of cheesefestism, is not a good idea.

I guess what I would like the best is this. The winners at nationals are offered the opportunity to represent the United States at the Olympic Games. This means to participate in all events for which the USFSA has qualified. The invited skater then has the option of saying, yes I will go to Sochi and compete in the team and individual events or, no, I will stay home.

As for the audience, we have to keep in mind the difference between the Olympic Games and the World Championship of Figure Skating. At Worlds we have an athletic competition to determine who are the best skaters in the world.

The Olympics, in contrast, is a huge multi-billion dollar media extravaganza and patriotism orgy, complete with fireworks, dancing bears and jugglers. Yes, it is very important to please the audience. When the Olympics stops attracting an audience it will go out of business.
 

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avatar credit: @miyan5605
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Feb 27, 2012
^ A billion people watched the opening ceremonies of the 2008 summer Olympics in Beijing, as the athletes entered the stadium carrying their county's flag. This is more than watched any of the athletic contests.

Perfect segue into a burning question that has been on my mind re the schedule for the team skating competition:
- Will many of the skaters in the team event have to consider sacrificing the honor of marching in the opening ceremony?

In Vancouver, the pairs SP was held two days after the opening ceremony, and I believe that some of the pairs skaters reluctantly decided not to march.
Participating would have required them to assemble several hours in advance in a holding area for all the athletes -- and to wait on their feet the entire time until the ceremony itself. (I assume that the drill would be much the same in Sochi.)

I hate to think that even more of the Sochi skaters will face the tough choice between conserving their energy vs. living out what surely has been part of their Olympic dream. :bang: In Sochi, the opening ceremony will be on Fri Feb 7.

On Sat Feb 8, the team skating events are:
- SD
- Ladies SP
- Pairs FS​

On Sun Feb 9, the team skating events are:
- Men's FS
- Ladies FS
- FD​
 

Blades of Passion

Skating is Art, if you let it be
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Joined
Sep 14, 2008
Country
France
Why do any of the sports events start before the opening ceremony? That makes no sense.

And why would Plushenko not be able to carry a flag the day after he skates a SP? That makes even less sense.
 

LRK

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 13, 2012
Don't know. These are the featured articles, however:

http://www.team-russia2014.ru/article/13103.html

"This is the most pragmatic component. When selecting a standard-bearer, it is important to focus on competition schedule so as not to bring down the well-planned liner to start. There is nothing more urgent than a decent performance in the Olympic competition. To achieve this, we did not have to break the system of training - even for the opening and closing ceremonies of the Olympic Games. If someone starts the day before or the very next day after the opening - as much as possible against him talk about ceremonies, flags and everything else? Still, athletes four years and some life, preparing for the main event in his career - and, believe me, did not march with the flag. So, we will do everything in accordance with the aforementioned traditional criteria."

(via Googletranslate)

http://www.team-russia2014.ru/article/13108.html
 

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avatar credit: @miyan5605
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... And why would Plushenko not be able to carry a flag the day after he skates a SP? That makes even less sense.

I think the point re Plushenko is that two days after the opening ceremony, he would have to compete in the men's FS for the team event.
And if he were the flagbearer for Russia, the opening ceremony would be doubly exhausting for him. Aside from enduring the toll on the legs of all athletes who march in the ceremony, the flagbearers must hold the heavy flags upright for a loooooong time. (Again, it's not the marching itself that is exhausting for the legs of the athletes -- it's the multiple hours of waiting on their feet in the holding area. Assembling so far in advance is logistically unavoidable.)

But it would be a shame if Plushenko had to sacrifice the extreme honor of serving as flagbearer for the host country.
 

drivingmissdaisy

Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 17, 2010
I think all that standing, in addition to the rigor of practices and performances, would be very hard on Plushenko's injured back.
 

Blades of Passion

Skating is Art, if you let it be
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Okay, that's fair. I was assuming he'd just have to hold the flag while walking from the entrance gate to wherever Russia is assigned in the arena. Apparently chairs and trading the flag off between different people are impossible concepts?
 

rvi5

On the Ice
Joined
Apr 22, 2010
...I hate to think that even more of the Sochi skaters will face the tough choice between conserving their energy vs. living out what surely has been part of their Olympic dream. :bang: In Sochi, the opening ceremony will be on Fri Feb 7.

On Sat Feb 8, the team skating events are:
- SD
- Ladies SP
- Pairs FS​

On Sun Feb 9, the team skating events are:
- Men's FS
- Ladies FS
- FD​

I guess W/P may be somewhat pleased V/M will skate the team events. After missing the Vancouver Olympics by a fraction of a point, I'm sure they would want to experience everything in their first Olympics. Not so lucky for many others on the Canadian team. Except for Chan and V/M, everyone is also a newbie at the Olympics.
 
Joined
Jun 21, 2003
Why do any of the sports events start before the opening ceremony? That makes no sense.

Scheduling. You have to cram everything in somehow.

In the London Summer Games, Women's soccer started two days before the opening ceremonies (6 matches). men's soccer one day before (8 matches), and the archers had to get up at four o'clock in the morning to get in the first rounds for men and women before the opening ceremonies began.
 

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avatar credit: @miyan5605
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Okay, that's fair. I was assuming he'd just have to hold the flag while walking from the entrance gate to wherever Russia is assigned in the arena. Apparently chairs and trading the flag off between different people are impossible concepts?

As discussed above, the flagbearers (such as Plushenko, potentially) would be just drops in the bucket regarding the fatigue issue of the opening ceremony -- even for well-conditioned athletes.

2566 athletes participated in the Vancouver Games. Presumably even more will compete in Sochi.
They would need a LOT ;) of chairs in the holding area, where all the athletes -- not only the flagbearers -- must wait for hours. The logistics no doubt are mind-boggling. The security procedures alone would be very time-consuming.

By my arithmetic, a minimum of approx. 45 different skaters will compete in the team events in the two days following the opening ceremony. (The maximum is approx. 60.)
I'm very sad to think that so many skaters might miss the opening ceremony in order to be at their best when they compete in the team events. :cry: :frown:
 

Blades of Passion

Skating is Art, if you let it be
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France
Well I wouldn't give chairs to everyone, just the flag bearers for each country. Everyone else could sit on the ground as they feel like. That's what I would do, anyway. Nobody is going to sue you for sitting.

And, yeah, it's really sad that several events start before the opening ceremony. Where's the spirit of togetherness at?
 

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avatar credit: @miyan5605
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I think that skaters should go to Sochi prepared to skate for their country. Not to lay up in bed for two weeks saying, "Oh, I need rest," and waiting for the maid to come in and fluff the pillows.

You have given me another great segue, MM. Cue this mostly off-topic video (one of my favorites from Vancouver):

On The Road - Patrick Chan's Bedroom
PChiddy
Uploaded on Mar 2, 2010
Patrick Chan gives us a private tour of his bedroom before performing at the 2010 Vancouver Olympic games.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kiAeea25Now (2:35 in length)​

Among the adorable/interesting details are that Chan and Davison have left their beds unmade (no crime, if you ask me ;)) -- whereas Moir's looks as tidy as can be.

(Plus on the wall around his bed, Moir has displayed an orderly row of fan mail, which appears to be inspirational letters from a classroom of kids who all have written on identical sheets of patterned paper. Too cute. :))
 

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avatar credit: @miyan5605
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Feb 27, 2012
Business before pleasure.

But surely you have a heart, Mathman. (If not, you had me fooled. ;)) And even if you don't, to put together other opinions of yours:
Team figure skating (pairs SP and men's SP) will have been televised the night before the opening ceremony.
Wouldn't it be cool -- and good for the sport of figure skating -- for some of its best and brightest young women and men (who hopefully by then would look somewhat familiar) to be seen proudly representing their countries in the opening ceremony?
It would bring tears to my eyes to see Chan, et al., smiling and waving as they march with their teammates from all sports. :yes:
 

rvi5

On the Ice
Joined
Apr 22, 2010
...Wouldn't it be cool -- and good for the sport of figure skating -- for some of its best and brightest young women and men (who hopefully by then would look somewhat familiar) to be seen proudly representing their countries in the opening ceremony?
It would bring tears to my eyes to see Chan, et al., smiling and waving as they march with their teammates from all sports. :yes:

With all this talk of Olympic opening ceremonies, I decided to re-watch the Vancouver opening ceremonies (which I have on the CTV blueray dvd set). There must have been a camera on the track, since you can see team Canada march by. At one point, Joannie made an effort to cross up close directly in front of the camera. She was smiling, waving into the camera with both hands, and happy. It was sad to think how all that was about to change. :(
Didn"t recognize any other skaters that may have been marching.
 

sk8hrd

Rinkside
Joined
Jan 22, 2011
golden411;800500...Wouldn't it be cool -- and good for the sport of figure skating -- for some of its best and brightest young women and men (who hopefully by then would look somewhat familiar) to be seen proudly representing their countries in the opening ceremony? It would bring tears to my eyes to see Chan said:
et al[/I]., smiling and waving as they march with their teamates from all sports. :yes:

I have been told by athletes who have been part of Olympic opening ceremonies that they have been up to 9 hours on their feet with very little food and water. That is why in the past the pairs skaters and others who compete on the first couple of days will usually opt out of the opening ceremony. I think a lot of skaters who are in the team event will probably skip the opening ceremony. Sad for them as i always thought when i was younger that all the athletes participated in the opening ceremonies. I have been told that it's the closing ceremonies that are the athletes real celebration.
 

Buttercup

Record Breaker
Joined
Mar 25, 2008
With all this talk of Olympic opening ceremonies, I decided to re-watch the Vancouver opening ceremonies (which I have on the CTV blueray dvd set). There must have been a camera on the track, since you can see team Canada march by. At one point, Joannie made an effort to cross up close directly in front of the camera. She was smiling, waving into the camera with both hands, and happy. It was sad to think how all that was about to change. :(
Didn"t recognize any other skaters that may have been marching.
There were pictures in which you could see V/M with Zoueva (Shpilband walked in with D/W and Team USA). Non-Canadian skaters who were easy to spot: Cheltzie Lee was near the front of the Australian team, with a jacket at least 4 sizes too big; Belgian flagbearer Kevin van der Perren; Stefan Lindemann in the front row for Germany; Allison Reed and Otar Japaridze with the Georgian team (that got a standing ovation); Stacy Kemp and David King from GB; even as part of a pretty good sized French team, you can see Isabel Delobel, Olivier Schoenfelder and Florent Amodio (the latter jumping up and down next to Schoenfelder); there's also Hungarian skaters Nora Hoffman, Maxim Zavozin and Julia Sebestyen (who was chosen to be the flagbearer in her fourth Olympics); Israeli flagbearer Alexandra Zaretski and brother Roman; Swiss flagbearer Stephane Lambiel (who even did a little spin ;)); and Turkey's Tugba Karademir got some closeups.

Presumably, since the Winter Olympics are on a much smaller scale, there isn't as much waiting around during the opening ceremony.

I think it's pretty obvious that the team event should have been at the end, as a cherry on top like the end of season WTT. But I think I read on IN that NBC or whichever US network is showing it wanted the ladies event last.
 

bigsisjiejie

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Joined
Nov 22, 2009
But I think I read on IN that NBC or whichever US network is showing it wanted the ladies event last.

Two issues converging to form the schedule. First, Speedy Cinquanta decided that the team event should be first since he fretted that if it was last, the athletes would take it less seriously once the individual discipline events were over. By putting it first, (his) perception is that there is more leverage over athletes and federations to make the best compete. Second, scheduling of the Olympic dates including the Ceremonies, plus the venue scheduling for the Iceberg Skating Palace, was completed long before the Team Event was added to the roster. The facility is being shared with Short Track, and with the required scheduling for event sessions, for ice switchover, and for getting the public in/out of the venues per session, there just wasn't any time left in the original schedule for adding the Team event. With the venue ice time allotted for figure skating, Speedy could have forced a reassignment and put the team event last but this would have involved pushing the start of at least two of the individual disciplines before the Opening Ceremonies. That wouldn't have gone over well with the IOC, Sochi organizers, nor any of the international media covering the Olympics (not just NBC).

NBC's preference would be that whatever the day, premier event ladies free skate be shown at a time that's live for evening prime time in the eastern USA. Since this event in Sochi is scheduled for 19:00 local time in Russia (prime time for Moscow/western Russia), it will occur live at 10:00 on a weekday morning in the Eastern USA.....hardly optimum from NBC's point of view. So I think your implication that a US TV network had much control over the schedule, does not hold up to scrutiny.
 
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