The Olympic team event

I think there is a good chance that the team event will eventually come to overshadow the individuals in terms of viewer interest in the U.S., as it has in gymnastics.

Buttercup said:

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.

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Unfortunately, the DVD version was heavily edited. Each country only received about 5 seconds of marching ie. basically just the announcement of the country as they began to enter the stadium (except for the few extra seconds Canada received with the on track camera shots in which Joannie appeared). I assume the rest of the Canadian skaters must have been somewhere near the inside of the track. At least that is the direction from which Joannie suddenly appeared when she stepped in front of the camera. I will need to check again for some of the people you mentioned. Although the person carrying the country name sign tends to block the view of the athletes behind.

bigsisjiejie said:

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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Actually, it wasn't my "implication"; it's what David Dore said at the ISU press conference at 2013 Worlds, as reported by Ice Network. I am inclined to believe that Dore's claim will hold up to scrutiny.

rvi5 said:

Unfortunately, the DVD version was heavily edited. Each country only received about 5 seconds of marching ie. basically just the announcement of the country as they began to enter the stadium (except for the few extra seconds Canada received with the on track camera shots in which Joannie appeared). I assume the rest of the Canadian skaters must have been somewhere near the inside of the track. At least that is the direction from which Joannie suddenly appeared when she stepped in front of the camera. I will need to check again for some of the people you mentioned. Although the person carrying the country name sign tends to block the view of the athletes behind.

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Here you go

Buttercup said:

Actually, it wasn't my "implication"; it's what David Dore said at the ISU press conference at 2013 Worlds, as reported by Ice Network. I am inclined to believe that Dore's claim will hold up to scrutiny.

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David Dore!?! He's always had his own agenda. If he told me it was raining, I'd go to the window and check for myself. But you go ahead and believe what you want. I guess it didn't occur to you that if NBC wanted to end its coverage of figure skating with the ladies FS event, they would always have the option of not covering any team event that happened to be scheduled later. Whatever clout NBC had to dictate schedules high-handedly, decreased pretty rapidly after the 2008 Summer Olympics.

sk8hrd said:

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.

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Thank you for your post, sk8hrd.

BladesOfPassion:
If you still are reading this thread, sk8hrd's post describes the waiting conditions more fully than I did.

Yes, I agree that it always is a bummer that certain athletes (from other sports, as well as skating) have to sacrifice the opening ceremony.
And I remain sad (no matter what Mathman says ) that the team skating schedule prob. increases the number of skaters who are affected.
I hope that they will plan to stay to enjoy the closing ceremony -- or if they leave Sochi in between, that they will return for the closing ceremony.


FWIW, in Sasha Cohen's reddit AMA, I asked her whether she had any preference for marching in the opening ceremony vs. the closing (because the issue of the physical drain caused by the opening was on my mind, although I did not mention it).
Cohen's answer -- only her own opinion, which would not apply to everyone:

And as I said above, when most Olympians were little kids only fantasizing about the distant goal of competing in the Games, I bet that their dreams included specific visions of marching in the opening ceremony. It's such an iconic moment for those who are able to participate.
(The closing ceremony is a great moment too, in a different way.)

Buttercup said:

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

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Well, if the 9-hour ordeal was at a Summer Games, one can imagine that the waiting at the Winter Games before the opening ceremony is still on the order of multiple hours.

What we do know is that the waiting in Vancouver was long enough that some of the pairs skaters did not participate in the opening ceremony.
And I remember that Virtue/Moir said (I'm paraphrasing) that they felt very lucky that the dance schedule allowed them to march in the opening ceremony. They said in so many words (I'm still paraphrasing) that if they had been pairs skaters, they would have needed to miss it.

The athletes marching in is the best part of the ceremony and it's really unfortunate when scheduling issues make that impossible, or at least very difficult.

bigsisjiejie said:

David Dore!?! He's always had his own agenda. If he told me it was raining, I'd go to the window and check for myself. But you go ahead and believe what you want. I guess it didn't occur to you that if NBC wanted to end its coverage of figure skating with the ladies FS event, they would always have the option of not covering any team event that happened to be scheduled later.

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It must suck to tell someone that they'd made something up only to be confronted with an actual source, doesn't it?

Of course David Dore has an agenda. However, this would be an easily verifiable statement so telling outright lies would be kind of pointless, and I fail to see how it's in the interest of Dore or the ISU to make such a false claim.

I'm at your suggestion that NBC would consider not showing the team event as a solution to scheduling issues. I am sure that, em, polite suggestions were made regarding scheduling by some of the bigger rights holders.

That is very interesting about what television networks want. To me, it should be the opposite. You start off with a bang, not a whimper. The viewer just can't wait for the Olympics to start, so he turns on the TV a day early just for some crumbs. And look! it's a brand new competition, the first ever team figure skating event!

Mathman said:

I think there is a good chance that the team event will eventually come to overshadow the individuals in terms of viewer interest in the U.S., as it has in gymnastics.

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I do wonder about this. It may take a little while for the thinking to change but it could turn into quite the spectacle in future years. Right now it feels like the skaters are being coerced into participating (or fearing that the team event could somehow interfere with stamina or focus on the individual event), but maybe down the line they'll all be fighting for spots in the team event in addition to their individual ones.

Mathman said:

That is very interesting about what television networks want. To me, it should be the opposite. You start off with a bang, not a whimper. The viewer just can't wait for the Olympics to start, so he turns on the TV a day early just for some crumbs. And look! it's a brand new competition, the first ever team figure skating event!

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That would be my thinking, too.

When the WTT was first introduced, many of the skaters weren't keen on it however afterwards they said they enjoyed it and it seems now that the skaters enjoy it. It's a new event so no one knows what to expect. I'm a bit surprised they're starting it before the opening ceremonies.

Mathman said:

That is very interesting about what television networks want. To me, it should be the opposite. You start off with a bang, not a whimper. The viewer just can't wait for the Olympics to start, so he turns on the TV a day early just for some crumbs. And look! it's a brand new competition, the first ever team figure skating event!

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coppertop1 said:

That would be my thinking, too.

When the WTT was first introduced, many of the skaters weren't keen on it however afterwards they said they enjoyed it and it seems now that the skaters enjoy it. It's a new event so no one knows what to expect. I'm a bit surprised they're starting it before the opening ceremonies.

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I agree that the skaters really do enjoy the camaraderie of the WTT. (They have so many mutual friendships anyway, plus WTT gives them an opportunity to earn a medal together. )

BTW, Lynn Rutherford had tweeted a while back that the Sochi team event will have ten separate Kiss and Cry areas -- so the idea evidently is for teammates to serve as cheerleaders the same way they do at WTT.
The WTT spirit can be infectious, IMHO, and I agree with Mathman that the team skating could do a lot to get more attention for the sport of figure skating in general.

Whether the Olympians will go as far as they do at WTT -- with silly dances, crazy hats, etc. -- remains to be seen.
In the WTT setting, many skaters seem to embrace "making fools of themselves" ( I say that in a light-hearted, affectionate way) ... but then again, Olympic medals have not been at stake. (Digression: It occurs to me now that for the person who was asking in another thread which skaters fit my description of "life of the party," I should have referred her/him to some WTT videos.)

The more the Sochi team skaters/cheerleaders ham it up with props and/or antics, the more the TV cameras will eat it right up -- esp. on the first night, before the Games officially have opened.

golden411 said:

I agree that the skaters really do enjoy the camaraderie of the WTT. (They have so many mutual friendships anyway, plus WTT gives them an opportunity to earn a medal together. )

BTW, Lynn Rutherford had tweeted a while back that the Sochi team event will have ten separate Kiss and Cry areas -- so the idea evidently is for teammates to serve as cheerleaders the same way they do at WTT.
The WTT spirit can be infectious, IMHO, and I agree with Mathman that the team skating could do a lot to get more attention for the sport of figure skating in general.

Whether the Olympians will go as far as they do at WTT -- with silly dances, crazy hats, etc. -- remains to be seen.
In the WTT setting, many skaters seem to embrace "making fools of themselves" ( I say that in a light-hearted, affectionate way) ... but then again, Olympic medals have not been at stake. (Digression: It occurs to me now that for the person who was asking in another thread which skaters fit my description of "life of the party," I should have referred her/him to some WTT videos.)

The more the Sochi team skater/cheerleaders ham it up with props and/or antics, the more the TV cameras will eat it right up -- esp. on the first night, before the Games officially have opened.

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Great points. I can see how audiences who don't follow skating closely could really warm up to new faces by seeing them being supportive and cheering on teammates during the team event. And that footage would probably be played during the individual event broadcasts too, in those fluff bits.

^ I don't know about that. Viewers want to see an athletic competition, not slapstick.

Yes, athletics first. But back when I wasn't following skating very closely I always pulled a little more for the ones whose stories got showcased. People like stories, they relate to them.

Mathman said:

^ I don't know about that. Viewers want to see an athletic competition, not slapstick.

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I was in the middle of trying to edit my post above (before your two posts) -- when my computer crashed. Will forget the editing and just add more thoughts below.

I do not think that the cameras should spend any less time showing the actual skating.
But as the competitors wait for their marks, the team response/energy/activity in the Kiss and Cry could offer a "new" and different (and positive) side of skaters and skating.

Re the notion of "slapstick" (a word that I myself do not think applies here):
Polite clapping and literal flag-waving are well and good.
But TV is a visual medium, and anything extra -- Team Canada's moose ears, for example -- will get the control room's attention. And I think any extra flair will get casual TV viewers to pay more attention too.
The point is for the skaters to have fun and to show that they are having fun (with or without props). For those outsiders who think of skating as "prissy," it will be great for the skaters to be seen letting loose a bit and whooping it up -- cheering as mightily and creatively for their fellow skaters as they would for their favorite hockey team, for example. I don't mean anything disrespectful or inappropriate like at an obnoxious frat party. Just LIVELY. (Wish I had not used the "making fools" phrase above.)

penguin said:

Yes, athletics first. But back when I wasn't following skating very closely I always pulled a little more for the ones whose stories got showcased. People like stories, they relate to them.

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:agree: Thanks, penguin. I agree that it is all important for the viewers to feel that they can RELATE to the skaters and to any athletes. They inspire us, and we admire them. But I too will pay more attention if I have a sense of the athlete as a likable person in day-to-day life -- someone whose company would be enjoyable if I had the privilege of meeting her/him.

Buttercup said:

Of course David Dore has an agenda. However, this would be an easily verifiable statement so telling outright lies would be kind of pointless, and I fail to see how it's in the interest of Dore or the ISU to make such a false claim.

I'm at your suggestion that NBC would consider not showing the team event as a solution to scheduling issues. I am sure that, em, polite suggestions were made regarding scheduling by some of the bigger rights holders.

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I was aware of the David Dore statements he made about the team event, which were the ones you mentioned quoted on Icenetwork. I recall laughing back then when they came out. The guy's a political operator in the best Speedy Cinquanta mold and that's not meant as a compliment. Nice and convenient for him to put the monkey on the back of NBC, which certainly is a company not without warts when it comes to Olympic coverage. But in this case, it happens to be a smokescreen and deflection from the truth. Having the team event before the individual disciplines was a Speedy decision, acquiesced by the senior ISU officials at the time including Dore. You can accept the public statements at face value if you want. But I don't need to, as I have alternate personal contact sources on the "money" side--both Olympic corporate sponsor and media arms--that paint a rather different picture of the power dynamic on matters of who gets their way. It might surprise you.

The argument that NBC wanted to end FS coverage with ladies FS might hold water if the time zone for Sochi allowed for LIVE coverage of the event in highest-revenue earning US prime time evening broadcast hours. That's how it used to be but is Old School thinking and many of the old relics of sportsdom (including the aforementioned ISU officials) are still stuck there. But in 2014 the time differential doesn't support this. NBC live coverage of the event will take place at US off-hours (mornings) for TV broadcast + streaming video for enabled devices. Anything in prime time will be on tape delay/rebroadcast. With the potential US viewership no longer concentrated into the economically juicy traditional evening prime-time live broadcast coverage, there'd be little point in NBC wasting its chips, so to speak, in fighting a meaningless scheduling battle with the ISU.

The team event actually takes a similar place in the overall time schedule TV/ISU slotted for the CDs. As far as NBC (or any American TV network) preference for Ladies being the figure skating highlight of any competition, it may be "old school" but it is still true today.