The Zayak and Quad Limitation Rule

Scott512 · Apr 28, 2019

gsk8 said:
Elaine Zayak, the 1982 World champion and 1981 U.S. national champion, was the first woman to consistently land many triple jumps in her programs. At the 1982 World Championships, she landed six triple jumps to win the title, although four of them were triple toe loops. While she also had triple Salchows and loops in her repertoire, they were less consistent.

Zayak's skating contributed to the creation of what became informally known as the Zayak Rule, enacted at the 1982 ISU Congress, which states that a skater may not perform the same kind of double or triple jump more than twice. For a jump to be given full credit on both occasions, one of the two jumps must be incorporated into a combination or sequence.
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Note of interest: Zayak lost three toes on her left foot (her takeoff foot) in a lawn mower accident at the age of 2. On the advice of her doctors, she began figure skating as physical therapy. Her left boot was stabilized with a wood mold to compensate for the irregularity in the shape of her left foot.

For the 2018-19 season, the following was implemented regarding quadruple jumps in the Free Skate (see page 18 of the Technical Panel Handbook):

Jumping elements are solo jumps, jump combinations and jump sequences.

A well balanced Free Skating program must contain: 7 jumping elements for Senior& Junior, Men & Ladies one of which must be (or must include) an Axel type jump.

Solo jumps can contain any number of revolutions.Any double jump (including double Axel) cannot be included more than twice in total in a Single’s Free Program (as a Solo Jump or a part of Combination / Sequence).

Of all triple and quadruple jumps only two (2) can be executed twice. Of the two repetitions only one (1) can be a quadruple jump.If at least one of these executions is in a jump combination or a jump sequence, both executions are evaluated in a regular way.

If both executions are as solo jumps, the second of these solo jumps will be marked with the sign “+REP” and will receive 70% of its original Base Value.

Triple and quadruple jumps with the same name will be considered as two different jumps.No triple or quadruple jump can be attempted more than twice.

I remember Elaine but I never remembered that she had all these rules created for her or that she lost three toes on her left foot in a lawn mower accident when she was only two. To suffer such a tragedy and then go on to become a world champion is an incredible story of triumph and courage and heart. Elaine Zayak should be remembered fondly.

drivingmissdaisy · Apr 28, 2019

Mathman said:
I think the thrust of the rules about repetitions is that a nifty combination deserves to be considered as a "different" element. So if you do a 3Lz and then a 3Lz+3T, you have shown two different skills, not one skill twice.

Yeah, I agree with this. I don't like seeing a 2A-3T or a 3Lz-3T twice in a program. I also am not a huge fan of an imbalance of jump types; I think Vincent skated a long program earlier in the season with no salchows or loops, one axel, and many toe-pick jumps. I don't know how to encourage more variety (or if that's necessarily something that needs to be encouraged).

gsk8 · Apr 28, 2019

Scott512 said:
Elaine Zayak should be remembered fondly.

She is! Remember, she was one of the first ladies to land triples consistently! I don't think of the "Zayak Rule" as a negative stigmata.

Mathman · Apr 28, 2019

drivingmissdaisy said:
Yeah, I agree with this. I don't like seeing a 2A-3T or a 3Lz-3T twice in a program.

Actually, though, for the top jumpers (ladies) the rules do somewhat discourage this kind of repetition. If you do 3Lz+3T twice, then you have repeated a low-soring jump, the 3T. It would be better to mix it up a little so that your two allowed repeated jumps are as high-scoring as possible.

Unfortunately for the skaters, not many can do a +3Lo combo. I think that is the reason why the ISU decided to allow half-loop combos a few years ago. But that (a three jump combo) does not solve the problem of how to maximize the points that you can get out of your two allowed two-jump combos.

Mathman · Apr 28, 2019

By the way, does anyone know if this is true or not:

When Elaine started winning events with 4 triple toe loops, some of them were actually toe Walleys -- or were they? Was this question responsible for the ISU deciding that for purposes of scoring, the toe loop and the toe Walley would be regarded as the same jump, regardless of take-off edge?

Triple loop · Apr 28, 2019

I totally agree.

Elaine Zayak was a wonderful champion and class act. Her work ethic was unmatched. Even with the Zayak rule, she showed those judges how good she was during her short and long programs at the 1984 Olympics and Worlds. Figures set her back because of that left foot. At present, I have yet to find a female skater with the determination and courage that Elaine always displayed.

gkelly · Apr 28, 2019

Mathman said:
By the way, does anyone know if this is true or not:

When Elaine started winning events with 4 triple toe loops, some of them were actually toe Walleys -- or were they? Was this question responsible for the ISU deciding that for purposes of scoring, the toe loop and the toe Walley would be regarded as the same jump, regardless of take-off edge?

What is true is that some of Elaine's triple toes were entered from an inside three, or from the landing of another jump (i.e., clear outside edge takeoff) and some were entered from an outside three turn and change of foot (an entrance that was often used for toe walleys, but it would probably take video review to determine whether the takeoff was in fact from a true inside edge).

Also, Zayak was not the only skater doing more than two triple toes in her programs at that time. However, the other culprits tended to have only three triple toes and not to be winning on the strength of their jumps. (Aside from Midori Ito in juniors, who was winning short programs and free skates but not whole competitions after being buried in figures.)

cohen-esque · Apr 28, 2019

Multirevolution toe walleys (and essentially most singles) all end up leaving from the back outside edge anyways, so there's really not much difference aside from which setup a skater prefers going into it. (Do you do mohawks or threes into your flip? Same difference.)

And even at the time there was disagreement in identifying Elaine's jumps, but based on the entries I would have said she attempted a toe walley and triple toeloop sequence to open (with the second jump being the most questionable to ID). US Broadcasters (here and here) also identified her opening sequence as triple toe walley, triple toeloop, but the U.K. commentators (here) said triple toeloop, triple toeloop. Then she did two more definite triple toeloops, one in a combo and one in a sequence with split jumps.

All four ended up leaving the ice off the back outside edge, though.

The Zayak and Quad Limitation Rule

Scott512

drivingmissdaisy

gsk8

Mathman

Mathman

Triple loop

gkelly

cohen-esque

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