Lately we heard a lot about young girls jumping quads and crazy triple-triple combos and how all this madness is a whole different sport. Ok. Let's make it a different sport. Another sport category in figure skating.
I want to propose 2 age categories in female singles:
- Ladies 15-20 years old
- Women 20+
Both categories can compete at Olympics and Worlds. Probably even Grand Prix as well. (Juniors still the same: 12-14, no Olympics or Words.) More competitions, more programs, more choreography, more skaters = the better. More events with top-level skaters = more money. Therefore bigger viewership, more sponsors who can target different age groups (because lets face it young viewers wants to see ladies of approximately their own age competing like Yulia, Zhenya, Alina, Alysa, 3A squad, but us - 30+ folks - want to see someone like Asley-Wagners and Carolina-Kostners and similar current generation of 20+ girls). More different skaters, more flavor = better for sport and art. I'm heartbroken to loose silver foxes skaters because they can't do crazy difficult jumps due to their weight or other silly things like gravity. But it is a fair and natural process for sport. Even more than that I am also heartbroken to forbid younger ladies to jump quads and to stop them from challenging boundaries of difficulty. Sport should evolve. And figure skating is still a sport, and only after that it is an "artsy sport". I still want sport principle to apply: stronger, higher, faster. But for viewership numbers and aesthetic purposes figure skating as sport still should remain as artsy as possible. We need solution to this. So FS wont end up like WAG. I propose 2 age categories in female singles and probably slightly different criteria of judging for each group. 2 different set of medals. Jumping beans will receive their own gold-silver-bronze. Women 20+ will get their own set of medals. This will help our sport to keep both: evolution of difficulty and elegant artistry.
Same set of medals, same prestige, same money, same judging with current IJS / code of points. Just age is different. Juniors still can be in 12-14 yo, and no Olympics for them. Ladies 15-20 and Woman 20+ can have Worlds, Olympics and GP. But probably no Euros and 4C for category "woman 20+". This would be logical too - let the young ones compete for Euros and 4C. The "older girls" can compete less than 15-20 year-olds, but skate more shows instead, because it is harder for them to peak so often during the season. Fair.
At Olympics in Team event ladies of 15-20 yo can present their Long Programs and women 20+ can skate their Short.
This way we will have it both ways: we still will see our amazing 'jumping beans' with their daring jaw-dropping marvelous difficulty, and we will enjoy our beloved refined elegant 'silver foxes' with their nifty deep edges and exquisite SS. Different flavors, and this will attract different age groups and different tastes to figure skating even more. There would be less arguing too. And older skaters wont loose motivation and chances to win their Olympics and Worlds medals. And young guns won't be kicking silver foxes out the sport "so violently" with their difficulty. We will keep them all in sport. Win win.
This can be a really working Solomon's Decision. Just think about it. Everyone will be happy. Older skaters could still could be competitive and on demand past their 20. Besides, I would even slightly change the rules for category "Woman 20+" in favor of "component skaters". Let the SS, TR, PE, CH and IM be more valuable than TES and difficulty of jumps. But of course all jumps should still be preferably landed, because otherwise massive splatfest is such a buzz kill for public. Let allow the skaters past 20 years old do less difficult jumps, but they still have to land them. For "women 20+" category the components like artistry, consistency, musicality, smooth gliding and deep edges should be the path to victory. But I repeat lading jumps and consistency still should be an important requirement and rules should encourage older skaters to pick simpler jumps, but land them consistently.
Really, guys, 2 age categories would solve a lot of problems in current ladies field. And we won't arguing and fighting that much. And more events, more ladies means more money for ISU too. FS still will remain artistic and we won't sacrifice pushing the sport and it's natural difficulty evolution. Win win. Every Olympic quad age of categories can be internationally discussed and re-evaluated to keep FS sport both competitive and artsy. But just in different categories. Because let's face it: Trusova, Shcherbakova and Kostornaya are doing beautiful, but different sport already. And soon we will have many young Japanese girls joining them, some American and Korean probably too. And I dont want to deprive them of their chance to win Olympic medals with their amazing athletic abilities of young bodies. But I also don't want Zhenya, Alina, Liza, Satoko, Ashley, Gracie, Karo and many other silver foxes to leave in vain, because they cant compete against jumps technicians (because after all sport is sport, and at the end sport is cruel and unfair to all aging athletes, sooner or later).
Imagine Yulia Lipnitskaya and Ashley Wagner to be back competing NOW? Or Liza Tukti, Mao Asada, Yuna Kim and Adelina Sotnikova wont be "terrorized" by technical difficulty of youngsters and imagine they are back to FS and are able to compete RIGHT NOW and have a shot for medals at upcoming Worlds and Olympics? Imagine them competing together in upcoming Worlds in Tokyo in spring? This will sell like hot cakes! Big TV ratings. Nostalgia and euphoria among fans. We just won't shut up! And youngsters can still be allowed to raise the bar of difficulty, but in their own category, competing against equals. They will receive their own gold-silver-bronze. Equally prestigious and equal money+exposure+fame. Let the young guns be tricksters, and let the "veteran skaters" give us pleasure with their crafted skating. We should have them both at Olympics. This way the prestige, money and awards will be equal for both young and older girls. Fair. 2 different categories = almost like 2 different sports = 2 different sets of medals.
Wha 'bout dat? Let's just stop arguing and gossiping about young girls/bodies/weight versus seasoned and refined silver foxes. It will be better for sport. really.
Nota Bene: Frankly, I think this will work for gymnastics as well. WAG will come back to it's original artistry and still will allow daring youngsters to invent new elements and push difficulty of the sport. Win win for WAG too. Imagine Nabs, Komova, Afan and Aliya to be back in one team competing for next Worlds or Olympics? This will make crazy TV ratings! Our older American golden generation girls be back too.. Our favorite Chinese gymnasts be back. OMG. Youngsters can perform crazy amounts of twists and flips, older gymnasts can kill us with beauty of their lines, musicality and extensions.
I want to propose 2 age categories in female singles:
- Ladies 15-20 years old
- Women 20+
Both categories can compete at Olympics and Worlds. Probably even Grand Prix as well. (Juniors still the same: 12-14, no Olympics or Words.) More competitions, more programs, more choreography, more skaters = the better. More events with top-level skaters = more money. Therefore bigger viewership, more sponsors who can target different age groups (because lets face it young viewers wants to see ladies of approximately their own age competing like Yulia, Zhenya, Alina, Alysa, 3A squad, but us - 30+ folks - want to see someone like Asley-Wagners and Carolina-Kostners and similar current generation of 20+ girls). More different skaters, more flavor = better for sport and art. I'm heartbroken to loose silver foxes skaters because they can't do crazy difficult jumps due to their weight or other silly things like gravity. But it is a fair and natural process for sport. Even more than that I am also heartbroken to forbid younger ladies to jump quads and to stop them from challenging boundaries of difficulty. Sport should evolve. And figure skating is still a sport, and only after that it is an "artsy sport". I still want sport principle to apply: stronger, higher, faster. But for viewership numbers and aesthetic purposes figure skating as sport still should remain as artsy as possible. We need solution to this. So FS wont end up like WAG. I propose 2 age categories in female singles and probably slightly different criteria of judging for each group. 2 different set of medals. Jumping beans will receive their own gold-silver-bronze. Women 20+ will get their own set of medals. This will help our sport to keep both: evolution of difficulty and elegant artistry.
Same set of medals, same prestige, same money, same judging with current IJS / code of points. Just age is different. Juniors still can be in 12-14 yo, and no Olympics for them. Ladies 15-20 and Woman 20+ can have Worlds, Olympics and GP. But probably no Euros and 4C for category "woman 20+". This would be logical too - let the young ones compete for Euros and 4C. The "older girls" can compete less than 15-20 year-olds, but skate more shows instead, because it is harder for them to peak so often during the season. Fair.
At Olympics in Team event ladies of 15-20 yo can present their Long Programs and women 20+ can skate their Short.
This way we will have it both ways: we still will see our amazing 'jumping beans' with their daring jaw-dropping marvelous difficulty, and we will enjoy our beloved refined elegant 'silver foxes' with their nifty deep edges and exquisite SS. Different flavors, and this will attract different age groups and different tastes to figure skating even more. There would be less arguing too. And older skaters wont loose motivation and chances to win their Olympics and Worlds medals. And young guns won't be kicking silver foxes out the sport "so violently" with their difficulty. We will keep them all in sport. Win win.
This can be a really working Solomon's Decision. Just think about it. Everyone will be happy. Older skaters could still could be competitive and on demand past their 20. Besides, I would even slightly change the rules for category "Woman 20+" in favor of "component skaters". Let the SS, TR, PE, CH and IM be more valuable than TES and difficulty of jumps. But of course all jumps should still be preferably landed, because otherwise massive splatfest is such a buzz kill for public. Let allow the skaters past 20 years old do less difficult jumps, but they still have to land them. For "women 20+" category the components like artistry, consistency, musicality, smooth gliding and deep edges should be the path to victory. But I repeat lading jumps and consistency still should be an important requirement and rules should encourage older skaters to pick simpler jumps, but land them consistently.
Really, guys, 2 age categories would solve a lot of problems in current ladies field. And we won't arguing and fighting that much. And more events, more ladies means more money for ISU too. FS still will remain artistic and we won't sacrifice pushing the sport and it's natural difficulty evolution. Win win. Every Olympic quad age of categories can be internationally discussed and re-evaluated to keep FS sport both competitive and artsy. But just in different categories. Because let's face it: Trusova, Shcherbakova and Kostornaya are doing beautiful, but different sport already. And soon we will have many young Japanese girls joining them, some American and Korean probably too. And I dont want to deprive them of their chance to win Olympic medals with their amazing athletic abilities of young bodies. But I also don't want Zhenya, Alina, Liza, Satoko, Ashley, Gracie, Karo and many other silver foxes to leave in vain, because they cant compete against jumps technicians (because after all sport is sport, and at the end sport is cruel and unfair to all aging athletes, sooner or later).
Imagine Yulia Lipnitskaya and Ashley Wagner to be back competing NOW? Or Liza Tukti, Mao Asada, Yuna Kim and Adelina Sotnikova wont be "terrorized" by technical difficulty of youngsters and imagine they are back to FS and are able to compete RIGHT NOW and have a shot for medals at upcoming Worlds and Olympics? Imagine them competing together in upcoming Worlds in Tokyo in spring? This will sell like hot cakes! Big TV ratings. Nostalgia and euphoria among fans. We just won't shut up! And youngsters can still be allowed to raise the bar of difficulty, but in their own category, competing against equals. They will receive their own gold-silver-bronze. Equally prestigious and equal money+exposure+fame. Let the young guns be tricksters, and let the "veteran skaters" give us pleasure with their crafted skating. We should have them both at Olympics. This way the prestige, money and awards will be equal for both young and older girls. Fair. 2 different categories = almost like 2 different sports = 2 different sets of medals.
Wha 'bout dat? Let's just stop arguing and gossiping about young girls/bodies/weight versus seasoned and refined silver foxes. It will be better for sport. really.
Nota Bene: Frankly, I think this will work for gymnastics as well. WAG will come back to it's original artistry and still will allow daring youngsters to invent new elements and push difficulty of the sport. Win win for WAG too. Imagine Nabs, Komova, Afan and Aliya to be back in one team competing for next Worlds or Olympics? This will make crazy TV ratings! Our older American golden generation girls be back too.. Our favorite Chinese gymnasts be back. OMG. Youngsters can perform crazy amounts of twists and flips, older gymnasts can kill us with beauty of their lines, musicality and extensions.