And therein lies the problem I think. This sport has also a show interest that it wants to protect. Jason is a fantastic showman on the ice and this sport wants that. But at the same time, there is where you lose me and a lot of other sports fans I think.
To be clear, I never watch galas. I find them boring. There is no competition, the skaters don't show off what they are capable of. I just don't see the point of them at all.
So, I find myself to be a technical figure skating fan. But I can honestly say that skaters that show off just tech and no artistry are also boring to me. So there is a need for me to have the whole package to like the skater. But I would never trade the tech skills for just a showman. Then it's just a show and not a sport. I understand that a lot of money in this sport lies in the 'show', but that is just not for me.
The thing is that too much of TPTB - and fans of the quad specialists - seem to think that jumps are the
only measure of technical excellence, turning the sport into a new form of pogo-ing on ice. They matter, sure,
but skating skills are also a part, a big part, of the technique and prowess of a great skater and in their heart of hearts the ISU knows it which is why they keep hiking up Ilia Malinin's non-jumping grades to try and convince people he's another Patrick Chan. Whereas Jason far outclasses him - and outclassed Nathan Chen for that matter - on technical skills that actually involved
skating. It's also why so many people really do think Trusova was robbed at the Olympics - the only thing that matters, after all, is quadquadquad (okay and maybe triple axel but not much according to the quadquadquad brigade. Even though 99% of quads these days are pretty damn ugly.)
No one is saying you have to like galas or shows (though I would remind folk of Belinda's comment in the 2018 gala "with one delayed single axel, one triple axel... (he) just gave a master class in what figure skating actually is" because it was
so true.) But saying that the only mark of a champion is how much of the program is spinning in the air and nothing about what they do on the actual ice...? No thanks. That's why the jumping competitions in Russia bore me to death. That's also imo one reason why in Japan, one of the two centres of the public interest in the sport these days, shows sell even more tickets than most competitions.
And on a purely practical note, Jason has been keeping elite figure skating in the US
going in a nuts and bolts sense the last few years as much as if not more than Nathan, and way more than the ladies or ID.
I am perfectly calm I assure you. I am just lamenting the obvious downside to the sport that is Figure Skating, and how the big Feds are out for money not sport.
But it is a valid question. Why did Canada send the ones they did?
