After the Team Event, should it have been Individual Ice Dance before Mens/Pairs/Ladies?

[CanadianSkaterGuy]

From a TV standpoint, it's probably not a good idea to mix disciplines like that. Viewers are very restless and they like seeing a full event completed before starting another one.

In that case, separate team and individual events by a chunk of days.

Day 1:
Team Ice Dance SD
Team Pairs SP

Day 2:
Opening Ceremony

Day 3:
Team Ladies SP
Team Mens SP
Team Pairs FS
Team Ice Dance FD (it seems long, but 20 shorts and 10 longs isn't much greater than the current day 3 with 20 shorts and 5 longs; maybe a half hour longer with the extra re-surfacing and another warmup -- plus it's cool to see all 4 disciplines at the start of the Olympics!)

Day 4:
Team Men FS
Team Ladies FS

Day 5-8:
BREAK

Day 9:
Individual Ice Dance SD

Day 10:
Individual Ice Dance FD

Day 11:
Individual Pairs SP

Day 12:
Individual Pairs FS

Day 13:
Individual Men's SP

Day 14:
Individual Men's FS

Day 15:
Individual Ladies' SP

Day 16:
Individual Ladies' FS

Day 17:
Gala

Even with this setup, the ice dancers have 4 days break between team and individual, the pairs have 5 days break, the men have 7 days break, and the ladies have 8 days break (compared to 3, 2, 6, 9 days break, respectively).

 

[millie]

These people have been training for 4 years or longer, for some....you would think that they would be ready by now......what difference would a day here or there make. It's not like, all of a sudden..I am going to the Olympics to skate for the first time in my life. I am beginning to believe that they are all head cases and most can't take the pressure. My 2 cents. Good luck to them all.

 

[OS]

I do think Plushenko's withdrawal was a shock to some of the competitors.

Clearly it was, look how it sapped out the energy from the competition!

 

[CanadianSkaterGuy]

Clearly it was, look how it sapped out the energy from the competition!

Well, it's hard to be energized when 1/4 of the crowd leaves. :disapp:

 

[Mathman]

Do you think it would be beneficial to have the ice dancers go first and have the high-flyers go afterwards, with the intention of having a potentially cleaner singles competition?

Either way. I would not expect the high fliers to be any better or worse today, tomorrow, or a week from Tuesday.

 

[CanadianSkaterGuy]

Either way. I would not expect the high fliers to be any better or worse today, tomorrow, or a week from Tuesday.

I know your stance is that they train every day and it shouldn't make a difference, but perhaps mentally it can put the team event more in the past than having to immediately delve into the individual competition with the results of the team event fresher in your mind than if you had at least 4 days off to "reset".

I think athletes perform better when they've had more rest, personally. Certainly pro athletes perform better when they have rest between games. I understand fans are fickle, but more than catering to the audience, the schedule IMO should be what is most beneficial to the performance of the skaters.

 

[snowflakebeautiful]

...I am beginning to believe that they are all head cases and most can't take the pressure. My 2 cents. Good luck to them all.

I think that, unfortunately, there isn't a consistent and strong male in the individual men's area right now. And...I do agree that it seems like the "best" men seem to get very psyched out; and are unable to perform to their best abilities at big international competitions. Making the past two nights mush less fun to watch. By the end, I didn't care who won anymore because I was disappointed that they "best" men didn't perform as such.

However, as to rearranging programs so people get more rest - I see your point! However, I think that blaming the mens performances on inadequate time to recover is a bit much... These are all professional skaters who practice hours day after day in training...my point being, I don't think that rest time is quite as impacting as maybe we'd all like to say it is/was (after watching the individuals mens' competition).

 

[CanadianSkaterGuy]

However, as to rearranging programs so people get more rest - I see your point! However, I think that blaming the mens performances on inadequate time to recover is a bit much... These are all professional skaters who practice hours day after day in training...my point being, I don't think that rest time is quite as impacting as maybe we'd all like to say it is/was (after watching the individuals mens' competition).

I don't blame their poor FS as fundamentally due to inadequate rest.

However, I think that the extra rest could, logically speaking, have resulted in better freeskates (but I'm not saying that more rest would have definitely resulted in better freeskates either).

 

[OS]

I know your stance is that they train every day and it shouldn't make a difference, but perhaps mentally it can put the team event more in the past than having to immediately delve into the individual competition with the results of the team event fresher in your mind than if you had at least 4 days off to "reset".

I think athletes perform better when they've had more rest, personally. Certainly pro athletes perform better when they have rest between games. I understand fans are fickle, but more than catering to the audience, the schedule IMO should be what is most beneficial to the performance of the skaters.

I so agree with that. At Vancouver skaters used to be able to have an extra day rest in between their SP and FS, why did they change it at Sochi? What has been the schedule like prior to Vancouver?

 

[Figure 8's]

I am interested in seeing how the Women and Ice Dancers do with back to back programs. If they also falter than the scheduled needs to be changed. I don't see how back to back programs helps anyone. Physically not so much a problem but mentally it has to be tough to turn around and compete again the very next day. There has always been at least a full day between so why was it changed.

 

[CanadianSkaterGuy]

I so agree with that. At Vancouver skaters used to be able to have an extra day rest in between their SP and FS, why did they change it at Sochi? What has been the schedule like prior to Vancouver?

I have no idea why either. It makes no sense to not give the disciplines a day of rest minimum at the Olympics.

On the GP, it's understandable since it's over the course of a weekend, but over the course of 18 days?!

 

[snowflakebeautiful]

I don't blame their poor FS as fundamentally due to inadequate rest.

However, I think that the extra rest could, logically speaking, have resulted in better freeskates (but I'm not saying that more rest would have definitely resulted in better freeskates either).

I understand and agree with what you're saying to a degree. I guess I just feel like if these are the cream of the crop, then that cream should be able to rise to the top and they should be able to perform like the best of the best. I guess I just expect more from an Olympic athlete...But, I totally get your point as well. If I look at it from the perspective that nobody was able to have near a clean performance, then I agree...Maybe there's more going on - like recovery time, etc.

 

[CanadianSkaterGuy]

What I don't get is, there's a day in between men and ice dance and a day between ice dance and women.

Why not put both of those days between the team event and the start of the individual competition, so even if the disciplines have to compete back to back days, at least the ones who competed in the team event have an extra 2 days to mentally and physically put that event behind them. It also gives us 8 days of back-to-back skating.

 

[CanadianSkaterGuy]

I understand and agree with what you're saying to a degree. I guess I just feel like if these are the cream of the crop, then that cream should be able to rise to the top and they should be able to perform like the best of the best. I guess I just expect more from an Olympic athlete...But, I totally get your point as well. If I look at it from the perspective that nobody was able to have near a clean performance, then I agree...Maybe there's more going on - like recovery time, etc.

I agree that if they are truly the best, they should rise to the occasion. But if there is sufficient time (i.e. 18 days) to give the skaters more rest, and assuming more rest contributes to a better performance, why not do that!

 

[snowflakebeautiful]

I agree that if they are truly the best, they should rise to the occasion. But if there is sufficient time (i.e. 18 days) to give the skaters more rest, and assuming more rest contributes to a better performance, why not do that!

In the future, I think you have the right idea! I would much rather wait to see them perform; and see better performances, without a doubt. :thumbsup: I've always loved figure skating; and I want people who don't know as much about it to happen upon really great performances vs. some of the issues in the mens. So, if a little more recovery time can be managed and will aid in providing this for the athletes and viewers, then I am all aboard!

 

[Mathman]

At the Beijing Olympics, Michael Phelps swam 17 times in 9 days, winning 8 gold medals. He didn't ask, could we please have some dancing in between the butterfly and the backstroke so I can catch my breath?

 

[Sam-Skwantch]

 

[ragsy]

What I don't get is, there's a day in between men and ice dance and a day between ice dance and women.

Why not put both of those days between the team event and the start of the individual competition, so even if the disciplines have to compete back to back days, at least the ones who competed in the team event have an extra 2 days to mentally and physically put that event behind them. It also gives us 8 days of back-to-back skating.

Part of the issues with the timing of events may have to do with the fact that the figure skaters don't have sole access to the Iceburg Palace arena. They share the facility with the short track speedskaters. They have to accommodate not only the speedskating events, but also their practice time as well.

 

[drivingmissdaisy]

On the GP, it's understandable since it's over the course of a weekend, but over the course of 18 days?!

The free skates we saw are about the same quality of what we see on the GP. I don't see any drawback to giving these athletes the extra day of rest instead of having an extra day between events, such as the off day today.

 

[millie]

At the Beijing Olympics, Michael Phelps swam 17 times in 9 days, winning 8 gold medals. He didn't ask, could we please have some dancing in between the butterfly and the backstroke so I can catch my breath?

You hit the nail right on the head....these skaters are seasoned skaters and should be at the top of their game. They have trained hard and should be prepared by now, if they are not, they should not be at the Olympics. Other thing are the skaters complaining about this or is it just the fans?