Age Limit

[Joesitz (RIP)]

I'm not so sure the health hazzard is a good enough reason. Skaters who have the bug to skate are going to practice whatever it takes at whatever age to their own satisfaction.

Joe

 

[Serena]

I'm not so sure the health hazzard is a good enough reason. Skaters who have the bug to skate are going to practice whatever it takes at whatever age to their own satisfaction.

Joe

Exactly- unless they make certain jumps illegal to skaters at a certain age, barring them from skating at Worlds/Olys isn't going to make a difference.

 

[JonnyCoop]

At the 1997 Nationals, the SENIOR ladies winner, Tara Lipinski, was 1 year and 5 months younger than the JUNIOR ladies winner, Andrea Gardiner. I wonder how many times overall this sort of thing has happened.....

 

[Vash01]

I think that Butyrsakaya was 29 when she won worlds.

In terms of oldest skaters i think it would probably be Tikhonov who is something like 33, Zhao Hongbo is also over 30, is he around 31 or 32.

Ant

Butyrskaya was 26 when she won worlds in 1999.

The Protopopovs (Ludmilla Belousova & Oleg Protopopov) were 32 & 35 when they won their first OGM in 1964.

Vash

 

[Vash01]

Exactly- unless they make certain jumps illegal to skaters at a certain age, barring them from skating at Worlds/Olys isn't going to make a difference.

I don't see why some jumps should be made illegal for 'underage' skaters. That would mean the same as not allowing them to compete at a certain level. I think the age rule in FS is ridiculous. If a skater can compete at a certain level, he/she should be allowed to. Skaters can be and have been injured at any age, for different reasons. It should be left upto the skater how much risk he/she wants to take.

Vash

 

[Serena]

I don't see why some jumps should be made illegal for 'underage' skaters. That would mean the same as not allowing them to compete at a certain level. I think the age rule in FS is ridiculous. If a skater can compete at a certain level, he/she should be allowed to. Skaters can be and have been injured at any age, for different reasons. It should be left upto the skater how much risk he/she wants to take.

Vash

I didn't mean that they should be illegal- but unless they do that, the age rule is pointless. Then again, the younger skaters could just as easily be doing those jumps in practice. Either way, I guess there's no way to prevent injury by age limits.

 

[Mathman]

Maybe the ISU felt thay had to put in age limits if they wanted to go with CoP judging. 15-year-old prodigies like Mao Asada can rack up the points by doing triple Axels, triple-triple-doubles, etc. The older ladies don't have a chance, no matter how many PCSs they can coax out of the judges.

At TEB Mao outumped the field by more than 10 points and won handily despite giving something back on the artistic marks. Maybe the ISU did not really intend for the NJS to work this way.

MM

 

[Vash01]

Maybe the ISU felt thay had to put in age limits if they wanted to go with CoP judging. 15-year-old prodigies like Mao Asada can rack up the points by doing triple Axels, triple-triple-doubles, etc. The older ladies don't have a chance, no matter how many PCSs they can coax out of the judges.

At TEB Mao outumped the field by more than 10 points and won handily despite giving something back on the artistic marks. Maybe the ISU did not really intend for the NJS to work this way.

MM

Interesting point, MM. If they had truly implemented this rule in 1998, Michelle would have won the OGM; not Tara Lipinski who just outjumped her. I wonder if the JGP loop hole was closed right after the 1998 Olys?

I do, however, see something similar happen with the 16 year olds too- for example, Kimmie Meissner outjumping an older skater and winning, although the GP results have not been good for her. We did see 16 year old Sarah Hughes win the 2002 OGM with two (supposedly) 3-3 combinations. So I am not sure the age limit serves this purpose.

Vash