Nothing really changes but the calendar. In another hundred years people will still be having these discussions.
I really admire competitive figure skaters - they must really love what they do!
They are performing such difficult skills AND they have to look BEAUTIFUL while executing them.
Every mistake is magnified by the fact that it causes a deviation or disruption from their program.
No matter how well they performed they are still at the mercy of the judges.
And the results will always end up with someone's "fans" being upset and then the nastiness begins.
I do have to say that COP (and its many changes) is definitely better than 6.0 system because a placement of less than 3rd after the short program no longer means you don't have control of your own destiny in the long program. That to me is most important.
Thank you for bringing back some historical perspective on this, I keep forgetting how tough things were (Battle of the Carmens, Debbie Thomas and Katarina Witt, I felt for Debbie).
I think it does give some amount of clarity (the -3/+3s and now -5/+5s of life) but in the end of the day when something is subjective it will always be argued to death. Those happy with the results will defend their validity and the unhappy ones will cry foul.
Looking at the table numbers for Alina's programs is a hard math crunching endeavor, I enjoy numbers a lot, so we find some interesting things (that bode well for her moving forward even), looking at non-jumping elements now:
- She got a +3 score on her level 4 step sequence (2.10 was that score) during her FS at the 2018 Worlds, that is her highest GOE score ever for that element (at the Olympics she got a 1.8 which is +2).
- And on the Choreo Sequences, she got level +2 GOE at Europeans (1.90) and at the same WC2018 FS (1.80), she got 1.70 at the Olympics for this.
Way to go Alina!!! in the middle of all (her FS at Worls 2018) some of the "artistic expression" elements of her skate were getting rave scores. She is clearly on an upward trajectory with those "choreographed within an inch of her life" (thanks Johnny) elements.
This photo is probably a part of that Sberbank advertising. Maybe they wanted to suggest what will happen when you don't pay back their loans 
