Unfortunately, though, it does happen on occasion, and not really the organizers' fault either. Could be debris from the previous skater's costume or something fans threw on the ice for the previous skater or something that fell from the ceiling.
Barbara Fusar-Poli once said that there were a lot of Savarovski crystals on the ice from all the falls in the OD at the 2006 Olympics, though she was clear that F-P/M's memorable fall was not because of that.
The skaters have said repeatedly that Level 4 footwork is MORE difficult than a quad or a triple axel. The footwork takes up to 30 seconds to perform, and the skaters has to be fully focussed and sharp for that entire time or they will stumble, trip or fall, versus a jump which is over with in a couple of seconds. As well, the sequences are physically draining in ways that the jumps are not. While some skaters spend 30 second doing a quad, most of that time is spent stroking around, setting up for the jump, and not as physically demanding or draining as the footwork.
There are a LOT more skaters doing quads and 3A's than there are doing Level 4 footwork.
A lot more can go wrong on a 3A than on a step sequence, even though it doesn't last as long, and obviously it requires a fair amount of focus and sharpness, not to mention ability. I've come across comments from more than one skater about how adding a quad to the program changes it for them and makes things much more difficult, so I guess you could also say that quads are draining in a way footwork is not. And I'd love to see you come up with an example of a skater with a 30-second setup for a quad; I don't think you'll find one. Some jumps
do require a bit more of a setup; better, IMO, for skaters to have a less difficult entry and a good jump (height, distance, nice running edge coming out) than a cute setup into an iffy jump, and the landing not held because it's time for another transition. But I realize that the system can make it seem as though jump entries are more important than the actual jumps.
Element levels are dependent on the technical callers, who used to be quite stingy with the level 4s even for skaters who excel at footwork. Meanwhile, 3As and quads are something controlled by the skaters entirely - either you do your jump right or you don't. Personally, I sometimes prefer lower level step sequences; I'd rather not see an endless step sequence in which the skater goes this way and that with no discernible pattern, packing in as many of the bullet points as humanly possible. It's boring. A step sequence should not be an endurance test. Also, high level step sequences over-emphasize upper body movement, and I'd rather look at what skaters can do with their blades than with their torso and arms.
BTW, in the ladies, there are several skaters capable of level 4 steps, but not so many doing 3axels, and only one lady has ever been credited with a quad in competition. The situation in pairs is similar. As Doris has pointed out in the past, Charlie White was the first US singles skater to get a level 4 on steps. So clearly there
are skaters for whom a level 4 step sequence is realistic, while a consistent quad or 3A is not. I don't think there's any need to minimize the difficulty of one or the other.
