Is our love for a skater purer if they are not from our own country ?

[Fanou]

Hi ! I'm wondering sometimes if we can say our love for a skater/team is purer if they are not from our own country as there is no patriotic feeling behind our support...
Is general how do you react when a new skater/team emerges from your own country ? Do you automatically support them ? Or are you more demanding towards them because they represent your country ? Also, putting aside the big names that have many fans everywhere, do you think the skaters always expect a patriotic behaviour from their own crowd ? Sorry for those many questions but I'm just curious to know what people think about that complex mix of support and patriotism/nationalism....

 

[McBibus]

it's not automatic to me, but unless they find them not likable as persons I end up supporting them.
I won't call that "love".
That great involvement could be eased up by nationality by is related to feelings evoqued when (s)he's skating.

 

[noskates]

Nationality doesn't enter into it for me. I 'like' a skater based on how their programs make me feel emotionally and/or their entertainment factor. My absolute favorite skater for many, many years isn't American (reference my avatar) I don't care much for arrogance or false humility. In addition to skating, I want professionalism and good sportsmanship. A skater can be from Timbuktu and it's their skating that speaks to me - not their language.

 

[MGstyle]

Nationality doesn't enter into it for me. I 'like' a skater based on how their programs make me feel emotionally and/or their entertainment factor. My absolute favorite skater for many, many years isn't American (reference my avatar) I don't care much for arrogance or false humility. In addition to skating, I want professionalism and good sportsmanship. A skater can be from Timbuktu and it's their skating that speaks to me - not their language.

THIS. :agree: Nationality of a skater is absolutely irrelevant for me when it comes to "adopting" my favs. True that my case is a bit particular, the country of my birth, the country of my citizenship, and the country of my residence for over a decade all differ and I never had a particular sense of patriotism to any of these countries. But I don't think it would change if my roots were fixed to one country. I watch figure skating to enjoy beautiful performances which I can feel intense emotions, not to use the occasion to wave a national flag - period.
and also, as noskates stated, I am drawn to the skaters who are also charming as a person, a skater who has no personal charm just don't do for me, no matter how excellent a skater he/she may be. (of course, this is just me, and this "personal charm" can be very subjective as well...)

 

[Winnie_20]

I have no special love or whatever for any Dutch skaters. In fact, I have been told more than once that I’m, well, very weird. Apparently I am missing some genes that make me feel patriotic with figure skating. ;-)

 

[Thrashergurl]

I think it is a sad thing if people fee they can only truly bribe a skater if he/ she is from their own country. It’s really limiting oneself from truly enjoying some great skaters.

 

[mrrice]

Nationality doesn't enter into it for me. I 'like' a skater based on how their programs make me feel emotionally and/or their entertainment factor. My absolute favorite skater for many, many years isn't American (reference my avatar) I don't care much for arrogance or false humility. In addition to skating, I want professionalism and good sportsmanship. A skater can be from Timbuktu and it's their skating that speaks to me - not their language.

Nationality doesn't enter into my mind either. My personal favorites are from Russia and Canada. Take Patrick Chan......I saw and heard him skate and was instantly a fan for life. We know how I feel about Maria B. I would say that my favorite US skater is Todd Eldredge. Not because of nationality but, sheer respect for his talent and kind personality.

 

[TontoK]

Of course I take an interest in American skaters, but not exclusively, that's for sure.

My first Olympics, the one that started my very long love affair with the sport, was 1976.

Dorothy Hamill, John Curry, Toller Cranston, Rodnina & Zaitsev. An American, a Brit, a Canadian, and Russians. I love them all still today.

If I favor anyone based on nationality, it tends to be skaters from smaller federations because they're ground-breakers.

 

[Giu]

My favorite skaters are not from my country, of course when Daniel Grassl or Rizzo are competing I want them to do good and I cheer for them but they're not the skaters for whom I follow this sport...
Skating is a matter of feelings and emotions that a skater is able to give you; this has nothing to do with nationality.
You would not stop listening to a song that you like and that excites you only because the singer comes from a different country than yours, it's the same with a figure skating program. Figure skating is like music

 

[Tolstoj]

I cheer for the skaters of my country, that's not to say i like them more depending on the country they represent.

Honestly i wish Figure Skating to become like football, where rather than representing your country, you represent your club at every competition except Olympics, or even better like Tennis where really it's all about the athlete.

Sometimes i feel nationalism becomes too heavy, that feeling of rooting for or against a skater just to favor your country, it shouldn't be like that.

 

[TontoK]

I cheer for the skaters of my country, that's not to say i like them more depending on the country they represent.

Honestly i wish Figure Skating to become like football, where rather than representing your country, you represent your club at every competition except Olympics, or even better like Tennis where really it's all about the athlete.

Sometimes i feel nationalism becomes too heavy, that feeling of rooting for or against a skater just to favor your country, it shouldn't be like that.

I have never actively rooted against any skater, except for Alexei Urmanov, and he doesn't count.

I disliked his skating style, his programs, his costumes, his choreography, and performances for reasons that had nothing to do with his being Russian. I took an instant oppositional stance on him the first time I saw him skate, and it never changed.

 

[YuBluByMe]

Is general how do you react when a skater/team emerges from your own country? Do you automatically support them?

Absolutely not. If I don’t resonate with their skating, the flag they represent won’t change that. I loathed Patrick Chan when he was around. And I rooted for Boitano over Orser back in the day. I don’t even pay much attention to the Canadian figure skating world as my favorite skaters have always been Japanese (ladies) and Russian (men). I never even watched or attended a Canadian Nationals but I watch JNats and RusNats every year.

But I don’t think not supporting skaters from your own country (like me) is common; although, being fans of skaters from other countries is. Especially if you’re in a country with no internationally competitive skaters.

 

[ruga]

I generally like to support skaters from my country, but I have my faves that I root for more passionately. It's bit easier to separate these two categories since getting to top 10 or even qualifying to the free is a big achievement for native skaters.

Most fans over here have similar attitude or ignore nationality altogether IMO. Figure skating is a beautiful sport where skaters can show more of their personality and creativity and different types of skills compared to, say, swimmimg or track and field. Also, once you get deeper into sport, some technical details start to matter more than skaters' nationality.

That said, many people get drawn to figure skating only because of skaters from their country, do not usually support skaters from other countries and lose interest once these skaters stop winning and no substitute comes. This is actually the natural reality of many sports and, as mentioned, is less common in FS since there are many aspects that one can enjoy.

 

[Sam-Skwantch]

Honestly this is a very interesting topic to me. I don’t much care about where someone is from when choosing which skaters I root for and fan over but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t notice where they are from. I think we have subconscious influences that certainly contribute to our fandoms. Each of us in varying degrees with each of us having varying abilities to recognize them.

I honestly can’t say to what extent nationality plays a role but for a sport that’s pinnacle event is the olympics, which pits nation against nation, I have to believe that it has its roots in figure skating.

I’m going to think on this topic a bit.

 

[Cutting the ice]

I think nationalism is innate - the home-country skaters are from our tribe. Olympics really exploits that and relies on it and so if we are honest, we tend to favour our own on the international stage - its natural and not bad. The best of us (not sure I can always count myself in that category), can ignore that bias and enjoy a performance from anybody for what it is on the day.

What I think harms the sport is if we fans feel that there isn't a level playing field for competitors. It may be that we believe there is country-biased judging or uneven resource allocation so that talent in one country can get properly developed and promoted while a similar talent in a "poorer" country doesn't. I admit, that is what turns me off the sport sometimes and perhaps is contributing to its demise overall - not the only problem but a big one. So I am in favour for equivalency in resources available to develop skaters (never, ever going to happen), opportunities to compete, and wish that judging will evolve so that only the performance and not the country, coaching staff, skater reputation etc. is part of the evaluation process (please dont tell me that will never, ever happen).

Until then, I do find that I love to watch the local skating competitions and I get a thrill out of seeing young skaters improve and reach nationals and an even bigger thrill if they can carry that into international competition.

 

[SNAKSuyun]

For the most part, I think I may be "biased" towards some Chinese skaters to some extent, but only because being from the same place allows me some insight to their careers and characters that I would have been hard-pressed to find out or understand otherwise.

As an example, Boyang isn't quite my kind of skater, but even if he wasn't Chinese, I would still have considered him remarkable because his quad lutz is just a thing of beauty (kind of like how I also consider Kolyada's quad lutz, when he lands it, to be a thing of beauty). However, as I am Chinese, I can easily understand Boyang's struggle with his artistry and carriage, as there just aren't a lot of good Western-style dance instructors where we are from (Northeastern China) and growing up and maturing as a skater, he didn't have many graceful role models to look up to or model himself after. Knowing just how hard it must be for him when he isn't naturally talented in the aspect, that makes me root for him a bit more and appreciate the effort he does put into trying to improve himself on those fronts. However, I'm sure if I've heard or understood the contexts behind other skaters' work and careers, too, I'd also gain more appreciation for them

 

[el henry]

Figure skating for me has always been different from other sports. I may be a Philadelphia Eagles fan due to birth and heritage and a sense of belonging (and throwing snowballs at Santa ) But figure skating depends so much on individual skill that many of us just fall in love with individual skaters. And root for them, no matter the country.

In fact, I really don’t understand rooting for Country X or rooting for Coach Y or rooting for anyone other than our favorite skaters, like it’s some kind of NFL game. It’s completely outside of my frame of reference for figure skating.

So I don’t think it’s necessarily “purer” because so many people have favorite skaters outside their own country. And it’s incomprehensible to me that a fan’s devotion to a skater would be tied to a country or a coach or a school or a whatever. Fans love skaters, period. :yes:

One big exception: the Olympics and the every four year fan. The Olys do hype the “medal count” so I expect the “casual fan” there to care about country.

Also ease of learning: I do follow the US men closely. Not so much because I’m American, but because it is so much easier for me to learn about, read about and see them. I love a Japanese junior ice dance team, and not knowing one word of Japanese (except Jason ) can be an impediment.

But nowadays it is so much easier to learn about skaters in other countries and that is :agree:

 

[skylark]

Is our love for a skater purer if they are not from our own country ?

No.

 

[TallyT]

'Purity' doesn't really come into it, or - in my humble but firm opinion - into most forms of love. Sure, I get a buzz when anyone from my country in any field does well... that's a normal fellow feeling. But fellow feeling inspires admiration and pride, not necessarily love, and pretty much the skaters I am most deeply attached to (and moved by) have never even set foot in my country. And that isn't somehow more admirable (whatever that means), it just is.

Emotional resonance (which for me is one of the things loving skating is about) just happens. I think an old saying of my mum's says it best... it's when the moon gets in your mind's eye.

 

[icybear]

I think its perfectably reasonable to have an extra level of positivity for your own athletes. As long as your support doesnt become irrational and strictly confined to your own nationality. I once remember seeing a Skate America poster with the sign "Go support Team USA." I dunno but going to an international event with all these amazing skaters from other country and you're just going to cheer for your own skaters doesnt sound rational.