New article by Sonia Bianchetti Garbo

[NatachaHatawa]

http://soniabianchetti.com/writings_newblood.html

 

[sillylionlove]

Thanks for posting this link. It was really interesting. I never really knew the inner workings of the ISU.

 

[Joesitz (RIP)]

She loves the Sport and She means well. I definitely need a new look to what is going on nowadays.

1. The Short Program should be enhanced to judge the Technical capabilities of the competitors, and forget the involvement of the performance. All the CoP rules and regs could be used. (I could suggest how, but I would leave that to the bosses).

2. The Long Program with all its restrictions should revert to the Free Program, and let the skaters really make it an artistic endeavour as it once was. (Nothing wrong with 3 axels in a row for the sake of art.)

3. The Enhanced Short Program plus the Free Program should be evaluated on equal basis.

 

[nylynnr]

I am not certain Mrs. Bianchetti-Garbato does anyone a service with her remarks that younger people are needed. Anyone age 40 or over -- in some industries, 30 or over -- looking for a job has perhaps encountered age discrimination. It is starting at a younger and younger age, particularly for women; this despite the fact that government retirement benefits are declining and age spans are increasing. Young people agreeing with upper age limits may feel very differently if and when they reach middle age and are seeking a new job or profession.

If you read Bianchetti-Garbato's book, many of her most bitter complaints concerned people who were "younger" by ISU standards (40s, 50s); now, she also states "older" ISU officials are hurting the sport. Perhaps all officeholders should be evaluated on a case-by-case basis with no generalizations. Of course, with few exceptions, Mrs. Bianchetti-Garbato would state that all of them regardless of age does a poor job. Very rarely have I read a positive word from her about figure skating.

 

[Mathman]

If you read Bianchetti-Garbato's book, many of her most bitter complaints concerned people who were "younger" by ISU standards (40s, 50s); now, she also states "older" ISU officials are hurting the sport.

Well, I suppose all the young scoundrels back then are old scoundrels now. The basic thrust of all of Mrs. Bieanchetti's writings are summed up in this quote:

The greatest season of figure skating, with all the changes that opened the way to the modernization of the sport, took place largely between 1970 and 1988.

This would be the time when Mrs. B. herself had worked her way into a position of leadership in the ISU and was responsible for many changes, the most dramatic of wich was the elimination of figures.

She lost out in a political struggle with Cinquanta's puppet-masters (in her view), and the sport has been on the road to perdition ever since.

Still ... she says a lot of thing that I agree with, most prominantly that the new judging system is taking the soul out of the sport.

Her other main suggestion in this article, becides the age thing, is to reorganize the World Championships so that only the best skaters are allowed to compete. Nobody, in Mrs. B's opinion, should be skating for the World cahmpionship if they can't do a few basic moves without falling all over the ice. She suggests using Europeans and Four Continents as kind of a play-off to see which skaters win the right to go on to the big show.

This is an intriguing idea. It would certainly enhance the prestige of Four Continents. It might save a little money if only a few skaters were invited to worlds instead of a mob.

But the problem is, some countries wiould never qualify anyone for Worlds, ever. I kind of like the idea that every country, big or small, sends it's champion to the big blow, winner take all.

 

[waxel]

I tend to agree with most of her opinions. And she's completely right that new blood (not necessarily young blood) needs to be transfused into the ISU. But as long as the major federations (like USFS) inexplicably continue to follow blindly, change is unlikely.