Has anyone read the article on Nationals in current issue of Sports Illustrated? It's not very figure skating friendly. For all you fans of figure skaters and figure skating, this article is not easy to digest. I don't want to post quotes from the article because it might be taken out of context.
Skating article in current issue of SI
- Thread starter millie
- Start date
Doggygirl, I read the article in the magazine myself but if you want to you can to to http://www.sashafans.com/forum and go to Skating Chat, then to article Skating article in current issue of SI and then to thread #22. This fan wrote out the complete article from the magazine. I don't think you are permitted to do that on this site due to plagiarisum rules. Happy reading
- Joined
- Jan 6, 2004
Interesting article. Aside from the "quad and triple axel" line, which I thought should've been checked out first before publishing, I thought it was pretty much on.
- Joined
- Dec 18, 2003
ITA Childfree...
Millie, thanks for the link.
I find it refreshing to see an article that does NOT simply gush over one or a couple of skaters, and paint this sport as an Ice Prince / Princess thing. Great rivalries and stiff competition and RISK TAKING are certainly what drive higher excitement about a sport for more folks than just me. I think this article does make some honest points. Childfree - I agree the "quad and triple axel" remark was quite an exageration. A valid point, just exagerated.
DG
Millie, thanks for the link.
I find it refreshing to see an article that does NOT simply gush over one or a couple of skaters, and paint this sport as an Ice Prince / Princess thing. Great rivalries and stiff competition and RISK TAKING are certainly what drive higher excitement about a sport for more folks than just me. I think this article does make some honest points. Childfree - I agree the "quad and triple axel" remark was quite an exageration. A valid point, just exagerated.
DG
Last edited:
- Joined
- Jun 21, 2003
What a hoot. Michelle is impeding the progress of U.S. figure skating because all the young girls (including Sasha) want to skate crappy like her, LOL. Thanks for posting the link, Millie. Actually the thread was more amusing than the article. Now I really hope Michelle wins in Moscow.Mathman
This was an interesting perception QUOTE:" The new scoring system, called the code of points, which puts greater emphasis on levels of difficulty, might help. These Nationals were the last in the U.S. to be held under the 6.0 system and the judges celebrated by doling out these once treasured emblems of perfection like sale-bin items at K-Mart. Come and get 'em two for one!" . It also talks about Belbin and Agosto got 14 6.0's, more than Brian Boitano received at Nationals in his nine year career.
Another interesting QUOTE" "Never mind that the final four 6.0's were given for her flawed Bolero grogram, in which she doubled a planned triple lutz, never attempted a triple loop and finished skating several seconds after the music had stopped--a sign that she was behind the destinctive beat, not that the crowd noticed. They would have given Kwan perfect scores for eating a cup of yogurt. "It was not my best performance, " she admitted. "but it was a lot of fun." and why not? The U.S. Championships are her venue, her theatre, her set on which to shine. Kwan owns them."
Seem like they are glad to get rid of the 6.0's.
Another interesting QUOTE" "Never mind that the final four 6.0's were given for her flawed Bolero grogram, in which she doubled a planned triple lutz, never attempted a triple loop and finished skating several seconds after the music had stopped--a sign that she was behind the destinctive beat, not that the crowd noticed. They would have given Kwan perfect scores for eating a cup of yogurt. "It was not my best performance, " she admitted. "but it was a lot of fun." and why not? The U.S. Championships are her venue, her theatre, her set on which to shine. Kwan owns them."
Seem like they are glad to get rid of the 6.0's.
Last edited:
- Joined
- Dec 18, 2003
Mathman...now you KNOW I don't go THAT far LOL!!
6.0's being handed out like candy since it became clear 6.0 system is going away. Yes.
Michelle is not a big risk taker with elements. I agree. That doesn't mean I don't admire her strategy. To the degree she understands what it will take to win and do that rather than risk pushing technical envelopes, I agree, and it's been a great strategy for her. Can't argue with medals. The article does NOT mention some of the more presentation type "risks" Michelle has taken over the years (Bolero being one IMO) that IS an area where I believe she has pushed the envelope in very unique ways. IMO, that's an area where she has definitely elevated the sport over the years.
It is certainly not Michelle's fault that other US ladies have not stepped up to a long term rivalry that would create real excitement. We had a couple flashes in the pan - Sarah / Tara - it's too bad neither made the choice to stay in the amateur game for a longer term US rivalry. And Sasha these days if she could stay on her feet.
My 2 bucks..
DG
Here are some truths I DID see in the article, at least in my opinion.Mathman said:
Mathman
6.0's being handed out like candy since it became clear 6.0 system is going away. Yes.
Michelle is not a big risk taker with elements. I agree. That doesn't mean I don't admire her strategy. To the degree she understands what it will take to win and do that rather than risk pushing technical envelopes, I agree, and it's been a great strategy for her. Can't argue with medals. The article does NOT mention some of the more presentation type "risks" Michelle has taken over the years (Bolero being one IMO) that IS an area where I believe she has pushed the envelope in very unique ways. IMO, that's an area where she has definitely elevated the sport over the years.
It is certainly not Michelle's fault that other US ladies have not stepped up to a long term rivalry that would create real excitement. We had a couple flashes in the pan - Sarah / Tara - it's too bad neither made the choice to stay in the amateur game for a longer term US rivalry. And Sasha these days if she could stay on her feet.
My 2 bucks..
DG
Mathman said:
Mathman
Mathman, I didn't see any mention of Sasha name mentioned in this article. It talked about younger skaters in general.
How absurd for the article to blame Kwan for younger skaters not pushing the envelope! It's proof that the author of the article knows nothing about US figure skating. The younger skaters have been attempting 3/3s, 3As and exotic combinations ever since Tara left the scene. Most of the time, the tougher jumps haven't been successful, and so the skaters trying them haven't been seen in the Nationals telecasts, which is why reporters like this one don't know that envelope pushing is alive and active in US skating.
Kimmie just happens to be the young skater who finished in the top 6 in the SP and also successfully tried a 3A in the FS.
What the reporter doesn't know is that under CoP, skaters try jumps they're not quite secure on at their peril. Not landing, or underrotating a quad or 3A costs points under CoP, which tends to make skaters more conservative rather than more daring.
Kimmie just happens to be the young skater who finished in the top 6 in the SP and also successfully tried a 3A in the FS.
What the reporter doesn't know is that under CoP, skaters try jumps they're not quite secure on at their peril. Not landing, or underrotating a quad or 3A costs points under CoP, which tends to make skaters more conservative rather than more daring.
I agree, Mathman. 
The author of this article, E.M. Swift, has a history of dissing MK and hyping the next “big-thing.” He’s been doing so since like 1999/2000. Some of his comments is this article are laughable. I would love to see his list of Russian and Japanese ladies landing quads and 3 axels “routinely.” What’s even funnier is that aside from Tim Goebel, we don’t even have an American man landing quads "routinely" in competition (heck, even some of the 3A’s are “iffy”); don’t see him blaming Johnny, Todd or Michael Weiss for that - oh, I'm sorry, that must be MK's fault, too. :sheesh:
The author of this article, E.M. Swift, has a history of dissing MK and hyping the next “big-thing.” He’s been doing so since like 1999/2000. Some of his comments is this article are laughable. I would love to see his list of Russian and Japanese ladies landing quads and 3 axels “routinely.” What’s even funnier is that aside from Tim Goebel, we don’t even have an American man landing quads "routinely" in competition (heck, even some of the 3A’s are “iffy”); don’t see him blaming Johnny, Todd or Michael Weiss for that - oh, I'm sorry, that must be MK's fault, too. :sheesh:
Last edited:
...and what's ommited is often as telling as what's reported. After Tara started having hip troubles in her teens, coaches may have pulled their skaters back to avoid injuries. Also, when high bar jumpers have their competiors jump 6'4", they don't say," OK, set that sucker at 6'7", I'm going to demonstate what athletic supremecy is!" They set the bar to 6'4.5" and come back to compete another day.
It's obvious that this maroon thinks in terms of male competitive sports. In figure skating, "bulking up for more power" can be as much of a hinderance as a help. Training harder may increase the chances of injury far more that other sports. There have been no significant advances in equiptment, such as tennis where oversized and lighter racquets with "juiced" strings enable players to hit harder and manufacture more amazing shots that would have never been possible with the old wooden contraptions that us old fogies learned with. And lastly, the sport has improved dramatically over the years with triples, combos, quads being thrown in the mix with edging, spins in more difficult positions and footwork passes that would fumble foot many trained dancers. Exponentially, the harder the skill, the longer it takes to up the ante and get more competitors to take the risk. It wasn't until Elvis consistantly pulled off quads that coaches even knew how to study, analyze, and eventually master teaching the quad to their male ( and now female) charges. Now we have men doing quad-triples, consistantly, but only after a few have been done and it is stoll at the peril of the skater who doesn't posses COMPLETE mastery of the skills. There must be a correlation here somewhere...Oh yeah...those who skate, do. Those who can't , write for Sports Illustrated. :sheesh:
It's obvious that this maroon thinks in terms of male competitive sports. In figure skating, "bulking up for more power" can be as much of a hinderance as a help. Training harder may increase the chances of injury far more that other sports. There have been no significant advances in equiptment, such as tennis where oversized and lighter racquets with "juiced" strings enable players to hit harder and manufacture more amazing shots that would have never been possible with the old wooden contraptions that us old fogies learned with. And lastly, the sport has improved dramatically over the years with triples, combos, quads being thrown in the mix with edging, spins in more difficult positions and footwork passes that would fumble foot many trained dancers. Exponentially, the harder the skill, the longer it takes to up the ante and get more competitors to take the risk. It wasn't until Elvis consistantly pulled off quads that coaches even knew how to study, analyze, and eventually master teaching the quad to their male ( and now female) charges. Now we have men doing quad-triples, consistantly, but only after a few have been done and it is stoll at the peril of the skater who doesn't posses COMPLETE mastery of the skills. There must be a correlation here somewhere...Oh yeah...those who skate, do. Those who can't , write for Sports Illustrated. :sheesh:
I am SO GLAD someone brought this up. I just read the article yesterday and was going to start a thread about it, but couldn't find any link to the article.
This is the 2nd year in a row that the article about Nats in SI has been snotty. Last year they were basically insinuating that unless Sasha took a crowbar and knocked Michelle on the knee, skating was just boring boring boring, and now this year let's blame Kwan because after all she apparently sent her goons out to all the other ladies competing in the US and told them they were forbidden to do triple/triples because she herself doesn't do them.
It's total chauvinism, is what it is. They seem to think since they are covering a sport geared toward women, this gives them some sort of license to be catty. Reminds me of this guy who used to do a sports column in USA TODAY and every time the Olys rolled around, after ignoring the sport for the previous 4 years, he had to come up with at least ONE "Oh, these catty little girls" column, one of which rather insinuated that Tanja Swescenko deliberately plowed into Oksana Baiul at Lillehammer, because, after all, this is how nasty and mean these girls are, just look at Tonya.
The past several years, I've been kind of annoyed that SI stopped running article about the Nats and Worlds, but if this is the kind of bilge that they're going to spew, I'd prefer they left it alone entirely.
This is the 2nd year in a row that the article about Nats in SI has been snotty. Last year they were basically insinuating that unless Sasha took a crowbar and knocked Michelle on the knee, skating was just boring boring boring, and now this year let's blame Kwan because after all she apparently sent her goons out to all the other ladies competing in the US and told them they were forbidden to do triple/triples because she herself doesn't do them.
It's total chauvinism, is what it is. They seem to think since they are covering a sport geared toward women, this gives them some sort of license to be catty. Reminds me of this guy who used to do a sports column in USA TODAY and every time the Olys rolled around, after ignoring the sport for the previous 4 years, he had to come up with at least ONE "Oh, these catty little girls" column, one of which rather insinuated that Tanja Swescenko deliberately plowed into Oksana Baiul at Lillehammer, because, after all, this is how nasty and mean these girls are, just look at Tonya.
The past several years, I've been kind of annoyed that SI stopped running article about the Nats and Worlds, but if this is the kind of bilge that they're going to spew, I'd prefer they left it alone entirely.
- Joined
- Jul 26, 2003
ITA.JonnyCoop said:It's total chauvinism, is what it is. They seem to think since they are covering a sport geared toward women, this gives them some sort of license to be catty. Reminds me of this guy who used to do a sports column in USA TODAY and every time the Olys rolled around, after ignoring the sport for the previous 4 years, he had to come up with at least ONE "Oh, these catty little girls" column, one of which rather insinuated that Tanja Swescenko deliberately plowed into Oksana Baiul at Lillehammer, because, after all, this is how nasty and mean these girls are, just look at Tonya.
The past several years, I've been kind of annoyed that SI stopped running article about the Nats and Worlds, but if this is the kind of bilge that they're going to spew, I'd prefer they left it alone entirely.
- Joined
- Jan 6, 2004
Doggygirl said:
True. Perhaps a more accurate phrasing would've been something along the lines of "Certian promising up and comers are doing quads and triple axels".
I found much truth in the article, even though I disagreed with some portions of the thought-processes involved.
Strategy is definitely part of figure skating comps. If you don't need an element, why risk doing it? However, when someone skates clean with more difficult elements & still loses -- that's where I have a problem.
I am not a big fan of jumps with more rotations. After quads have basically ruined many skaters longevity in the sport, I think it's time that this issue be addressed by the PTB. And since that isn't going to happen, then someone needs to take steps to advance skate boot technology to help give these youngsters more cushion when they land those jumps.
Strategy is definitely part of figure skating comps. If you don't need an element, why risk doing it? However, when someone skates clean with more difficult elements & still loses -- that's where I have a problem.
I am not a big fan of jumps with more rotations. After quads have basically ruined many skaters longevity in the sport, I think it's time that this issue be addressed by the PTB. And since that isn't going to happen, then someone needs to take steps to advance skate boot technology to help give these youngsters more cushion when they land those jumps.
If you look at the male skaters, how many are really consistently landing quads? Plushenko, yes--about 90-95% consistency. But after Plushy, the consistency drops off. Joubert is not quite as consistent, Lambiel and Lindemann, even less so. Sandhu is not consistent at all. The Chinese men are very consistent jumpers, but the rest of their skating is :sheesh: .
And then look at the injuries. A short list of skaters with injuries includes Klimkin, Lambiel, Honda and Plushenko--all of whom have quads. In the past, Urmanov and Stojko suffered severe groin injuries that eventually shortened their careers, and more recently, Yagudin has had a severe hip injury that forced him to turn pro.
Miki Ando has a quad (which she has not landed cleanly in over two years now) but falling while practicing the quad caused her to dislocate her shoulder. There is a reason why women are not routinely doing multiple revolution jumps, and it is that while those jumps can be learned relatively easily at a young age, when the woman starts to grow and mature, rotating and landing the jumps becomes more and more difficult and the danger of injury is greatly increased.
The two women who mastered the 3A into adulthood were Midori Ito and Tonya Harding, both of whom were very short in stature with powerful, muscular builds.
And then look at the injuries. A short list of skaters with injuries includes Klimkin, Lambiel, Honda and Plushenko--all of whom have quads. In the past, Urmanov and Stojko suffered severe groin injuries that eventually shortened their careers, and more recently, Yagudin has had a severe hip injury that forced him to turn pro.
Miki Ando has a quad (which she has not landed cleanly in over two years now) but falling while practicing the quad caused her to dislocate her shoulder. There is a reason why women are not routinely doing multiple revolution jumps, and it is that while those jumps can be learned relatively easily at a young age, when the woman starts to grow and mature, rotating and landing the jumps becomes more and more difficult and the danger of injury is greatly increased.
The two women who mastered the 3A into adulthood were Midori Ito and Tonya Harding, both of whom were very short in stature with powerful, muscular builds.
- Joined
- Sep 20, 2003
After the Olympics in 2002, I e-mailed them a letter screaming STICK TO HOCKEY.
