the Ice Dance "Fix" is in

[CanadianSkaterGuy]

My boyfriend made a great point. Judging scandal or not, people are actually giving a crap about what goes on in ice dancing. I believe his half-serious words were "Oh come on, ice dancing isn't even an event people care about. At least people will be more interested thanks to this!"

Come on, nothing like a little ole scandal or judging controversy to get people to actually watch.

And to be honest, with this judging fix nonsense I think viewership for the ice dance event will be considerably higher than it would have otherwise been. Maybe that was the plan all along?

 

[Angela V]

hope the public/casual skating fan blames the system rather than the skaters.

I don't see how the skaters are to be a fault for crappy judging! The system can suck and frankly I'd rather it get called out for when it does suck than to hide our heads in the sand because we might upset the skaters. The skaters should ALWAYS be proud of themselves. And when things like this happen, I'd rather see the judging being attacked. The judges should be transparent period.

 

[WeakAnkles]

I admit I do not fully understand the judging/scoring of ice dancing so could someone explain to me why the Shibsibs do not score higher. I loved their performance and everything about them on the ice. They looked fast, in sync and I felt projected well to the audience and TV viewers. I ran into them in Boston after the ladies long on a quiet street behind the TD Garden. Such gracious people, funny, and stunning to look at. I was having so much fun with them, it felt like running into old friends.

The Shibs were off today in the FD (that's a program that really needs a boost of audience participation to really sing), but I thought their SD was the best thing they've done since they won the bronze medal. Part of the scoring for them is that they simply did NOT capitalize on that bronze in the next two years. I think doing what amounted to a carbon copy of their bronze-winning program the very next year was a big factor, as was the absolute indignation that these American upstarts came in their first year and had the audacity to win a bronze at Worlds (no one seems to have quite the same indignation for P/B who lost the bronze that year because they fell on their tushies). And then they had to deal with her growth spurt and his injuries. All of that killed their momentum. But I think they're starting to get it back. They just need better material to work with.

 

[Near]

is this Rossie DiManno a journalist or some sort of a tabloid writer
her article is a joke

She's known as one of Canada's worse columnist. Calling her a journalist is quite generous.

 

[Mathman]

My boyfriend made a great point. Judging scandal or not, people are actually giving a crap about what goes on in ice dancing. I believe his half-serious words were "Oh come on, ice dancing isn't even an event people care about. At least people will be more interested thanks to this!"

Come on, nothing like a little ole scandal or judging controversy to get people to actually watch.

And to be honest, with this judging fix nonsense I think viewership for the ice dance event will be considerably higher than it would have otherwise been. Maybe that was the plan all along?

I don't think the "scandal" got much play outside Canada. What I think will help ice dance most is that we got to see some really excellent performances (pairs, too). What I think hurts the sport more than rumors of judging improprieties is competitions with many falls and nothing really to cheer about.

 

[Silvia451]

All this rumors about 'the fix' are useless. Happily they don't ruin the beauty of the ice dance competition. V/M have only to lose from the canadian media's attitude. They did their best and brought on ice so many emotions. Why can't the people who wanted them to win just enjoy their programs? There's no point in complaining that they had to win considering the results from the past year. D/W deserved to win the OGM. Congratulations to both teams.

 

[Manitou]

The "fix" in the ice dance is not a problem. That "fix" has been in ice dance forever.
The problem with ice dance is its very nature. Basically, it's not a sport. I love watching it, but it's not a competitive sport. Period. And it should be taken out of Olympics. Right now!
If there is global demand to take it out of Olympics, I want to add my signature!
The reason for this is that it is not measurable by a casual observer. For a casual observer, as long as there is no visible flop or fall, there is no difference between 20th performance and the best performance. Outside of the very elite nobody else can tell a difference. There is no clear and obvious measuring stick. This is why the sport should disappear from the Olympics. Period.

In all sports we measure time, distance, points, etc. Even in figure skating pairs or individual competitions a casual observer can tell if the performance was successful by seeing jumps, rotations and failures. In ice dance it's impossible. You have to belong to the very inner elite to see things. And it defies the idea of the Olympics, where sports must have global appeal, must be globally clear and transparent.

So my vote: remove ice dance from the Olympics! Is there any organized group or movement to enforce it, I want to join!