I was disappointed sent by the judges, ie, that nothing has changed in judging but the system.
Judges still see jumps as the be-all end-all in singles skating, or at least for the ladies. If you're the "jumping bean at 15," have okay to excellent spins, good speed, and a modicum of grace, a veteran lady has to skate like Evgeni Plushenko at his best in order to beat the bean. All the pages and pages of what the judges are supposed to be giving more weight to under the NJS, such as musicality, edging, speed (though Asada is good at those last two), control, balanced choreography, a totality of choreographic interpretation, arm movements and control, use of the head, torso, edge control, excellent spin control and speed, and many more, [
still as evidenced by the low scores received by Arakawa at Cup of China and now here by Sasha Cohen and Arakawa.
The veteran skaters, most of them, have used the NJS to work hard on improving all their non-jump skills as well as their jumps, only to have the judges give not only high TES scores for jumps--that's fair--but also high levels, with varying degrees of GOE--thanks, Doggygirl
--for non-jump elements such as spirals; combo spins; and footwork, any one, some, or all of which may be mediocre at best.
Also, the PCS scores have been reflecting the TES scores on almost a 1:1 ratio. In other words, if you jump well, magically, you also have high PCS for choreography, skating skills, transitions, and most other PCS. True, under the OBO system, those with high technical scores tended to also get high presentation scores, eg, Michelle's presentation scores would tend to be a tenth of a point or more higher than her tech scores, whereas Irina's presentation scores would tend to be a tenth of a point or so lower than her tech scores, to give just two examples.
I think there's always been a "baby ballerina" score if you're a precocious technical skater with a tiny body and frisky personality, but at least with Oksana, her overall speed as well as the speed and positions on her spins, not to mention a level of grace that we have not seen the likes of since 1997, not even from Oksana, all contributed to the "could have gone either way" '94 ladies OGM, IMO.
As for Tara, she too, like Oksana, had a lot more than just consistent jumps and a frisky personality, though the 3lp/3lp was a biggie.
Suzy Wynne said during the Ladies LP about Asada (paraphrase), "The solidity of her jumps makes the observer feel comfortable watching her, which makes one feel she is better than she really is." I agree. I think this was also the case with Tara and Michelle, especially from 1995 until the '02 Olympics. This is obviously the minority opinion and JMO, but I think Michelle's jump stability--except for her uncharacteristically season of poor jumping, due mostly to her fractured toe, IMO--along with Lori Nichol; sophisticated choreography made Michelle look like she was a better than she was, which I also swore I'd never post, lol.
On the other side of the coin, there was the young Russian teenager whose name I can't remember who did the 3Axel in competition the same day a Japanese teen who also did her first competitive 3Axel in the same event on the same day. The Russian girl, unfortunately, could only jump, and I mean ONLY jump, whereas everything else she did was awkward and clumsy. BTW, this was about 3 years ago and at least I've heard nothing about the Russian 3Axel girl since.
Also, the "cute" factor has made many fans and the media celebrate very pretty and/or cute skaters while they went "ho-hum" over more technically proficient and talented skaters because they were not tiny and cute. Example, Sarah Hughes. Sarah had taken the "slow and steady [improvements] wins the OGM" approach, rather than the overnight celebrity approach, which, to be fair, often skaters have no control over the latter happening to them.
However, Sarah also went through an awkward stage, (or at least most people except Idle think so
between the ages of about 13 and 15 or so. Sarah was also "tall" compared to other skaters of her time. Sarah towered over Michelle, Tara, Sasha, and Naomi Nari Nam while all but Michelle were "on the rise." Sarah usually won third or second place at Nationals, yet the fans nor the media ever made her "the next big star in skating!" Yet I don't think I saw Sarah fall on a jump but once in four or five years, plus her other skating skills were terrific--except her flutz, the bane of most US ladies' skaters, anyway.
IMO, the only thing holding Sarah back was a somewhat cautious approach to her skating and not being "tiny and cute." that is, until the '02 Ladies LP during which, feeling she had nothing to lose, she skated with a freedom and abandon that made the audience go wild and enabled Sarah to win the OGM at 16. But despite all of this, plus being on a soup can, Sarah never had her millions of "cute rooters," because despite being an intelligent girl accepted to an Ivy League university and quickly growing into a very attractive young woman, it ain't like being tiny and traditionally "pretty" enough to be made into and sold as a doll, the ultimate achievement for a US young woman.
So I think that no matter how much the ISU, national federations, skaters, coaches, and fans say they want a NJS that rewards skating elements relative to their difficulty and quality of performance, a program in which the skater lands, even wonkily (s long as on one foot) a bunch of combo jumps and every solo planned jump, despite weaknesses on most of the program components and non-judge elements, the "cute and tiny jumping bean" will outscore even a clean sophisticated and thoroughly well-rounded skater such as Shizuka. That's what the judges want, that's what most of the fans want, and that appears to be what they're getting.
Until figure skating fans and the culture get serious--ha ha--about giving veteran skaters between 21 and 26 their due in rewarding the genius of their work the way we respect Dorothy Hamill or the way sold-out crowds paid big money to see prima ballerina Dame Margot Fonteyn perform around the world until she was 60, then, without sounding pompous, or more pompa$$ than usual
, baby ballerina skaters will be the norm in figure skating for their careers of about four years or until they sustain a career-ending injury, whichever comes first. It won't be because of the judges, the fans, skaters, or coaches. It will be because that's what the general public wants.
So, if you love figure skating, kick and scream--via email or on paper, that is--to the USFSA, the ISU, IOC, and every other group you can think of. Right now, too many dreams of young women who have worked too hard through the toughest parts of their careers are being dashed by a system that values cuteness over skill, capability, training, and the beauty of a superbly talented and well-trained skater. Of course many skaters work as hard and intelligently as possible and never make it, but skaters know those odds going in.
I guess now the ladies also have to add the odds of a cute and tiny superjumper coming along with the right birthday at the right time dashing all their hopes and hard-work toward a World gold or OGM.
As an instructor once said, "Life isn't fair, but if we have the opportunity, we should try to make it as fair as possible whenever we can."
Rgirl
BTW, this is not to take anything away from the hard work and talents of Oksana, Tara, NNN, Sasha, or Mao. They were/are gifted beyond their years. But the preoccupation with "little girls in tiny boxes," and certainly not just by the US, is a topic we could discuss to great depths, though I think the topic is more suited for the Salon.com website.
, in sober fact, as Doggygirl pointed out on another thread, she made mistakes on five of her seven jumping passes.
