If we can't get the public to agree on who gave a good performance or whose skating technique is good, why shouldn't we expect some skaters who didn't have any falls or other significant mistakes to make their disagreements known in the K&C? GrGranny's question was about skaters who make faces or give thumbs down in the K&C, not skaters who complain about losses years after an event, which I agree is whining in any sport.
BTW, I'm not saying Irina didn't do the following, I'm just not familiar with the event Irina complained about "in interviews two years after it happened." I know she complained about the Olympics into the following season, but there was speculation that the Russian Federation strongly encouraged her to complain hoping to get an investigation into the ladies event because the Russians wanted to sweep the Olympics in FS. I just remember reading a blip about it on one of those "Raw Onion" or other "dig up the dirt" sites, but sorry I can't give a URL.
It just seems odd since Irina was never a complainer about her scores or results throughout her career, as far as I know, until that incident. Not that it couldn't happen. The Olympics, especially the '02 Olympics, seemed to bring out the worst in everybody except B&S and S&P, both teams of which were the only ones truly victimized by a scandal. OTOH, when skaters are in their teens, most are good little doo-bees in the K&C. Until the mid- to late-'90s, prior to which most skaters participated in one Olympics and then turned pro for financial reasons, we tended to see young skaters who were at most in their early '20s. Now we see skaters grow from their early teens to their mid- to late-20s as competitors. Those good little doo-bees at 16 tend to develop strong personalities by 25, especially if they've been among the the three or four best in the world for almost ten years. The older they get, the more likely they're going to let their feelings known if they're particularly PO'd about something.
About the "American Idol" analogy, I saw a report on "Dateline" during which an expert in hearing and the brain was interviewed. He said the results have studies have shown that some people truly cannot hear the difference between themselves, even on tape, and a great singer. The researcher compared it to body dysmorphic disorder, which is where a normal looking person looks in the mirror and sees themselves as hideously deformed. I suppose those skaters who are TRULY bad, and I don't mean differences in opinion--like between Irina and Michelle when they both skate well and clean--but for examply that one poor Russian girl who did the first 3Axel since Tonya Harding but otherwise was so terribly uncoordinated it hurt to watch, at least it did me. Here she could do the elusive 3Axel but her scores were like those for a junior level skater who wasn't very good. With all the excitement about her 3Axel, and that other girl's too, who was none too good either, they both must have wondered why they got such low scores.
I know I've taught people in dance classes--fortunately only a few over many years--who could burn holes in you for trying to give give them the most basic constructive criticism, such as "point your toes." At first you wondered if that's what you actually said, but after a while you realized that some people either just can't take criticism no matter how gentle or they're convinced the next step after this beginning dance class is Broadway.
It also goes the other way. Some dance teachers, choreographers, or critics hate you before you even move a muscle. There's just something about you as a person they can't stand. Others can't stand the way you move. OTOH, others are ga-ga over you. Especially in a modern company, where like figure skating a number of styles exist, people can come up with many reasons for hating the way you dance. Just recently I was looking up something about figure skating and it was attached to an article from about February (after Euros) in which the author said that Tatiana Malinina was seen as unseating Michelle Kwan at that year's Worlds. I think this was for either 1999 or 2000.
And so it goes.
Rgirl
