This is figure skating? Go figure

SI ^ | February 10, 2010 | Frank DeFord

[C19fan]

Remember the town in Vietnam that, they said, had to be destroyed in order to be saved? Something like that applies very well to figure skating, a sport with a judging system was so corrupt that changes had to be made. Unfortunately, instead of trusting that they could change the judges, they changed the whole system, and thereby destroyed the sport's popularity.

[C19fan]

There used to be a time the girl or woman who was the holder of the US title was the most famous woman athlete in the country but these days she is about as anonymous as the curling team.

[Touch Not the Cat]

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Remember figure skating (not “ice dancing”) from the 60s.?

The skater ran through a series of very precise predetermined maneuvers and were judged on their ability to execute each.

[sodpoodle]

Trashy Tonya Harding brought down the sport with her attack on Nancy Kerrigan.

[BunnySlippers]

That is STILL a huge part of ice skating now but is usually not televised.

The other part is the free-style and that was around then too. Remember Sonya Henne and her fabulous outfits?

[C19fan]

I remember that. That lasted through the 70’s and I believe most of the 80’s until that was dropped all together.

[dfwgator]

What would Brian Boitano do?

[ClearCase_guy]

I'm not sure others would agree, but I think the Tonya Harding/Nancy Kerrigan fiasco (and the bribed French judge at about that time) really put a damper on the sport. As I understand it, Tonya Harding was convinced that she was a better skater than Kerrigan, but Kerrigan was prettier and had more class and so the judges always gave the medals to Nancy.

Tonya and her squad decided to level the playing field by levelling Kerrigan. Bad move. But I think a lot of people started seeing skating as a subjective beauty contest and not quite so much as a sport.

I watch it, but I don't care about it any more.

[12Gauge687]

Peggy Fleming still looks great, even after her battle with cancer!

[Joe 6-pack]

"There used to be a time the girl or woman who was the holder of the US title was the most famous woman athlete in the country..."

There was also a time when the male who held the US title was the most famous woman athlete in the country, too.

[12Gauge687]

All due to the “talented” folks like Kendra and the Kardashians. /sarc

[dfwgator]

But I think a lot of people started seeing skating as a subjective beauty contest.

Kind of like the BCS.

[Lizavetta]

HA!

[Touch Not the Cat]

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Sonya was a little before my time. She was one of the greats!

[dfwgator]

I had the schoolboy crush on Dorothy Hamill.

[Disambiguator]

This is figure skating.

[perez24]

I think it’s like a lot of 2nd and 3rd tier games or sports, e.g. soccer (especially women’s), poker, women’s basketball, etc. It’s popular for a little while but then it goes back to being a niche sport.

I think the judging had something to do with it as well, because it seemed very corrupt and based on who was skating as opposed to what s/he did.

[OKSooner]

Your previous post is utterly useless without pictures. :)

[Cletus.D.Yokel]

There was a short time, a while ago, when the female participants looked like women and not pre-pubescent boys...

[the long march]

That was in the set portion of the program not the free. The set portion certainly showcased ones ability to trace a figure 8 and move from edge to edge but that portion of the contest was rarely shown ( you had to attend to see it) it was usually recapped ( rightfully so-— being precise has little to do with skate speed and jumping ability). There have always been two sets to the program. Judging now is no better and no worse than then. We just like to gripe about the winner not being the one we wanted

[DJ MacWoW]

Kerrigan was pretty trashy too. She thought she had the gold sewn up because of the attack but along came Oksana Baiul. On camera, Kerrigan said the hold up to award medals was because they were fixing Baiuls makeup. She snidely stated that she didn’t know why, she’d just cry it all off again. Then she realized there was a camera and she smiled. NOT a graceful loser.