So does learning to walk for a toddler, but you don't get a medal for it.
I understand that these people are fine athletes. But when they took figures out of figure skating and made the entire outcome dependent on independent opinion of artistic merit, it became something other than sport.
Contrary popular opinion, figure-skating scoring is quite technical. Each skater must perform specified jumps and moves. Points are given or deducted basis how fully they rotate, arm and leg positions, technique, mistakes, and falls (a hand or knee touching the ice have different deductions). These can all be broken down on film and demonstrated for scoring purposes. Good judges can see it in real time, although they do use video review as well. Scoring systems are really no different from gymnastics or diving.
Yes, a sport like hockey has clear points. At the end of the day - did the puck go in the net is the only real question. But the referees in any sport have a great deal of discretion as well. Was that a penalty? What constitutes an illegal hit? Was that offsides?
So does learning to walk for a toddler, but you don't get a medal for it. I understand that these people are fine athletes. But when they took figures out of figure skating and made the entire outcome dependent on independent opinion of artistic merit, it became something other than sport.
LOL, almost spewed a mouthful of Glenlivet on my new laptop.