Everyone who watches men’s figure skating pretty much knows by now that Evgeni Plushenko has said the quadruple jump is the future of men’s figure skating. A few egotistical judges, who self-appointed themselves to be the judge of that, rewarded Evan Lysacek with the Winter Olympics gold. Supposedly, Evan’s his triple jumps and graceful artistry while dressed like a grease ball in a black jump suit with sparkles was superior to the ultimate ice showman’s quads and other skills.
The main defense of Evan’s gold being fair and legit is that this is the new scoring system (see summary below the poll).
OK. Let’s theoretically accept that is correct for a few moments.
If so, then why not tear down the gender barrier and have the ladies compete with the men?
Queen of the Triple Axel, Mao Asada of Japan
20 of the 24 male figure skaters at the Olympics level didn’t do a triple Axel. Rod Black and Tracey Wilson cited on CTV during Olympics exhibition gala broadcast. Meanwhile, Mao Asada of Japan, the Queen of the Triple Axel, can do them like crazy. She did three in her free skate! That gives her a pretty good chance at 4th place right off the get go, She can do other jumps and combinations like the men. And who’s going to tell me her artistry and grace is worse than any of the men?
So if some of the ladies can jump better than most of the men, and they’re more graceful and artistic, what chance would Evan Lysacek have for the gold if he competed against them?
He’d get bronze, at best, with stiff competition from Johnny Weir. Top two spots would be contended by Mao Asada and Yu-Na Kim of South Korea. Mao only got silver… and not because she was a jumper and not artistic, either. She was elegant, skilled and graceful. She was just beaten by a better skater on the night. Both were beautifully artistic and graceful, having great footwork and covering the ice at least as good as the men, and could jump better than many!
So under this new scoring system, if you could get away with winning on triple jumps and rely on footwork and artistic impression to win, then let’s get the women a chance to skate with the men. Let them show Evan what that’s really all about, cause artistic grease balls in black jump suits with sparkles ain’t doing the trick for me to watch the sport.
Get a few girls who can kick some guy butts? Now you’re talking! 😉
Flesch-Kincaid Grade Reading Level: 8.4
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The New Figure Skating Scoring System
The International Skating Union introduced a new scoring system that took effect internationally in the 2005 season. It is intended to shift focus away from the judges and onto the skaters.
Judges
The system is designed to allow judges to focus on the quality of each element performed and the five program components. It also eliminates the scoring of skaters in relation to other skaters.
Referee
Oversees the judges to make sure they follow the proper procedure
Technical specialist
Identifies each element as the skater performs it
Technical controller
Supports technical specialist
Assistant technical specialist
Program components
- Transitions
- Interpretation
- Choreography/composition
- Skating skills
- Performance/execution of elements
Grade of execution
Awarded on a scale of up to plus or minus three points
Base value
Each technical element has a pre-assigned base value
Program component score
Sum of points awarded for each of five components; points given on a scale from 0.25 to 10
Technical score
Each element performed receives a base value plus a ìgrade of executionî
Total score
Seven of the nine judges are randomly and anonymously selected by computer. Scores of the other two judges are thrown out.
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