Figure Skating Controversy
Feb. 19th, 2010 07:14 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rabid1stSo, Evan Lysacek took the Gold and Evgeni Plushenko settled for the Silver. But what sets my teeth on edge was Johnny Weir got robbed. I mentioned the other day that I find a lot to love in the new judging system. I think it removes some of the subjectivity from judging and it makes the whole process more transparent for the skaters. Fair is fair. You have the point value in your program and you execute it flawlessly...and you win. But sometimes doing things "by the numbers" leads to perplexing results for the audience. Case in point, Lysacek's robotic performance wasn't nearly as moving as Plushenko's all or nothing passion. Johnny Weir skated a beautiful program and landed every jump flawlessly, and yet, he's beaten by a man who fell and another man who was frankly exhausted and exhausting to watch. There is no doubt in my mind that Johnny should have been fourth at the very least.
Meanwhile, Elvis Stojko is upset because Evgeni Plushenko successfully landed his quad and a number of other amazing jump sequences. Elvis might be a little biased toward the athletic side of figure skating, however, as he was noted more for his jumping ability and often struggled with his artistic marks.
http://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/vancouver/figure_skating/news?slug=es-thoughts021810&prov=yhoo&type=lgns
I do agree with Elvis though about the caliber of Olympians we might be producing in light of these new rulings. Johnny decided to "play it safe" and not break out his quad jump. Had he used it and landed it, he might have scored the points that his otherwise stellar performance failed to achieve. A point system is fair...but it can't reflect artistic soul. I would think that would favor skaters like Plushenko or Stojko, who can put together powerful jumps, but apparently the old fashioned subjective, heartfelt judging is what they want. They want the quad to set them apart. I want figure skating to make me stand up and cheer. I noticed people were standing and cheering for Johnny...even without the quad.
Meanwhile, Elvis Stojko is upset because Evgeni Plushenko successfully landed his quad and a number of other amazing jump sequences. Elvis might be a little biased toward the athletic side of figure skating, however, as he was noted more for his jumping ability and often struggled with his artistic marks.
http://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/vancouver/figure_skating/news?slug=es-thoughts021810&prov=yhoo&type=lgns
I do agree with Elvis though about the caliber of Olympians we might be producing in light of these new rulings. Johnny decided to "play it safe" and not break out his quad jump. Had he used it and landed it, he might have scored the points that his otherwise stellar performance failed to achieve. A point system is fair...but it can't reflect artistic soul. I would think that would favor skaters like Plushenko or Stojko, who can put together powerful jumps, but apparently the old fashioned subjective, heartfelt judging is what they want. They want the quad to set them apart. I want figure skating to make me stand up and cheer. I noticed people were standing and cheering for Johnny...even without the quad.