cathyr19355 (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
cathyr19355) wrote2006-02-26 12:42 am
cathyr19355) wrote2006-02-26 12:42 am
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A few thoughts about the Winter Olympics
Thursday night, I decided to catch what I could of the Women's Long Program part of the Winter Olympic competition in Torino. Figure skating is one of the few sports I actually like to watch, though it's been a long time since I'd watched any figure skating events, Olympic or otherwise. I was struck by three things on Thursday night.
One was the significant increase in flashiness of the women's costumes. The amount of flesh-colored spandex (used to simulate zones of bare flesh, which are not permitted), the gaudiness of the color schemes, and the size and tackiness of the motifs in the design (one costume had 8-inch snowflake patterns picked out in beads all over it) all made for costumes that went beyond daring into the realm of vulgarity.
The second was the continued pressure on the athletes to engage in more difficult maneuvers and more difficult spins and jumps. It used to be a big deal for women to land triples in competition. Now triples, even triple/triples (like a triple lutz and a triple toeloop, say) are *expected* of women (and I gather quadruples are now expected of men, but I did not get to watch any of the men's figure skating this year).
Finally, I was seriously disturbed about the callous way the commentators speculated about the psychological state of the competitors and, in many cases, subtly denegrated their performance. About Sasha Cohen, they said things like, "She's never been a reliable performer; she hoped she could hold it together but it didn't happen tonight." One Japanese performer was labeled as "less mature" than the woman who ultimately won the gold medal. To say nothing of the loving close-ups and slo-mos of the competitors who fell. I know figure skating commentary has fed on this weird combination of observation, criticism and speculation for years, but on Thursday it really bothered me, somehow. I found I was grateful that none of the competitors could hear the cruel remarks by the commentators as they skated, or they would have done far, far worse.
Is it just me, or is the magic draining out of Olympic-level figure skating?
One was the significant increase in flashiness of the women's costumes. The amount of flesh-colored spandex (used to simulate zones of bare flesh, which are not permitted), the gaudiness of the color schemes, and the size and tackiness of the motifs in the design (one costume had 8-inch snowflake patterns picked out in beads all over it) all made for costumes that went beyond daring into the realm of vulgarity.
The second was the continued pressure on the athletes to engage in more difficult maneuvers and more difficult spins and jumps. It used to be a big deal for women to land triples in competition. Now triples, even triple/triples (like a triple lutz and a triple toeloop, say) are *expected* of women (and I gather quadruples are now expected of men, but I did not get to watch any of the men's figure skating this year).
Finally, I was seriously disturbed about the callous way the commentators speculated about the psychological state of the competitors and, in many cases, subtly denegrated their performance. About Sasha Cohen, they said things like, "She's never been a reliable performer; she hoped she could hold it together but it didn't happen tonight." One Japanese performer was labeled as "less mature" than the woman who ultimately won the gold medal. To say nothing of the loving close-ups and slo-mos of the competitors who fell. I know figure skating commentary has fed on this weird combination of observation, criticism and speculation for years, but on Thursday it really bothered me, somehow. I found I was grateful that none of the competitors could hear the cruel remarks by the commentators as they skated, or they would have done far, far worse.
Is it just me, or is the magic draining out of Olympic-level figure skating?
no subject
There are indications that the new figure skating judging rules are doing exactly that. This article in Slate explains why it is so:
http://www.slate.com/id/2136701/
Basically, under the new rules it is possible for a skater to get more points for a flawed execution of a technically difficult move, than for a perfect execution of a simple move. Even if she falls on difficult jumps, it is still possible for her to get more points than if she performed simpler moves flawlessly. So the skaters have every incentive to pack their routines with technically challenging elements, and care less about grace, elegance or artistry.
no subject
I hadn't read that much about the new system, so I didn't know that. Thanks for the link to the article.
Eric has speculated that the reason we're seeing more pratfalls by skaters in competition because they are trying to accomplish ever more difficult feats on the ice, and may be on the edge of what even a physically fit and trained human being can achieve. The article you pointed out to me suggests that he may be right.