A few thoughts about the Winter Olympics

[cathyr19355]

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?

Comments

[sebastian-tombs.livejournal.com]

The Olympic commentary was largely determined by the amount of hype an athlete came in with, along with a desire for them to accurately predict who might win.

If you wanted to see more generous commentating, you should have paid attention to the earlier parts of the programs, where the skaters were not competing for a medal. These were judged on how they met their ability, with some critiquing on what they need to do to improve.

Critiquing examples of less accomplished skaters:

"She used to land quad jumps a couple of years ago, but her body has grown up, and she needs to learn her new body better"

"She is beautiful to watch. She has lovely lines, but she needs someone to coach her, to teach her how to use her power and her grace, and to make a more mature presentation"

"The music doesn't excite me. The skating is very nice, but they have choreographed to the new rules, and not to the music (which is very easy to do under the new rules). They've done well learning the tricks, but now they need to learn to put together a presentation. But they're young, and they have plenty of time"

Also, they were tremendously supportive of Emily, of the Turkish and Italian women. They were very supportive of those trying new things, even if the new things did not always work (and this applies to skating, men's aerials, and at least one other event that escapes me).

On the other hand, they were definitely harsh (Dick in particular) to a few skaters who (in their mind) should have done quite a bit better. The were hard on Bodie, who had tremendous hype coming in. They were tough on the girl who lost the snowboarding downhill because, when she had a huge lead, she tried to style, and wiped out.

The "less mature" Japanese skater? Is less mature. In both age and technique. The older skater, who won the gold, won largely due to a) not screwing up, b) skating a reasonably tough program (but not any where near the toughest), and c) skating the most elegant and graceful program of all the women. This is not surprising - watching many young skaters mature leads to a very different style, and goes from pure athletic ability to a combination of elegance and athleticism.

I think the honesty in the commentating is a good thing, and only felt uncomfortable for one performer. I don't like the costumes, but I have to say that wren13 and I had very different thoughts on which costumes were good, and which were inappropriate. From your post, I suspect that my views are closer to yours. She didn't like the quiet costumes, because they didn't draw enough attention.

I very much enjoyed the women's and the pairs. I enjoyed the ice dancing free skate, but not the compuslories (at all!). I missed the men entirely.

[rmeidaking.livejournal.com]

The short programs on Tuesday (?) were brilliant. I think there were way too many nerves on display during the long program. Plus we're spoiled from ten years of Michelle Kwan. :-)

[unless-spring.livejournal.com]

> Is it just me, or is the magic draining out of Olympic-level figure skating?

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.

[tafkad.livejournal.com]

I spent the entire time I've watched the figure skating/ice dancing competitions, wishing someone would smack the female announcer. Just as you're transfixed in what the skater is doing, there she'd be to shoot it down. Again and again and again. She was knowledgeable but highly unprofessional.