Defending ice dancing, the ISU and judging

[moongirlk]

--- In HPFGU-OTChatter at y..., "Kathryn" <kcawte at k...> wrote:
> IMO the camerawork doesn't always help matters focussing on 
closeups (above the waist) when the skaters aren't doing anything 
dramatic thus making most people think they're just coasting when 
they're often doing intricate footwork.

I agree with that, but lots of (especially singles) skaters don't pay 
much attention to footwork, and especially not intricate footwork.  
At least not until they go pro.  For example Ilya Kulik is a far more 
enjoyable skater to watch (IMO) now that he's gone pro (and has 
Christopher Dean doing some choreography for him!).  

> I notice (or rather Barry Davies did) that the only reason the 
>French judge's marks stood out was the others voted along east/west 
>lines (who says the cold war ended?), Russia, Azerbaijan, Ukraine 
>and China voted for the Russians while UK, US, Canada and Germany I 
>think, voted for the Canadians, with the French judge voting 
>the "wrong" way. I think the implication was it was in return for 
>someone (don't know who but presumably Russia) voting for the French 
>couple in the Ice Dancing, which was why it was so important to sort 
>it out beore the Ice Dancing started.

I hadn't noticed how strictly they had fallen along those lines, but 
I did think it was about Anassina and Peiserat.  Which is silly 
because they are awesome skaters and could earn the scores all on 
their own, just like the Russian pair could have if they hadn't been 
having a bad night.  I still think, though, that the ISU president 
seemed really dismissive of the whole thing, and probably won't go 
too far toward fixing the underlying problem unless the media/public 
make him.

> And yeah I remember a lot more falls than normal at Nagano too - 
the German commentator I heard was wondering if the ice was extra 
slippery !?

Extra slippery ice - that's priceless!

> And Bolero was Sarajevo in '82 I think, Albertville was their 
comeback when they should have won gold with Let's Face the Music. 

I totally agree - they should've won and the rule about the lifts was 
enforced rather stupidly (and while I'm at it Surya Bonaly should be 
allowed to do the backflip in competition since she can land it on 
one foot, so there!).  It was during the exhibition that they did 
Bolero - as a tribute to the people of Sarajevo.  I was too young to 
have the attention span for the Sarajevo olympics, so that was the 
first time I'd seen them do Bolero.  Yowza!

kimberly