Defending ice dancing, the ISU and judging

[cindysphynx]

--- In HPFGU-OTChatter at y..., "moongirlk" <moongirlk at y...> wrote:

> I have to leap to the defense of Ice Dancing as somebody (I 
honestly 
> meant to remember who so I could go back and find the quote) said 
> they thought it ought to be dropped from the olympics due to the 
> judging problems and that it's barely a sport, or something to that 
> effect.

That was me.  Remember now, I'm a longtime fan of figure skating, and 
I do think that singles and pairs are wonderful sports.  I also think 
early ice dancing was great, and I remember Torvil and Dean quite 
fondly.  

But something has changed in ice dancing.  It started the year that 
Torvil and Dean made their come-back and won only the bronze medal in 
the Olympics for reasons that were never clear to me.  Ever since, 
the fix has been in, IMHO.  In singles and pairs, anyone with a 
decent understanding of the sport could watch 10 routines and rank 
them, and most people would probably agree on the rankings.  In ice 
dancing, it is anyone's guess, in my opinion.  They are all good, the 
dancers rarely make a mistake, so what is there to differentiate 
them?  Not a whole lot.  And nothing is more of a snooze than the 
compulsory dance, where couple after couple after couple after couple 
dance the same darn routine to the same music.  Grrr!

The bottom line for me is that you have to have risk in a sport.  Not 
risk that someone will be hurt or killed.  Just risk that something 
could go wrong.  Risk is there in all of the other judged sports:  
diving, gymnastics, aerial skiing.  That's where the suspense comes 
from for me.  Ice dancers don't fall or even make many mistakes 
(except for that one couple who fell in the long program at worlds 
and *won anyway*).

Now that judging corruption is out in the open, it does give me pause 
about other results over the years.  I wonder how Nancy Kerrigan is 
feeling these days?

Actually, I'm sufficiently cranky tonight that I'd like to show the 
door to several other Olympic sports.  Synchronized swimming.  
Rhythym gymnastics.  Ballroom dancing (did they ever allow this 
in?).  Outta here!

Moongirl again:

> Without the jumps, [ice dancers] have to pack every moment of the 
program with 
> intricate footwork and edge-work and... well, other nifty stuff I 
> don't know the names of.  

Oh, this is a very good point.  I think [and hope] we are seeing the 
beginning of the end of scoring that allows singles skaters to glide 
half-way across the rink and do a jump, then glide back to the other 
end and do a jump.  They've already changed the short program 
requirements so that you have to do a jump coming out of steps.  I'd 
like to see them further change the scoring so that any jump coming 
out of steps or a spread-eagle or something attractive gets extra 
points for difficulty.  That would go a long way toward improving 
artistry in singles skating, anyway.

Moongirl again:

>I'd be digging up judges 
> from Estonia, Morrocco, Uzbekistan, Jamaica... anywhere to find a 
few 
> that didn't have any skaters in the top 10 or so and get them to do 
> the judging, then as soon as the Olympics were over I'd wipe out 
the 
> judging sytem completely and start from scratch.  

I've heard that a potential reform is that the ISU ought to have paid 
judges on staff.  Not judges from particular countries; judges who 
are well-compensated to judge figure skating.  In American football, 
if the referee throws a flag on a team, no one thinks "Oh, he only 
threw that flag because he wants the Rams to win."  That's because 
referees work for the league and are supervised and disciplined -- 
unlike figure skating judges.

Moongirl again:

> done ranting about skating for now, but still hoping they'll put 
> sweet Scotty in charge of the ISU someday.

Yes, Scott Hamilton and Sandra Bezick are doing a great job.  I'm so 
used to Dick Button and Peggy Flemming that I figured they are the 
only ones who know what they're doing in the booth.  Apparently not.

Cindy (loving her once-every-four-years Winter Olympics fix)