Figure Skating (Olympics: 1908-), the Consummate Display of Beauty and Athleticism on Ice

[DonRocks]

23 hours ago, DonRocks said:

Axel Paulsen
Ulrich Salchow

And inexplicably not mentioned in the video:

Alois Lutz

"The Turnaround Thing"

I object to what figure skating has become: an athletic event akin to "who can do what the highest and the hardest." In particular, I object to what I'm going to call "The Turnaround Thing." This is the bastard cousin of "The Tongue Thing."

The Turnaround Thing occurs when a figure skater does a two-staged jump, and the second stage results in them essentially making a U-turn on the ice. For example, someone will launch into a triple Axel, and then follow it up with a triple toe-loop (or whatever - I have no expertise here), and because the combination is so athletically difficult, the second jump results in them doing a 180, carving out a "U" in the ice, and ending up going backwards, against the direction in which they were skating when they launched the initial jump.

This is just, plain ugly, and has nothing to do with the ballet-like grace that should be (but is no longer) associated with figure skating. 

Does anyone know what the heck I'm talking about? If not, what can I do to explain it more clearly?

Do any skaters agree? Disagree? I don't object to athleticism per se, but I don't like it at the cost of grace, especially in a non-quantifiable event such as figure skating (which I put more in the "dance performance" camp than I do the "tennis match" camp) - the former being an ongoing display of beauty; the latter being "win the match, and it doesn't matter how you look."

I need therapy.

[NolaCaine]

I object to an ice skater FALLING and getting a higher score than a beautiful and graceful (though also athletic) and flawless program. 

Also: I am bothered by technically amazing but choppy skating.  Tara Lipensky was the best example of it but I saw a couple of examples last night too.

[DonRocks]

3 hours ago, NolaCaine said:

I object to an ice skater FALLING and getting a higher score than a beautiful and graceful (though also athletic) and flawless program. 

Just a pianist's perspective: I'd much rather hear a musically played piece, with a couple botched notes, or even a memory slip, than a technically perfect piece with no "blood," as Rodrigo would say.

[NolaCaine]

But I didn't feel the "blood" with the higher scoring men's performances. I did feel the blood with the women; pretty much all of them except the 15 yr old under the Olympic flag but I do realize that's my opinion and I cannot ice skate or play music on anything other than a radio.