healthnut

I think Scott definitely makes a good point about the money. 100M contract is definitely not sustainable. I found a couple of old articles that mention some numbers: Professional Skating 1994 1997 - Figure TV deal expires If you read the comments on Scott’s video there’s lots of comments complaining about not understanding the scoring system and I wonder if that’s why NBC went to this confusing box with max score instead of base value. Casual viewers apparently still prefer 6.0 which is interesting because there doesn’t seem to be that same confusion in gymnastics. I think we can see there isn’t one thing that killed figure skating but multiple things that contributed to the decline. The real question is what can be done now to increase the popularity? Is it more access for less privileged? More funding for skaters at the juvenile level where they see the greatest decline? More TV specials to reach more audiences? I have long though USFS does a terrible job with their social media, there is so much they could do to reach more people, including uploading more performances and competitions. Thoughts?

Don’t discount the American men that contributed to that thriving professional skating scene. After Kristi won you also had Scott, Brian, and Paul. Those four were the real backbone of those Stars on Ice tours. Just as the female skaters never stick around long enough for those tours, they were never replenished with any top American male skaters either, Tim was the only other medalist during that time and he wasn’t that popular or exciting. Todd or Michael Weiss never won an Olympic medal. By the time 2010 rolled around, they did themselves no favors by not including Johnny. Which I thought was incredibly stupid considering the tour wasn’t that popular anymore. I think 2002 was when it really died. That was also the last year they had the World Professional Open. Ice Wars lasted til 2006 but they were really scraping for talent, the US team consisted of Brian Boitano, Michael Weiss, Rory Flack Burghart and Angela Nikodinov. And at some point around that time the Russians all went back to Russia after training in the states for years and they had better opportunities there. The money was all in America for awhile but the bubble was bound to pop sooner or later and it did.

Yes. At Worlds last year and in 2017. Huge skates that allowed us to get three spots. Consistency has undoubtedly been a huge issue, the most successful ladies internationally since 2006 were hugely inconsistent: Ashley Wagner, Alyssa Cizney, Gracie Gold. The ones since then just haven't even been competitive.

Michelle definitely did her 3/3 at 2004 Nationals, I can't remember if she did at Worlds but she definitely did 3/3 from 1995-96 season although she missed it at Worlds and threw in a triple toe at the end, so that's 1995 to at least 2004. It wasn't always successful of course. ETA: CAS ruled. THE CAS AD HOC DIVISION DISMISSES AN APPLICATION FILED BY NINE INDIVIDUAL SKATERS FROM THE UNITED STATES SEEKING A RULING THAT THE IOC BE ORDERED TO HOLD A MEDAL CEREMONY FOR THE FIGURE SKATING TEAM EVENT Sad. I hate CAS.

Coldplay should release a statement thanking Alexa & Brandon for skating to their music just to troll the Heathen folks.

M/K did beat K/F in the free skate but they stayed ahead due to the point gap from the short program. I really like Alexa & Brandon but I imagine Alexa will retire after this season. The US athletes have petitioned to CAS to get their silver medals, I hope they win, they deserve to have a medal ceremony.

IMO, Fran has the best content on the rise of the Russian women and what’s happened to ladies figure skating. Both videos are about an hour long but well worth it.

All of these entities would have broadcast licenses that should cover this. I’d think any small potatoes artist would be thrilled to have their song played on a worldwide stage like the Olympics. Seems beyond ridiculous to me. I hope it doesn’t affect K/F tomorrow.

You’ve got to be kidding me.

Fantastic pairs short program, S/H and T/M were phenomenal. Both American pairs were at their best. Ashley & Timothy were a better executed throw from being in fifth, they had the best triple twist I’ve ever seen them do. Loved P/J, I would’ve had them in 4th ahead of B/K but I’m biased.

Polina said in her podcast it has taken some Russian girls up to eight hours to provide enough urine for a drug test.

I’m so ready for pairs tomorrow. I’m just tired of all this drama from the ladies.

We get a medal ceremony but frankly it’s no fun either. I’d really like to know what Trusova is so upset about, not sure how well Johnny is translating.

Meanwhile, “IOC president Thomas Bach has reportedly offered to give U.S. figure skaters Olympic torches as a holdover gift while they await a final verdict on the figure skating team event standings.” I mean how can you turn down that? 🙄

I’m not against that, I’m not even sure if it can be done without it. Before Trusova, Sasha Cohen tried and I believe Miki Ando landed one that was a quarter turn short. Right now there’s nothing in the rule books that judges takeoff, they only look at the landing.

Honestly, I think the best thing is to ban quads for women. I know people may find that incredibly sexist but after listening to Polina’s podcast yesterday I feel that’s the only way forward. She wasn’t making a case for banning quads but she said in order to learn quads they have to start doing doubles and triples years earlier than normal. This isn’t healthy. Plus the pre rotation technique in order to get these quads done is even more problematic. Polina believes if something isn’t done to discontinue that technique then American coaches as well as other countries will have to teach that technique instead of the proper technique in order to compete. I think she’s right. You can’t devalue the quads to disincentivize them (like they’ve done in pairs) because that would be devaluing them in men’s competition, too. I also think they should make PCS equal to the technical mark in ladies skating. It’s ridiculous it doesn’t carry equal weight especially with the explosion in tech category.

I don’t know what to believe anymore because I was sure CAS was going to return in favor of the IOC, ISU, and WADA. I feel like the pressure will be immense from every other country that justice will ultimately prevail and she’s disqualified. Both her Nationals and European title should be vacated as well as any Olympic medals. She may end up with a short suspension but her career is likely over in a year anyway, that’s been the Eteri way. However, my fear is Russia cooks up some bogus defense, which the grandfather thing just can’t hold any water, and she’s exonerated. But right now, I’m going to stay optimistic that justice will prevail. In contrast, I have zero hope of any sanctions against Eteri or any fruitful investigation into Sambo 70.

The old 6.0 system you had ordinals, the short program was 1/3 of the score and the long program was 2/3, so you .5 points times your placement in the SP and 1 times your placement in the LP. So Michelle got 0.5 pts for finishing first, Sarah got 2 pts for finishing fourth. Had Michelle finished second in the LP she would’ve won by having 2.5 pts to Sarah’s 3 pts. However, once Irina beat Michelle to finish second that knocked Michelle to third. So Sarah won with 2.5 pts, Irina had 3pts (2nd in both), and Michelle had 3.5 pts. Hence, back in that time, if you weren’t in the top 3 after the short, you didn’t control your own destiny.

Yes. Michelle was the definitive favorite with Irina Slutskaya being the potential spoiler. Sarah had gotten bronze at the previous Worlds but she also finished behind Sasha at Nationals and Sasha had been injured the previous season so Sarah was very much considered the 3rd American. Sarah had beaten Michelle and Irina at Skate Canada or the Grand Prix final, I can’t remember but she definitely wasn’t expected to win and she was 4th after the short program so she needed help to win. I’m not surprised her or Tara’s opinion would not be in favor of raising the age limit but Sarah was 16 at SLC, not 15 like Tara.

Former Olympian Polina Edmonds posted a great podcast episode on what doping does in figure skating and the problems with women doing quads. https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/2022-olympics-doping-scandal/id1525495252?i=1000551112896

“Hypoxen was shown to have antihypoxic and antioxidant effects and can be used by healthy people with reduced performance in extreme situations and adverse weather conditions, e.g. Far North, highlands, etc. Hypoxenum is used by athletes to improve physical performance, yet it is not on the WADA Prohibited List. Apart from that, the drug was also shown to be effective in patients suffering from alcohol abuse problems as it can decrease cravings, improve mood, lower anxiety, and asthenia. Hypoxen can be used in the combination therapy of conditions associated with hypoxia: severe injuries, burns, major surgery, blood loss, as well as asthma and obstructive bronchitis, pneumonia, and insufficient oxygen supply to the issues. Moreover, Hypoxenum reduces the amount of damage caused to the heart by myocardial infarction; the drug also activates the functional activity of monocytes in patients with viral hepatitis, recurrent herpes, influenza, and acute respiratory viral infections (ARVI). In 1996, the drug was approved for medical use and has been sold without prescription in Russia since then.“

Not entirely sure but a quick google search says it’s a “Russian investigative project established by Kremlin critic Mikhail Khodorkovsky” Mikhail Khodorkovsky is “a former billionaire and a critic of President Vladimir V. Putin's who was imprisoned for a decade.” Currently exiled and residing in London.