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OriginalCyn

By OriginalCyn
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Avaleigh

Avaleigh

7 hours ago, Nicola said:

thanks for the info! :)

If I really can have a commentary-free, interview/feature-free experience, then I'm in! Peacock has this option?!

Yes, so far I watched Nationals, Europeans and 4CC all without commentary. They air them live to so you can watch in real time if you choose. Otherwise you can just watch the replays. It's pretty fun to be able to watch in real time. 

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ChicksDigScars
ChicksDigScars

“I wish the Shibutanis were [in Milan] because last year I gave them my medal,” Donohue said, “and I don’t plan on doing that this year.” Uhhh..what? Yeah, and they gave you their National title

absnow54
absnow54

I get that figure skating is a jumping sport right now, and Alyssa Lui is the best chance for competing with the Russians, but damn, Mariah Bell’s free skate is the reason I find this sport so compell

Jeddah
Jeddah

I do love the Shibs, but it still would have been an obnoxious thing to say about any team, not just them. It implies that they didn’t earn their medal. That they didn’t work for it. That their two cl

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healthnut

healthnut

(edited)
13 hours ago, Nicola said:

If I really can have a commentary-free, interview/feature-free experience, then I'm in! Peacock has this option?!

Yes, literally one one competition the last two years had commentary (that was one of the domestic Grand Prix events in 2020). Everything else is commentary free or there is a commentary free feed if there are two live feeds. 

Edited by healthnut
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HartofDixie

HartofDixie

1 hour ago, Good Queen Jane said:

Any news on who will be competing for the US in the Olympic Team event? Since it starts on Friday, they should have to announce the team members soon.

Nothing yet. Everyone in Beijing except Alyssa, H/B. I believe C/B arriving today.

Countries have until 24 hours before the competition to submit their team entries.

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absnow54

absnow54

(edited)
12 minutes ago, HartofDixie said:

Nothing yet. Everyone in Beijing except Alyssa, H/B. I believe C/B arriving today.

Countries have until 24 hours before the competition to submit their team entries.

I thought the testing regiment was 96 hours, 72 hours, then 24 hours before being allowed into the Olympic bubble. Wouldn't C/B already have to be there to meet the 96 hour entry deadline, since Rhythm Dance is on the 4th? I would think everyone participating for the team event would want to be there for all 3 days of the event, unless China isn't even allowing competitors to watch events like they did in Tokyo. 

Nevermind! I thought they had to test 96 hours prior to arrival to Olympic bubble, not 96 hours before arriving at the airport, so I guess everyone still arriving are eligible to compete for the Team Event. I wonder if Alyssa is still testing positive...

Edited by absnow54
healthnut

healthnut

(edited)

Still no word on team entries, they actually delayed the time they have to be in 😬

Word on the street is that Roman Sadovsky will be doing the team event for Canada instead of Keegan, who is yet to arrive, and no one seems to have an update.  
And it also appears Alysa Liu is not flying in til Friday so she definitely won’t be in the team event.

Edited by healthnut
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HartofDixie

HartofDixie

9 hours ago, healthnut said:

Still no word on team entries, they actually delayed the time they have to be in 😬

Word on the street is that Roman Sadovsky will be doing the team event for Canada instead of Keegan, who is yet to arrive, and no one seems to have an update.  
And it also appears Alysa Liu is not flying in til Friday so she definitely won’t be in the team event.

Keegan might not compete at all 

https://www.cbc.ca/sports/olympics/winter/figure-skating/canadian-olympic-figure-skating-keegan-messing-1.6336053

Frost

Frost

This might be a very stupid question, but is there any work on new designs for figure skates?  Anything with the blades or how the blades and boot connect?  In gymnastics, the vault apparatus and the floor structure were completely redesigned to be more "springy" and support bigger tricks.   Simone Biles' tumbling would never have been possible on the plain rubber mats we had for floor in the dark ages when I was a gymnast.  

Is a more "springy" figure skate sacrilege?  

Enero

Enero

(edited)
8 hours ago, Crs97 said:

Scott Hamilton explaining the decline in popularity

It is five years old, but still thought provoking.

Bringing this over from the Olympic Figure Skating thread. Interesting thoughts from Scott. He gave a little more context in the article below about why there no longer being a professional discipline for the sport, contributed to a decline in it's popularity. He stated that the professional part of the sport promoted it to general audiences, which worked to help maintain it's popularity and that the ISU expanding opportunities for amateurs essentially undermined this strategy. Which resulted in the sports decline. I don't know if I agree him.

Here's a more recent article on the decline of U.S. figure skating.

Figure Skating is on thin ice. Here's how to fix it.

It touches on a lot of interesting things. It seems the most common reasons stated not just in this article, but in other articles I've read is a) a lack of figure skating champions on an International level, specifically in women's b) the new judging system (which I think people would figure out if there were U.S. ladies who were world and Olympic medalists) and c) money to compete in the sport. 

The article also mentioned some alternatives to FS that are outside of the traditional competition we see at worlds and the Olympics. I've heard of Ice Theatre and even seen some of the performances. Very creative and contemporary stuff.  But I doubt it would ever be incorporated into any type of competitive discipline.

 

 

Edited by Enero
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Crs97

Crs97

3 hours ago, Enero said:

He gave a little more context in the article below about why there no longer being a professional discipline for the sport, contributed to a decline in it's popularity. He stated that the professional part of the sport promoted it to general audiences, which worked to help maintain it's popularity and that the ISU expanding opportunities for amateurs essentially undermined this strategy. Which resulted in the sports decline. I don't know if I agree him.

I agree with him somewhat.  I was someone who watched all the professional shows/competitions, but I did find that there were too many events with the same people each time.  At one point I remember we were supposed to be excited that Boitano had choreographed his own routine, but it was the same moves as the week prior, just to different music.  He was also one of the only ones still doing the triples so it was always clear he was going to win.  Don’t get me wrong; he always deserved to win and his artistry grew exponentially, but still. . .  It was no longer must see tv.
 

If there had been a steadier flow of amateurs coming into the ranks, that might have helped both keep it interesting and keep it going beyond the retirements of the initial group.

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healthnut

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?

 

Enero

Enero

(edited)
39 minutes ago, healthnut said:

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?

I definitely think modernizing the way they promote the sport will help. The younger generation is not flocking to the sport to fill those gaps left by older fans leaving it behind. So USFS has to figure out a way to engage the younger sec. That said, I think increasing interest is predicated on creating world and Olympic medalist in the women’s discipline. Without winners there will be no interest.

I do think figuring out a way to scout phenoms in the sport early on and designing programs to cultivate those talents will go a long way in establishing a deep field of skaters. Don’t know how soon phenoms start to exhibit extraordinary talent. Or if the problem is these phenoms leave the sport, for various reasons, before being discovered. But in order to be relevant again I do think the USFS will need to overhaul how they find and cultivate talent.

 I also think diversity is key. The world has changed and being progressive and working to attract minorities (ie African Americans, Latin-Americans etc.) to the sport will go a long way in drawing more attention to it and increase interest.

Edited by Enero
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annzeepark914

annzeepark914

(edited)

Lots of good suggestions so far. My suggestion is to bring back a Champions on Ice format where you see a mixture of amateurs (who perform at least one of their current competitive programs + a noncompetitive one), and mix in some professionals. Maybe add a Stars on Ice group number or two, have a couple of singles skaters skate with a pairs team. But for goodness sakes, get rid of the "skating for myself" to music that only means something to the skater. This is supposed to be entertainment for the people who have paid good money for a "show".  

Edited by annzeepark914
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alexa

alexa

On 2/20/2022 at 12:32 PM, Crs97 said:

I agree with him somewhat.  I was someone who watched all the professional shows/competitions, but I did find that there were too many events with the same people each time.  At one point I remember we were supposed to be excited that Boitano had choreographed his own routine, but it was the same moves as the week prior, just to different music.  He was also one of the only ones still doing the triples so it was always clear he was going to win.  Don’t get me wrong; he always deserved to win and his artistry grew exponentially, but still. . .  It was no longer must see tv.
 

If there had been a steadier flow of amateurs coming into the ranks, that might have helped both keep it interesting and keep it going beyond the retirements of the initial group.

I completely agree.  I watched everything, and it became too saturated with too many events, the same skaters, etc, etc.  Once it all ended I didn't miss it as much as I thought I would.  

22 hours ago, annzeepark914 said:

Lots of good suggestions so far. My suggestion is to bring back a Champions on Ice format where you see a mixture of amateurs (who perform at least one of their current competitive programs + a noncompetitive one), and mix in some professionals. Maybe add a Stars on Ice group number or two, have a couple of singles skaters skate with a pairs team. But for goodness sakes, get rid of the "skating for myself" to music that only means something to the skater. This is supposed to be entertainment for the people who have paid good money for a "show".  

Totally agree.  The generic female ballads, for example, that have taken over women's figure skating (even in competitions), is just simply bland.  They might be moved by the music, but I think all of the songs start to sound the same.  

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Avaleigh

Avaleigh

(edited)
On 2/20/2022 at 11:25 AM, Enero said:

I definitely think modernizing the way they promote the sport will help. The younger generation is not flocking to the sport to fill those gaps left by older fans leaving it behind. So USFS has to figure out a way to engage the younger sec. That said, I think increasing interest is predicated on creating world and Olympic medalist in the women’s discipline. Without winners there will be no interest.

I do think figuring out a way to scout phenoms in the sport early on and designing programs to cultivate those talents will go a long way in establishing a deep field of skaters. Don’t know how soon phenoms start to exhibit extraordinary talent. Or if the problem is these phenoms leave the sport, for various reasons, before being discovered. But in order to be relevant again I do think the USFS will need to overhaul how they find and cultivate talent.

 I also think diversity is key. The world has changed and being progressive and working to attract minorities (ie African Americans, Latin-Americans etc.) to the sport will go a long way in drawing more attention to it and increase interest.

Love these suggestions.

Adding to this, maybe expand the Olympic events. The Summer Olympics has SO many events in comparison to the Winter Olympics. Finally add synchronized skating as an event. For kids who can't make it in singles or one of the other disciplines, this could be another path for a skater to make an Olympic dream come true. Synchronized swimmers have been in the Olympics for ages plus all the Rhythmic gymnasts. Why not skaters? I know the idea is that it would add too many bodies and cost too much but if this can be done in the Summer Olympics why not the Winter?

I've been resistant to the idea of this but maybe adding a jump competition could be interesting. I saw Russia do it last year during one of the test skates and it was pretty fun to watch. ISI competitions used to sometimes do these sorts of things. You basically have teams face off and it's jumping pass vs jumping pass with the judges comparing who does the jump the best. There's no music or choreography just plain, stand alone jumping passes. I'd maybe compare it to diving or the vault.

I was just thinking of how many people adore Trusova and care about jumps more than anything else. There are a lot of kids who just like working on jumps. Maybe some interest could be attracted that way.

Edited by Avaleigh
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absnow54

absnow54

1 hour ago, Avaleigh said:

I've been resistant to the idea of this but maybe adding a jump competition could be interesting. I saw Russia do it last year during one of the test skates and it was pretty fun to watch. ISI competitions used to sometimes do these sorts of things. You basically have teams face off and it's jumping pass vs jumping pass with the judges comparing who does the jump the best. There's no music or choreography just plain, stand alone jumping passes. I'd maybe compare it to diving or the vault.

I think adding a jumping contest to the team event, could be an interesting approach. I feel like skiing and snowboarding added a bunch of mixed team events recently, just to generate more medals, and a jumping contest near the end of the Olympics, when NBC is hurting for events to cover, and after skaters have completed their individual events and have time to go full throttle on some quads, would be fun. Also, I think the team event like competitions is the best route to popularizing skating in America again, because you can watch a full segment in under an hour, whereas watching the individual events, it's 3-4 hours over two days times four. For us, it was great, but for the average viewer (like my husband) it's a lot of astonishment that that's still going on. 

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ML89

ML89

3 hours ago, Avaleigh said:

I've been resistant to the idea of this but maybe adding a jump competition could be interesting.

One of the pro competitions back in the day, Battle of the Sexes, did that and it was Kristi vs Brian - I can't remember who won - and they had to do a triple-triple - that was fun to watch. I'd love to see not just who can do the hardest jump but say, best split jump, or biggest delayed axel - all sorts of jumps. Spins too, they did a "best spin" of Liz Manley vs Paul Wylie and that was fun. I'd love to see Keegan vs Nathan in back flip.

Watching the snowboard/skiers do all their tricks, skating should have that too. If skaters are going to persist in skating to Carmen, etc, more and more people are going to stop watching. Seeing Alyssa Liu's program to a current song or even Nathan skating to "Rocketman" got the crowd involved.

1 hour ago, absnow54 said:

I feel like skiing and snowboarding added a bunch of mixed team events recently, just to generate more medals, and a jumping contest near the end of the Olympics, when NBC is hurting for events to cover, and after skaters have completed their individual events and have time to go full throttle on some quads, would be fun. Also, I think the team event like competitions is the best route to popularizing skating in America again, because you can watch a full segment in under an hour, whereas watching the individual events, it's 3-4 hours over two days times four.

YES - and I enjoyed watching the mixed teams in the other sports too. Watching Jacobelis and Baumgartner win was terrific and I got caught up in the skiing team event on the last day.

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Crs97

Crs97

47 minutes ago, ML89 said:

One of the pro competitions back in the day, Battle of the Sexes, did that and it was Kristi vs Brian - I can't remember who won - and they had to do a triple-triple - that was fun to watch.

I remember that.  It was battle of the sexes and the score was tied after the performances.  They went to a jump-off.  Kristi was chosen for the women and did a beautiful triple-double.  Supposedly Brian hadn’t thrown a triple-triple in awhile and went for it.  He won for the men.

I watched way too many of the professional competitions.

 

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healthnut

healthnut

8 minutes ago, annzeepark914 said:

Well, about 4 weeks from now is Worlds. Are the same 3 US Olympic ice dance teams going? Is Jason uninvited? (if so, I'm going to be very unhappy). Is the US women's national silver medalist qualified for Worlds? I'm suffering from figure skating withdrawal after the O's. 

Final entries are due Monday so we will know more. Ilia is at Challenge Cup this weekend and if he gets the necessary tech minimum for the short program then he will go to Worlds in lieu of Jason. I’m interested to see if Nathan goes or not. All three dance teams plan to go and as far as I know all three ladies and both pairs will go. Outside of the men, the worlds team was the same as the Olympic team. I’d love see Green/Parson at Worlds but unless someone can’t go that’ll have to wait til next year. 

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emmawoodhouse

emmawoodhouse

1 hour ago, KittenPokerCheater said:

If Nathan doesn't go, will Jason Brown be able to?

And is Tut going to worlds or are Eteri's girls going instead?

Jason is the first alternate, so yes, he has the option to go if Nathan declines. 

I imagine Tuk is Russia's first alternate, given that 4-6 place at RusNats were all juniors. There's no way they can send Kamila. That said, they probably will, further solidifying their reputation in the toilet.

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annzeepark914

annzeepark914

12 hours ago, emmawoodhouse said:

Jason is the first alternate, so yes, he has the option to go if Nathan declines.

I think the world of Nathan but if he's having hip issues, it would not be smart to train for Worlds + train for Stars on Ice. He's going back to Yale, then probably graduate school & off to some brilliant career (he's so impressive), so he sure doesn't need a wrecked body. I love how he pays tribute to his mom for all that he's accomplished in skating.

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Lady Whistleup

Lady Whistleup

(edited)
2 minutes ago, choclatechip45 said:

Oh no! Where did she post this? Is Nina still in the states? 

IG:

https://www.instagram.com/p/CaaXGs6INIH/

Quote

France, Russia, Ukraine the image on ice of a harmony and a peace that has been killed by the will of a despot. Viktor Petrenko our friend and Olympic champion is stuck in Kiev today. All our support to our Ukrainian friends. 😥 @marinanisina @victorpetrenko889294

 

Edited by Lady Whistleup
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