From: mdm@bnr.ca (Diane MacMartin)
Subject: Figure Skating (was Re: Skate America comments)
Organization: Bell-Northern Research, Ottawa
Date: Tue, 10 Nov 1992 20:53:49 GMT

In article <1992Nov10.173017.11647@iscnvx.lmsc.lockheed.com> kevin@dipl.rdd.lmsc.lockheed.com writes:
>Bill Cornette wmc@photon.com wrote:
>
>> counting on) a jump that she is not consistent with.  Everyone blows a
>> jump from time to time (particularly a triple axel!), but I feel that a
>> move should not be attempted unless the chances of landing it are pretty
>> good.
>>	Anybody else's comments?
>
>The way the system seems to work is that skaters are penalized for not
>trying the difficult jumps (even if they blow them).  ie a skater who
>"plays it safe" will get marked lower than one who trys the tough jumps
>and falls.  It is expected that even the best skaters will fall down once
>or twice in a competition.  I've always believed that there should be 
>more emphasis on style and less on jumping.  The most entertaining
>skaters are the ice dancers who don't have to jump at all (you notice that
>they almost never fall down).
>
>Kevin Anderson

Several comments:

1.  I don't think a skater who doubles the occasional triple -
    unobtrusively - is penalized.  If they are building up tons of speed
    and open up into a single or double, that is a deduction, because
    it's obvious that a change was made, and it's not "nice"
    artistically.  If they double all their triples, obviously the
    technical level is much lower in difficulty than if they landed all
    the triples, or even fell on one.

2.  I agree that ice dance is most entertaining to watch.  The
    lowest-ranked national couples are  almost as enjoyable to watch as
    the top-rated international.  There is no fear of falling, few
    embarassingly poorly executed elements put in "for experience", and
    the choreography and music interpretation are generally the focus of
    the program.

3.  A single fall or two-footed landing, if the recovery is pretty much
    instantaneous, will not necessarily cost anything in the technical
    mark, especially if the element is well-executed elsewhere in the
    program.  It SHOULD affect the artistic mark, but it may be only a
    minimal deduction.  No program with a fall can get a 6.0, IMHO, and
    I don't think any judge would award one. Depending on the severity
    of the recovery, 5.8's and maybe 5.9's are possible.  If the fall
    takes more than a few seconds from the performance, then more marks
    from artistic and/or technical may be deducted.

4.  There should, indeed, be less emphasis on jumping.  Theoretically,
    the artistic mark bears just as much weight as the technical, but
    you don't see technical marks of 5.0 and artistic marks of 5.9 -
    except perhaps in the rare case of a skater who normally skates 5.7
    technically and is injured on this particular day, and doesn't
    execute his/her program with the same degree of difficulty as
    normal.

5.  Spins and footwork should influence the technical mark almost as
    much as jumps.  A skater who is an excellent jumper, but spends the
    time in between stroking to build up speed and does little else, is
    pretty boring to watch. (except for the 6 or 7 jumps, which takes
    up how much time in a 4 minute program?)

6.  I remember watching figure skating in the early 70's, when Karen
    Magnusson and Toller Cranston skated for Canada.  I distinctly
    remember the announcers saying, after a skater had fallen, that
    he or she would be given credit for attempting that jump.  I
    NEVER hear them say that any more.

-- 
Diane MacMartin       Bell-Northern Research, Ltd     Ottawa, Canada
mdm@bnr.ca            Any opinions are my own and do not represent BNR.
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