Women’s figure skating has always tried to downplay the athleticism in way. Obviously it takes strength, skill, and endurance to do it well, but it’s supposed to look light, easy, and effortless. The costumes are part of the deal. It’s supposed to look like some flimsy, gossamer wisp of fabric befitting a sylph who glides across the ice like a breath of wind. When you try to make something look flimsy, sometimes it actually is.
If Kosir had really won his team would have protested. Teams are not shy about protesting when they think a mistake has been made. There was no protest. Most likely the camera angle was misleading.
How about that Ester Ledecka, winning gold in both skiing and snowboarding?
So would you prefer they wore something more like skiers do? I can see a certain brute logic to that, but personally I prefer the “sylph who glides across the ice like a breath of wind” look, not only in the costuming but especially in the style of skating. If figure skating were more like diving where competitors take turns doing complicated acrobatics (jumps in the case of figure skating) with no music or choreography, I would have fairly low interest in that. But then, I gladly watched five or six seasons of So You Think You Can Dance until about five years ago, stopping not because I didn’t like it any more but more because I had trouble finding enough time in the summer to keep up with it.
I didn’t say I was opposed to the flimsy sylph look, just trying to describe it.
However, I think it’s possible to find a compromise somewhere between dainty-and-delicate and covered-head-to-toe. I’m not a big fan of the delicate, waifish sort of style that figure skating favors. I don’t know whether it’s somehow formally encoded within the judging criteria, or if it’s just a stylistic tradition within the sport. There have been more athletic skaters. Surya Bonaly was extremely athletic in her skating (including a backflip); she was a crowd favorite but never did very well with the judges. I suspect it’s starting to evolve in that direction, but very slowly.
What about the pants suits on the females tonight? And the male skater Yuzi??? , his costume looked positively girlish. And he didn’t put his big jumps in. The skate was beautiful though. The OAR girl who was the silver medalist, her outfit tonight looked like something my teen would wear to the movies. Kinda like street clothes. She is the only one I saw who had a big mistake. Now the gold winner was perfect and unique.
This is some hockey game.
He has been injured all year and basically skating this Olympics on loads of painkillers. Not surprising that he would skip the big jumps in an event which counts for absolutely nothing.
And I thought Zagitova’s costume was really inappropriate. It would have been eyebrow-raising on anyone, but a 15-year-old? Absolutely not.
Yea, that animal print was kind of sexually suggestive, for such a young girl. I find it hard to see these skaters mere girls. I know they are, but they are so accomplished. The Shib sibs looked great.
Weird coverage of the 50K XC ski. For a while gold was in contention then a gap and four who could get a bronze. The winner then pulled ahead, and the y showed him finish.
Then NBC went to an interview with the IOC president. I don’t expect full coverage, but couldn’t they show who got the bronze? inserting a commercial break if they must?
I just found it weird – it wasn’t even another sport.
Brian
In the competition, or in the spotlight show?
I’m going through winter Olympics withdrawal.
I even started looking up curling clubs around the country, so I can learn more about it. I am in a place where I can’t do anything about it now, but next year…am I too old at 65 to enjoy learning to play, and to be able to develop enough skill to enjoy it?
You who are curlers, what are the virtues of your club?
The spotlight show. The see-through tiger print bodysuit.
Of course, I also thought Tarasova/Morozov’s Candyman routine was trashy, so maybe I’m just a prude. Hearing “Voulez vous coucher” echo through a silent Olympic arena was cringe-inducing.
I still don’t know what you mean by that. I’ve googled, but found nothing out of the ordinary.
Meanwhile, someone last week was talking about the possibility of same-gendered duos in pairs skating or ice dancing. I don’t see that happening either way. I think if a woman had the upper body strength to lift another woman, she would not have the grace and flexibility to do all the other stuff. And I can’t see a man lifting another man, unless the guy being lifted was tiny, and male figure skaters are generally tall.
It also seems to me that the summer Olympics have a heck of a lot more events than winter. Wonder if it would be possible to even them out? I can think of five summer events that take place indoors: wrestling, judo, tae kwon do, weightlifting and table tennis. They’re not snow-and-ice events, but they’re not particularly tied to summer, either. Just an idea.
The Gay Games are going to allow same-sex skating pairs for the first time. I am under the impression that they didn’t until now because the ISU threatened anyone who skated as part of one with a suspension of some sort.
Here are the current rules for snowboarding competitions.
Rule 2020.2.3: “For all competitions, there must be two photocell system(s) homologated by the FIS installed at the finish line. The cells are placed in such a height that a competitor finishing normally cuts the beam with the lower half of his legs, between the ankle and the knee.”
Rule 2020.3.1: “With electric timing, the time is taken when a competitor crosses the finish line with any part of his body or equipment and so breaks the beam between the timing photo cells.”
I hadn’t seen it until Googling just now.
It may be controversial to say, but I think she looks pretty hot. (If she looked her actual age, I would not say that.)
Never too old to try it, and see if you like it.
The biggest difference in curling clubs is whether they have a dedicated, curling-only facility, or if they share ice time at a hockey or skating rink. The second type is what’s called an arena club. They may play only a couple nights a week, the ice surface tends to be less predictable and requires more setup, and (at the ones I’ve been to) there’s less space for socializing after a game. A dedicated club will usually have a warm room for off-ice activities, and even a bar. A place like that is expensive, though, and requires a lot of dedication among the members to keep it maintained. Clubs will sometimes start as arena clubs while they build memberships until there’s enough interest to build a place of their own.
Thanks, Robot Arm!
Slackerinc - [Looks up Zagitova’s costume] Oh, come on. Maybe if her breasts were three times as big (and no, I’m not usually the guy who brings up breast sizes, thanks for asking :)), but this? Barely worth mentioning. Hell, I’ve occasionally shown as much flesh when picking up the newspaper. I do think it looks ridiculous, but this is the exhibition; that’s kinda the damn point.
That Don Guy - Okay, see, what I don’t understand is why an event SPECIFICALLY CREATED as open defiance to a mainstream cultural institution would exclude an entire event because some alphabet soup organization had a hissy fit. What the hell is the ISU doing for them, anyway? Pretty-looking stickers on the equipment?
I myself was offended by it.
The music in the routine I mean. What was that, cat torture?