Some of you probably knew this, but today I learned that Olympic Figure Skating actually made its debut in the 1908 Summer Games.
My wife, a US ski team (not top level) veteran and race coach, is my prime source, but I’ve spoken with lots of male and female skiers on the topic. Men are stronger overall, and compression sections and sharper turns at speed on the men’s downhill course are unsafe for women to take at top speed. It’s not like women haven’t skied the mens courses, they have, and they know the margins.
There are a few women who could race well on those courses, but not the whole field. Skiers would get seriously hurt and it would be uncompetitive for a lot of the field.
Even if women on average may be stronger proportionally than men, these aren’t average people. Both the men and women are outliers, and the men are amazingly strong in ways that the women simply cannot match.
To play Devil’s Advocate to my own side, women have run the exact same downhill courses as men in the past, at some of the more difficult courses. The women winners finished about 3 seconds behind the men, which means a few of the leaders would have finished in the top 20, so clearly some of the women are able to run the same courses, just a bit slower.
When asked about why women don’t ski the same courses as men, the top women skiers have responded by asky why would you need to do that? The current system works well, mens and womens disciplines don’t need to be identical.
if you Google it, every US athlete will receive a cash benefit, at least this year
If you googled it, to learn this, why not share some details on that, and a cite, with the rest of us? Are they getting $20, $200, $2000, what? Are they all getting the same amount?
for an interesting read, check out the history behind the skating backflip, which Ilia Malinin won gold. It just became legal 2 years ago
Since I have not been answered, I found this:
In addition, US Olympians get “bonus payouts” for winning medals:
They aren’t the only team which gets paid for winning medals, and in fact, a lot of countries pay even more.
because I don’t know how to "inbed’ (?), or copy from Google, etc without getting error message from MMB
Well, i remember when Surya Bonaly did one as an FU to the judges, after she made some mistake and was out of the running.
the backflip was illegal at the time, but she wanted to show them she could do it. She was mad because they weren’t giving her credit for her executions; that’s like when they removed a gymnastics move that only Simone Biles could do (and for same reasons)
I’m thinking there’s a lot of truth to:
Regarding men vs. women, I’ve been wondering why the sexes are segregated in curling (even in mixed events, the men and women are equal in number). I would think that curling undoubtedly requires much more athleticism and conditioning than might be apparent if you were to just take a casual glance at what the players do. I get that. But I don’t see how greater strength or speed would be a factor. It’s a game more about thinking and finesse. Why not let teams mix 'em up as they wish? Am I missing something, or are we just talking about tradition here?
At the club level, gender is often ignored, but not always. At the Olympic level, the extra strength matters. A harder throw has a better chance of knocking multiple stones out of the house. Harder sweeping has more of an effect on the stone. Curlers have gotten noticeably more fit over the last couple decades. They work out because it makes them better players.
That makes sense, and thanks for the answer. It seemed to me that the women were capable of doing whatever needed to be done, assuming their execution was good enough. So (as I was previously thinking) what more would be needed? That said, I’m brand new to actually paying attention to it, so there’s lots I don’t know.
Agreed; some of the biceps on show are pretty impressive!
As long as we’re throwing out random thoughts/opinions devoid of any context:
People ski for pleasure. I know that skiing emerged as a way from getting from Here to There in the snow, and it’s evolved into an Olympics sport, but still - regular people who have no aspirations of competing in the Olympics ski.
People ice skate for pleasure. Again, ice skating emerged as a practical necessity, but it’s still done for pleasure. Ice hockey and curling, similarly, attract people who do it for pleasure.
But bobsledding, skeleton and luge??? Again, I know that they all emerged from the need to Get Down the Mountain, but regular people don’t do those sports. I can show up at the slopes, be outfitted with skis, and be bade a good time; but I can’t show up at the bobsled course, be given a bobsled, and then shoot down the mountain. If I asked to, I’d be laughed out the door. And then there’s the barrier to entry: thousands of dollars for the most basic of basic equipment.
In other words, these three sports don’t share a pleasure/leisure component. If you’re going to be an Olympic bobsledder, you have to start with that particular goal in mind. There’s no middle ground from Not Someone Who Bobsleds to Someone Who Bobsleds. Unlike like a kid who, say, learns to ice skate and then wants to take up figure skating or racing or what have you. You either bobsled at a top-tier, completive level, or you don’t bobsled at all.
The sliding sports sort of originated with just general sledding - you know, the red contraption used for fun to get down a slope. It evolved into an ice-covered run to keep winter resort guests entertained safely, and eventually into competitions and the specialized courses we see today:
There are also summer-time Alpine Slides around some of the ski resorts:
As a side note, as you mention, most sporting activities we see today originated from some practical thing like transportation - one notable exception is surfing - there is no practical aspect to surfing - it was/is done for pleasure only.
I’m not sure about this. Men and women compete at the same athletics track & field disciplines, the performance differentials don’t seem to particularly invite comparison.
Yes, although it was just called the Olympic Games at that time.
While I knew that the actual carving of “figures” on the ice was a component of the final score in Olympic and world figure skating in the past, TIL that it actually comprised 60% of the final score until the late 1940’s (with the more athletic elements only factoring in 40%). It then gradually was reduced to 20% until being eliminated completely in 1990.