Olympics: Ladies short program

[arabian]

Okay, my thoughts on the top six ladies tonight. Warning, if you're a Rachael Flatt fan? You won't like what I have to say about her. Just lettin' you know.

Comments

[hiddeneloise]

You are ranting a bit. :)

This being a technical program, and this being, you know, still a sport, I get the emphasis on athletics first, artistry distant second. I don't have to like it, but I get it. It's not a dancing competition. It really is not. Not even ice-dancing is a dancing competition. I know you hate this, but surely you realize the difference. For me, I watch the championships and the Olympics with half an eye, and wait for the exhibitions and the pro-skating. That's where the actual beauty of movement, music, fun, and innovation live. The competition is never much about that. It helps, but it's not the central thing. Never was.

I am no expert and I am sure someone will dissect the programs up and down to calculate the scores, or to figure why Mirai keeps scoring lower than what she seems to deserve. It's more than just jumps, obviously. Perhaps her steps are easier? No idea.

Yu-Na impressed me. Rochette ... impressed with strength and as a person. As a skater? Eh. Asada? Not so much. Yes, she got a lot of marks on the strength of that Axel. But it'll carry her only so far. The rest of her jumps were unstable, she can't spin worth a damn, and she can't make really fluid connections. At least she didn't tonight.

Oh, and Flatt. I kept listening to the commentary, and by now, I think I cracked Scott Hamilton's code. "She's got SUCH EXUBERANT PERSONALITY" usually means the skater is making grotesque faces at the audience, mouth hanging open. "She is SO ENERGETIC" means the arms are flailing. "She is SUCH a SOLID PERFORMER" means she moves like a dump truck, only fast. And "this was simply a SPECTACULAR performance" means she managed not to fall on her ass. Honestly, commentary cracks me up.

Flatt is ... exuberant, energetic, and a solid performer. She'll do reasonably well in the sport. And that's about all I can say for her. She'll never be interesting to me. I can't see her having a post-competing career. Maybe she can skate in Nancy Kerrigan's thing, whatever it is.

[arabian]

I get that it's a sport, I get that completely. But the artistry should matter as well, and in not just the short program, but also the long (used to be called the artistic program), it doesn't. And that's what bothers me. I get that they are looking at the technique of the moves, and that technique matters. However, what makes figure skating a different sort of sport and one that draws in crowds, and interest beyond the Olympics is the artistry. And when that is put at such a much lower standard than the technical merit, it's a problem. Part of what makes figure skating, well, figure skating is that it pairs the technique *with* the artistry, and yet more often than not these days, it appears as if the artistry isn't paired at all.

Case in point? Rachael Flatt!