Quote Originally Posted by cassiesmom View Post
This might be a stupid question because I don't know anything about figure skating. But, for each jump, the skater seems to take a few beats of the music to set up the jump. He turns his body, changes his weight to one foot and bends his knee. What I don't understand is, how can the choreographer layer more difficult steps onto that, and still arrange it so the skater can prepare to jump? Do the judges allow for those few beats of preparation when they are evaluating the program?

Thanks,
elyse

Edited to add: I thought it was inappropriate for Plushenko to step up to the gold medal platform as if he wanted to show that he felt he should have won. Scott Hamilton referred to grade of execution and I don't know exactly what that means, but I could tell on a couple of the jumps that he was at a wonky angle.
Elyse, there are no stupid questions! I still have questions and things to learn about skating even though I've listened carefully, looked at some books and a spectators guide to jumps video!
Before this new scoring system, some skaters would take this looooong glide across the ice "telegraphing" the jump...in other words they were saying with their movement "I'm going to jump when I get to that other end of the ice".
Some skaters are better than others at doing an actual skating move and then going up into a jump. Others, I imagine, can't manage any kind of footwork or difficult entrance.
What would make a jump get higher scores and be deemed more difficult, would be for the skater to do a spiral or spread Eagle or some other move or footwork and then seemingly go up into the jump "out of nowhere". Some skaters just can't do it, and some jumps you just can't do it with very well, or very fancily.
I think it's a fine line as to how many "non difficult/artistic" steps are taken between a move that makes it a difficult entrance and the actual jump. I imagine depending on the jump, the judges have to allow that the jump can't be done "out of nowhere".

Grade of execution for jumps would be things like:
Did the skater begin revolution on the blade still on the ice or begin revolution in the air?(starting revolution on the ice is cheating a jump--something that used to get missed a lot with the old scoring system, they have video and instrant replay to check for that kind of thing now)
Did the skater complete revolutions in the air or complete the revolutions on the blade on the ice after landing?(same as above, it's cheating to land and do approx. 1/4 turn or more on the ice)
Did the skater do a difficult move before jumping?
Did the skater land with good body position(back strong, legs steady, arms in a nice position, etc), without a turn out, without a foot down or a hand down?
Did the skater have a nice run out after the jump?
Basicly, the "prettier" the landing of a jump is, and if all revolutions are done completely in the air, the higher grade of execution mark it will get.
Someone said Plushenko lands like a jack-hammer...not nicely or artisticly or steadily.

Each jump also has to be done correctly for the type of jump it is. The skater has to go up from the correct edge of the blade, etc. There are 6 jumps: toe loop, loop, flip, axle, salchow and lutz. I can recognize them all EXCEPT I can't pick out a flip froma toe loop. Axle is the only jump with a forward take off and it is an edge jump, there is no picking-in with the toe of the free leg. It is a jump that has an extra 1/2 revolution to it...i.e., a single is 1 1/2 revolutions, a triple is 3 1/2 revolutions. Salchow and loop are also edge jumps, no toe picking in to launch with. Toe loop, flip and lutz are "pick" jumps, the skaters pick in their free foot to launch with.