Figure Skating

[Momto4FemaleFelines]

M24FF - There are so many amateur and pro athletes whose careers are over while they are in their 30s - I am thinking of hockey players here. There are not very many years in many sports careers.

I wonder if coaches push their younger charges too hard at times? No doubt there is room for abuse there.

I'm sure there are some coaches that push too hard, some athletes that push themselves too hard, and even some parents that push the kids too hard.

Look at the "older" skaters, though. The ones that didn't have to do a bunch of triples, let alone quads. Even after all his health issues, Scott Hamilton has done some training and I heard he appeared in a couple of shows recently. Roz Sumners skated til she was 40, I believe. Kristi Yamaguchi can still skate well, as can Kurt Browning and several others from that era. Sure, they've had their injuries along the way, and yes, Kurt did do some quads in his day....but the skaters from the 70's, 80's and early 90's seem to have better longevity than the ones who have been brought up in this "7 triples or 5 triples and 2 quads are needed in your program" mentality.

It comes down to each skater needing to know what they can or can't do and doing the best they can with what is part of their "arsenal".

I've always been more of a fan of the professional skaters and skating events, where the skaters are skating for the joy and to entertain the fans.

I wish the World Pro competition could come back, though. I don't understand the politics, but someone told me something the ISU did pretty much makes it impossible for that competition to come back. So my question is...why can't a private pro skater organize some kind of professional competition? At one time, there was talk of some new skating organization to be started, for the pro's, about the pro's, run by the pro's, but obviously that never came to be for whatever reasons.

All sports will be controversial in one way or another, all fans will have a different idea of what is good and what isn't. And I don't think the judging will ever be 100% honest NOR 100% NOT subjective.

[Grace]

Within the new scoring system the point is made that jumps done in the last half of the long program get extra credit. Evan did more jumps in the last half than Plushenko.

For the last full minute of his performance, Plushenko did just the fancy footwork - and it wasn't as good as Evan, or Weir, or Daisuke.

[Momto4FemaleFelines]

Within the new scoring system the point is made that jumps done in the last half of the long program get extra credit. Evan did more jumps in the last half than Plushenko.

For the last full minute of his performance, Plushenko did just the fancy footwork - and it wasn't as good as Evan, or Weir, or Daisuke.

You are right! I'd forgotten Plushenko front-loaded his program.

Therefore, no matter what the jump, when a skater does them after the half-way mark, they are going to garner more points because of that!

And I couldn't agree with you more that Plushenko's footwork is not as good as the other skaters'. I think almost any skater does better footwork than Plushenko.