[OT] figure scating(I really don't understand it)

[Shard O'Glase]

I watched the long program of mens figure scating last night, and I realy don't understand the scoring or art or something. The gold medalist did a good job, but his technical scores were really high considering he only pulled off one quad and had a wobbly landing on a tripple something or other. But the technical scores I freely admit I am not a profesional so I easily could miss some cues that show great or bad things.

But the artisitc preformance scores yeash, I really don't get art I guess. It seems to me if you flail around a lot do some lame mime routine in the begining and generally act like Jerry Lewis on ice you get good scores, but if you go for smaller movements that seem to flow with your normal scating movements you get low scores. Its just that the two higher scorers in performance area, (both russians I think) I really disliked their routines. They were trying so hard for dramatic arm movements I was taken out of the actual scating and was staring at the arm movements, and thinking and quite frankly saying out loud what a dork. The korean guy and the american their movements seemed to flow with their scating and seemed to be a part of it and at no part did I step back and get taken out of watching the performance to stare at outrageously large arm movements with extrememly overdone facial expressions. Is this some penalty for wathcing things on TV with close ups, or do I just not get art or something? Can anyone explain what gives you good scores for performance?

 

[dagger]

No one knows , we don't ask, and they don't tell.

 

[Dravin]

I like the gold medallist Russian's routine. /me shrugs

 

[DMaple]

Well in my opinion the American should have come second, the winner didn't make mistakes in his routine, and after you have pulled off two quad's one in combination with a triple and a double you don't need to pull off a third to score high in the technical side.

The Silver medal placed Russian was the one to have a wobble on his landing, after doing a quad/triple/double, combination which is technically more demanding than three seperate quads.

The american was marked down on his artistic marks as you generally get those for doing more interesting stuff that just gliding around nicely on the ice. No matter how nice gliding might look to joe public it isn't exactly demanding in anyway.

To be fair the music the American selected and his routine suited a looser less dramatic style artisticly so I do think he was unfairly marked down in that area, I think he should have come second.

The winners routine however suited the music which was more demanding of a dramatic performance and was impressive both technically and artistically. He certainly deserved the Gold.

This is all opinion and not bias in anyway comrade.

 

[Berandor]

He did two or three quads. Furthermore, he had this combination of quad/triple tulip plus double rittberger.

Also, the skater is well-known for his high jumps, higher than most others, so that gives him points, too

He only once seemed insecure, and didn't really mess up the jump. He also was very much in tact with the music, and his artistical "walking" and "fencing" was very nice to view.

Did you notice his feet whilst flailing his arms?
It is also not only a question of flowing movements or not, it is whether the music is propelled by the skater.

All in all, I agreed with the judges (and the audience, btw.) that he deserved his gold medal.

However, I too am only an amatuer and rely on others to help me notice smaller details.

Berandor

 

[Shard O'Glase]

I like the gold medallist Russian's routine. /me shrugs

yeah this is the thing I'm not saying there was cheating or anything here, I'm sure a lot of people liked it. It was universally liked by the judges, so I'm wondering is their some performance criteria for good scores, or is this just some artsy thing unsophisticated folk like me can never understand.

 

[MythandLore]

http://www.olympics.com/ats/fs/fs_winner_general.html
http://www.olympics.com/ats/fs/fs_index.html

 

[DMaple]

There are some performance criteria but they aren't written down in a rule book as such "X points for doing Y" they are called Judges because they make a judgement based on experience and I imagine to some degree personal taste, what is in fashion, and *cough* politics *cough*.

 

[MythandLore]

-Ahem- this will help give you an idea of how they do their 'marks'.
*cough* politics *cough* DMaple is right *cough*.
http://www.olympics.com/ats/fs/fs_winner_marks.html

 

[Wippit Guud]

They even announced it (at least in Canada), the American was the first skater to sucessfully land 3 quads in competition.

They also noted, that 3 quads was the total attempted i in the last olympics.