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Mel's Editorial#16: August 12, 2005Searching for Lost Spirit A young girl carefully extends her arms to balance herself as she slowly lifts one leg behind her. In her mind, she's flying, like the girls she's seen on television, and her leg is high and stretched out behind her, almost in a perfect split. In her mind, she's a champion, an artist, an athlete, an inspiration to thousands of other girls like her. She smiles and sets her leg back down, but only for a moment. There's still a lot of work to be done. Gathering as much speed as she dares, she begins to enter her spiral again, knowing that the only way to success is through practice. This is the sport of figure skating at its finest - a skater with a dream, a goal that it is backed by hard work, the innocence and faith of a child. Unfortunately, not everyone in the skating world remembers being a child with a dream. It's August, and that can only mean one thing. A new season waits just around the corner. Around the world, skaters are beginning to test out new programs and wrapping up summer training programs. There's a buzz in the air, a certain level of excitement swirling through the training centres, for this is not just any season. This is the season that comes only once every four years, the season that makes the world take notice. It's Olympic time. Skating idealists refuse to treat the Olympic Games as anything but "just another competition," but I'm convinced that this way of thinking is completely unrealistic. As much as it would be nice to take the intense pressure out of the Olympics and to treat them as just another world championships, the fact is that during the Olympics, the world is watching and that makes them different. One of the symbols of the winter Olympic Games, figure skating suddenly takes centre stage for two weeks in February, and for a limited time, skating matters to the average person. It won't last long and it is easy to dismiss as mere overhype that has no effect, but the truth is that it does matter. Figure skating needs the Olympics and the post-Olympic burst of interest to keep itself afloat. How many times has a now elite-level skater revealed that they started skating after they saw it on television during the Olympics? Statistics prove that as a general rule, enrollment in skating programs rises sharply in the spring of an Olympic year. A new crop of talent shows its young face and older, more experienced skaters often find a renewed motivation to skate and to pursue a dream. The spirit of the Olympics stretches her fingers everywhere, leaving no place untouched. Until Salt Lake. The aftermath of the 2002 Olympics was, in short, devastating to the sport. The increased interest in learn-to-skate programs was only marginal, and television ratings never saw the rise that we've become accustomed to seeing. Odds are that if you're here, reading this, you don't need me to rehash the story, so I'll spare the dead horse a good beating. Instead of a unique and beautiful mix of sport and art, skating was viewed by the public as a haven for scandal and bribery. How could a sport really be a sport if the results were decided in advance? What disheartened most people was that the hypocrisy and dishonesty was being carried out by the officials - and being largely ignored by the governing body. At least in the doping controversies, it was the athletes who were to blame. In skating's case, the athletes were victims, even if they ended up coming out on top in the back room dealings. No one deserves to be treated like a pawn, and especially not those who dedicate their lives to excelling in one of the world's most complex sports. With the advantage, or disadvantage, of overzealous media, the general public soon became aware of the darker parts of skating's history. Casual fans were able to discuss the events of years past, and appalling facts, such as judges carrying out only mere six month suspensions for prejudging world championship events, were made available to the masses. To put it into perspective, skating became a joke. Sure, it was always the victim of the guys-in-ruffles stereotypes and let's face it, compulsory dances on primetime television, even during the Olympics, didn't do much to dispell the rumours of its lack of excitement, but it had never taken a beating quite like this. From late night talk shows to evening sitcoms, the words 'French judge,' unfortunately, took on a conniving connotation. I was in my first year of university studies in the spring of 2002 and I was laughed at for even caring about skating anymore, for simply being a fan. To so many of my friends, a sport that had been exposed as so corrupt on the world's largest stage was not worth my time. In reality, what happened in Salt Lake and in the weeks after was not one person's fault, nor can it be blamed entirely on the sport's administration or entirely on the media. The avalanche was inevitable, but for the first time, the sport had a perfect opportunity to start over as it cleared the rubble. It's unfortunate that the ISU did not manage to capitalize on it. Immediately, the system of judging was attacked when it wasn't the system, but rather, the judges and federations that were orchestrating the results. And while I am, overall, a supporter of the Code of Points, I don't think it cures the problem when the same people are still involved in the sport at high levels. Who are the judges accountable to? What happens if the technical specialist makes a costly mistake, one that affects the medals? What is the ISU doing to avoid that, and does it realize that any hint of another medals scandal would truly jeopardize the future and well-being of the sport? Why do the fans seem to be the only people who think that it's ludicrous that every skater gets virtually the same marks for all five parts of the components score? Who is teaching the judges what interpretation really is? (I'm not sure, as a clasically-trained musician, that I trust the average judge's ability to assess proper interpretation of a Gavotte from the Baroque period.) Most importantly, who is looking out for the best interest of the skaters? Who remembers the child with a dream? Though a painful realization, it's important to admit that a large part of figure skating is about money and the struggle for power. While it's hard for me to write that, I know it's true, and it really hurts. I think of all the passion and love I have for this sport, the way that I have invested time and energy into the lives of some of the affected athletes, and I am disgusted that I cannot do more. Skating needs serious change, and quickly, if it wants to retain the status that it has kept for so many years. But most importantly, skating needs change if the dreams of young children are to stay alive, if the future is to remain hopeful. Archives -- Contact -- Features -- Guestbook -- Links -- Webmistress (c)2005 Melanie L. Hoyt All rights reserved. |