When we read something we inevitably project ourselves onto the text. Our experiences, our knowledge, are different from those of the author, and we inevitably project our point of view onto what we are reading. When she wrote Edge of Glory, Christine Brennan had no idea that four years later there would be a scandal that would prompt the ISU to change the whole scoring system. So if I equate the PCS to the second score, the one for the Presentation, it’s my projection, it’s not something Brennan wrote. Yet I’m not too far from reality. The two aspects of the score, TES as a Technical Score and PCS as a Presentation, are comparable.

We compare them, even if maybe we do it in an unconscious way, the press does it and the judges do it too. And for me it is important to see the perception of the press of the time, and reflect on what has happened in recent years. I have already dwelt on Brennan’s book here and here, now I resume reading, with a consideration on the Ladies competition at the 1997 World Championship, won by Tara Lipinski ahead of Michelle Kwan.

“. . . The anomaly of it all was the extraordinary high marks that Lipinski received for artistic impression. It was as if the judges believed that someone so technically gifted must be an artist. And it is not true at all.” (pag. 161)

These words, reported by Brennan, were written by Simon Barnes in the London Times, and are words to reflect upon. It is true that Lipinski was the one who performed the most difficult jumps, but the jumps were judged in the first score, the Technical merit, while the second score, the Presentation, had to evaluate the musical and artistic interpretation of everything that was not a technical element. They are two different things. Nevertheless it was as if the judges believed that someone so technically gifted must be an artist.

It is as if a skater is now awarded high PCS scores just because his BV is high. Ridiculous, right? It is not true at all. A great jumper can be also a mediocre skater in the other aspect of the discipline, and the judges are able to understand the qualities, but also the limits, of all skaters, right? Right? Something that never happened in the past, too high scores in the Presentation thanks to some difficult jump, and never happen today either, right?

I continue with the quote, with Barnes words, who, after writing that it is not automatic that someone gifted from a technical point of view is also gifted from an artistic point of view, he adds that thinking that the two aspects of figure skating always go hand in hand is like thinking that

the Venus de Milo was much the same thing as a Barbie doll. The judges acceded to the wishes of the America corporate hunger for teeny heroines.” (pag. 161)

At the time the America corporate was hunger for teeny heroines, now they want women, but if the perception of what the right age for a champion in the Women competition has changed, the fact that competitions are heavily influenced by people who are not skaters has not changed. And what does Ameirca corporate want in the male field? A virile skater, who wears costumes without too many decorations and focuses on the athletic aspect of the programs.

In Introduction and Rondò Capriccioso skated last season by Yuzuru Hanyu, the quadruples were salchow and toe loop, but between a technical element and the other Hanyu does not do a single pause, unlike others who jump after ten seconds of running and do nothing between one technical element and another. But to understand that skating a program like his is more demanding from the athletic point of view of a program with quadruple flip and lutz, but without transitions, is something too difficult to understand without an explanation.

I jump forward in the book, although I’ll go back later. Brennan clearly states that even though Lipinski was the best jumper,

If Kwan skated flawlessy, she should win every time, because she was the skating package the judges–and the sport–wanted most of all. She could jump, and she had become elegant on the ice. (pag. 255)

And according to Frank Carroll, that as Michelle Kwan’s coach obviously preferred his pupil, but was also someone who knew figure skating well,

Figure skating […] was more than a jumping contest.

“Michelle’s footwork in the short program and her spiral sequence in the short program are equally as difficult as the triple lutz-triple toe loop,” he said. “There are more things besides triple-jumping that are difficult in skating. We seem to be sidetracked and thinking only jumping in difficult. I don’t think there’s a girl in the world who could do that spiral sequence except Michelle.” (pag. 255)

And I don’t think there is a single skater, apart from Hanyu, able of skating Rondò, not even with a simplified layout, only a quadruple chosen by the skater and a triple-triple combination, or all triple in the case of skaters who do not have quadruples in their short programs.

Back to Barnes again, what means for figure skating that the judges acceded to the wishes of the America corporate hunger for teeny heroines?

“Thus they have brought discredit upon their sport, and insulted its participants. Why have marks for artistic impression in the first place, if you don’t use them to discriminate between artist and freak?” (pag. 161)

Barnes says it bluntly. Assigning high marks in the second score (or, now, in the PCS, but also in the GOEs) to someone who does not deserve them just because they deserve high marks in the first score (or, now, has a high BV), brings discredit upon figure skating and it is an insult for the skaters (and also for the public).

The result was not liked by Frank Carroll:

“A lot of the artistry and the beauty of the skating is gone,” said Frank Carroll. “It’s really how many turns you can do in the air that counts and the difficulty of the jumping only. The difficulty of the edges and spirals and spread eagles and the beautiful spins don’t seem to count for much. I like to see the difficult jumps, but I’d like to see the other things given more credit too, so that it’s a complete package.” (Pag. 162)

Don’t worry, Mr. Carroll. Over time, things have changed. They got worse.

Yet there were many, at the time, who were worried about the excessive importance given to jumps. I ignore several pages, and go to the words of the 1992 Olympic silver medalist Paul Wylie, according to whom “What’s being rewarded now in skating is wall-to-wall jumps” (pag. 209). Wylie was concerned that this kind of judgment”rewards a certain type of performance“, not necessarily the best performance. And the Russian Ilia Kulik, who in 1998 would have won Olympic gold, said

“For me, it’s more interesting when I’m doing something between the jumps,” […]. “This is figure skating. It’s not jumping. It’s not just going into the jump and out of the jump and waiting for the next jump. I want to show the program. I want to show the step sequences. I want to do this. That’s what figure skating is.” (pag. 222)

There would be many things in this book, but of course I have to limit myself to a few considerations, such as noting the fact that when the American Todd Eldredge was perceived as an artistic figure skater, in contrast to the athletic Canadian Elvis Stojko, for the American press the the most important aspect of figure skating was the artistic one. Then I carry a sentence out of context,

“TV wants a new star to attract audiences” (pag. 272)

and this is something that continues to be true. So they they emphasize… what suits them. American press said that Eldredge was artistic, enhancing his skating in contrast to Stojko’s not very expressive one, but when it comes to Michael Weiss, the second American skater, what was really important was something really different. In the two-year period covered by Brennan’s book, Weiss tried unsuccessfully both the quadruple toe loop (later he completed it, but I don’t know on what occasion) and the quadruple lutz.

Weiss had a “watch-me” presence on the ice. He was cocky, young and extremely masculine. What more could anyone want? (pag. 299)

With Stojko they wanted him to learn to skate, with Weiss there is not a single hint of his skating skills. On the other hand, we know that he was cocky, young and extremely masculine. I might be wrong, but a description like this seems to me to be fine with Nathan Chen too. As for skating skills… the judges can give to him high marks in the PCS. If he can jumps, and he jumps a lot, he deserves high marks in the PCS too, right? And if he gets high marks in the PCS, then he deserve his marks, he has to be good, right? What more could anyone want?

For this to work, a few things are needed. The skater must be manly. He must have a beautiful image, and for this you can emphasize the positive aspects of him, things like attending a prestigious university. Also remembering the past that can put him in good light, things like attending dance classes. True, there is a big difference between attending classes and really learning what is taught, but it is something that is not worth dwelling on. Those surrounding the aspiring champion must think of everything, like Weiss’s coach, who at one point wondered

“How do I get him to deal with the pressure and deliver consistent competition performances?” (pag. 314)

The answer is basically simple, and it can be applied to many skaters:

“if you’re having trouble with his consistency an that jump, water down the program so he skates a clean program every time” (pag. 314)

Water down a program to find consistency. Brilliant! And beware, a program can be simplified by performing simpler jumps, something that everyone notices quite easily, or by removing the transitions, so that the skater does not get too tired between one jump and another and can take a good run before of each jump.

These are the last nine seconds skated by Nathan Chen before the preparation of 4F in the SP. Crossover, crossunder, mohawk, nothing more.

These are the last nine seconds skated by Kagiyama before the quadruple salchow. He doesn’t do anything in particular either, he just moves around the rink picking up speed, although it should be noted that his posture is more elegant than Chen’s. Compared to the National Championship, where he did a choctaw mid-run, this time he did a mohawk, simplifying the transition.

In the case of Uno, ne needed 16 seconds before the quadruple flip. In the first series of screenshots we actually see him gliding into a nice position, trying to enrich what he is doing. Too bad that the glide lasts less than a second, and that it is inserted in a long sequence of pushes made in a position that is anything but elegant.

In the second series of screenshots Uno makes a couple of changes of direction with two feet, nothing special, and continues his run.

Perhaps it would be time to remind the judges that in the rules there is a deduction between -1 and -3 for long preparation. If this way of preparing the jumps is not water down a program, I don’t know what it is.

While I was there I also looked at Hanyu. Hanyu performed a single jump, an invalid element, and paid for the error by losing the entire base value and the GOE, which is usually very positive. In truth, he was penalized even more than he should, but I will focus on that salchow in another moment. What interests me is what he did before the planned quadruple salchow, and we know that he is able to perform the jump with this preparation because he had done it without problems two months earlier in the National Championship.

At first, for three seconds, also Hanyu runs. For three seconds, not nine. And he does it by accompanying the pushes with choreographic movements of the arms, something clearly done by Kagiyama too, but only in a very minimal extent by the other two, and with the inclination of the torso and head also contributing to the interpretative aspect. He then makes a short glide. It wouldn’t be anything important, but… here he stops his search for speed. The glide is followed by a twizzle, an outside spread eagle, and only then does he dedicate himself to preparing the jump.

In fact, the choice is between trying to impress the judges with difficult jumps, even at the cost of watering down the program, or presenting a complex program, without worrying about the risks. The first score, or the BV, should recognize the difficulty of the technical elements actually performed. The second score, or the PCS (but to some extent the GOE too) should recognize the difficulty of the rest of the program.

Brennan reported the doubt faced by Weiss’ coach, more difficult jumps in a waterred down program, without judging the fairness of the doubt. She presented it as a fact: it can be done like this.

Sure, it can be done like this. But the judges should see what the skaters do. As Simon Barnes wrote, Why have marks for artistic impression in the first place, if you don’t use them to discriminate between artist and freak?

The question of whether the judges really see what the skaters are doing on the rink is inevitable. Speaking of the ladies’ competition at the 1998 National Championships, Brennan wrote that Lipinski

was so concerned with her triple jumps that she all but ignored the “in-betweens,” skating slang for everything else but the jumps. Going into four of her seven triples, she did nothing but prepare for the jump. No footwork, no connecting elements, no nothing.

Lipinski was connecting the dots. (pg. 341)

Exactly what Chen, Kagiyama and Uno did in Beijing. Did the judges notice this? These are Lipinski’s marks.

No, it seems that with Lipinski the judges did not notice anything strange. The marks for a perfect Michelle Kwan were much higher, but there were not many skaters, considering all disciplines, able of obtaining higher marks. The same thing happened in Beijing, the skaters connected the dots, and received very high marks. Proportionally Chen, Kagiyama and Uno received higher marks than Lipinski’s. Why? Because in recent years something has changed. After the National championship

For three days, at least, journalists weren’t counting triple jumps […]. Instead, reporters were writing about a “falling leaf” (a small jump hidden in Kwan’s long program), about lingering spirals, about spinning in two directions.

Sports Illustrated […] wrote that Kwan’s long program “was filled with so many subtle treasures that it will be revisited on tape for years to come.” (pag. 348)

With Kwan, the press has proved capable of seeing the artistic skills of the skater and talked about it, now most of the press has adapted, counting the jumps, and praising the artistry of those who connect the dots without skipping one. In a sport like figure skating, in which the rules are complicated, if the mistakes of the judges are added to a superficial narration, which limits itself to recording the scores without questioning them, for the general public, the one who watches the competitions once every four years, it becomes difficult to understand that the result of the competition is not the correct one. But this deserve to be an Olympic sport?

I will probably come back to Brennan’s book later, there are many interesting points that I have skipped. At the moment I stop here, it is time for me to return to take a look at some of the Men’s programs of the recent Olympic Games.