Do you think SKANDALS are good for figure skating?

[magnolia]

I thought I had agreed to the opinion that all scandals were good except judging scandals and the likes where freedom of expression appears to have been compromised.

Having given the question more thought, I also think that it's also not good when many former skaters are arrested for criminal activities such as drug trafficking, sexual violence, theft, etc. But I guess as long as the percentage of criminals who are former skaters matches the general population's, it's not a problem.

[bardtoob]

. . . the more the merrier . . . because they all remind us that Michelle Kwan is wonderful.

[Mafke]

Scandals in the traditional Italian sense (related to uproar in the theater between performers and/or management) is always good. The Kim-Orser soap certainly falls in that category as did the whack incident.

Scandals in the modern American sense (malfeasance by officeholders) is very bad and skating has still not recovered from SLC 2002.

[AnnieBgood]

Only if the skater(s) are asking for it. Such as Tonya Harding.

It is bad when hurts someone that didn't. IE Elena & Anton. That only got drug on because the ISU wouldn't stand up to a bunch of whiners. The officials most definitely need backbones.

[orbitz]

Scandals in the modern American sense (malfeasance by officeholders) is very bad and skating has still not recovered from SLC 2002.

At least skaters have become better spinners since SLC .

[stevlin]

Yes, scandals did help skating. We had alot more skating coverage on tv. I live in the USA. We even had Canadian skating on tv. We need something really big to happen to get more coverage on tv. How about Mao and Yuna beating the h--- out of each other? ha ha just kidding!

[mia joy]

skating has still not recovered from SLC 2002.

Very true, it feels like the whole CoP, components, transitions and quads drama started with the SLC times and it's scandals. Although I do believe the pairs issue was very hyped up back then and they only agreed to give additional golds, because the whiners represented a big and powerful federation. While the real scandal was in dance and nobody even noticed.

Judging in ice dancing was very subjective and full of politics then, but sometimes I get the impression it still is and all the CoP gave us was changing the discipline from being mostly about dancing to being more about countable elements. And they still manage to give medals to totally undeserving teams, by letting them win everything by CD only (take LA 2009 - V/M over D/W and Tallinn 2010 with D/S win). Gold and silver in LA and awarding V/M with worlds gold this year are further examples.

I mean, maybe the SLC scandals were needed to bring some changes to the sport and some of those changes turned out to have positive influence, but I think we still deal with new jugding scandals like nothing actually changed at all.

[Judy]

It depends on which scandal. The Olympic judging scandal almost killed figure skating. It took me, personally, a long time to come back and I still consider myself more a casual fan.

I think the current scandal will die away but will remain important between the parties both of whom were badly hurt over this for whatever reason.

[Frau Muller]

Scandals help, no doubt. It gets the sport out there, in the eye of Joe and Jane Public. Sad but true.

[ltnskater]

You missed a poll option: Michelle Kwan!

But on a more serious note, I also agree with the person above who said, depends on the type of scandal, judging scandal = bad, but the rest are usually good publicity.

[attyfan]

...
But on a more serious note, I also agree with the person above who said, depends on the type of scandal, judging scandal = bad, but the rest are usually good publicity.

ITA, although there has to be good skating to keep those people who are turning in for the "wrong reasons". For example, in '94, many of the singles skaters (men and ladies) all having the skates of their lives, plus Browning's legendary free skate. In addition, they saw a duel for the pairs gold between M/D and G/G showed pair skating at its best. So, people who were watching because of the Tonya/Nancy saw something that made them say "I want to see more of this..." If, for example, '94 Olys had been a splatfest, like Torino '06, then I doubt there would have been a boom in the sport that lasted almost a decade.

[Judy]

ITA, although there has to be good skating to keep those people who are turning in for the "wrong reasons". For example, in '94, many of the singles skaters (men and ladies) all having the skates of their lives, plus Browning's legendary free skate. In addition, they saw a duel for the pairs gold between M/D and G/G showed pair skating at its best. So, people who were watching because of the Tonya/Nancy saw something that made them say "I want to see more of this..." If, for example, '94 Olys had been a splatfest, like Torino '06, then I doubt there would have been a boom in the sport that lasted almost a decade.

Yes that is true. It is good that we have the Olympic Ice dancers V&M not retire and that there will be a challenge between D&W and them for the next while hopefully. Hopefully some stars start to shine through in the other divisions as "stars" do drive the interest and ratings.

[gkelly]

True, but not all scandals damage the credibility of the sport per se; for instance, the Tonya-Nancy Kneewhack damaged Tonya's credibility for sure, but figure skating remained unscathed--actually, scratch that, figure skating's popularity exploded.

But did Nancy remain unscathed? And if not, is she willing to be a sacrificial victim for the good of the sport?

[withrespect]

I voted yes it hurts the sport. It hurts the credibility imo. I hear more comments from straight men that figure skating is nothing but a soap opera. Maybe cause they are married to skating mothers? LOL