what is politicking?

[iggie]

that term is bounced around all the time, but i don't exactly know how it's done. anyone care to explain?

[overedge]

Coaches, federation officials, parents, other skaters, etc. informally lobbying the judges and/or officials to get them to treat a skater more favorably. Or judges making deals with each other to support some skaters but not others.

[rfisher]

And it's frequently used when a poster's favorite skater didn't win. Clearly, politicking was the reason if a different skater was scored higher.

[Pierre]

http://i40.tinypic.com/esmblw.jpg

[iggie]

is it a matter of saying that your team, which previously could barely crack the top ten, is now is the top tier, which means that the judges start to see them as a top team, which means that they start to give them top tier marks?

[gkelly]

Here's a good explanation of a more subtle, not necessarily dishonest, way it can happen internationally.

[literaryfreak]

Here's a good explanation of a more subtle, not necessarily dishonest, way it can happen internationally.

I love that post.

[iggie]

thanks

[Cherub721]

Politiking can take many forms. The examples given above are good. Using current skaters in instructional videos as examples of good or bad choreography or elements is politiking IMO.

Part of politiking could also be advocating for certain rule changes that affect everyone on paper but will more likely advance one group of skaters over another. For example, eliminating CDs and encouraging uplifting FDs is helpful to the American ice dancers, but penalizing wrong edge takeoffs and cheated jumps is hurtful to the American ladies.

[l'etoile]

Here's a good explanation of a more subtle, not necessarily dishonest, way it can happen internationally.

Wow

[Reuven]

Here's a good explanation of a more subtle, not necessarily dishonest, way it can happen internationally.

Excellent, excellent. Names have been changed to protect the guilty?

[Jot the Dot Dot]

This should explain everything: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rAaWvVFERVA Now if only an ice-dance team could weave that into a program!

[triple_toe]

Didn't Lori say something about how she talks to judges about how amazing Patrick's programs are?

[Vash01]

Another example: Frank Caroll saying couple years ago-"Mirai is scary good", and more recently- saying Liza Tuktamysheva skates at a novice or junior level. Both statements help his skater. That's politicking.

[krenseby]

Another example: Frank Caroll saying couple years ago-"Mirai is scary good", and more recently- saying Liza Tuktamysheva skates at a novice or junior level. Both statements help his skater. That's politicking.

But I don't know of anyone else but Frank doing this sort of thing. Have you ever heard Brian Orser take Mao Asada down a notch or two? Has Tom Z. ever talked trash about Mirai to help Rachael's cause?

[Cherub721]

But I don't know of anyone else but Frank doing this sort of thing. Have you ever heard Brian Orser take Mao Asada down a notch or two? Has Tom Z. ever talked trash about Mirai to help Rachael's cause?

Usually the politiking in the press is more in the form of hyping their own skaters (like Zoueva does with D&W and V&M). I agree, it's rare (and not classy) to speak badly about the rivals of one's pupils in the press. I wonder if it happens backstage more than we think, though.

[Loves_Shizuka]

^I'm fairly sure the majority of "politicking" takes place "backstage".

[os168]

Politicking happens all the time, but can be felt more from those from the stronger federations through influencing and rule changing. It became more apparent when their skaters were still able to scores high without the performance or the technical content to back it up. Politicking include favours, you do this for me this time and I do this for you next, the essence of diplomacy between strong nations.

It shows up at home competition bonus or coach's home competition bonus. So ideally if the skater get these 2 assignments, they have higher chance of sailing through the competition. And more often than not, they can get away with all sort of crap if they failed to deliver a credible performance; the only question is the degree of threshold they can get away with based on their reputation, momentum and impression and some abstract indicators called the COP PCS.

[TwizzlerS]

Here's an example of a likely politically motivated rule change:the rule change that allowed ladies to perform a double or triple axel in the short program. I assume that the Japanese Federation pushed this through for Mao right before the last Olympics so she would have an advantage. I wonder if she felt pressured by her fed to do the triple axel in the short and that was why she was obsessed with that jump at the exclusion of other jumps that year.

[hanca]

Here's an example of a likely politically motivated rule change:the rule change that allowed ladies to perform a double or triple axel in the short program. I assume that the Japanese Federation pushed this through for Mao right before the last Olympics so she would have an advantage. I wonder if she felt pressured by her fed to do the triple axel in the short and that was why she was obsessed with that jump at the exclusion of other jumps that year.

The only problem with your theory is that the rules got changed AFTER the Olympics. Therefore at the Olympics Mao had to do her triple axel in her SP in combination with the toe loop, because she still had to do the double axel in her SP.