That is actually the opposite of what happened. Sale and Pelletier were originally awarded silver. The Russians won gold and many thought it was fixed for them not the Canadians.
Michelle Kwan only used Spartacus for one season, but she did use "The Feeling Begins," "Rach" and "East of Eden" for more than a season. In fact, she had at least three very different programs to "EoE" -- my favorite being the World Pro version one user once called "a meditation in spirals."
When I say fixed, I refer to the view that the TPTB intended for S/P to win in a close contest. When Le Guin (sp?) admitted to voting for B/S under pressure, she seemed to feel to guilty, and I had to wonder if those pushing for a S/P win had thought she was 'on their side'.
Discussions on this board favored B/S as more deserving of the gold. In fact, Jamie Sale is one of those most reviled skaters of all time on the board.
I think there should be a deduction for using the same program....except go KO and her SP. it always feels like cheating somehow.
Still. I would like to see a new program rewarded, but how to do that without penalizing the repeaters? I am at a loss.
Instead of penalizing skaters for reuse, I would like to see them rewarded for originality. I think in ice dance they do.
A skater who plans on skating to the same music two years in a row will be/is more comfortable with that program (esp. the LP) than someone skating a brand new program. Ultimately though the ice is slippery and anything can happen in a competition. Still. I would like to see a new program rewarded, but how to do that without penalizing the repeaters? I am at a loss.
How did this thread get to page 2 without a mention of Petrova & Tikhonov's "Four Seasons" that was skated at least once in a total of... four seasons (or more?). GPF having two LPs was the cause for 1-2 of these seasons, but I think we all saw that program fifty-eleven times.
There's a bullet point for "Originality of the composition" under the Composition (formerly Choreography) component for all disciplines. As far as I know it refers more to doing something unusual or new in relation to current and historical skating practice in general, not in relation to what that particular skater did in previous seasons.
If the skater keeps doing that same move or that same program year after year, it won't look so original after a while and judges will stop rewarding it.
But skaters do keep doing the same move and same program layout year after year. Originality is really the exception to the the norm in FS,
In that case at least all the top contenders should re-use their old programs to make it fair.
Ashley was 20 and was starting her fifth season as a Senior. For a Ladies Senior competitor, 20 is not 'fairly young' and being in her fifth season is not 'new.' I would say she was just starting to reach her potential though.Some people on this forum have said they'd like Ashley to revisit her Black Swan program. While it worked for her then, she was still fairly young and new and was just starting to hit her peak.