A Divine Sport blog

clairecloutier said:
For the most part, I've attempted to keep coverage of events even-handed, for a couple of reasons. First and foremost: The skaters themselves. Skaters are online just like the rest of us. They read Twitter comments, Facebook comments, and, believe it or not, sometimes they even read this blog.
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Tweeted today by Cesario: https://twitter.com/SammiCesario/status/605043925313667072
"The most thoughtful, well researched article I have ever read on myself. Made me cry. Thank you, @clairecloutier xo "
:)
I'm not going to flatter myself that any of them read it regularly, but it does come to their attention now and then. A few times this year, skaters have shared some of the blog entries on Facebook when I said positive stuff about their skating. Knowing this changes things. I want to write in a way that's interesting, and I want to be able to speak critically at times when it seems necessary or worthwhile. But, to be strongly critical or negative about a team when I know it's entirely possible they might actually see it? . . . I'm still kind of feeling my way around this.
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Keep up your constructive, thoughtful blogging, Claire! :respec:
 
clairecloutier said:
Some thoughts on Samantha Cesario's retirement: https://adivinesport.wordpress.com/?p=457&preview=true&preview_id=457.
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Excellent post Claire!:cheer2: I'm so bummed Samantha is gone. She was such a unique skater, a great competitor and SO entertaining to watch.

The judging in this sport is nothing short of ludicrous. They claim the components are separate but we all know skaters are grouped into tiers and, regardless of what they do, they are held to those scores. It is very rare to see the PCS actually reflect the performance presented on the ice.:(
 
kwanatic said:
Excellent post Claire!:cheer2: I'm so bummed Samantha is gone. She was such a unique skater, a great competitor and SO entertaining to watch.

The judging in this sport is nothing short of ludicrous. They claim the components are separate but we all know skaters are grouped into tiers and, regardless of what they do, they are held to those scores. It is very rare to see the PCS actually reflect the performance presented on the ice.:(
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Thanks Kwanatic. I absolutely agree with you about the "tier" system of PCS scoring.

When I was looking closely at Samantha's PCS scores, it was noticeable how the judges had her--and certain other skaters--in what I called that "tier 2" corridor at each competition. When you looked closely at the scores, you could see that the judges move those "tier 2" skaters around within that group--but they usually stay in that range. For example at TEB this year, the judges had 5 girls in that tier--Sam, Courtney, Haruka, Mae Berenice, and Maria Artemieva--and those 5 girls finished in different orders in the SP and LP, but they all stayed within the range together.
 
clairecloutier said:
Thanks Kwanatic. I absolutely agree with you about the "tier" system of PCS scoring.

When I was looking closely at Samantha's PCS scores, it was noticeable how the judges had her--and certain other skaters--in what I called that "tier 2" corridor at each competition. When you looked closely at the scores, you could see that the judges move those "tier 2" skaters around within that group--but they usually stay in that range. For example at TEB this year, the judges had 5 girls in that tier--Sam, Courtney, Haruka, Mae Berenice, and Maria Artemieva--and those 5 girls finished in different orders in the SP and LP, but they all stayed within the range together.
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Agreed, it's pretty upsetting. In a fair world, Samantha deserved to be in the mid 8s for her CH, IN and PE and yet I doubt she ever got anywhere close to that. I understand why she stepped away and I don't blame her either. The scoring system is garbage...
 
clairecloutier said:
I've posted a compiled version of Max Trankov's Worlds commentary on my blog: https://adivinesport.wordpress.com. Thanks @Xela M for providing the translations and giving permission to re-post it on the blog!
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Thank you so much Clair for this summary of Pairs. I love your blog and I love you because you really love Pairs and you're not biased.
I had no idea about the story of the two young chinese couples. Why on earth they don't have new programs? I love Yu/Jin especially. I loved their programs last season and I know they didn't compete at worlds but still, why not give them more attention and push them to challenge their internal competition as well as international? :confused:
 
Love your tribute to Sonia, Claire! Besides how informative it was, it was a very graceful thing to do. I'm sure she will appreciate this account of her career by a young colleague.
 
clairecloutier said:
New on the blog--A look back at Sonia Bianchetti Garbato's book Cracked Ice. With Sonia's recent induction into the Hall of Fame, it seems like a good time to look back and see what we can learn from her book. https://adivinesport.wordpress.com/...hetti-garbatos-cracked-ice-what-can-we-learn/
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I do have a copy of this book, but I found it a difficult read (don't know if it's due to translation issues, but it wasn't succinct or well-organized), However, I agree that Sonia's book contains a wealth of important, behind-the-scenes information/history about the development of the sport, and also about the power struggle that led to Cinquanta's rise. Mind-boggling how antiquated and power-mongering the sport continues to be. Quite despicable that the whistle-blowers re the scandals have been more harshly treated than the perpetrators. And it's beyond time for speed skating and figure skating to be separately governed!!!

Some very interesting points about the reasons behind Sonia's push for the elimination of figures. However, despite her visionary foresight on a number of issues, I don't think it was right to completely eliminate figures. Remove from competition, yes! But figures are too important to basic development and proper jumping technique to have been completely eliminated. It's good that a separate organization for figures competition has been created, and I hope that effort will continue to grow and prosper. Sonia was also wrong (as were the ISU and federations) about treating pro skaters as the enemy. The lack of pro competitions hurts all skaters, the sport and the fan base.

Thanks so much for your precise, well-organized and articulate summary/ review of Sonia's book, Claire! Fabulous job! Your enlightening review is a must-read for die-hard fs fans.
 
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Amantide said:
I don't know @clairecloutier if you have seen this but Sonia published your article on her FB page and thanked you. :)
https://www.facebook.com/sonia.bianchetti?fref=ts
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Actually someone else posted it to Sonia's page, Sonia read it on Claire's blog and thanked her there, and former champion and figures champion (judge at the recent Lake Placid comp?) Tim Wood posted a massive riposte. Claire, please consider reposting his comments here' and we can have a great discussion!
 
Spun Silver said:
Actually someone else posted it to Sonia's page, Sonia read it on Claire's blog and thanked her there, and former champion and figures champion (judge at the recent Lake Placid comp?) Tim Wood posted a massive riposte. Claire, please consider reposting his comments here' and we can have a great discussion!
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Yes, I saw that post (shared 2 hrs ago) but it was done after Sonia shared the link (10 hrs ago). Check her page, it's the 4rth post. Sonia shared it and she wrote (in the comment section):
Thanks Claire for this detailed and flattering review of my book. I do appreciate it and look forward to meeting you in Boston and have a nice talk on the present and hopfully the future of figure skating.
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Nope, "link may have expired or may only be visible to an audience that you aren't in." Not to worry. :)
 
Spun Silver said:
Actually someone else posted it to Sonia's page, Sonia read it on Claire's blog and thanked her there, and former champion and figures champion (judge at the recent Lake Placid comp?) Tim Wood posted a massive riposte. Claire, please consider reposting his comments here' and we can have a great discussion!
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I'm happy to post Tim's comments (which prove the debate about figures continues!). I wonder which thread to put them in. This one, or maybe the World Figure Championship thread?
 
I was reading Tim Wood's post and he wrote that figures are "what ‘scales’ are to music". I agree with him but I also do think that figures influenced the outcome too much. I would keep them for ID though because I feel that figures are absolutely essential to ID.

However, taking his idea from the music, it made me think that something can be done to include figures somehow and therefore help skaters improve their edges. In the music schools (at least in mine it was like this) we had the saggio (final exams). One mid-term (by the end of december) and the final one by the end of May or June, which was also the most important. In the saggio you would present only Concerts and a sonatas, for example. However, we did have a technical exam before a commission/jury each month, where you had to play only scales, arpeggios and etudes (a lot of Bach there. :D). Something like this could be done and become mandatory. It could also be used for ranking points. What do you guys think?
 
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