There is a problem with the way the rules are being gamed for point-gathering purposes, but the sport hasn't decided to address the situation because there's simply a lack of intelligent, responsible leadership. And of course, RusFed has a lot of clout within the skating community.
However, Alina Zagitova herself should not be blamed. She's a talented skater who is doing what her coaching team has taught and guided her to do in order to win. I do have to laugh at some of the Twitter comments though. One lady who effuses over Zagitova, can't even properly spell 'ballerina.'
Another poster must not be a regular figure skating fan, because she seems aghast and incredulous and disbelieving that what Zagitova is doing is even humanly possible.
Good grief! What all fs athetes do is incredible. Zagitova doesn't even jump as high as Canadians, Kaetlyn Osmond and Gabby Daleman, nor does Zag move into her jumps with as much speed and ice coverage as the Canadian ladies. And Zagitova is not as artistically accomplished as Carolina Kostner and Satoko Miyahara. Plus neither Zagitova nor Evgenia Medvedeva have 3-axels in their arsenal. No other lady besides Mirai Nagasu of the U.S. will be attempting a triple-axel. And Nagasu also has well-rounded skills that could serve her well if she skates her best.
The problem is all the over-hype and the over-scoring on PCS of the Russians, and the acceptance by everyone in the skating community that gold and silver are only being fought between Zag and Med. They are definitely skilled and consistent jumpers, but they should not be receiving such high PCS across the board. Their coach, Eteri, is smart in the way she's costumed the very pretty Zagitova and in the way she conceived and constructed Zag's program, which is full of bells and whistles and camouflage techniques which effectively hide Zagitova's youthful weaknesses. It's very much the same for Medvedeva with all her OTT dramatics. Zagitova is a better jumper than Medvedeva, but both are overhyped, and it's been working quite well for the Eteri camp. The figure skating community as a whole buys into it hook, line and sinker.
It's not that the Russian ladies aren't talented and worthy of their position in the top echelon. The biggest imbalance is that jumps are considered everything in this sport, and the Russian ladies' jump consistency along with overhype and Russian clout has led to the judges consistently over-rewarding these ladies on PCS. The other part of that is so far, none of the other contenders have stepped up in a big way to make a case for themselves. When Wakaba Higuchi of Japan was skating lights out during the season, she was not being fully rewarded, and then her fed was more behind Satoko Miyahara and other skaters. When push came to shove, Wakaba sadly could not withstand penultimate pressure. She's a boss skater with all-around skills that should be flattening the Russians.
As well, Canada's Kaetlyn Osmond could be more front and center as a rival, but she didn't make a strong case for showing she could beat the Russians when she had the opportunity -- she's still dealing with trying to conquer her own nerves. Bradie Tennell of the U.S. came on the scene at the tail end of this season, so despite her worthy talents, Bradie won't be given a lot of credit by the judges for her strong competitiveness. And it's also not helpful that Bradie drew to skate first in the sp. However, she could simply lay down a great skate in the sp and see what happens. Still, the judges usually aren't as willing to hand out high scores to early skaters. At least, Bradie will have a chance to make a significant showing on the global stage which might set her up for future showdowns.
Christine Brennan and Phil Hersh often tend to bray a lot about superficial matters that don't take into account root problems and underlying complexities. Criticizing the Russian ladies in this way only serves to bring more attention to them and ultimately it helps them prevail, rather than pointing out what the real problems are that need to be resolved.
Frankly, no one condemned Aliona and Bruno for smartly getting all of their difficult jumping passes, throw twist and lifts out of the way earlier in their pairs fp, so they could move through the rest of their program building energy and finesse for completing spins and footwork. It was a good strategy for them (although pairs is quite different from singles).
In any case, it's not easy to leave all jumping passes at the end of a program. It still requires focus, stamina and balls to do that. It does make for unbalanced composition, and I don't like it. But until the sport decides to address it, we may begin seeing more of it should Zagitova become Olympic champion.
Again, not everyone can complete all their jumps successfully at the end of a performance. Young Tessa Hong tried it at U.S. Nationals a couple of years ago to disastrous results.
