Favorite Skating Conspiracy Theories

[aftershocks]

He seemed pretty vulnerable and under prepared as a competitor.

With six World medals (including a World championship), along with six U.S. National championships and a slew of other gold, silver, and bronze medals throughout the course of his career, if that's vulnerable and under-prepared, I'll bet any number of skaters would love to be so 'vulnerable and under-prepared.'

If you are talking about the Olympics, seriously sh*t happens. Just ask Kurt Browning, Patrick Chan in 2010, Stephane Lambiel in 2010, Johnny Weir in 2006 and 2010, Jeremy Abbott in 2010 and 2014, Brian Joubert, and even Brian Boitano in 1994. The list is a long one... Arguably Todd did enough to win at least a bronze at the '98 Olympics, but popular Philippe Candeloro, famous for his flair, his naked torso exhibitions and his butt on-the-ice sit-spins, got lucky twice (1994 and 1998 OBM).

If you are upset about Mark Mitchell being left off the Olympic team due to the medical bye given to Todd Eldredge, get in line. Mark also missed out on going to Worlds in 1990, due to the medical bye given to Christopher Bowman. And to make matters worse, as we all know, Mark's student, Ross Miner, laid down an exciting silver medal performance at U.S. Nationals in 2018, only to be left off the Olympic team due to TPTB's convenient BoW rule. That's figure skating.

Todd Eldredge would surely love to have had better showings at the Olympics, but he has nothing to be ashamed of in his career. To the contrary, he's got so much to be proud of. Todd owns one of the most iconic moments in the sport, for me: His 1996 World championships win. After the podium ceremony, Todd skated over to his parents in the stands and placed his gold medal around his mother's neck. That was a special moment!

 

[bardtoob]

Arguably Todd did enough to win at least a bronze at the '98 Olympics, but popular Philippe Candeloro, famous for his flair, his naked torso exhibitions and his butt on-the-ice sit-spins ...

Good conspiracy theory. Being popular and getting naked can cause judges to give you the Olympic Bronze medal

If you are upset about Mark Mitchell being left off the Olympic team due to the medical bye given to Todd Eldredge, get in line. Mark also missed out on going to Worlds in 1990, due to the medical bye given to Christopher Bowman. And to make matters worse, as we all know, Mark's student, Ross Miner, laid down an exciting silver medal performance at U.S. Nationals in 2018, only to be left off the Olympic team due to TPTB's convenient BoW rule. That's figure skating

Bad conspiracy theory ... They already openly say they choose who they like.

 

[Marco]

Kwan would've had to have been spot-on in her free skate though even with a clean SP. Maria did have the skate of her life and Michelle's Ariane didn't seem to be well-received this event-- the one time she performed it in ISU-eligible competition. Remember she landed 6 triples in her free skate (some tight) and narrowly won the silver over Tatiana Malinina who had next to no choreography yet 5 wonderful triples.

By the time Kwan skated her free, she was at best fighting for silver. If she still had a fighting chance for gold (i.e. someone to possibly place between her and Bute), perhaps she would have more fire in her to land that opening lutz cleanly. I have no doubt a clean Ariane, even if slow like at World Pros, would be sufficient to take the free skate. Bute didn't have the best season skating wise (some sloppy GP skates, lost GPF to Malinina, even her Worlds QR was meh and barely beat Malinina there by a 5-4 split) so if Kwan was clean I don't think the judges would be ready to give it to Bute.

I actually am not that thrilled about the judging of Kwan vs Malinina. Very puzzled by Malinina's generous scoring in the free skate. She had been skating solidly all season but the marks are momentum based more than merit based.

I've always been curious as to whether Butyrskaya would've pulled off the short program win if Michelle went clean. I really liked Carmen (and those kicks on both toe picks!), and the judges did put her ahead of Maria two months earlier at the Japan Open when she doubled her triple toe and Maria skated clean.

Probably not.

 

[aftershocks]

Good conspiracy theory. Being popular and getting naked can cause judges to give you the Olympic Bronze medal

Nothing to do with conspiracies or theories, just facts. Candeloro was quite popular with audiences. His exhibitions were exciting shtick, especially for muscle-loving, Candeloro fans. He was obviously a talented, competitive skater with flair who happened to be lucky enough to win back-to-back bronze medals at the Olympics. Figure skating is about luck as well as hard work, as well as politics. Not everyone is that lucky though. Anyway, his programs were often fun to watch.

Candeloro's 'butt-spin' was actually a spin sitting on his knees and shins, which he created by accident when he happened to fall to his knees once while practicing a scratch spin. He had great spring in his legs, but he also employed a kind of wonky jump technique. Still, he got the job done more often than not when it mattered. I don't recall whether Candeloro ever performed a quad in competition. I doubt it, but correct me if I'm wrong.

Bad conspiracy theory ... They already openly say they choose who they like.

Again, not a conspiracy and not a theory. BoW is for real, and it does have some relevance, despite also being a convenience used to legitimize controversial selection decisions. The fact that TPTB favor their favorites is old news, and always a factor.

 

[tony]

By the time Kwan skated her free, she was at best fighting for silver. If she still had a fighting chance for gold (i.e. someone to possibly place between her and Bute), perhaps she would have more fire in her to land that opening lutz cleanly. I have no doubt a clean Ariane, even if slow like at World Pros, would be sufficient to take the free skate. Bute didn't have the best season skating wise (some sloppy GP skates, lost GPF to Malinina, even her Worlds QR was meh and barely beat Malinina there by a 5-4 split) so if Kwan was clean I don't think the judges would be ready to give it to Bute.

I actually am not that thrilled about the judging of Kwan vs Malinina. Very puzzled by Malinina's generous scoring in the free skate. She had been skating solidly all season but the marks are momentum based more than merit based.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ljWoVL9DnaM#t=70

Even though we only get the first word of the answer here-- I think this is very telling.

Malinina was lucky she climbed all the way back up at NHK and set her marks skyrocketing that season. She wasn't good at Skate America (even fell out of a camel spin in the LP if my memory doesn't fail me), but the win at NHK just narrowly put her in the Final-- which was already in the midst of a laughably weak ladies' season as it was. I love Tatiana and enjoy many of her programs before/after 98 & 99, but I can't figure out what caused her to take such a huge step back artistically those years.

 

[Marco]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ljWoVL9DnaM#t=70

Even though we only get the first word of the answer here-- I think this is very telling.

Malinina was lucky she climbed all the way back up at NHK and set her marks skyrocketing that season. She wasn't good at Skate America (even fell out of a camel spin in the LP if my memory doesn't fail me), but the win at NHK just narrowly put her in the Final-- which was already in the midst of a laughably weak ladies' season as it was. I love Tatiana and enjoy many of her programs before/after 98 & 99, but I can't figure out what caused her to take such a huge step back artistically those years.

The 18-year old had heard the cheering backstage after Butyrskaya skated but did not know her marks yet.

http://www.espn.com/skating/mariaworlds99.html

She probably didn't know for sure - come to think of it, Carroll would probably shield her from that kind of thing.

 

[Mad for Skating]

Good conspiracy theory. Being popular and getting naked can cause judges to give you the Olympic Bronze medal

I think Liza Tuktamysheva just started preparing for the 2022 Olympic medal ceremony