Jun Y
Well-Known Member
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Disclaimer: Yes, I know beauty is in the eyes of the beholder, but there is nevertheless collective social standards for what is generally considered beautiful, which evolve but not drastically.
I am often struck by how much better looking ice dancers are than singles and pairs skaters. The average level of beauty, male or female, in ice dancing is way above real life and somewhat above the rest of skating. So I looked up recent Worlds medalists and, not surprisingly, found no one who is not at least cute/pretty. The vast majority of the medalists are at or above the social standard for beauty.
So I wonder: How many ice dancers were able to rise to the top level despite having ordinary, average looks? I can only think of Torvill and Dean as more or less average, and I think Margolio is average for an Italian guy. OTOH, there are a lot of fairly ordinary-looking pairs champions. I also wonder how many skaters would have succeeded in ice dancing but were discouraged early on because of unconscious lookism.
I have tried to remember any ice dancer with striking talent but below-average looks ... and failed. Is this a modern phenomenon? Was the skating community less lookist in the early days of ice dancing?
I am often struck by how much better looking ice dancers are than singles and pairs skaters. The average level of beauty, male or female, in ice dancing is way above real life and somewhat above the rest of skating. So I looked up recent Worlds medalists and, not surprisingly, found no one who is not at least cute/pretty. The vast majority of the medalists are at or above the social standard for beauty.
So I wonder: How many ice dancers were able to rise to the top level despite having ordinary, average looks? I can only think of Torvill and Dean as more or less average, and I think Margolio is average for an Italian guy. OTOH, there are a lot of fairly ordinary-looking pairs champions. I also wonder how many skaters would have succeeded in ice dancing but were discouraged early on because of unconscious lookism.
I have tried to remember any ice dancer with striking talent but below-average looks ... and failed. Is this a modern phenomenon? Was the skating community less lookist in the early days of ice dancing?