^^ The ISU needed to study the situation with a lot more input from a variety of people in the sport, as well as seeking counsel from fs historians. The complication was that figures were not understandable by television audiences, and not easy to cover. However, if tv cameras can cover curling, they can certainly cover figures competitions! The sport should have made training in figures mandatory, and cut back figures in regular competitions gradually rather than precipitously. They also should have understood the importance of nurturing the professional ranks, as well as growing the sport through providing increased opportunities for skaters (via contemplating developing separate figures competitions, artistic competitions, etc.) As it is, TPTB are currently struggling to figure out what direction to go in after the unwieldy mistakes they have made with the scoring system, with overemphasis on quads for men, and with their dismissive, wrongheaded effort to kill pro competitions.
Who is the most responsible for the ruination of women's figure skating? Speedy? The Russians? Sale and Pelletier? Scott and Sandra? All of the above?
Everything goes in cycles... everything is always changing. Unfortunately, there's been such a lack of vision in figure skating, much less an understanding of how figure skating evolved. Speedy and his speedskating regime had no idea how important it is to understand the past in order to grasp the present and chart the future.
IMO, all of the disciplines just go along to get along. There are some bright spots here and there by virtue of extremely talented young people and innovative choreographers, who unfortunately are hamstrung by the antiquated rules and often undermined and abused by the unnecessarily complicated, misapplied scoring system. Ladies especially, but indeed all skaters, need to be encouraged to be more creative and to explore who they are as individuals on the ice, rather than being expected to adhere to antiquated notions and overly traditional conventions.
Although I don't always agree with Sandra Bezic, I do think she answered some of the questions about Eteri's factory with honest aplomb (in her recent chat with TSL). OTOH, Bezic at the same time seems to adore Evgenia Medvedeva, and voiced her belief that Med will be embraced by a worldwide audience at the Olympics. That's probably true, but it will be more likely due to Med's huge babydoll brown eyes, her quick rotations, and the overhype (reminiscent of what went on with Lipnitskaya in 2014). I'm sure though that Medvedeva has the personality and grit to handle it all. If she's healthy, Med's consistency may help her prevail. Unfortunately, the way Eteri has boxed Med in with all this arch OTT pantomime, and point-gathering backloading is a downer.
Both Med and Zagitova are technically exceptional, but their PCS scores are so overdone, it's ridiculous. Med has been steered very wrong. Her competitive skating is so inauthentic, but her exhibitions have allowed more of her true personality to seep through. It's probably too late to strip down all the bells and whistles, and just allow Med to be herself on the ice. The same goes for Alina Zagitova. As Bezic said, Alina is covered in so much stuff, we can barely see her. That calculated ballerina shtick is not who Alina is at all! She's more angular, modern and edgy, than she is balletic. TSL said something about Alina giving off a tapdancer vibe, which to me sounds more apropos. Unfortunately, Alina is stuck in a faux Kitri/ Black Swan twilight zone. That the ISU judges robotically feel they must over-reward on PCS for these calculated, inauthentic Eteri-designed desperation traps, is stupefying. Kudos re the technical excellence these girls display. However, why must such superb technique be accompanied by such misbegotten packaging and a total lack of creative vision?
