What changes do you want to see in team events at future Olympics?

[caseyedwards]

No teams are eliminated

 

[CantALoop]

For this thread only - 'Discontinue team event at the Olympics' is not an option.
The goal here is to improve, rather than eliminate.

The question is about our opinions, and my opinion is that it should go away.

As mentioned in the very beginning of the thread, that is not an option in this thread, therefore you (and all team event haterzzz) should be the one that goes away begone

 

[CantALoop]

I'll try to find the time to run the possible outcomes later on today, but I think this would have the sort of impact on the overall standings that would make it much more exciting and uncertain.

Maybe we can create a Google Sheet or some sort of public document with past Team Event results and all these fabulous "what if" simulations you've been running?

There's been so many ideas that it would be great to collect them so we can tweak and improve them even further.

 

[Karen-W]

Maybe we can create a Google Sheet or some sort of public document with past Team Event results and all these fabulous "what if" simulations you've been running?

There's been so many ideas that it would be great to collect them so we can tweak and improve them even further.

Lol. Post-Olympics project!

 

[Vagabond]

Replace it with an exhibition on the last day of the Games.

 

[overedge]

As mentioned in the very beginning of the thread, that is not an option in this thread, therefore you (and all team event haterzzz) should be the one that goes away begone

I started my response with If the team event stays, and gave options for what it should look like if it does. But to answer the question honestly, I indicated my real opinion. I think the best way to improve it is to dump it or replace it with synchro. And I'm not going to apologize that mine is not the same opinion as yours or the OP's.

 

[Aussie Willy]

Actually just do like a spin spiral jump competition. That would make a fun team event.

 

[screech]

They should bring back Fours for the team event!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CCK6AG18AcE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sAsJWu0LCUE

 

[briancoogaert]

Having a team even if skaters are not all selected for the Olympics.
I mean, for example, France could have had a team even without Woman or Pair skating in the individual event.

More than only 1 skater by team. A real team would be with 2 or 3 skaters by team (so maybe less team, but more skaters by team).

 

[crzesk8dad]

Just let Synchro teams compete. That's it.

I'm with you Aussie.

 

[missing]

Having the team event last is frequently suggested but I don't see how it could work.

Why would all the skaters from the first (or second or even third) competitive event want to stick around the Olympic Village for close to two weeks just to wait for the team event? Most of the men who competed in the team event this year aren't going to be in the gala. Presumably they'll go home and get on with their lives.

To suggest that they go home for ten days or so and then return for the team event doesn't make a lot of sense either. All that travel is expensive and time consuming and disruptive of their practice routines.

And if they do stay in the Olympic Village and continue to practice for the 10 days or so between the end of their event and the team event, then the ice time has to be found for them daily.

I think it's one of those ideas that sounds great but really doesn't hold up.

 

[tylersf]

How about different entrants in the team or individual events (i.e. you can't be in the team event AND the individual event, you pick one or the other). There would be more chances for skaters to go to the Olympics.
Also, the strategy would be different. Countries with low depth will enter the individual events. Countries with a lot of skaters will put the weaker ones on a team.
Not a perfect scenario lll, but more people get to skate in the Olympics.

 

[Xela M]

I actually really enjoyed the team event (obviously not the controversy that followed but that's not the event's fault). My only issue is that I think it should take place AFTER individual competitions

 

[Ananas Astra]

IIRC other team events like the gymnastics one at the Summer Olympics also take place before the individual competition.

I wouldn't change anything apart from letting all the countries also do the FS.

 

[VGThuy]

Mine is that when one of the participants of the team event turns out to have tested positive for a banned substance, their score should be stricken from the team’s total right away, at the very least.

 

[Orm Irian]

How about different entrants in the team or individual events (i.e. you can't be in the team event AND the individual event, you pick one or the other). There would be more chances for skaters to go to the Olympics.

The IOC wouldn't allow that one, I'm afraid. The original stipulation for the TE was that it couldn't increase the number of athletes attending the Games (that's why we will never see synchro at an Olympics), they just ended up having to make an exception for teams that qualify in three of four disciplines or it would be too blatantly a big fed medal swap for anyone to take it seriously.

 

[Xela M]

IIRC other team events like the gymnastics one at the Summer Olympics also take place before the individual competition.

I wouldn't change anything apart from letting all the countries also do the FS.

But in Gymnastics there is a reason for that. The Team event actually decides the qualification for the individual finals if I'm not mistaken. In figure skating, there is no correlation between team and individual events.

But in the whole, I like the format of the team event and wouldn't change it.

 

[screech]

But in Gymnastics there is a reason for that. The Team event actually decides the qualification for the individual finals if I'm not mistaken. In figure skating, there is no correlation between team and individual events.

Maybe they could do the reverse here - the best performing countries in the individual events (taking into consideration all competitors in all disciplines) determine who gets to compete in the team event. Not using world standings, but using Olympic results.

 

[Karen-W]

Maybe they could do the reverse here - the best performing countries in the individual events (taking into consideration all competitors in all disciplines) determine who gets to compete in the team event.

Most years we wouldn't have ten countries qualify for the TE if that were the case. Plus, countries can compete in the TE with participants in just 3 disciplines.

 

[orbitz]

Some skaters definitely did their best performances in the Team Competition instead of the individual event, i.e. Mark, Yuma. So I think the team event should be held after all of the individual events are done.

 

[Karen-W]

Some skaters definitely did their best performances in the Team Competition instead of the individual event, i.e. Mark, Yuma. So I think the team event should be held after all of the individual events are done.

I don't agree. Nathan, Morisi, and Shoma had better SPs in the Men's individual event than they did in the TE. And in 2018, Duhamel/Radford skated well enough in both the TE and Pairs event (that immediately followed the TE) to win an individual bronze.

We have 3 more individual events still to come. Let's wait and see how the rest of the skaters do in their events before proclaiming that they did better in one or the other. For all we know, Wakaba will land the 3A in her SP next week, and Karen will get her loop issues figured out and go clean, and we can certainly hope that MishGal don't have another FS like their TE one.

 

[Vash01]

My major issue with the current team format is that a handful of skaters get to test the Olympic ice and they use it as a warm up for the IE. That creates an advantage for them. I would rather see a level field. Placing the TE at the end creates level fields for both TE and IE.

 

[mjb52]

Having the team event last is frequently suggested but I don't see how it could work.

Why would all the skaters from the first (or second or even third) competitive event want to stick around the Olympic Village for close to two weeks just to wait for the team event? Most of the men who competed in the team event this year aren't going to be in the gala. Presumably they'll go home and get on with their lives.

To suggest that they go home for ten days or so and then return for the team event doesn't make a lot of sense either. All that travel is expensive and time consuming and disruptive of their practice routines.

And if they do stay in the Olympic Village and continue to practice for the 10 days or so between the end of their event and the team event, then the ice time has to be found for them daily.

I think it's one of those ideas that sounds great but really doesn't hold up.

I think most people probably agree but for a thread like this and suggestions threads in general, there's an aspirational quality to what comes up. Like it would be nicer if it happened after... but of course that's probably not going to happen.

My bias is that I really prefer the individual events (and personally could do without the team even though it does seem to mean a lot to some skaters) so my suggestions tend to focus on how to keep those the highlight.

It will be interesting to see if this whole fracas is at all the flapping of butterfly wings and ends up impacting the ongoing existence of the team event. It just doesn't seem suited to the sport somehow. I can't explain why it feels so different to gymnastics to me but it does. Maybe bc of all sports, figure skating has the highest emphasis on the artistic component so the sense of anti-climax created by having the programs performed twice feels different. It's there in gymnastics too (it's always frustrating when someone is perfect in the team and then has hiccups in the individual and you wish they could have duplicated their team event performance) but it's not the same.

 

[Ladida]

I really loved the team events at Youth Olympics with the mixed teams from different countries, it was way more unpredictable and felt friendlier. But I guess you can' t do that at "real" Olympic Games.

 

[Fadeevfanboy]

The biggest one I would like to see is to allow substitutions for every discipline if a team wishes.

At these Olympics we would probably have been both Bell and Cain & Leduc get a program for the US, and a medal, had 4 substituions been allowed, but 2. They clearly didn't want to use 1 women for both programs, as all 3 were kind of on edge with each other, but since they were for sure going to substitude dance and mens, no more were allowed. And I think Knierim & Frazier would have been fine and probably preferred only doing 1 program as well.

Had more subs been allowed Hubbell & Donohue are likely used at the last Olympics and get an Olympic medal. And there are other instances of this at the previous 2 Olympics.

Russia shockingly chose to use 0 subs, but with the embarassment of riches on their team, you would like to see them have the option to use as many as possible if they choose.

 

[Judy]

I remember when the team event event was first started and I rolled my eyes.

Then it was accepted into the Olympics and I was annoyed - I didn’t want to see athletes before individual events.

So today I feel fine about it. The strategy is very interesting. More importantly, it really doesn’t take away from the individual performances at all.

No changes for me personally.