Spring Break
Point/Counterpoint: The Olympic debate: Is figure skating really a sport?
Point - Christian Senger/Counterpoint - Adam Caparell/Daily Campus Staff
Issue date: 2/12/02 Section: Sports
Counterpoint-
Hate to break it to you women, or men, if they do actually watch.
Figure Skating isn't a sport, its glamorized ballroom dancing.
Is there a move that can't be seen at the recital hall or the wardrobes for that matter? Why does it seem like more time goes into getting the right attire than coming up with an inventive routine. All you see is the same thing over and over again and the athlete's outfit always seems to receive more hype than the actual competition itself.
Figure skating can't be considered a sport when it gets more coverage in the tabloids than it does in the newspaper. It's as simple as that. It's practically a soap opera. People who watch this Olympic 'sport' care more about who's dating who than who is on top of their game.
All you ever hear when people talk about figure skating is the rivalries. And it's not the ones on the ice, but the ones off that get all the press.
The prime example being the Nancy Kerrigan, Tonya Harding incident during the 1994 U.S. Figure Skating Championships, leading up to the Olympics in Lillehammer a few weeks later. For those who don't remember that's when Kerrigan was hit on the outside of her right knee moments after she left the ice.
The moment she hit the floor, there was a media frenzy over this story, entirely overshadowing all the other events at the Games, and headlining most news programs. With lengthy legal action from both skaters and eventual arrests, this soiled the Winter Olympics like nothing before.
When another women plots with her boyfriend and bodyguard to physically hurt you, trying to put you out of action, it sounds more like an episode of the Sopranos than a sport.
And you know there's no way Tony would have let Kerrigan walk again if he had the job.
Finally, when someone does watch, besides your mother and grandmother, all they are looking for is to see the performers fall. That's all I'd ever watch these contests for. Or the occasional attractive skater that everyone seems to be talking about. But that's just another example of why you'd have an easier time reading a column on figure skating in the grocery line than in Sports Illustrated.
It's not a sport. It's Olympic Theatre.
And there is no point about even mentioning the men because no one watches the men. No one.
Hate to break it to you women, or men, if they do actually watch.
Figure Skating isn't a sport, its glamorized ballroom dancing.
Is there a move that can't be seen at the recital hall or the wardrobes for that matter? Why does it seem like more time goes into getting the right attire than coming up with an inventive routine. All you see is the same thing over and over again and the athlete's outfit always seems to receive more hype than the actual competition itself.
Figure skating can't be considered a sport when it gets more coverage in the tabloids than it does in the newspaper. It's as simple as that. It's practically a soap opera. People who watch this Olympic 'sport' care more about who's dating who than who is on top of their game.
All you ever hear when people talk about figure skating is the rivalries. And it's not the ones on the ice, but the ones off that get all the press.
The prime example being the Nancy Kerrigan, Tonya Harding incident during the 1994 U.S. Figure Skating Championships, leading up to the Olympics in Lillehammer a few weeks later. For those who don't remember that's when Kerrigan was hit on the outside of her right knee moments after she left the ice.
The moment she hit the floor, there was a media frenzy over this story, entirely overshadowing all the other events at the Games, and headlining most news programs. With lengthy legal action from both skaters and eventual arrests, this soiled the Winter Olympics like nothing before.
When another women plots with her boyfriend and bodyguard to physically hurt you, trying to put you out of action, it sounds more like an episode of the Sopranos than a sport.
And you know there's no way Tony would have let Kerrigan walk again if he had the job.
Finally, when someone does watch, besides your mother and grandmother, all they are looking for is to see the performers fall. That's all I'd ever watch these contests for. Or the occasional attractive skater that everyone seems to be talking about. But that's just another example of why you'd have an easier time reading a column on figure skating in the grocery line than in Sports Illustrated.
It's not a sport. It's Olympic Theatre.
And there is no point about even mentioning the men because no one watches the men. No one.