BY ANNA KELLAR
When American Evan Lysacek beat Russian Evgeny Plushenko by just over a point in the final of men’s Olympic figure skating, more than a gold medal was on the line. According to many commentators–and Plushenko himself–the result was nothing less than a blow to the sport itself. The controversy boiled down to jumps: Plushenko landed a quadruple, and Lysacek didn’t attempt one. Plushenko, the 2006 gold medalist, had come out of retirement because he believed with his superior jumping skills, these Olympic games were his to win. That his quad wasn’t enough represented to some the end of athleticism, and even manliness, in the sport. “If the Olympic champion doesn’t know how to jump a quad, I don’t know,” Plushenko said. “Now it’s not men’s figure skating. It’s dancing. Maybe figure skating needs a new name.”
It’s more complicated than that, though. The controversy over whether artistry or technique should matter more is an old debate, one that lies at the heart of the strange sport that requires sequins as well as strength. There were many people (full disclosure, my eight-year-old self included) who believed that Michelle Kwan’s gorgeous program at the Nagano Games should have beaten Tara Lipinski’s flashy jumps. The new judging system introduced after the scandals in ice dance at the Salt Lake Games is supposed to have removed some of the ambiguity that goes into producing the scores. Plushenko’s argument doesn’t find support in the judging marks because the difference between gold and silver didn’t lie in the artistic “program components” score, but in the technical “total element score”. Lysacek skated a smarter program, taking advantage of the changes in the judging. His jumps were landed more cleanly, and importantly, were executed in the second half of the program, which gives a 10 percent boost. If Plushenko had done the same, he would have won. His veiled accusations that a US champion was necessary for the financial future of the sport are unworthy of an Olympic medalist.
Even if Lysacek’s victory was clear, the real questions are open to debate. Does a sport have to become more difficult to proceed? Does men’s figure skating have to prove its manliness? In some ways, figure skating is like snowboarding, or ski jumping, or diving, with athletes on a constant quest for a newer, more difficult trick to blow away the competition. That drive is a very real part of the sport –it is what makes it a sport, and Plushenko’s supporters were right on that account. Yet I know from my own experience that learning a new jump isn’t the only thing that makes a skater get up early in the morning and go to the rink for hours a day. A competitor will practice the jumps over and over and over, but the reward is the feeling of flying when you land it perfectly, with a flourish, and the music behind you. Figure skating refuses to be reduced to numbers – which makes it unique, and perhaps ridiculous, as an Olympic sport – but the subjectivity of performance is part of its essence.
Figure skating is a sport that remains filled with sexism, and this is perhaps clearest in the men’s competition. Male figure skaters, particularly in the US, must battle the assumption by the general population that they are gay, while striving to prove to judges that they are not. It may come as a shock to many (it certainly did to the Yale students watching with me) that only a tiny handful of Olympic level skaters have come out of the closet. Flamboyancy is equated with sexuality in a way that is only sometimes accurate. It would be better for the sport as a whole if we could try to not see athleticism as masculine, and artistry as feminine. A competitor, man or woman, needs both qualifications for a complete program. The genderization of the sport takes away from the hard work that goes into both the jumps and the performance.
Anna Kellar is a Sophomore at Yale University and a Senior Editorial Associate for Global21.