<p>Are women tennis players not athletes?</p>
<p>And beach volleyball women?</p>
<p>Agree that the excessive makeup done to make the faces visible on the ice does not mesh well with the TV broadcasting, especially in HD, but there is not much can be done about that.</p>
<p>LOL, can we send the hockey players, sticks and pucks and all, down that chute, and the team that comes out with the most intact sticks (or arms or legs) wins the game? ;)</p>
<p>Re what seems to be over-the-top makeup and bling, that is for the benefit of the arena audience. Remember they are not seeing the ultra-tight closeups that we see, with every skin pore and mini-sequin in all its high-def glory. At a distance and under the bright lights, faces wash out if not heavily made up and costumes go blah without sparkle. I did hate the two yellows tonight.</p>
<p>In terms of quality of skating, IMO Kim and Asada were head and shoulders above everyone else. They moved so lightly and performed with such emotion. If not for her jump problems I’m sure Asada would be in second place. What a shame that figure skating is now pretty much just a jumping contest. </p>
<p>LadyLorne, Are you still in socchi? I would think the costumes wouuld be made by special designers, and cost a bundle. Do they only get worn once?</p>
<p>
It has nothing to do with the sex of the skaters-- male skaters in sequins are even more painful to watch. Tennis & volleyball players don’t get style points for how artistically their makeup and costume coordinate w their music selection. </p>
<p>Tennis and volleyball have objective scoring. And besides, Venus Williams could hurt me.</p>
<p>I guess I don’t see a problem blending athleticism and art in a sport. I don’t accept the definition of sport as something devoid of art or style. It is one of several sports where your form matters, and things like the outfit and general presentation of the program count towards that. </p>
<p>Then how do gymnasts manage to get by without sequins & feathers?</p>
<p>Because skaters aren’t gymnasts. What do sequins and feathers hurt?</p>
<p>A figure skating accident at socchi:
<a href=“Emergency Crews Attempt To Rescue Olympic Figure Skater Who Fell Through Ice”>http://www.theonion.com/articles/emergency-crews-attempt-to-rescue-olympic-figure-s,35313/</a></p>
<p>Skating is artistic and athletic and the costumes usually fit with the music and story. Usually it’s other countries that cause us to raise our eyebrows - but usually to those countries it’s fine. It’s usually cultural. As long as they aren’t tripping or getting caught in the costumes I happen to like to see the different costumes. Some of them are absolutely beautiful and add to the program.</p>
<p>I think the answer is to add some “technical skating” events to the Olympics. That would make more sense (in my opinion) than the team competition they did add. There’s no way they’ll make major changes in the most popular event in the Olympics.</p>
<p>I believe there used to be another part of figure skating - it was “figures” or some such thing where they had to trace figure 8’s to show edge work - the eliminated that decades ago I believe. </p>
<p>Did they ever jump over barrels in the Olympics?</p>
<p>I really don’t like the tights over skating boots look. I know it’s supposed to make the legs look longer but I think it makes them look clunky.</p>
<p>Any sport that has an element of artistry like figure skating ends up getting trashed by some spectators. The costumes/outfits that the skaters wear fit with the music and the choreography of a skater’s routine. Obvious example–the Russian Black Swan ice dancers’ costumes. The costumes fit perfectly with the music/choreography. The skating outfits are not cheap–they may look tacky to some, but they aren’t cheap. </p>
<p>I didn’t much care for the team competition. It may be because I am too used to thinking of figure skating as more of an individual sport, but it was hard to adjust to the idea that you could put on the best performance of the day and still not win because your teammates arent that good. Maybe I will get used to it. There’s a team competition in gymnastics, isn’t there? It doesn’t bother me there, so perhaps it is just a matter of getting used to the idea. </p>
<p>I think the Russian black swan routine was my favorite one this year.</p>
<p>Gymnastics has a team competition–remember the Fab 5/Fierce 5 from 2012.
<a href=“Fierce Five - Wikipedia”>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fierce_Five</a> </p>
<p>I went to bed after the skiing last night but my husband decided it should be scored spins and jumps minus falls and bobbles…highest number wins. Sounds fair.</p>
<p>And now we have the French skater in pants. I guess it fits with her more muscular body type but I prefer dresses.</p>