Community Chat

[Tenners]

On 2/8/2014 Caravaggio said: You are only as good as your weakest player Obviously you never played a team sport?

Figure skating isn't supposed to be a team sport... back to my original point... It's an individual sport! What do people have against individual achievement? Why is that bad?

[Linders Back]

On 2/8/2014 Tenners said:

On 2/8/2014 Caravaggio said: You are only as good as your weakest player Obviously you never played a team sport?

Figure skating isn't supposed to be a team sport... back to my original point... It's an individual sport! What do people have against individual achievement? Why is that bad?

It still is an Individual Sport. Nobody has taken that away. But many sports have both the individual and team components: Track & Field, Speed Skating, Swimming, Ski Jumping, etc. Many of the same athletes participate in both.

Why can't Figure Skating have that same option? It seems to be adding to the goodwill of all the team members from what I have seen.

[AngusandBuddhasMom]

Who has something against it? I may think ice dancing is boring but that is my opinion. I think the chance to have these individuals compete as a team makes for a better competition. It is not like they are doing away with the individual skating. They do something similar in gymnastics.

[Indra]

I'm not a team sport person and that's why I'm attracted to the individuality of sports, such as iceskating, gymnastics, skiiing, etc. I remember the outstanding individuals, such as a Nadia Comaneci, Torvill & Dean or MIchelle Kwan following an Olympics and look forward to discovering new talent each time the Olympics roll around. However, on a positive note, the more ice skating I get a chance to see, the happier I am. So, If they want to add team sport iceskating to the individual events, similar to gymnastics, I have no complaints.

[Tenners]

There have been rumblings that skaters from some countries may avoid the team event to focus on their individual medal chases. So i'm not the only one to question the event. If I were injured or too exhausted to be at my best in the individual programs because of the team event I would not be happy. Especially if I didn't have the option to bow out. That's my point.

[muttmom]

On 2/8/2014 Tenners said: There have been rumblings that skaters from some countries may avoid the team event to focus on their individual medal chases. So i'm not the only one to question the event. If I were injured or too exhausted to be at my best in the individual programs because of the team event I would not be happy. Especially if I didn't have the option to bow out. That's my point.

Really? Not all teams qualified to participate. Who has chosen not to participate?

[Tenners]

Olympics-Figure Skating-Top skaters drop out of debut team event 13 hours ago SOCHI, Russia, Feb 8 (Reuters) - Hopes that the new Olympic team event will be as popular as the individual disciplines suffered a further blow at the Sochi Games as several gold medal front-runners, including Patrick Chan, opted to sit out the second part of the competition. Canada's Chan and fellow world champions, Russian pair skaters, Tatiana Volosozhar and Maxim Trankov, were among the competitors who opted to skip the free skates of the team event so they can save strength for what they see as the main event. Both country's next-best skaters will replace them in the long programme of the multi-discipline event introduced to infuse skating with the kind of drama seen in gymnastics, where winning team accolades trumps individual glory. But skaters eyeing an Olympic medal were clear about where their priorities lie. "Tanya and I are not the youngest athletes. If we were four years younger, then we would have been able to," Trankov, 30, whose short programme with Volosozhar helped hosts Russia to the top of the team standings, told the Russian Figure Skating Federation website. "In our situation, just physically enduring four programmes is very hard," he said. "The competition schedule immediately ruled out any thoughts about us also skating the free programme in the team competition." Pulling out is not an option for his team mate, veteran Yevgeny Plushenko, who wowed the audience with a dazzling comeback performance and silenced those who doubted his selection for the Olympics ahead of 18-year-old national champion Maxim Kovtun. As Russia's sole men's skater competing in Sochi, the 31-year-old must compete in the back-to-back competitions - a task he admitted will test his strength after enduring numerous surgeries. "The whole day was hard, everything is hard but one has to compete. We have only just begun," he told reporters, his brow glistening with sweat after the short programme on Thursday evening. "All comebacks are hard, especially after 12 surgeries but it is possible." Plushenko outclassed 23-year-old favourite Chan to place second behind Japanese teenager Yuzuru Hanyu on the first day of the team event. But Chan dismissed the team event as a "trial run" and said he was keeping his energy and focus on the individual competition. "It feels good to be able to hand it (the baton) off," Chan said. "My priority is the individual ... Come the 13th (the day of the men's singles short programme), I don't want to hand it off." (Reporting by Alissa de Carbonnel, editing by Ed Osmond)

[Linders Back]

Only the top 5 teams advance so if China isn't one of those teams, how does Chan "opt to skip" the freeskate? It won't be his decision to make.

[Tenners]

Patrick Chan is Canadian.

[Sushismom]

Naturally, everyone is entitled to their own opinion about a particular event. What I don't understand, though, is denigrating it because you don't like it.

I simply don't watch the events I'm not interested in. No need for me to make fun of it.

One thing with which I do agree with some of the skaters is that the timing for the team event is too close to the individual competition. It would make more sense to let the skaters rest for a week between the events.