User:Sydneyrobinson/Figure skating at the Olympic Games

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(1) Inaccurate Information -> 'Qualifying Section': Age to Qualify

(2) Synchronized Skating in the Olympics

(3) New Age Rules in Olympics

(4) Scoring and Judging System

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Inaccurate Information About Age to Qualify in 'Qualifying' Section

"After the previous 2022 Olympic Games, this rule has changed and the new age requirement by the next Olympics will be 17-years-old."

Synchronized Skating in the Olympics

There is a fifth additional discipline of figure skating besides the four previously mentioned, and that is synchronized skating. Synchronize skating adds a team element to figure skating, having eight to twenty skaters on the ice at once. They skate together in unison performing difficult step sequences and formations together. This version of skating has been a part of the competition scene for many years, being involved in competitions through the United States, as well as internationally around the world. But it has yet to be an aspect of the Olympic Games. The governing body for competitive skating is the ISU, International Skating Union, who determine all the decisions about figure skating internationally. The International Olympic Committee, IOC, is an executive board that makes decisions on sports in the Olympics in general. They have yet to make the decision to add synchronized skating as an Olympic event. This has been a very controversial debate over the years and many feel it is wrong that this discipline of the sport is left out in contrast to the others. The IOC determines adding a sport to the Olympics is based on how many athletes and officials would be included, how popular the sport is, and how much money it would bring to them. The ISU has been making efforts the past several years to "investigate, strategize and gather the information required for Synchronized Skating to be accepted as an Olympic discipline ." They were attempting to get it approved for the most recent games in Beijing, but it didn't make the cut. For now synchronized skating in the Olympics is a still a dream for most, but maybe it can become a reality in the near future.

New Age Rules in the Olympics

Within figure skating, there is a set minimum age limit for all elite competitors through the sport. This age was 15 years old, until the most recent Olympic Games in Beijing. During this event in 2022, 15-year-old Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva was the favorite to win the Ladie's single event, until she was found to have a positive drug test for a banned substance previously to the competition. The International Olympic Committee had to conduct an investigation into Valieva during the Olympics, which brought a great amount of chaos and controversy as to whether she should have been allowed to compete or not. More importantly, it brought attention to the conditions young athletes are faced with physically, mentally, and emotionally as they are preparing for this event, having this not been the first time a situation such as this has occurred. After the Games this year, the International Skating Union came together to review what had happened and how to proceed in the future. A proposal was then created to increase the minimum age limit for elite competitors throughout the sport to 17. The vote was determined 100 to 16 in favor of this and will be implemented slowly over the course of the next three years, before the 2026 Games in Milan. This decision was based on preserving the physical, mental, and emotional health and wellbeing of figure skaters, and can be summarize by Eric Radford, three time Canadian Olympic medalist, who stated, “Is a medal worth risking the health of a child or young athlete?”

Scoring and Judging System

Within the sport of figure skating, there is a very specific scoring system that must be followed and is used for every discipline. This is referred to as IJS, or International Judging System. The two kinds of scoring you will receive during a figure skating competition is the technical score and the program components. Each technical element that is attempted in a program has a specific base value of points, which varies based on the element. Additionally, elements such as spins and step sequences can achieve different levels, which can add or subtract points from that elements final score. At the end of the program, all of your technical element points will be added up to form your technical score. The second aspect to the scoring system in figure skating is the program components. These are determined by the overall presentation of your performance and be separated into five categories. The categories consist of skating skills, transitions, performance, composition, and interpretation of the music. Like the technical elements score, these categories will be added together at the end of the program to determine the program components score. Then, you take your final technical elements score and program components score and add them together to create your final segment score.

The judging system consists of two parts, the technical panel and the judges. The technical panel involves five people that play different roles in judging the technical elements of a skaters program. First, there is the technical specialist. This judge using the rules developed by the International Skating Union to identify each element and its level of difficulty. The two judges whom support the main technical specialist are referred to as the technical controllers and assistant technical specialist. They make sure the primary specialist has correctly identified the elements and make any final decisions on the technical elements presented in the program. They final two roles presented by the technical panel include the data operator and video replay operator. Separately from the technical panel is the judging panel, which is made up of nine judges. Their job is to judge the quality of each element done by the skater regarding the technical elements, as well as evaluate the program components shown in the program. They do this by a great of execution score, GOE, that ranges from –5 to +5 and determines how many points can be added or subtracted from the base value of an element.