Wai Sallas asks himself what *would* Brian Boitano do, as he explains the glitz, glamour, and power . . . of Figure Skating.
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“Figure skating is theatrical. It’s artistic. It’s elegant. It’s extremely athletic. And there’s a very specific audience for that.” — Johnny Weir
We’ve brought baseball, football, soccer, rugby, ultimate Frisbee, golf, and lacrosse under the Sports Explained microscope. We’ve rolled on bowling and stayed out of the gutter, and let hoops dream. We now venture into the glitz and glamour of figure skating.
We are all guilty of being sucked into the beautiful vacuum that is figure skating. It is our national past time every 4th winter.
Is it the theatrics?
Is it the combination of grace and power?
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Figure skating is all of it and a lot more.
When skaters start gaining speed while heading into a jump, they reach up to 20-30 miles per hour. In Men’s Health, Lucinda Ruh, often called the greatest spinner in the history of the sport, said she routinely spun so fast–a physicist once calculated that the G force to her brain was akin to a fighter pilot–that she suffered mini concussions and had lingering effects, including vertigo and severe headaches.
The scoring system is a bit muddled and even the best can be caught dumfounded by a judge’s arbitrary score. It’s safe to say though, with the music, the costumes and the artistry, there is something for everyone.
At the end of the day, there aren’t enough spins, salchows, double, triple or quadruple axels, double toe loops to give you a definitive picture of how much work and effort goes into figure skating. So if you think you got it, ask yourself one question:
What WOULD Brian Boitano Do?
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Photo Credit: flickr/zhem_chug
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