Wrong ideas you used to have about figure skating...

This is so funny! I can relate to some of the things.

Adding:
- In the very very beginning I thought that it was just one jump in figure skating, not a lot of different jumps. So that they jumped the same jump all the time.

- In the beginning I thought also that a fall on the ice was the worst thing you could do and you would actually get no points for a jump with a fall. At the same time, I thought a popped jump, like a singel axel for example was much better then doing like a triple axel with a fall.

- As I didn´t recognize the jumps and the different levels, I was sometimes really confused and angry when a skater which did a perfect program with no falls and perfectly double jumps for example would get such low points, compared to a skater which had a skate with a lot of falls, but with a more difficult layout (which I didn´t recognize of course). "But she had a perfect skate, no falls, no stumbles, and she placed below the skater who had 3 falls in the program? How can that be?!"

Sometiems I wonder if it hadn´t been for the technical content box on some events and the commentators, I would still be pretty lost about the jumps, the different levels and how the points work.

When uninitiated to the sport (or life in general), so fatuously naive was I that I actually believed the "free skating program" allowed one to skate freely.

MGstyle said:

Oh, and I also had the illusion that I could just step on the ice and do pretty much the same thing as them skaters I saw on TV - until I stepped on the ice for the first time and discover with horror how actually slippery the ice is :eekn:

Click to expand...

Ahahahahahahah!!!!! It was the same for me, and sadly also for all the people out there that do not consider figure skating a real sport

I remember when I used to think that winning skaters made huge amounts of prize money like tennis players. I was shocked to see the true amounts knowing that figure skating is such an expensive sport.

I always thought that the axel jump was really "axle." Like a wheel that spins on an axle. I was shocked to find it was actually named after a person.

SmallAminal said:

My skater was watching some fluff retrospective piece during the World Championships on Brian Orser and the Battle of the Brians and when I pointed out "Look, that's Yuzuru's coach!" during a clip of his skating, he looked confused and said "Yuzuru's coach is competing too?" [emoji23]

Click to expand...

I like you already. We’d be such good friends.

Sugar Coated said:

I always thought that the axel jump was really "axle." Like a wheel that spins on an axle. I was shocked to find it was actually named after a person.

Click to expand...

Same! So it was quite shocking to find out that it actually came from a Norwegian skater and that Axel was his first name. I thought it would be the last name. Because Axel doesn´t sound Norwegian at all, not when you write it like that. But I guess it is a old/not common form for the name Aksel, which is more common used.

When I was young, I thought it was easy for skaters to skate clean programs, since Michelle Kwan and Tara Lipinski skated clean so often. And then when I started following the sport online and keeping track of many more competitions and many more skaters, I realized, "Oh, to skate clean is a HUGE accomplishment and most skaters can do it only a few times in their careers, if ever." And it's getting more difficult year by year with the increasing technical demands.

In fact, with certain skaters, I've learned to appreciate the successful aspects of their programs even when they don't skate clean. I have found that this is a healthier outlook than being disappointed that they made mistakes or didn't place where I hoped they would. I find beauty wherever I can with my favorites these days, even when imperfections are there along with it.