Adding Team Event at Worlds | Golden Skate

Adding Team Event at Worlds

macy

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 12, 2011
why should it only be limited to the Olympics? i think it would be great to also have team events at worlds every year too. yes we have WTT, but i wouldn't say it's an "important" competition or has anywhere near the same weight as worlds, or world medals. it always seems as more of a just for funsies after the season is over kind of thing. i've always been a fan of the team competitions in gymnastics and have thought it would be also great to have it in figure skating regularly. WTT can absolutely stay as it is, and i don't think skaters would want to skip out on it either, since it seems pressure is usually off and it's a nice season closer. adding a team event would only add 2 days of competition to worlds- 1 for shorts, 1 for longs and the medal ceremony. it may even draw attention to the sport and up viewing and attendance numbers. thoughts?
 

ruga

Final Flight
Joined
Oct 20, 2017
Well, I'm kind of skeptical about Team Event in general (if ISU really wants to make it a team sport, just include Synchronized Skating then), but it makes sense to have it at Worlds. Though even at the Olympics not all top skaters choose to go to Team Event as they want to focus on individual medals, so I doubt that they'll be more enthusiastic at Worlds. But WTT is good enough for me, it doesn't take away attention from individual events and doesn't cause confusion when talking about the medal winners.
 

surimi

Onward and forward, Sota!
Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 12, 2013
I am content with the status quo. There's already enough confusion with Olympic team medals when certain articles conveniently (or actually) forget the word 'team' and the unsuspecting reader is led to believe it's identical with the standard medal.
Plus there would be no full justice in such team events - either skaters who don't belong to major feds are left out and don't have a chance to gain team medals, or the major feds would be at a disadvantage if smaller feds chose the best among them to represent their united team.
 

chuckm

Record Breaker
Joined
Aug 31, 2003
Country
United-States
ISU is NEVER going to pay the skaters the $$ that individual host countries do to fund a post-Worlds team event. Skaters are already exhausted by the time Worlds is over and only the lure of $$ can or should compensate for still another competition, especially one right after the individual competition.

No, no and NO!!
 

Dreamer57

Record Breaker
Joined
May 20, 2018
Maybe have such an event so that skaters who aren't already at worlds get selected? So then the top skaters won't get exhausted.
I agree that there may be some confusion with team and individual medals.
I also like the idea of having a mixed countries team (seen at the youth olympics), that way you can have skaters from smaller feds not missing out. Or maybe we should just add one to the WTT!
 

noskates

Record Breaker
Joined
Jun 11, 2012
I always worry that someone is going to get hurt skating in the team event. I'm glad the US won a bronze medal at the Olympics but if they did away with the team event I would be happy with that.
 

macy

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 12, 2011
I always worry that someone is going to get hurt skating in the team event. I'm glad the US won a bronze medal at the Olympics but if they did away with the team event I would be happy with that.

just curious, what is your reasoning for this?

it's always intrigued me that a sport such as gymnastics which is also technically an individual sport has such a highly weighted team event, that is even more weighted than individual and even AA medals. it's very opposite of what skating is, where an individual gold medal in the Olympics is the big prize. gymnastics feds like to prioritize the country as a whole winning, or being seen as the best among other countries vs an individual athlete. the competitors always seem to really enjoy the team aspect of the event as well.
 

drivingmissdaisy

Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 17, 2010
I always thought of the Olympic team event as a money grab, with the IOC instituting it just to air the event's most popular sport on more nights. I'm not sure what having a team event at Worlds would accomplish.
 

kwanatic

Check out my YT channel, Bare Ice!
Record Breaker
Joined
May 19, 2011
I do think it would be a nice way to introduce more skating and give the opportunity for multiple medals. In terms of the skaters participating, maybe you could select different team trophy members from the individual competitors (i.e. Russia gets to send 3 women on the world team to compete individually and 2 more to compete at the team event).

However, this would only benefit countries with multiple world level competitors. For countries with only 1 or 2 competitive skaters them team event may be a burden. Then again, maybe you only allow the top 4 or 5 teams to participate...

IDK, I doubt the ISU would ever do that. I suppose the WTT is good enough, even though it doesn't carry the weight or significance of a world medal.
 

Noxchild

Medalist
Joined
Feb 14, 2018
Country
Canada
Meh. I like the Olympic team event - it builds up hype for the individual event and is a good way to show off the four disciplines, and considering sports like swimming, running, etc have a huge number of events in which athletes can win multiple times, I'm not sure why the concept of a FS team event is considered gauche among some. Yes there could be a risk of injury, but if you rank skaters via placement and not total score, they wouldn't necessarily have to go for the highest risk elements.

Personally I would love a team event at Worlds, to encourage countries to branch out and develop all four disciplines, though for fairness' sake we could have like, a Team Eastern Europe/Southeast Asia/Others... because obviously some countries would be way more stacked than others. Of course a big ole fat sack of money for the winners and competitors (and hell, even some money for the participating feds, though I realize that could easily lead to corruption) would be great though obviously I realize no billionaire is interested in buying up the ISU at the moment lol. Something like 8-12 teams, with different skaters/pairs for SP/FS like the Olympic team event, though I would rather everyone be able to compete in the FS.
 

ladyjane

Medalist
Joined
Jun 26, 2012
Country
Netherlands
I would love to see a Team event happening, but would prefer one along the lines of the Youth Olympic Games (as I mentioned in the thread about creating a new event) than another WTT but just placed directly after/before the individual events with country representation. That's never going to happen of course as such mixed teams with skaters from different countries fit in better with the Olympic movement than with the ISU.
 

noskates

Record Breaker
Joined
Jun 11, 2012
just curious, what is your reasoning for this?

What is my reasoning? It's just one more competition in an already tight week. Wouldn't you hate to see Nathan or Hanyu twist an ankle in a team competition and miss out on the men's competition? Is it likely? Maybe. Maybe not. But..... Gymnastics is a whole different sport and comparing the 2 is like apples and oranges. It was set up as a team sport with cumulative points and individual points. And each gymnast does all the disciplines. How would you translate that to figure skating? Let's see Camden Pulkinen lift Ashley Cain or Chris Knierem do a men's free skate.

The intro to this thread was whether "we" thought the team comp should also be added to Worlds. My opinion was no. Fortunately I don't really get a vote. Just an opinion.
 
Joined
Jun 21, 2003
I am not enthusiastic about team events in figure skating in general. I do not see any sense in which figure skating is a team sport. Curling, yes. You try to place your stone in a spot where your teammate can take advantage of it on the next throw.

A sport like gymnastics where everyone performs as an individual, then add up the points to determine a team winner -- that seems kind of artificial to me. And at least in gymnastics there is a smidgen of team strategy involved because you might choose some specialists on particular apparatuses mixed in with some all-arounders.
 

rollerblade

Record Breaker
Joined
Jan 12, 2014
it's always intrigued me that a sport such as gymnastics which is also technically an individual sport has such a highly weighted team event, that is even more weighted than individual and even AA medals. it's very opposite of what skating is, where an individual gold medal in the Olympics is the big prize. gymnastics feds like to prioritize the country as a whole winning, or being seen as the best among other countries vs an individual athlete. the competitors always seem to really enjoy the team aspect of the event as well.

It works (sorta) in Gymnastics because the gymnasts perform on all apparatus. Also, the men and women do not compete together.
Figure Skating feels way more "individualistic" than Gymnastics, imo.
 

silverfoxes

Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 16, 2014
I'd rather not, and I'd also get rid of the team event at the Olympics. WTT is fine every other year, but I do not like "serious" team events in skating because 1. it's extra stress on the skaters who have to skate twice now at one competition 2. it's highly unfair for smaller fed skaters who already have the odds stacked against them 3. it's become a way for underachievers to claim they have a medal for which they really didn't contribute anything, making it less prestigious in my mind 4. skating has always been an individual (or pairs') sport and if it ain't broke...don't fix it.
 

Happy Skates

Final Flight
Joined
Feb 18, 2019
I'd rather not, and I'd also get rid of the team event at the Olympics. WTT is fine every other year, but I do not like "serious" team events in skating because 1. it's extra stress on the skaters who have to skate twice now at one competition 2. it's highly unfair for smaller fed skaters who already have the odds stacked against them 3. it's become a way for underachievers to claim they have a medal for which they really didn't contribute anything, making it less prestigious in my mind 4. skating has always been an individual (or pairs') sport and if it ain't broke...don't fix it.

I think calling Olympic athletes "underachievers" is a bit extreme... I get that its unfair to smaller fed skaters, but I don't get this resentment towards people who have gotten an "easier" Olympic medal. Like, they can say they have an Olympic medal now, who is that hurting? Trust me, the people who win individual medals still have plenty of prestige. And I'm not sure that I'm for adding a team event to Worlds, but at the same time I've always felt that there should be more Olympic medals in figure skating. There are so many amazing athletes, and in my opinion the more elite skaters that get an Olympic medal from their lifetime of hard work the better, but maybe thats just me. I'd rather they just also give individual medals for the short and long program, but at the same time, a team medal really isn't hurting anyone. The small fed skaters that aren't getting the medals wouldn't have been getting them anyways.
 

Roast Toast

Medalist
Joined
Apr 13, 2017
The concept of the team event in itself is dumb as rocks. The ISU has deliberately lowered the time duration of programs because competitions last too long, now you want a whole other event? Does team Russia really need freebie world medals every year, not just Olympic medals?
 

Harriet

Record Breaker
Joined
Oct 23, 2017
Country
Australia
Just combine Synchro Worlds with Worlds and there you have it: a genuine team skating event at Worlds.
 

Jetta

Rinkside
Joined
Sep 13, 2018
Im not a fan of the Olympic team event, so I would not want to see it at Worlds. I agree that it started purely as a cash grab and I see no prestige in the medals at all quite frankly.

Just combine Synchro Worlds with Worlds and there you have it: a genuine team skating event at Worlds.

I agree with this. There is already a World team event.
 

soogar

Record Breaker
Joined
Dec 18, 2003
I am content with the status quo. There's already enough confusion with Olympic team medals when certain articles conveniently (or actually) forget the word 'team' and the unsuspecting reader is led to believe it's identical with the standard medal.

It is a "standard" medal. Track and Field and Swimming have both team and individual events and no one clarifies anyone's relay medal as anything less than an individual medal.
 
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