Why is Figure Skating governed by Retired Speed Skaters?

[GF2445]

Did you see the ISU Congress?
The Speed Skating branch is 100000 times more organised and orderly than the figure skating branch.
The Figure Skating branch officials are a mess.

 

[ladyjane]

A good place to start is the book "Cracked Ice" by Sonia Bianchetti. Here is a review. (Scroll down to the section The ISU Council Years, 1988-1992 about Olaf Poulsen and the political shenanigans that brought fellow speed skater Ottavio Cinquanta to power.

https://adivinesport.com/2015/09/20/sonia-bianchetti-garbatos-cracked-ice-what-can-we-learn/

In the election for a successor to Cinquanta, the leading candidate from the figure skating side was Didier Gailhaguet, who had his own unsavory baggage.

To be honest, and I'm (slightly or maybe terribly) biased being Dutch, but having Didier Gailhaguet as president would really be a farce. If you want a sport to become 'de-olympicised' that's the way to go. I prefer a speed skater any day. That being said, I agree with the general point that it's odd that speed skaters govern the figure skaters. Within our own country the fact that speed skating, both long and short track, are in the same association as Figure Skating has truly been to the detriment of Figure Skating. It's been up to old figure Skaters (Joan Haanappel and Sjoukje Dijkstra) to put Figure Skating on the map again. They're both giants in that sense, but their fight with the official Skating Board is very uneven.

 

[Bcash]

Did you see the ISU Congress?
The Speed Skating branch is 100000 times more organised and orderly than the figure skating branch.
The Figure Skating branch officials are a mess.

I'm curious. In what way a mess?

 

[Alexz]

I humbly think it is time for figure skating to have their own sport federation. Separated from ISU.

 

[Harriet]

I'm curious. In what way a mess?

Every possible way?

These are people who seriously argued that USB sticks are too technologically complex for The Yoof These Days to figure out, after all.

 

[Mathman]

I humbly think it is time for figure skating to have their own sport federation. Separated from ISU.

It was time in 2002; hence the World Skating Federation.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Skating_Federation

http://www.espn.com/espn/wire?section=figureskating&id=2020608

The ISU's ace in the hole is it's acceptance by the IOC as the sole and only possible skating organization that is allowed to have anything to do wth the Olympics. Cinquanta was a member of the IOC for many years, including serving on the Executive Board as official representative of all international federations in Winter Sports from 2000-2008. He is still an honorary IOC member in retirement.

https://www.olympic.org/mr-ottavio-cinquanta

 

[starla16]

almost all speed skating powerhouses are same as figure skating
russia, south korea, japan, canada, us now also china
only nederlands is the odd one off....

 

[Winnie_20]

almost all speed skating powerhouses are same as figure skating
russia, south korea, japan, canada, us now also china
only nederlands is the odd one off....

Nederland (or the Netherlands; fyi “Nederlands” is the name of the language) is just weird that way. They do try, though, to get figure skating a bit more in the picture.
Funny thing, just yesterday at the Challenge Cup, I was thinking “Wow, I’ve never seen such a large audience here!”
Then I saw the sports news program on telly, with the world championship speed skating short distance in Thialf elsewhere in the Netherlands, and the huge packed stadium with audience, and I was reminded of the fact that figure skating here has a loooooooong way to go. ;-)

 

[Mathman]

...fyi “Nederlands” is the name of the language.

Not "Dutch"?

 

[ladyjane]

Haha. When speaking English, and talking about the language that is spoken in The Netherlands, it would be called 'Dutch'. But a Dutchman, speaking in his own language, would call it 'Nederlands'. I won't be going into the variations between Dutch 'Dutch' and Belgian 'Dutch' (also called Flemish).

 

[Edwin]

Nederland (or the Netherlands; fyi “Nederlands” is the name of the language) is just weird that way. They do try, though, to get figure skating a bit more in the picture.
Funny thing, just yesterday at the Challenge Cup, I was thinking “Wow, I’ve never seen such a large audience here!”
Then I saw the sports news program on telly, with the world championship speed skating short distance in Thialf elsewhere in the Netherlands, and the huge packed stadium with audience, and I was reminded of the fact that figure skating here has a loooooooong way to go. ;-)

Do we even have the required rinks with sufficient ice time for figure skating? I remember a sports documentary on figure skating in The Netherlands on one of our prime children channels way back in time. The girls in question had to train at like 7 am or 10 pm, and still go to school with normal hours and homework schedule. Meaning the parents and whole family suffers?

Speed skating and short track of late draw crowds in The Netherlands because we're good at it A World Championships in say fencing or rowing will draw almost no crowd outside of those involved in the sport.