The Downfall of Figure Skating

One day after Even Lysacek beat Evgeni Plushenko for the gold medal in men's figure skating, Elvis Stojko had harsh words for the current state of figure skating. He was incensed with the fact that Plushenko landed two quad jumps in his two programs and still lost to a skater whose program had a lower degree of difficulty.

"The sport took a step backward. Brian Boitano did the same thing, technically, in 1988. There are junior skaters who can skate that same program," he stated in his column on Yahoo.com.

Perhaps he has a point. Imagine if the scoring system in the Snowboarding halfpipe gave more points for five 360's than a double mctwist 1260 (Shaun White's signature move)? Boarders like Shaun would realize that trying to pull of risky moves that sap tons of energy are hardly worth it, and would go for more variety. According to Stojko, a similar thing is happening in skating, and the athletes are not being encouraged to push the envelope.

If you want to read his angry tirade against the current scoring system put in place by the ISU, click here. He closes by saying "I am going to watch hockey, where athletes are allowed to push the envelope. A real sport."

No argument from me there, Elvis!