Ask DaVe: Is Figure Skating a Sport?
Amy from Bethel IN asks, “DaVe, I have been watching the Winter Olympics and I was wondering is Figure Skating really a sport?”
Well Amy, I am glad you asked this question. As enjoyable as the Winter Olympics are to watch, there are many questions that have been brought up about the events. To answer your question… No, Figure Staking is not a sport. Figure Skating is a Judge Competition.
There are some definitive guidelines that will help you determine the difference between a sport and a judged competition:
- A sport is any event that has a score, winning time or winning distance.
- A sport must have quantitative numbers that are not subject to interpretive results or awarded point.
Some people would argue that sports have referees, umpires and judges that can change the score based on their rulings. They do make decisions according to rules, but in sports the officials do not award points; they confirm if a score has occurred based upon the rules.
The Winter Olympic games are categorized into three main categories: (1) ice (2) snow and (3) Nordic events. There are 86 individual events at the 2010 Winter Olympics.
Ice
- Luge
Skeleton
Bobsled
Ice Hockey
Figure Skating & Ice Dancing – NOT SPORTS
Speed Skating
Short Track Speed Skating
Curling
Snow
- Alpine Skiing
Freestyle Skiing (Aerials, Moguls) – NOT SPORTS
Freestyle Skiing (Ski Cross)
Snowboarding (Halfpipe) – NOT A SPORT
Snowboarding (Parallel Giant Slalom and Snowboard Cross)
Nordic Events
- Biathlon (cross-country skiing and target shooting)
Cross-Country Skiing
Ski Jumping
Nordic Combined (ski jumping and cross country skiing)
Most of the games are sports with the exception of Freestyle Skiing (Aerials, Moguls), Snowboarding (Halfpipe), Figure Skating & Ice Dancing. Don’t get me wrong, judged competitions take amazing skill, precision, strength and raw talent. The people that participate are athletic, but in the end they are just performers.
As a side-note, I believe that Luge, Skeleton and Bobsledding should be renamed Sledding, Head-First Sledding and Mechanized Sledding respectively.
So tell us, do you think these are sports? What is your favorite Winter Olympics game?
while I think you are completely wrong- you are also wrong about ski jumping- points are awarded not only for distance, but also for execution- therefore also a "judged event". Which also maked nordic combined a "judged event".
I completely agree, "judged events" are not sports. I think the Salt Lake judging scandal can attest to the equity (or lack thereof) of opinion-based "sports".
Carol, are they bashing your sport? They better watch out! LOL
Jen- seriously. Dave's just an amateur that knows little to nothing about it- or apparently any winter olympics sport, since he completely missed ski jumping & nordic combined.
Nordic Combined's judged portion adds time benefits to the timed race portion… in the end, Nordic Combined is a race (sport) with positioning determined by the jumping portion. I'd be kinda like if Nascar determined the pole position by how pretty the car was painted.