Point/Counterpoint: The Olympic debate: Is figure skating really a sport?

By: Point - Christian Senger/Counterpoint - Adam Caparell/Daily Campus Staff

Posted: 2/12/02

Point-

It's one of the age-old questions amongst athletic fans. Is "such-and-such" an actual sport? This inquiry always seems to come up the most around the world's biggest athletic event: the Olympics.

The Olympics features a wide assortment of events, everything from hockey to curling and sometimes certain events come under the fire of that question, is this a sport?

In my senior year of high school, I was on the track team, which is one of those not so glamorous sports. So I feel it's an injustice when someone who is working hard at something has to try and defend why what they are doing is an actual sport, which is something I did on a few occasions last year.

The subject under scrutiny is figure skating. Some people feel it is not a sport and they have some outlandish reasons why, but it should be clear that figure skaters are in fact athletes that participate in a "real" sport.

Well, what makes a sport a sport? Merriam Webster Online (http://www.m-w.com), the authority on what words mean, says that a sport is "a source of diversion, recreation." Using just that definition, it's obvious that figure skating is a sport. Whether professionals or amateurs, people skate as a type of recreation, which would make it a sport by definition. Of course everything that fits that description, isn't necessarily a sport, but there are numerous other reasons why figure skating is a sport

Figure skaters are partaking in a competitive activity that requires them to be in pretty good physical shape. Look at any other sport and they require the same characteristics.

Figure skaters work just as hard as any other athlete. Every sport and its training is different, but each athlete is working as hard as they can at their respective event. Some athletes may lift more weights, have longer practices, or be more built than figure skaters, but that's because their sport may require those things. Figure skaters are working just as hard as those athletes, but in other ways. I don't think any muscular football player could pull off a triple jump or a full skating routine and I wouldn't expect a figure skater to hit a 300-foot homerun either. These athletes are working for varying goals and train differently, but each athlete is putting the same hard work and determination into what they are doing. Although it may not be as "sporty" as most people would like, it is clear that figure skating is indeed a sport.

Counterpoint-

Hate to break it to you women, or men, if they do actually watch.

Figure Skating isn't a sport, its glamorized ballroom dancing.

Is there a move that can't be seen at the recital hall or the wardrobes for that matter? Why does it seem like more time goes into getting the right attire than coming up with an inventive routine. All you see is the same thing over and over again and the athlete's outfit always seems to receive more hype than the actual competition itself.

Figure skating can't be considered a sport when it gets more coverage in the tabloids than it does in the newspaper. It's as simple as that. It's practically a soap opera. People who watch this Olympic 'sport' care more about who's dating who than who is on top of their game.

All you ever hear when people talk about figure skating is the rivalries. And it's not the ones on the ice, but the ones off that get all the press.

The prime example being the Nancy Kerrigan, Tonya Harding incident during the 1994 U.S. Figure Skating Championships, leading up to the Olympics in Lillehammer a few weeks later. For those who don't remember that's when Kerrigan was hit on the outside of her right knee moments after she left the ice.

The moment she hit the floor, there was a media frenzy over this story, entirely overshadowing all the other events at the Games, and headlining most news programs. With lengthy legal action from both skaters and eventual arrests, this soiled the Winter Olympics like nothing before.

When another women plots with her boyfriend and bodyguard to physically hurt you, trying to put you out of action, it sounds more like an episode of the Sopranos than a sport.

And you know there's no way Tony would have let Kerrigan walk again if he had the job.

Finally, when someone does watch, besides your mother and grandmother, all they are looking for is to see the performers fall. That's all I'd ever watch these contests for. Or the occasional attractive skater that everyone seems to be talking about. But that's just another example of why you'd have an easier time reading a column on figure skating in the grocery line than in Sports Illustrated.

It's not a sport. It's Olympic Theatre.

And there is no point about even mentioning the men because no one watches the men. No one.