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Lack Of U.S. Success Hurting Women's Figure Skating Popularity

Figure skater Mirai Nagasu is one of three American women hoping to land a Gold Medal in PyeongchangGETTY IMAGES

The women’s figure skating competition at the Pyeongchang Games begins tomorrow, but the fact none of the three American skaters are "expected to contend for the gold medal ... isn’t likely to help the sport’s withering popularity in the U.S," according to Rachel Blount of the Minneapolis STAR TRIBUNE. Gold Medal-winning U.S. skaters Peggy Fleming, Brian Boitano and Dick Button all agree that the sport has "much work to do" to "swing back toward the days when more than 126 million people tuned in to watch" Nancy Kerrigan and Tonya Harding skate at the '94 Lillehammer Games. The U.S. has not won an Olympic medal since '06, and no American woman has had "sustained international success since five-time world champion Michelle Kwan’s run" from the mid-'90s through the mid-'00s. Boitano said that with so much change among the top performers, fans do "not develop a strong rooting interest, and the rivalries that generate buzz fail to materialize." He said the U.S. program “doesn’t create a lot of rivalries, and you really need those rivalries to propel the sport to a different level.” Boitano also said that the "current judging system is more fair, but even he doesn’t understand it" (Minneapolis STAR TRIBUNE, 2/20).

BRIGHT SPOT: U.S. figure skaters Maia and Alex Shibutani took the Bronze Medal in the ice dance competition, and in Detroit, Jeff Seidel writes the two "moved this sport forward" with their "brilliant performance." The siblings, who also won Bronze in the team event, "broke stereotypes and assumptions about ice dancing" and "proved that this sport does not have to be built on romance and sensuality" (FREEP.com, 2/20). SI.com's Michael Rosenberg wrote so many of the other skating pairs on the ice "looked like they couldn’t wait to undress each other." Pairs like Canada's Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir, the Gold Medal winners, and Americans Madison Hubbell and Zachary Donohue "filled their free skate with their usual sexual tension." The Shibutanis had been "told for years that being siblings would cost them," but they ended up being "rewarded for their faith" (SI.com, 2/20).

POOR JUDGEMENT: USA TODAY's Martin Rogers notes French figure skater Gabriella Papadakis' halter-top dress "became unfastened" at the start of her ice dance short performance, and cameras from the Olympic Broadcasting Service "kept rolling as Papadakis "fought to protect her modesty." The OBS provides images and video to more than 100 countries, and slow-motion replays included "shots of Papadakis’ partially-exposed breast and her nipple." A staple part of solid broadcasting coverage is the "ability to react to the unexpected." NBC was also "caught by surprise by the incident but acted swiftly to rectify the situation in order to spare Papadakis from further embarrassment" (USATODAY.com, 2/19).

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