faux-lympics

The paper says U.S. Olympian Rachel Flatt was surprised and shocked by the score the judges gave her Thursday in the women's figure-skating competition at Vancouver. She had skated a "clean" program, a personal best, and felt good about it.
Too bad. It wasn't to be. The judges said there was something wrong with two of her triple-flip jumps. So Rachel finished seventh in the event, well out of the running.
The paper says another U.S. skater, Johnny Weir, sixth-place finisher in the men's competition, also had troubles in Vancouver. It was partly about his skating -- he was "robbed," some fans say -- but it was also about Weir and the media.
Their coverage of him tended to be derisive. This wasn't about his skating. It had to do with his persona, with things he was saying, his off-rink, eccentric behavior, his "flamboyant" costumes, things like that.
A pink-ribboned corset figured somewhere in this. One critic suggested he submit to a gender test.
Well, that's history now, and it's obviously too late for Vancouver, but I have a suggestion to deal with this sort of thing in the future.
Starting with the next winter Olympics, the people who run the games should simply strike figure-skating from the program. For good. And while they're at it, they should also drop gymnastics from the summer games. For good.
Neither is a sport that can be judged objectively by a time-clock or point score. Judges are human. And they may, individually, be patriotic, temperamental, even whimsical.
Figure-skating is simply high-speed dancing. It can only be judged subjectively as an art form.
Of course Olympic skaters are strong, highly skilled and disciplined. I bet Fred Astaire was in great shape and finely disciplined in his day, too, but he starred in "Roberta," not the Olympics.
As for gymnastics, those performers are acrobats. They also are strong, highly skilled, and disciplined. Plus daring. They just can't be judged objectively, one against another, on a precise point scale as Olympic judges try to do.
If I want to see acrobats I'll go to the circus.