Irina Rodnina: “I don’t like the current judging system. It has become too professional to understand and too incomprehensible for the viewer.”

Irina Rodnina about possible rule changes.

original source: Sport24

Irina Rodnina commented on potential changes in figure skating rules.

Earlier it was reported that the ISU proposes to reduce the number of jumps in men’s free skating from seven to six, and the number of combinations from three to two (one of them can be a sequence). According to the head of the ISU’s technical committee, the aim is to allow more time for linking moves and choreography.

“Irina Rodnina: Honestly speaking, I don’t watch much current figure skating. We haven’t had proper coverage of competitions for two years, so it’s hard to say much. As of now, we – ordinary spectators – are not very aware of new trends and directions.

If we compare past figure skating with the present, we had different rules and, accordingly, different requirements, hence different judging. What’s there to compare?

Now I don’t like the judging system. I might be an outdated person, but I’m unhappy with it. It has become too professional to understand and too incomprehensible for the viewer. It’s hard for me to say that the judging system has become more objective.

I’m not a judge and I can’t say for sure what needs to be changed. But, probably, speed is important in figure skating. And in this respect we’ve lost it. We gained a lot of interesting and different things, but we also lost a lot of important things.

Especially in pair skating. There’s no speed and synchrony, and a lot of elements from dance have entered it. We started losing the difference between different types of sports,” said the three-time Olympic champion.”

Related topics: Irina Rodnina