The Figure Skating World

[methodwriter85]

Hey, I have a friend who's thinking about having a character become a famous figure skater. So I'm curious about the world of figure skating, and have some questions.

 

1. What are practices like, and how long are they? Is someone who is training for the Olympics able to attend high school/college, or would they have to get a tutor because the training is all day?

 

2. The character was born in late 1985. That means they will be 16 years old for the 2002 Olympics- is it common for a 16-year old male to be in a figure skating competition for the Olympics? He'll also be 20 in 2006, and 24 in 2010. Would 2006 and 2010 be his main Olympic cycles, or would he have a shot at the 2014 Olympics as a 28-year old? Is 28 "over the hill" in terms of male figure skaters?

 

3. What is the ideal height and weight for a male figure skater? If a male figure skater suddenly went through a 3-inch growth spurt that also packed on about 15 to 20 pounds of muscle, would that completely throw him off? Are eating disorders a common enough occurence among male figure skaters?

 

4. What are the sorts of injuries that are common to figure skaters, and what would be the career-ending injuries?

 

5. Does California have any prestigious figure skating programs at the college level, or would someone serious about figure skating be more likely to move to a place like Colorado or something? Is there a state that is known to have a plethora of top-notch skating programs/

 

Thanks, you guys would really help.

[Johnathan Colourfield]

Hey my friend is a professional ice skater so here are her responses

 

 

 

 

1. They are about 3 hours long, usually from 9-12 on a sunday. My friend does it from 4-7 on a monday and 9-12 on a sunday

 

2. I would have him shoot for the 2006 one, 16 is a bit too young for him to realistically enter the olympics. Eg she is going for the 2014 when she will be 20

 

3. The weight isnt an issue as long as you can balance the weight on the skates. Its more to do with physical fitness than weight. And no not really, no in her class anyways

 

4. Lots of leg scratches are common, cutting fingers when booting up. But the career ending one is a broken thigh bone/pelvis. A figure skater rarely gets over that.

 

5. Ermm... i'm not sure but in england there is the national association of Ice Dance. Which is sort of like where our olympians focus their aims towards. They have to own an Association Pin to join the society.

 

GRADING IN ICE DANCE IN THE UK

 

1 Star - 10 Star - Basics and Basic Jumps

 

Bronze - Tricks and stuff

 

Silver - More Jumps and introduction of dangerous jumps and skating

[methodwriter85]

Thanks. You did. So it sounds like it would be possible for my friend's character to still attend regular high school while training for the Olympics, and also attend college. It doesn't sound like the crazy schedule that gymnasts have. And I guess the '06 Olympics works fine- not only do you get Apollo Ohno, but Jeremy Bloom as well. *drool*

 

But at 24, would he still realistically be able to compete at the Olympics of 2010? And what about the Olympics of 2014, when he's 28? What's the "prime" physical age for male figure skaters?

 

Anyone else wanna weigh in?

Edited February 15, 2010 by methodwriter85

[Johnathan Colourfield]

the prime age is 21 preferably but you can figure skate at any age Eg Torvill and Dean still amazing ice dancers

[Daisy139]

For a male single skater (it's different for pair skaters and dancers), 24 would be realistic, 28 hardly unless he's an absolute genius and a late bloomer.

The ideal height would be somewhere upto 5'7'', 5'8'' is also still possible, but above that, height can get in the way. There are single skaters that are 5'9'' and every once in a while you see someone get 6 ft, but up to 5'7/8'' is ideal for the technical elements.

 

Eating disorders are common, but it's not like all of them have one. But if the character has one, it won't be surprising.

 

They can go to high school, but often tutors are involved.

 

I would recommend you check out this link: International Skating Union - if you scroll down, you can select skater biographies for the 4 different disciplines, which should give you an idea about typical age ranges, heights (in cm, but you can convert those), and such things. They also have average numbers of training hours during the on vs. off season. I would check out the Americans, Canadians, Russians, and Japanese, plus S. Lambiel (Switzerland) and B. Joubert (France), they're good examples.

 

Weight-wise...well, I htink there's a reason why weights are not posted in the official bios. I've heard 120 lbs about a skater who was 5'8''at the time and that sounded realistic for him. Some are a little heavier.

 

There's two types of male skaters - those that dothe technical stuff via muscle mass (get rotation etc), and those that are particularly light and get in the air easily without much muscle mass. Compare Brian Joubert (FRA) and Johnny Weir (USA), for example on youtube. Two entirely different skating styles (most skaters are somewherein the middle but they're nice extremes).

[Mark Arbour]

the prime age is 21 preferably but you can figure skate at any age Eg Torvill and Dean still amazing ice dancers

 

Torvill and Dean were always my favorites.

[Daisy139]

I should mention that the prime age for single skaters is usually between late teens and 24/5ish, give or take 2 years maybe. For pair skaters and dancers it's usually between 20-30, give or take a few.

 

Typical injuries that can be overcome reasonably are ligament issues, and a lot of them have knee injuries. But I agree, don't have the character break a bone, that rarely works out. I know two skaters off the top of my head who still skate with artificial hips, but only in shows. Also, injuries that serious tend to be rare, because they learn how to fall.

[methodwriter85]

So it's late teens to about 24/25? Then yeah- for someone born in 1985, their Olympic Cycles would be for the 2006 and 2010 Olympics. It's kinda funny- had this character been born in 1983 instead of 1985, he probably could have competed in '02, '06, and '10. It's amazing what a different two years can make.

 

Thanks for the help, Daisy. You gave a lot of great insight. I have a friend who skates with the University of Delaware, which has a good (but apparently decling) figure skating club, but I'm too lazy to call her up. LOL.

 

Daisy, do you know what other areas aside from UD are known to have really good figure skating programs? Any in California?

[Daisy139]

I'm not sure about university programs (because I only know my way around competitive skating on the national/international level), and a lot of skaters put down some university inn their biography but then they're only training at their facilities but don't have much to do with them otherwise...

 

But I would recommend you check the International Skating Union bios for US skaters - if they are somehow affiliated with a university, that's listed in the bios usually as their club. I remember Sasha Cohen is in CA, Tim Goebel used to train in CA, and some others as well. At least that will give you an idea of what universities to research. Oh, and check Evan Lysacek, I believe he's in CA as well.

 

Feel free to PM me if you have any other questions!

[hh5]

I wonder if the olympics or even the usa would allow a gay skating couple to win a gold metal.

 

If the world did allow that then we know that being GAY is ok.

 

If you're story was set into the future it be happy story.

 

I suspect that you're not heading in this direction of a story.

[methodwriter85]

I'm not the one writing the proposed story- it would be a very sexy friend of mine who's a total DILF. He's got an idea to send a character to the Olympics. But it wouldn't be the future Olympics- prolly set at the 2006 Olympics.

[MikeL]

Torvill and Dean were always my favorites.

Mine too. I still remember their Bolero.

 

My favorite part of pairs figure skating is trying to figure out which one is the dude.

[ehyder]

As far as I know pairs figure skating is a bit like dancing, in that when you train you train as a certain part-- the male part, if you're the guy, or the female part if you're a girl. That's the main reason why they don't have gay couples on So You Think You Can Dance or other dance shows: these dancers have trained all their lives as the part that corresponds with their gender, so they can't resonably just switch to the other part.

 

Now, if some guy (he'd have to be slim enough to be lifted by his partner) were to train for the female part from the get-go... that might work!

 

I could be wrong, because I'm familiar with dance and not figure skating, but I think it's a resonable comparison to draw.

 

 

[SonoLuminus]

There are same sex pairs, just not Olympic level. There's a same sex pairs event at the Gay Games:

 

 

Mironov & Vachon:

 

Corbiell & D'Agostino

 

Unfortunately, youtube doesn't seem to have any footage of my personal favorites, Jean-Pierre Martin & Mark Hird, from around 1994.

 

I have a story that revolves around Olympic figure skating, too, but mine concentrates on 1976 and 1980. It ties into my anthology story, although the skating character isn't actually in that part.

[hh5]

I'm not the one writing the proposed story- it would be a very sexy friend of mine who's a total DILF. He's got an idea to send a character to the Olympics. But it wouldn't be the future Olympics- prolly set at the 2006 Olympics.

 

I just wrote a draft chapter ... it partly based on an old tv movie I saw years ago.

 

But this is a gay version. I think I doubt I will continue writing it. I just wrote it because I loved the movie. Its really not the greatest filmed movie. But its the story can the power of the actors that made me fall in love with it.

 

I think my intension is to have them goto the olympics. But for now its not a story priority. Just an idea thats different that the movie.

[ehyder]

There are same sex pairs, just not Olympic level. There's a same sex pairs event at the Gay Games:

 

 

Mironov & Vachon:

 

Corbiell & D'Agostino

 

Unfortunately, youtube doesn't seem to have any footage of my personal favorites, Jean-Pierre Martin & Mark Hird, from around 1994.

 

I have a story that revolves around Olympic figure skating, too, but mine concentrates on 1976 and 1980. It ties into my anthology story, although the skating character isn't actually in that part.

 

 

Oh wow! That's so cool; I had no idea this sort of thing existed and I'm pleasantly surprised to see that it does. Thank you so much for sharing these.

[MikeL]

No activity with a kiss and cry area can be classified as a sport. Sorry figure skating, this means you.

[KJames]

I seem to remember a few years ago one of the figure skating teams had costumes made that disguised them as opposite sexes, so the female appeared male (with top hat and--short--tails), and the taller, more muscular male, appeared female (including a wig for longer hair), their routine was hilarious. With the 'female' lifting the 'male' off 'his' feet and all...