What is team figure skating?
Kurt Browning breaks down all the ins and outs of the exclusive Olympic event
Figure skating has long been a fan favourite during the Winter Olympic Games, but does anyone actually understand how the team event works? CBC analyst Kurt Browning gives the inside scoop on how it all breaks down. Faster Higher Stronger presented by Bell.
Wake up part-time skating fans! It has been four years since the last Olympic Games so pick up those remotes and become the skating expert you were four years past.
The Olympics are here again, when countries from around the world cheer and support their athletes and, yes, athletes from other nations as well. But in the sport of figure skating, every four years brings us together in a way reserved for the Olympic Games only. It's called the team event — where you skate as a team, alone. Let me try to explain…
The jerseys don't match and some have a partner while some do not. You're a member of a team but you have to go it alone. You get points but those are switched out to other points after your part of the competition is over. You never, ever, practice this type of competition, because it only happens at the Winter Games.
Welcome to the team event!
OK, enough fun, it's time to "figure" this out.
Skating has four disciplines: women's, men's, ice dance and pairs. Ten teams from 10 different countries start the competition as they normally would, with the technical program. Everyone, that is, except the dancers, who enjoy lots of attention so they get their own event name called the rhythm dance. Makes sense, they do have more rhythm!
One representative from each country is chosen to compete in each of the four disciplines, and after the sequins settle, the scores are handed out to the competitors who graciously share the spoils with their home countries. Ten points for first place, nine points for second place… you can fill in the rest of the blanks. After each of the four disciplines compete, a calculator is brought in and, violà, we have the top five teams.
The top five teams are then rewarded with the opportunity to skate the long programs, called free dance for the dancers. Okay, you can call it the free for all of the disciplines but it is funnier this way. Stay with me now…
So, we start all over again. The scoreboard is scrubbed clean, only this time they skate longer. First place is awarded 10 points again, even though now there are only five countries competing – making it easier on the calculator. After the twizzles, throws, twists, spins and quads, more points are handed out, converted to team points of course, and you have three Olympic medals for three happy countries.
Seems easy enough, but there is a lot going on behind the scenes. This event is rife with water cooler gossip. How did each team choose who to skate when? You may think they should have chosen skater X to skate the short, but I think it should have been skater Y, while they think it should have been this dance team and you think they shouldn't have been chosen at all. Whew!
Most teams have more than enough skaters to fill the spots, so who gets to skate for an Olympic medal and who sits in the cheering area at the end of the rink wishing they could have a chance? Each country chooses six representatives to fill eight skating spots — four short/rhythm programs and four long/free programs. Just checking the math, hand me the calculator, and it seems two will have to skate twice. The different possibilities will keep skating fans chatting and arguing, way past the podium.
Hope this helps you understand how the team event works. And since all of this "team stuff" only happens every Olympic quadrennial, I know there is no need to worry for you folks who only watch skating during the Olympics. You all saw this event in 2014 and 2018 and know exactly what is going on, right? So pick your sequined horses and place your bets. Now where is my calculator?