The Politics of Figure Skating: Is the Cold War Really Over?

 by Daisy Watson-Rumbold

The Cold War (1947-1991) observed the United States and the Soviet Union waging warfare that infected every element of diplomacy. International incidents, cultural diplomacy, nuclear progression, scientific findings, and the forging of alliances became collateral damage of a long engaged war. One of the more specific events impacted by the Cold War was the Olympic Games. Ironically, one of the central aims of the modern Olympics is to encourage an alternative international competition to war. U.S and Soviet athletes took that opportunity, bringing the conflict of their governments to the rinks on which they skated. There was no exact moment in which the rivalry between the two nations was blatant, but instead an underlying campaign for superiority. As a result, the U.S and Soviets began producing much stronger and more ruthless skaters. Ergo, an emissary war was started between the East and West on who could take home the most gold. 

An already precarious sport, figure skating runs the risk of toppling its cautious equilibrium between mental exertion, physical overextension and personal politics. The introduction of additional pressure, in the form of the Cold War, only perpetuated the toxicity that is undoubtedly present in the sport’s culture. Specifically, its displacement of national identity in the judging, music and participation of the Winter Olympics to this day. Judging competitive skating is no easy process. Panels are made up of nine judges, all of whom are highly accredited in the skating world. Companioning this panel is a technical panel made up of specialists, controllers and operators noting down every movement made by skaters during their few crucial minutes. Each judge assesses each move through the Grade of Execution that ranges between -5 and +5. Once the performance is complete, seven of the nine scores presented are picked randomly. The highest and lowest are excluded, leaving five opinions to be averaged out. On top of this, the Program Component Score evaluates five pivotal elements of the skater’s routine - skills, transitions, performance, composition and interpretation of music. These are all marked out of ten and follow the same deduction as the Grade of Execution. Once these two scores are formulated, they are added together to create the Total Segment Score, subtracting any deductions. Most skaters will aim for a score of 40 or more as a competent mark. The gruelling ‘kiss or cry’ box where skaters sit nervously waiting for their score is accurate in name when the strenuous judging process is understood. 

Combine this numerically complex process with a state conflict, and you have room for a collapse of the entire system. Each of the judges represents national skating organisations, so they are quasi-state representatives. Although they are meant to be an impartial board, evidence suggests otherwise. Judge’s have an unquestionably personal connection to skaters and their federations and are often under the scrutiny of leaders within these organisations to score generously. Even in 2014, there was backlash regarding the scoring of Russian skater Adelina Sotnikova’s gold. Sotnikova was seen skating off the rink to embrace a Russian judge, who was married to a leader of Russia’s skating federation and an active judge during the performance. The U.S and South Korea complained to the International Skating Union, but their complaints were dismissed with minimal reasoning. Dartmouth economist Eric Zitzewitz found that over the past 15 years, the country judge of a performer was often around a quarter of a point higher than other judges, with countries such as Russia, Ukraine and South Korea seeing the highest projections. However, the rules do not forbid any evidence of favouritism as long as the scoring remains in line with the technical standards. It can be said that the underlying conflicts during the Cold War era fueled this culture that seeped into the skating world. National superiority is pivotal in times of international warfare, so what better an achievement than scoring higher than your rival in a worldwide forum. Figure skaters have the ability to convey political statements through their musical choices, routine choreography and costume design, so topped the priority of international sporting achievements. 

Skaters themselves provided a national identity to be followed and reported on at large. The U.S thrived in the world of single routines, winning 13 Olympic golds and 48 world titles during the Cold War era. The Soviets, on the other hand, dominated pair skating and slowly integrated into singles events over time. The 1968 Winter Olympics in Grenoble, France, provided a platform for political activism in the face of imminent conflict. Seven years prior to these games, on February the 14th, 1961, the U.S skating team took a photo on the steps of their jet to Brussels for the World Figure Skating Championships. However, they never made their destination. The plane failed to land, crashing and killing all 72 people on board, including the 18-member U.S figure skating team. As a result, a collection of young and up-coming skaters were thrown into the rink, including Peggy Fleming. She is a notable figure whose first Olympic performance embodied the American image. Her musical selection was entirely unAmerican, with Verdi, Tchaikovsky and Rossini taking centre stage, but her execution was entirely American. Her routine intended to represent a hard-working American in a time when Americans were in identity conflict with the USSR. Not only that, but she physically embodied the American ideal - a white, heterosexual woman with a petite frame and a working-class background that could be a testament to the American Dream. She went on to win the only gold medal for the U.S in the Grenoble Games. All the while, two Soviet pair skaters, Belousova and Protopopov, won gold medals for their “romantic style that resembled Russian ballet” (Britannica). The achievements gained were celebrated by the Soviet Union. However, it was later decided that modernising the stylistic choices of Soviet routines was necessary to become a world player in the skating world. Thus, in the 1976 Olympics, Rodnina and Zaitsev opted into skating to Russian folk music and emphasised their athletic ability over artistic movement. Their performance signified the beginning of a gold-winning trend that lasted for years and placed the Soviets at the top of the skating ranks. Commentators have speculated that the communistic state sports system in the Soviet Union benefited their skaters as it subsidised the costs of trainers, rinks and equipment. Arguably, this made it a must more wide-reaching sport, unlike in other Western countries such as the U.S, that relied on free-market economics and liberalism. Tara Lipinski summed up the Russian presence in the skating world as “when you’re in a warm-up with the Russians… you realise [you] need to up your game.” If that doesn’t sum up the direct rivalry, not much can.

So, is the Cold War really over in the world of figure skating? 

There is no doubt that the effects of the Cold War propelled the impact of international rivalry. It can even be claimed that this shifted the entire culture within competitive skating. I would say for better and worse. Cultural identity became a much bigger topic of conversation, which led to discussions around diversity. As an inaccessible sport, often attributed to the elite and wealthy in society, many countries made efforts to widen the demographics involved in skating. However, race representation remains an issue in the skating world that needs tackling due to systematic inequalities in training and qualifying procedures. But, on the flip side, conflict became progressively more prominent in competitions. Tonya Harding’s infamous scandal epitomises the various claims of bullying, coercion and mental manipulation that continue to exist in the skating world. Not as a direct result of the Cold War but perpetuated by the role it made skating adopt during the warfare.

Although, in the recent Olympics, both Russia and the U.S have taken a step off the gold podium to allow space for three new superpowers in figure skating: Japan, China and South Korea. The ever-increasing technical demand of skating, with the implementation of more complex jumps at a high pace, makes the sport challenging to dominate consistently. So, maybe this Winter Olympics, the Cold War will dwindle into a sub-culture amongst a slowly transforming sport. It is safe to say that the peak of the Russian-American golden era is over and that we will be seeing new skaters achieving over the next few years.