Is New Scoring System Hurting Figure Skaters?
Oct. 21, 2005 — -- The first big event of the figure skating season is missing the sport's biggest stars.
"There are more injuries this year going into the season than I have ever seen in figure skating," said Christine Brennan, a USA Today sports columnist and ABC News consultant.
Sasha Cohen is out with an injured hip and abdomen. Michelle Kwan can't skate because of a strained ligament in her hip. Neither will be competing in this weekend's 2005 Smart Ones Skate America event, the first of six Grand Prix Series competitions sanctioned by the International Skating Union.
Brennan, who has covered figure skating for 15 years, said the rash of injuries stems from a new scoring system.
"The new scoring system, which was designed to help the sport, is hurting the skaters -- and hurting them literally," she said.
The system was put in place after the judging scandal in the 2002 Olympics. The six-point scale -- based on a judge's impressions of the whole performance -- was replaced by a system that places mathematical values on every element in the program.
So skaters are now filling their routines with as many steps, spins and spirals as they can to rack up the points. But more moves mean more wear and tear on the body and more time on the ice practicing.
Olympic bronze medalist Tim Goebel said he has to practice an extra hour every day. "Muscle pulls, muscle strains, tendonitis, stress fractures, any of the overuse injuries are a lot more common now because we're just working more on the ice," he said.
The U.S. Figure Skating Association says there have always been injuries in this sport. And it sees no proof that the new scoring system is causing any more of them.
And Tara Lipinski, 1998 Olympic gold medalist, agreed. "For me, the new scoring system was never in place, and I was still getting injured," she said. "Other skaters were getting injured."
Whatever the reason, all the injuries now could affect the Olympics. As one top choreographer put it, the gold medal might just go to the last skater left standing.
ABC News' John Berman reported this story for World News Tonight.
