The intrigue of the Olympic Medal – the Myth of Competitive Figure Skating
To do the most difficult, brilliant, athletic tricks and movements in sequence, better than you have ever done them, at the exact moment when everyone interested in figure skating will be watching including the most important people in your life, is both tortuous and exhilarating. This moment often comes before the age of 18. The moment of the performance is the most important moment of the skater’s life; it is similar to the life or death feeling of a warrior. For years, every moment builds to the next, every competition leads to another, every practice session, every bite of food builds a strong body, or adds to the weight that will need to be thrown into the air, everything leads up to the hope of the Olympics. The ability to stay focused and organized under the pressure of peaking at a particular moment, of reaching to the heights of what a human being is capable, of being the best of all the humans on the planet is the most enlivening experience for those who are able to accomplish it. These people are clearly heroes and heroines within the frame of entertainment.
This frame is very particular and narrow in what it values. The list of requirements is spelled out and is the same for every skater. There will always be winners and losers. The audience is entertained by the physical prowess and the psychological composure of the skaters who act completely as though this were a life or death battle. The audience enjoys seeing both the winner win and the loser lose.
The skaters are completely ensconced in their perception of the world, a perception which has narrowed to one focus so that this world view may receive all of their efforts. Time has been manipulated, a mountain has been made at the top of which is the medal and the road to get to that medal is only valued as a means to an end.
The winner of the Olympics becomes a Princess or a Prince; all those near that person are enchanted by association. The moment so impossible to achieve is magical. After the medals of real gold, silver and bronze are conferred, the audience eventually leaves and returns to their everyday lives. Everyone is altered by the experience… exhilarated or disappointed. For the competitors, nothing is the same afterwards. The goal is accomplished or not; the mountain of built up time is in the past. The cycle will be repeated with the same fervor in four years by the next group of devotees.
Although informal competitions were held as early as the 1860’s, 1921 marks the establishment of the United States Figure Skating Association and the beginning of competitive figure skating as we see it on television today. The heroes/winners of the Olympics go on to be the stars of touring skating shows.
