SOCHI, February 18, 4:51 /ITAR-TASS/. A queue to the pedestal, which was so often spoken about with reference to ice dancing in the past, has long become an asset of history and all the results at the XXII Olympic Games in Sochi were decided by the quality of skating, Yevgeny Platov, the winner of gold medals in ice dancing at the Olympic Games in 1994 and 1998 told Itar-Tass.
“There is no queue to get places on the pedestal and can’t be any such queue in ice dance after the introduction of a new system of evaluation,” he said. “You lose five points at once if you make a flaw in just one element and then you drop out.”
“Even on the background of the highest tensions at the figure skating tournament in Sochi, none of the duos in ice dance made mistakes - something unseen in the past at the tournament of this rank,” Platov said.
He praised the choice of Russian music by the medalist in ice dancing as a correct one. “Performance of the highly recognizable Scheherezade (a symphonic suite by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov - Itar-Tass) by the Americans was amazing,” he said. “I think the finale of the Canadian duo’s presentation didn’t inspire the spectators much but their skate was just heavenly.”
“Given any other layout, the Swan Lake by Elena Ilinykh and Nikita Katsalapov would have earned them gold but these guys are just accumulating their reputation,” Platov said.
The choreographers and coaches have learned how to combine creative endeavors and compliance with the regulations for technical elements in ice dance, he believes.
“Everything was arranged along a well-greased pattern previously - you would make an approach and then perform one or another element,” he said. “Now the coaches learned how to put the elements to music.”
“Work has become much more interesting, and the spectators who watch the best ice dancers of the world just forget about all those levels and other nuances understandable only for specialists,” Platov said.