Figure skating is flipping out over the backflip
Figure skating is a sport that combines athleticism and dance : ice skaters jump and spin , but also choreograph their movements to music. It looks elegant , but the complex movements require a lot of strength and athleticism.
If you’re like most casual fans of figure skating, you probably pay attention to the sport once every four years at the Winter Olympics, and then maybe at the World Championships. But there’s a competitive season every year that lasts from about October to March, with tournaments and events around the world . Most of the competitions are governed by the International Skating Union. That means the ISU, as it’s called, sets the rules for international figure skating.
And this year, there’s an important new rule: the backflip is allowed again.
In a backflip , the skater performs a full somersault in the air. Here’s how it looks. The skater starts by skating backwards . Then, she throws her weight back and pushes off with one foot. She goes up in the air. Her head and body flip in the direction of her movement. That means, while she’s in the air, she’s completely upside down , with her head facing down toward the ice. Then, she continues the flip until she’s right-side-up again, and she lands on one skate.
The first time the backflip appeared in competition was at the 1976 Olympics. American skater Terry Kubicka added it to his routine. Though he placed seventh in that competition, he won himself a spot in skating history . He became the only skater ever to legally perform a backflip in competition. That’s because the ISU banned the move immediately after Kubicka pulled it off .
If you see a backflip in action, you can see why it would be banned. If a backflip goes wrong , a skater would be susceptible to serious injuries . A skater’s head is inches from the ice during the somersault portion of the move. Some amateur skaters have been paralyzed from neck injuries that they suffered while practicing this move.
The backflip is sanctioned , which means that any skater who does it in competition is penalized in his or her score. Still, a lot of skaters do the backflip; they just don’t do it in official competitions. Scott Hamilton won an Olympic gold medal in 1984 and then several world championships . He was famous for performing the backflip in amateur shows—those are shows that are just for fun.
And the backflip has made a few appearances in high-level competition despite the ban . French skater Surya Banali did it at the 1998 Olympics in Japan. French skater Adam Siao Him Fa included it in his routine at last year’s World Championships. They both lost points in their scores for defying the ban.
But almost fifty years after it prohibited the move, the International Skating Union has legalized the backflip again. The ISU didn’t give a detailed rationale for its decision, other than to say that the backflip is “ a very spectacular move ” and it’s “no longer logical ” to include the backflip among the illegal movements . Beyond that, the ISU didn’t explain its decision.
One possible explanation is simply that skaters are doing it anyway . The purpose of banning the move was partially to protect the high-level skaters in competition, and partially to protect junior skaters from trying to develop the move in the first place . But if people are doing it anyway , outside of competition, then the ban might not be saving many injuries.
And second, the backflip is a crowd pleaser . People like it. Skaters like doing it; crowds like seeing it. It adds an element of surprise to a routine. And if skaters want to put it in their routines , maybe they should be able to do so.
So the move is legal now, starting this year. That means that skaters will not be punished for including it in their routines. But they won’t be rewarded , either . The backflip, at least for now , won’t be assigned a point value , so there’s not much tangible value to including it in a routine. But it can contribute to the overall choreography, so some skaters will probably work it into their routines in the coming years.
Jeff’s take
Critics of the backflip also say that the move is ugly —they say it’s just not a graceful move . And for many years, the move was considered tacky , like a crowd-pleasing stunt , like something that belongs in a circus , not an athletic competition .
And I agree with that viewpoint . I’ll link to the video of Surya Banali doing it in the 1998 Olympics. I just don’t think the move is very aesthetically pleasing . You can watch the full seven-minute routine at the link in the transcript. But if you watch it, it’s like, one of these things is not like the other .
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