I respect it, but it’s just not my sport, for watching. Examining my opinions, I think a big part of it is the fact that it’s a judged sport that always generates so much scoring controversy and drama. That has a real ability to suck the fun out of a sport.

I think I’d feel differently, if I had been exposed to it more, or whatever. I know a fair amount about skateboarding, and was delighted to see it added to the Olympics, despite the fact that it’s ALSO a judged sport, with the potential for controversy. I just know a lot more of the terminology and the tricks of skateboarding, so it’s easier for me to consume it, on a viewer level.

Also, now that I think about it, I think I’ve always been a little put off by the “bitchy/catty” way that figure skaters are clearly encouraged to behave, toward one another. Lots of simmering drama always barely visible, just under the surface. Like, the athletes clearly actually hate each other.

For some real contrast, watch the skateboarders, when the Paris games come around. They embody the Olympic spirit in a literally move-you-to-tears kind of way. They’re competing with everything they’ve got, leaving it all on the field…and yet, every time they finish a run, all the competitors are high-fiving the person who’s just finished, hugging them, etc.

And they might actually be the pound-for-pound toughest athletes in the world. Watch the falls they take, just fully onto unforgiving concrete. Back in the Tokyo games, I was so blown away by the tiny little Japanese girls, falling and popping right back up, blood just flowing from deep scrapes and scratches, and they’re smiling the whole time. Meanwhile, look at what happens when soccer/football “athletes” have a guy walk next to them.

Suddenly, they’re flopping on the turf, holding their neck, pretending they’re dying. Fucking disgrace.

Anyway, tl;dr = I think there’s a good deal of poison and fucked-up-edness in figure skating culture, and that turns me off.