Skating on Thin Ice
The Olympic Games have been around for hundreds of years. They are something that people everywhere around the world look forward to all year long. Athlete or not, everyone knows what the Olympics are. With the extreme popularity comes extreme broadcasting. Millions of people turned on their televisions and radios, read newspapers and magazines, and searched the web to hear the results and news about the games this winter. Broadcasting feeds people. They crave to hear the latest scandal, see footage of the most recent event, and be informed of what is going on in the world that they live in. This year the figure skating competition drew a particularly enormous audience. Because a scandal was involved, figure skating received special attention, which left the sport with a new reputation. Media is a powerful thing; this was proven this year during the winter Olympic games.
A lot was heard, and learned, about figure skating during the past month of Olympic coverage. This year, a problem with judging and secret deals caused two gold medals to be given out; one to the Russians and one to the Canadians. What happened off the ice seemed juicier than the actual competition, according to many sources of media. What is interesting, is that controversy is not uncommon to the sport of figure skating. A Newsweek article, “The Sleazy Side of Skating,” gives many examples of past figure skating scandals. In 1908, at the London Olympics, Russian Nicolai Panin withdrew from competition, saying the judges were stacked against him. At the 1936 Games, a Hungarian judge placed the Hungarian skaters second and third, which stood out when no other judge had placed them higher than seventh. In 1927 at the World Championships in Oslo, a Norwegian skater placed first, thanks to three Norwegian judges. That led the International Skating Union to restrict each country to one judge. Although these are significant examples of figure skating trickery, they were not really important until now. Journalists are researching the history of figure skating, and making known scandals that had occurred in the past. In 1993, Tonya Harding’s husband paid $6,500 to have Nancy Kerrigan injured so his wife could have an advantage. The Harding-Kerrigan scandal was this country’s first real taste of the drama that goes on with figure skating. Because a scandal involving money and crime took place, it was shown all over television, and talked about on the radio.
In Introduction to the Philosophy of Sport, Heather L. Reid presents a discussion of how ethics is treated in the arena of Olympism and some of the struggles of defining and how or if the ethical guidelines should be enforced. Reid notes, “Some would say that ethical principles are always the product of a particular culture, so there can no more be universal ethical principles than there can be a universal culture” (Reid, 22). I disagree with the notion that there cannot be universal ethical principles for athletes to follow in sport because even across cultures there are general morals that shape the lives of people from all over the world. For example, murder and cheating are inherently immoral actions, no matter where someone comes from;
As stated in my thesis statement, the sport of hockey has been forced to compete with the growing mass popularity with other sports such as basketball and football. There once was a point in time where hockey had just as much popularity as those sports but because people are finding more interest in those sports, the National Hockey League found itself in a “drought” of unimportance with other sports. With not televising the sport as “commonly” as other sports.
Ethical Rules on Sport’s Justice. Dallas: East Dallas Times, page 21. 2008. The 'Standard' of the 'Standard'. Print: Harry, Patrick Hayes.
The most memorable moment in hockey history came thirty-four years ago with the 1980 Miracle on Ice. The Americans defeating the dominant Soviet team at the Olympics was not only an important triumph for USA Hockey, but for the entire nation. Contrary to popular belief, the underdog win was not only the result of a miracle; it was also the result of a hard-working team led by Coach Herb Brooks. With increasingly negative views on the position of the United States in the Cold War, the Miracle on Ice and the gold medal win lifted the spirits of the nation and brought hockey into the American spotlight.
Ice hockey, a sport that has been in existence for over two hundred years, has become a fan favorite across the globe. From Canada to Sweden, you will be able to find some of the best ice hockey players in the world; both male and female. This pastime has instilled a unique tradition throughout the years of its practice by a combination of both physical skill and mental strength. Although it did not provide aid to globalization, it has created a worldwide culture that many people are proud to be a part of. Since its inception until now, there has been a great deal of gender stereotyping concerning the sport. Regardless, ice hockey will continue to be a lucrative market, as well as a cherished hobby for many years to come.
After being mesmerized by figure skating at the age of eight, I became a member of the Markham Skating Club. As a competitive figure skater, I must perform various jumps and spins in a choreographed program. I have participated in numerous competitions in Central Ontario and have received multiple medals for my achievements. Yet, my achievement as a figure skater stem from the adversity that I faced throughout my skating journey. This sport has imposed challenges to both my mental and physical strength that have ultimately constructed the qualities of dedication and humility within myself.
The Reasons Behind the Increasing Commercialism of the Olympic Games The Olympic Games is a world wide event, held once every 4 years. It is the most important event amongst the elite athletes of today. It is viewed on television by billions of people across the world, by satellite transmission (started in Tokyo in 1964). This worldwide viewing attracted sponsors as they realised that by supporting the Olympics their product would be advertised on every product sold, as they would be the 'official sponsor'. The advances in technology has played a fundamental role in the increase in commercialism, as large sums of money are put forwards for television rights over the Games from companies such as Sky, the BBC and ABC.
March 8th, 2004 was supposed to be nothing more than a competitive and action packed regular season hockey game between feuding rivals, the Colorado Avalanche and the Vancouver Canucks. The game slipped away from the Canucks, with the Avalanche up 6-2 heading into the third period. The heated contested already had its fair share of fighting majors, but an incident that happened late in the third period shocked the more than 18,000 fans in attendance at Rogers Arena, the hockey community, and North America. After failing to instigate a fight with Avalanche forward Steve Moore, Todd Bertuzzi of the Vancouver Canucks grabbed the back of Moore’s jersey, landed a vicious punch to the back of Moore’s head, before slamming him face first on the ice and falling on top of him. Moore had to be helped off the ice on a stretcher, and has never returned to the NHL. Bertuzzi, on the other hand, was suspended for 20 games by NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman, and is still playing in the NHL for the Detroit Red Wings. This is one of many examples of deviance in sports, and how a win-at-all costs mentality can drive athletes to act in extreme manners. As a result of the growing commercialization of sports, athletes are socialized at young ages to believe that winning is everything, and that stopping at nothing will help you succeed. Athletes will do almost anything to gain the upper hand in their respective sports, whether it is through engaging in excessive on-field violence or through the use of performance enhancing drugs, excessively committing themselves to their sport, or by violating league rules and policies. In sports, deviance is viewed in a different light than in the outside world. As professional athletes strive towards conforming to spor...
Lopiano and Sommers agree that the amount of media coverage female athletes receive compared to male athletes indicates that female athletes are less valid. Lopiano and Sommers both point out that the media tends to highlight female athletes in action only during major events. Fortunately, for the male athletes, the tendency is different because no matter what time of the year it is, male events are always airing on the television. The media only decides to highlight events such as the National College Athletic Association (NCAA) women’s basketball Final Four, Olympics, and World Cup soccer. Since the Olympic games and World Cup occurs every four years, the Final Four also known as the semi-final round are the rare eve...
Mabel Fairbanks was a brilliant and a hard working skater. The only problem she experienced over and over was the unwillingness of the skating world to admit that she was deeply talented. It was the second quarter of the 20th century, and she was not allowed to perform the major skating movements--the elements she found the most fun to perform. She was black, she was too good, and the other girls in the show wouldn't look as skillful having Mabel performing next to them. In fact, Sonja Heini once refused to allow Mabel to join Sonja's popular skating troupe because Mabel was too gifted.
...age of female sports. News and the press coverage and broadcast of male’s sports substantially more than females. This is an issue because women in sports work and dedicate themselves equally as much, but receive less than 10% of coverage. Granted, women make up only 2/5 of athletes, but the coverage is far more uneven than the number of athletes. Women’s sports receive the shorter broadcast on television, magazines, and newspapers. Secondly, when female athletes do receive coverage, there is more focus on the appearance of the athletes rather than their dedication to, or skill in, the sport. Athletes not considered attractive by the majority population are ignored and forgotten by the media. The media should be more even in their coverage between male and female athlete’s, and cover women based on skill and effort, as opposed to their level of attractiveness.
Media plays a large role in affecting peoples thinking, opinions, ideas, etc. In essence media can shape our thinking into negative views and perspectives that are typically not true. Sometimes the media plays as a puppet master to society. Specifically, the inequity of the gender roles within sports causes for a stir in commotion that calls for some attention. In doing so the inadequate misuse of media towards women in sports causes low exposure, amongst many other things. On the other hand their male counterparts are on the other end of the success spectrum. Because of this noticeable difference, it is vital that action is taken place to level out equality within sports. Due to the power of media, it is believed that a change in media coverage
The organizer have been missing a great opportunity to celebrate their games and enjoy the festivities because masses of cheering fans and Olympics revelers would help present their country in the possible light, as the games are being televised to an estimated worldwide audience of more than 4 billion.
They affect politics, money, and businesses. It is often said that sport and politics are two aspects of our society that have nothing in common. Yet the history of the Olympic movement has provided several examples of how they influence one another, directly and indirectly. An example of sports affecting political directly is after years of boycotting, the Olympics in Barcelona brought together athletes form around the world. This problem was about Nelson Mandela and the racial discrimination. The most recent incident is the Russians getting banned from the 2018 Winter Olympics. The Russian government was helping the teams cheat by providing performance enhancing drugs, then the government covering it up from them. The Olympic Committee found out and ejected them form the upcoming
When examining the issue of criminal acts in sports it is easy to realize that there are many places where these acts occur. The range of these acts is far more vast than just in the professional arenas. This is, however, what the public sees and hears about most often. While this is one of the major topics of this paper, criminal acts are found in all of sport ranging from professionals, to college, high school, and in youth sports, including the reaction of the fans. This paper will take an in-depth look at the four major points regarding criminal acts in sport: the acts themselves; the consequences of those acts; the possible reasons for the acts occurring; an analysis of a few major events that have occurred and the possible solutions to the problem of criminal acts in sport. In the section about fan reaction to sport, there will be an overall account of the individual acts and not personal cases due to the overload of personal events that occur.