Every four years, it never fails. The Winter Olympics come along and I enjoy the ice skating. There is a very long history of limited tricks that the skaters are allowed to perform. The men have evolved to perform quad jumps routinely. They rotate so fast I cannot count much beyond twice. The pairs are a little more acrobatic. The man throws the woman high up for triple flips and the jumps. However anything new is very difficult to introduce into competition. The lovely black ice skater Ms Bonaly used a one footed back flip and while it was an illegal move she used it any way. All of the spectacular moves are dangerous to begin with but the athletes get better. I have often wondered why more adventurous moves have not been sanctioned. Why not allow teams skating, allow a team to consist of at least three skaters. That would allow for two partners to throw the third much higher. And why not allow the skaters to use modified blades on their hands so that a true cartwheel could be performed. Short of looking like Cirque du Soleil on Ice I think such a competition would be fabulous. I am also thinking that teams would allow all men, women and mixed. And if little green men ever show up it will be Aliens marching in the opening ceremonies.
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