I just came across this article. It's pretty interesting, cause it would be big news if this happened.

Quote:The International Olympic Committee's executive board announced Monday it is ``looking favorably'' at the addition of seven events for the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia and has given President Jacques Rogge the final say in the matter, a decision Rogge is expected to make at the end of April based party on how the events come off in 2011.

One of these new events would be a new figure skating event. A team event like World Team Trophy. Skating Union President Ottavio Cinquanta says he is 99.9% sure this will happen The article also mentioned how they could add synchronized skating as an Olympic event if they wanted to, but they aren't going to. I always thought synchronized skating should be an Olympic event, and it it's not really fair that it's not.

I have mixed feelings about this right now...

http://newsblogs.chicagotribune.com/sports_globetrotting/2010/10/skating-boss-on-team-event-something-spicy.html

I actually like this idea!

I like it too!!! Thanks for news- I haven't hear about that before

Tell me one thing: skaters will skate the same programs at team event and single competition?

Yeah, I can picture it now "so and so gave the performance of her life, broke records, had the highest score ever, and did by far better than anyone else did in the ladies LP event.... But she did it in the team event, where her country earned 2nd! In the ladies event overal she only earned 3rd, and it was against the same top competitors. I think she should get a gold medal too. Is this really far? And ..."

On the other hand they could be right about it maybe spicing things up, and gaining some interest in the sport. It could also be a good chance for more skaters to compete in the olympics.

Overall though, I don't think I like this idea yet. I think it may steal some of the importance from the singles events, not to mention the extra preparation and competing some skater may have to do that would rather not... but then again now that I think about it, the skater who wins the olympics isn't always necessary the best skater in the world. Sometimes it's just the skater who peaked at the right time, and handled the pressure well. But everyone automatically thinks that they are the best skater in the world afterwards. Maybe when there is more than one gold medalist, the other skaters who win gold medals will get more recognition too. I'm sure it will never be considered the same as the single events gold medal, but.... Idk...

If they skate the same program twice, then I don't like this idea. And I agree this will be more stressful for skaters.

Of course I want more skating events but not like this one- maybe better idea would be adding all scores from single competitions? Idea of team event obviously was made in favor of USA, which invests much money in figure skating, but doesn't have such superb results like few years ago. Team event will make this sport more popular in USA.

So seem like this event is probably going to happen now:

Cinquanta said the cancellation of the 2011 World Team Trophy will not affect the International Olympic Committee's acceptance, already provisional, of having a team event on the program at the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi, Russia The IOC was to make its final decision after seeing how the 2011 World Team Trophy was handled.

``They will probably confirm what they have already decided: that there will be a team event in Sochi,'' Cinquanta said.

- http://newsblogs.chicagotribune.com/sports_globetrotting/2011/03/japan-earthquake-isu-president-world-figure-skating-will-move-to-north-america-or-europe.html

I still have mixed feelings about this...

This is not gonna work. Top athletes won't want to perform twice, so the competition will end up not having the best skaters from each country, therefore, not representing their true power as teams.

Why not include synchro skating? Even Worlds is apart for them, it's not fair.

0O
As Alyssa said - Top athletes might not want to participate!
Yuna won't ever step in such a country team -_
She is the lone best from Korea!

Maybe if they do a continent thing - it might work
Skaters from Asia Vs Skaters from America lol
Skaters from Europe hehe
That'd be pretty fun -

But again - from a different point of view -
competing with each other - then doin the same pros twice as a team!
The stress and tension -
Won't be a good idea! (unless the team compet be reserved for the skaters who came out 4th-7th in ther nationals - while the tops only participate in single events...)

i'm personally very excited and curious about this event. i can't wait to see how it turns out.

Honestly, this is weird... For the sake of a 'team,' will somebody be a martyr and sacrifice his/her own shot of getting gold in a single discipline... I'm not too sure about this!

I'm not yet sure how I feel about this new event.
But klarification (this is OT), I love your new sig!

I wish that they did the team event AFTER the individual events were over if they had to do it - that way, the skaters will have the opportunity to focus on themselves before they go for a team event. But skating the same programs twice at the Olympics would be really stressful nevertheless, although I feel that some of it would be alleviated if they did the individual events first and the team second. However, it looks like they are doing the team first and then individuals.

I am not a fan of the entire concept in the Olympics - I think the World Team Trophy is a great idea especially to encourage the development of figure skating in numerous countries, but an Olympic event? Figure skating is very much an individual sport and therefore individual medals should be awarded at the highest level.