I don't think the average viewer understands the importance of "packaging" in figure skating, it's quite unique to the sport. it's the costumes and the music and all but it's also the way the skater is presented. Chen's packaging was masterful, always. Which....is distressing in and of itself

(I am not an ovechkin supporter his opinions are bad but I do think the laces thing is cute unfortunately)

also peep ovechkin's laces 😍😭 what a nerd

I am a Yuzuru SUPER FAN and I get missing him (or even missing Nathan) but like, Ilia is the only one who's managed to jump a quad axel in competition. He's pushing the limits of the sport

It's also....let's just say that the backflip pales in difficulty compared to the other feats being done out there on the ice. It's flashy, and impressive, but many, many, many more skaters can do a black flip (even one footed landing!) than can do a quad axel. As in: one person can do a quad axel

This is a really common lie for some reason. I've seen it debunked every single time figure skating makes the news, which is inevitably ONLY during the Olympics, when people make up a bunch of shit about a sport they barely understand