Team USA’s Women’s Figure Skating

In competitive figure skating, scoring is done by a panel of judges who focus on judging each technical element one at a time. Each of those elements has a base value (BV), which gives credit for attempting the element. More advanced elements, like a triple axel or quadruple jump, have a higher BV. For example, a single axel jump has a BV of 1.1, a double axel has a BV of 3.3, and a triple has a BV of 8.0. The judges add to the BV a grade of execution (GOE), which adds or deducts from the base value. GOEs are proportional to the BV of each element. The sum of the score for each element adds together to make the technical score. A separate score is given for program components, which include skating skills (overall skating quality), transitions (the movement that links elements), performance (the skater’s visible dedication to the music and choreography), composition (arrangement of moves), and interpretation of music (translation of the music to the movement on the ice). The technical and program components score is added to make the overall score for either a short program (a shorter program with more specifically required elements) or a free skate (a longer program with more open rules). In a competition, the short program is competed first, and then the free skate. After the free skate, the scores from both programs are added to make the skater’s overall score. This is how Bell got her overall score of 216.25, the combined scores from her short program and free skate.

In comparison to other countries, Team USA’s women’s figure skating team does not measure up. The only woman on the team to have a triple axel or quadruple jump is Liu, whereas Russians Kamila Valieva and Alexandra Trusova can consistently perform both. These jumps are important because they earn a lot more points than others. Kamila Valieva currently holds the record for the highest score in the short program, free skate, and overall total. Her record-breaking overall score is 272.71, which is much higher than any score achieved by an American. Team USA may have a lot of spirit, but their women’s figure skating team, unfortunately, doesn’t have a chance at winning gold this year against Team Russia.