do you think someone can make it to the olympics in 6 years?
How old do olympic skaters usually start skating?


nowww questions for me

Are compitions fun?
How often do you sharpen your blades? i go mabey 4 times a week.
anndd
As you get better in skating how often do you have to get better blades? or can you just get professional blades and use those?

thank yoo.

OK, one at a time:

I think the general rule about sharpening is every 20 hours of skating or so, but it depends a bit on the individual. I'm pretty light (5'0" and about 100 lbs) so I don't wear out my blades as much as a larger skater might. When I was skating about 4-6 hours a week, I would go for a sharpening about every 2 months.

You'll know that you need new blades when the "soft" part of the blade (the part on the bottom that has a different kind of shine to it) is gone. I think most blades last a couple of years (although I imagine most elite skaters get a new pair each season b/c they skate so much). You'll probably wear out your boots before your blades.

The higher up in blade level you go, the larger the toepick. Elite skaters' blades have very large toepicks to help them do their triples and quads. If you are considering moving up a blade level, it's best to ask your coach about it first, to see if they think you're ready. If you get too "high" a blade, you'll have a lot of problems catching the toepick on crossovers and stroking and such.

As to whether competitions are fun, well, it depends on who you ask, lol. Seriously, comps can be a lot of fun if you look at it as a way to meet new people, watch good skating, and challenge yourself to skate your elements as best as you can.

I think most Olympians usually have been skating about 10 years or so. Obviously, it depends on how old a skater happens to be in an Oly year. For example, Sarah Hughes started skating when she was 3, she went to Worlds for the first time when she was 13, and won the Olys when she was 16. Michelle Kwan started when she was 5, was the Oly alternate ('94) when she was 13, and won the silver in '98 when she was 17. And of course, she went to another Olys when she was 21, and next winter she'll be trying again. I think it's unlikely a skater would make it to the Olys in 6 years. Even Tara Lipinski had been skating about 9 or 10 years when she won, and she was considered a phenom.

I believe Tara was a roller skater before she started on the ice, -- so when did she start ice skating? She came up through the ranks pretty quickly, that's for sure, because it seems to me that all of a sudden she was just THERE!

Johnny Weir apparently started at 11 and just turned 21 and will be going to his first Olympics (hopefully) -- so yeah, I think ten years is about right.

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Well, someone couldn't make it to the Olympics in six years for the sheer fact that after the ones coming up this year, there are four years until the next ones. So if someone wants to make it, it's either gonna have to be in four years, or eight! Four would only be doable if you already have your double axel and some triples, and are working on the rest. The thing is you can't JUST get the jumps/spins and show up. You have to have a couple of years (minimum) of history of doing really well at Nationals, on GP events, Worlds, etc...for them to really send you. So unless you're ready to start competing on the Senior level right now.... 4 years, or even 6, is really cutting it close. Eight years is doable if you have a lot of coaching available to you and are a natural talent.

Really, the only thing you can do is go for it and see where you end up. All we can tell you is what is most likely impossible, like getting sent in four years cause you'd need to start competing now. But at the end of the day, nobody knows these things.

The whole idea of skating - or any other competitive sport, come to that - is to get as high as you can and do as well as you can. If you focus on the Olympics, you'll almost definitely be disappointed. After all, each country can only send a maximum of three skaters/couples in each discipline, and most countries can only send one. So no point in even thinking about the Games unless and until you qualify for your national Senior Championships and are regularly finishing in the top 3 or 4 in them!

But that doesn't mean you can't have a terrific time, even if you never get anywhere near your national Championships other than as a spectator! There are competitions for skaters of every age and level, individual competitions, club matches.... and I, personally, find them enormous fun. Not the club matches (for my age, they are rather boring recreational dance matches, which I don't enjoy very much but do because my husband loves them!), but Opens and Internationals where I get to compete against other skaters of my age and ability level.

Some folk hate competitions, though - but everybody ought to do at least one, and find out whether they enjoy them or hate them. No point in doing them if you find you hate them, you don't need to compete to enjoy skating, after all!

A.

Er, slight mistake in logic here. If one started skating with two years to go for the next Olys, then he/she would have been skating for 6 years by the time the following Olys came around. Of course if you mean to apply the question only to someone starting right now, then that's correct, but that's not the way I understood the question.

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Probably not. Ten years is about the minimum I've ever heard of.

Olympic skaters generally start skating between, I would say, three and six years old. Most skaters who start later than that, such as Sasha Cohen, have strong backgrounds in either competitive gymnastics or serious dance.


I think so, but not everyone does.

You should have your blades sharpened every 20-30 hours of skating. I skate 10-12 hours a week, so I get mine done every other week or every three weeks.

Your coach will advise you about when to get better blades. You don't want to just get the best ones on the market as a beginner because a)they can hold you back, if they're more blade than you need, and b)they're much more expensive, $400+, and will wear out before you even need them anyway

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Shae-Lynn and Victor: We knew you were champions, and on 3/28/03 the whole WORLD found out! Thank you for twelve wonderful years!

Hmm...good point. Well I guess I didn't think about when the person would have started really, but I thought that regardless of how long they had skated, the question was..."can I go 6 years from now". I could have misunderstood though.