Yes, but is it a sport?

Another Olympics, another doping scandal, this one involving fifteen-year old figure skater Kamila Valieva of Russia (no surprise, there). Valieva was allowed to skate even after it was found she failed a drug test in December. The IOC explained why they made this allowance, and it made about as much sense as MLB calling a lockout. An odds-on favorite to win the gold, Valieva instead finished fourth, leading to a meltdown and more. More? Yes, Valieva’s coach ripped into the teenager in front of cameras. Nothing like a little humiliation broadcast worldwide. The consensus, for what it’s worth, is you don’t blame the kid for doing what adults told her to. A suggested reform, to implement a minimum age for figure skating, has met with some pushback. Adults, you see, can’t do on the ice all that adolescents can. Which leads me to ask, is it a sport then? Especially when there are in the neighborhood of nine judges doing the scoring. My God, imagine nine home-plate umpires. From what I gather, there are also nine judges for Olympic gymnastics. Again, the question, is it a sport, given that small and young are favored components rather than big, strong and experienced? Figure skating and gymnastics definitely require participants to be in top physical shape. In this they’re like dancers, whether classical or modern. And the judges strike me as being critics by any other name. It’s just too subjective for my tastes. We kind of know what the strike zone is. But the standards for Olympic skaters and gymnasts? Good luck with that.