Technical merits in ice skating competitions: Infographic

I know, the glorious Winter Olympics are now history (VANOC can be proud; aside from the terrible tragedy that marred the opening day, and the weather conditions that threatened to make it the “Spring Olympics,” instead, they really did turn out to be fabulous—British press accounts be damned). 


One thing that struck me, when watching the ice skating, is figuring out what the judges are grading on, and why the skater is being docked points for this or that. Actually, for me, announcers forever talk about doing a triple Lutz, or a double Axel, but as someone who last was on skates at the age of 7—and to hear my mother tell it, wasn’t all that good at it—and who certainly never aspired to any pretensions of being the next Johnny W—er, Brian Boitano or Orser :-) —these moves are a mystery to me. (Thank heavens for Wikipedia.)


To help clear it up, both for me and for millions of others, the NYT has a great infographic on the things judges grade on: Underrotation on takeoff, underrotation on landing, and wrong edge on takeoff. Very helpful. 


(Sorry, iPhone viewers, that's in Flash. Can't help you, there, until Steve Jobs has a come-to-Adobe moment. )