Grand Prix of Figure Skating 2003 Quiz

Answer: 7

The 2003 Grand Prix includes 6 competitions plus the final. In 2003, they were Skate America, Skate Canada, Cup of China, Trophee Lalique (France), Cup of Russia, the NHK Trophy (Japan), and the Grand Prix Final. In 2002 Nations Cup in Germany was part of the Grand Prix and Cup of China was not included.

Answer: 3

Skaters could compete in up to 3 events, but only 2 could be counted as scoring events. The scoring events were designated beforehand and were not open to change. In the 2003 Grand Prix both Takeshi Honda and Timothy Goebel were scheduled to compete in three events.

Although each of them had to withdraw from an event designated as a scoring event so that they only competed in two, their scores from the non-scoring event were not counted.

Answer: Eligible skaters

Eligible refers to skaters who are eligible to compete in the Olympics. The term is used in place of "amateur", since rules for Olympic competition have changed to allow professional athletes in some sports. A skaters eligibility is determined by the ISU.

Answer: The judging was changed to a points system

The 2003 Grand Prix was the first use of a new point system for judging. Each element in a skating routine, such as a jump or spin, had a designated point value. The judges could add or subtract up to three points from this base value for each element that a skater performs.

The skater with the most points after both the short and long programs (or after the compulsory dance, the original dance and the long program for ice dancers) automatically won. The previous scoring system required the judges to rank the skaters against each other, but with the new system the rankings happen as a result of the points and is supposed to be less subjective. Under the old system, only a skater who was in first, second or third place following the short program could win the gold medal. Under the new system it is possible for someone in a lower position to make up the difference with their long program and still win.

Answer: International Skating Union

The International Skating Union (ISU) is the Federation responsible for maintaining standards for all international skating competitions, including both figure skating and speed skating. After the ISU initially mishandled a cheating incident in the ice dance competition at the 2002 Winter Olympics, a number of people called for the formation of a new organization dedicated to figure skating only. Supporters of the new World Skating Federation include former figure skating champions Scott Hamilton, Paul Wylie and Dick Button.

Answer: Russia and China

Russia and China each had four competitors in the Finals. The Russians were Evgeney Plushenko (men's singles), Maria Petrovka and Alexei Tikhonov (pairs), Tatiana Totmianina and Maxim Marinin (pairs), and Tatiana Navka and Roman Konstomarov (dance). The Chinese were Song Gao (men's singles), Xue Shen and Hongbo Zhao (pairs), Dan Zhang and Hoa Zhang (pairs), and Qing Pang and Jian Tong (pairs). Canada, Japan and the United States each had three competitors who made it to the finals.

Answer: none

The U.S., Canada, and Russia all had competitors in three out of the four divisions. The finals were for the top six skaters or teams in each division. The U.S. did not have a team in the Pairs final. Canada had finalists in the Men's Singles, Pairs, and Dance competitions but not in the Ladies' Singles.

Answer: Men's Singles

The six skaters who qualified for the Men's Final were Evgeney Plushenko, Jeffrey Buttle, Michael Weiss, Kevin van der Perren, Timothy Goebel, and Sung Gao. Goebel withdrew from the Final because of equipment problems and Buttle withdrew because of illness. Emanuel Sandhu, who had finished 8th overall was invited to compete in the final, but the 6th spot was not filled.

Answer: Gold-Fumie Seguri, Silver-Sasha Cohen, Bronze-Shizuka Arakawa

Sasha Cohen was the favorite to win the final, but she fell in both her short and long programs while Seguri skated clean programs. Michelle Kwan didn't compete in the Grand Prix.

Answer: Gold-Emanuel Sandhu, Silver-Evgeney Plushenko, Bronze-Michael Weiss

Prior to this, Plushenko had won every competition that he entered in 2002 and 2003. He lost this because he performed three combination jumps in his free program, which is against the rules, so he only got credit for two of them and didn't get any credit for the jumps in the third combination. (This explanation is given on the ISU website.) Plushenko's program wasn't seen on TV in the U.S. since regular programming was interrupted for a news bulletin just before he skated. Emanuel Sandhu didn't originally qualify for the Grand Prix final.

He got the opportunity to compete in the final after Timothy Goebel withdrew from the competition.