Despite being an avid watcher of Olympic figure skating, I have never seen anyone (with the exception of Johnny Weir) skate with the same grace, elegance and electricity as Ashley Wagner. I first saw her perform when she skated to “One Day I’ll Fly Away” from Moulin Rouge, and it was probably one of the greatest, most dramatic and intense programs of that season.
Yet, despite being a three time national champion and a 2016 world silver medalist, Ashley Wagner did not make the 2018 Winter Olympic Team.
Christine Brennan, a sportswriter for USA today, theorizes that this decision was made partly due to the “Russianization” of Olympic figure skating. Julia Lipnitskaya, for example, won the Sochi Olympics at the age of fifteen, and remains the youngest European figure skater to ever win a gold metal. She is known primarily for her precise technicality and impeccable jumps. Young Russian skaters with strong jumping skills have been consistently winning, which places added pressure on the US team to bring skaters who can compete with Russia’s young jumping beans.
Ashley Wagner had a rough season this past year and, despite having an incredible program, she is not known for her jumps in the same way that Lipnitskaya and 2018 Winter Olympic figure skater, Mirai Nagasu are (Nagasu is the only U.S figure skater aside from Tonya Harding who can to do a triple axel). The U.S judges were also smitten with skater, Bradie Tennell, whose jumps landed her a spot on the U.S Olympic team.
Tennell, Nagasu and Lipnitskaya may be incredible jumpers, but they do not having Wagner’s artistry, her transition, and (albeit subjective) electric stage presence. Like many, I am extremely surprised that Wagner did not make the team. In an interview, she stated that she questioned the scores because she has skated while injured and gotten higher scores than she did in early January 2018. I don’t personally figure skate, but I can’t help feeling that these scores are subjective and that Wagner honestly deserves to be competing in the 2018 Winter Olympics.
United States Olympic Figure Skating is incredibly lucky to have Ashley Wagner who, in addition to being a phenomenal skater, is also a fantastic human being. During the 2014 Sochi Olympics, most skaters chose to remain silent about Putin’s homophobic propaganda law, but Wagner remained outspoken about the issue, and continued to do so even when she was in Russia. This is incredibly risky, as some athletes who did speak out found the Russian government at their door.
I really hope that Ashley Wagner is able to compete as an alternate, because she’s a phenomenal human being and skater. I also hope that the US beats Russia (who has had 51 medals taken away due to government sponsored doping). I think it’s worth noting that the global tensions between the US and Russia provide an important context to the Olympic politics and has certainly skewed the way that events are judged and will be judged in the games to come.