The hour of inheritance has come for Ottavio Cinquanta. Two years before a Congress of the International Skating Federation (ISU) which will see him hand over control, after 22 years of reign, the president of the ISU is determined to initiate a wave of reforms without precedent in the history of his sport. The Italian leader wrote a letter addressed to the members of the Council and the heads of the technical commissions of the Federation, where he details his “personal ideas” to develop skating in all its forms.
The ideas in question are intended to be spectacular. Ottavio Cinquanta does not do nuance. It proposes a radical change, a revolution in rules and formats intended to give the disciplines greater credibility and attractiveness to the public and broadcasters.
In figure skating, the president of the ISU suggests eliminating the short program, which he considers outmoded and not in line with media expectations. He also proposes to harmonize the duration of free programs, to put an end to a regulation where men and couples skate 30 seconds more than women and dancers (4 minutes 30 for the first, 4 minutes for the others). He recommends establishing the anonymity of judges, so that they can no longer determine who voted for whom. Finally, he calls for a simplification of the scoring system.
In speed skating, where the domination of the Netherlands at the Sochi Games was unchallenged (23 medals out of a possible 32), Ottavio Cinquanta proposes reducing the number of athletes per nation from 3 to 2. He wants to eliminate from the program the two longest races, 10.000 m for men, 5.000 m for women, without interest according to him for the public and the media. Finally, he recommends that competitions now be held on speed rings of 250 m, and no longer 400 m, a reform which would have the merit of considerably reducing the cost of building ice rinks.
Ottavio Cinquanta writes it in black and white: these proposals remain above all very “personal”, they only constitute a line of work for the members of the ISU, two years before the elective Congress. The Italian poses as a reformer as he prepares to hand over the keys to the house. Curious.
