(Quick disclaimer: not a judge or rhythmic gymnastics expert etc, this is for fun)

So, how does 'artistry' work in this new code? There are slightly different rules for singles and groups; we’ll focus on singles because that’s closer to skating (we’ll set aside synchro here). Here’s a video by a judge going over the basics with a few examples, and the Code of Points itself, but to summarize the parts that are most relevant to skating:

There is a separate panel of 'artistry' judges who are supposed to be unconcerned with the difficulty of a routine (four of them, same as the panel size for difficulty judges and execution judges)

Artistry starts at 10 points and deductions are taken as necessary

"The music inspires the choreography by establishing the pace, theme of movements and structure of the composition; it is not a background for body and apparatus elements."

One of the guidelines for music selection: "The character of the music should be chosen in respect to the age, technical level, and artistic qualities of the gymnast, as well as ethical norms". RG has also had at least one sparkly Holocaust-themed routine, so hopefully things like that are covered by ‘ethical norms’.

"Variety in the movements: gymnasts travel from one movement to another facing different directions for distinctive reasons; the modalities of her traveling are varied depending on the distance needed to travel, the speed and style of the specific music, etc. This variety in the directions and modalities of traveling avoids monotonous movement."

The aspects of artistry defined for use in scoring:

Character: The routine should have a clearly defined style recognizable throughout the entire exercise, not just the dance steps (an element in RG with its own requirements), and changes in the music should be reflected in the gymnast's movements. Lose 0.30 points if present in majority of exercise, 0.50 if present in some of it, and 1.0 if totally absent.

Body expression: Use of whole body to convey the character and interpretation of the music, including varied intensity of movements, full use of range and extension, and emotionally responsive facial expressions. Lose 0.3 points if it's under-developed (fixed facial expression, less than full use of range) and 0.5 if not developed.

Dynamic changes: The speed and intensity of the gymnast should reflect changes in the dynamics of the music. Contrasts in speed and intensity are used to reflect the music or create an effect (e.g. dramatic pauses). At least two dynamic changes required per routine. Lose 0.30 points for only one and 0.50 for none.

Body and apparatus effects: Movements that create a unique routine and interpretation and emphasize specific moments in the music. At least one required; lose 0.30 points if not present. Variety of movement is also required; lose 0.3 for repeating the same throws/catches more than three times.

Use of space: Using the whole floor area and traveling it in different ways. Lose 0.30 points if insufficient.

Unity: Continuity of elements and expression throughout the exercise. Lose 0.30 points if broken due to technical problems. (A seminar I skimmed mentioned you can also lose this if the exercise is just not unified, but the rule only mention technical problems when it comes to losing points.)

Connections: The gymnast moves logically and smoothly from one element to the next instead of doing random movements. Lose 0.1 points per bad connection up to a maximum of 2.0.

Rhythm: The gymnast moves in harmony with the musical phrases and rhythm and hits musical accents on time, without ignoring them. Lose 0.1 for every time the gymnast is early/late to accents or ignores them, the gymnast is off-rhythm or off the music, etc up to a maximum of 2.0.

There is also a section dealing with dance steps and its related penalties, which I have left out, as well as a few misc. penalties for things like music violations.

So, a gymnast with no character, completely undeveloped expression, music overtime, etc would have... 0.7 artistry points. (Why not zero? IDK, I calculated it several times; maybe there's something I missed, or maybe the gymnasts get a little freebie.)

This is quite different from how PCS works in skating, and it’s an interesting way to try to define ‘artistry’! Because it’s so new, it’s hard to tell how well it succeeds at this, but what I like is that most of it tries to be specific, and it points out a lot of things that I notice when I’m watching a program. Does the skater ignore changes in the music or react to them by changing their speed or style? Do they hit obvious musical accents? Does it feel like they did three random movements for a choreo sequence or because they needed some transitions, or do they feel purposeful? Are they half-heartedly doing their choreo or moving with purpose? Is this one program with music and choreo cuts that flow together and make sense, or two (or more...) programs stapled together? Do they remember that they have a face outside of the step sequence?

The current PCS system doesn’t feel like it’s working the way it’s intended to. Part of it is not inherent to the system as defined (e.g. the problem where judges are asked to explain why they are not in line with other judges leading to ‘follow the pack’, judges essentially picking one score for all categories and moving them up and down by fractions of a point, consistency rises, corruption, etc). Part of it is that artistry is always going to be somewhat inherently controversial; one person’s artistry itself fave is the next person’s boring snoozefest.

And actually, if you look at the official chart for PCS, it picks out some of those things outlined above, too. But overall, it’s not as specific, and it's unclear to me why some aspects are in the categories they are. Why is 'individuality/personality' a Performance component rather than Interpretation? Why is 'variety and contrast of movements and energy' part of Performance instead of Composition? Isn't 'ice coverage' also part of Skating Skills? How do you weigh all of these aspects to come up with a fair number? I’m sure judges get training on this, but as a fan, it’s not always entirely clear how the PCS categories are supposed to be judged.

Anyway, as a thought exercise, what might it look like if we tried to adapt this RG system to figure skating?

Separate artistry panel - a lot of people would argue that PCS should have a separate panel anyway. One criticism of that idea is that it’s unfair to smaller competitions, especially in areas where FS is not as developed and it’s difficult to get enough judges, so scaling might need to be suggested. Perhaps if you only have three normal judges, you only need one artistry judge, while the largest competitions have equal panels? Similarly, the score has to work for both baby skaters and the most advanced athletes.

Start at 10 points and take deductions accordingly, then scale it into a similar range as the current PCS relative to TES. If all deductions were taken, the score should be zero.

In an ideal world, to maximize transparency, not only would all deductions be listed, but the score sheet would have time stamps of when requirements were checked off/deductions were taken where applicable. It wouldn’t be that difficult to program - hit buttons when stuff happens and edit/get agreement among panel by scrubbing through official video - but one would have to make sure it isn’t too tedious for judges.

Deductions:

I would keep the character, body and facial expressions, and rhythm penalties as they are, except for adding another level of deductions to body and facial expressions and increasing the maximum penalty to 0.7.

A more specific definition of ‘insufficient use of the rink’ would be ideal, but I am struggling to think of one that would be easy to measure and would be fair to skaters of different levels (obviously, a 6-year-old is never going to have the coverage of Kostner). So maybe leave that up to discretion and keep the same penalty.

Dynamic changes: This one is interesting. On the one hand, skating programs are longer than RG routines; on the other, I wouldn’t want to constrain music choice too much or encourage janky music edits when we already have enough of those. Maybe keep it at two and keep the same penalty?

Body effects: Again, programs are longer; I might even increase it to three, only two of which can involve the same kind of element (jumps, spins, choreographic movements, etc) for the artistry score. Increase to 1 point with multiple deduction categories for missing one, two, or three.

Variety: Variety of jumps/spins is already covered by other rules, so this would only apply to choreographic/transitional movements. I would be harsh and say you get two of the same movement per program before you get a penalty; no endless leg kicks or spread eagles. (In a real code, one would probably want to decide what common movements are ‘similar enough’. Are spread eagles and besti squats too similar? Can you do three spirals if they’re in different enough positions or directions? If you do two normal illusion turns and one catchfoot illusion turn, have you gone over the limit?) Same penalty.

Unity: I would change this to lack of unity and continuity not caused by falls or missed spins/etc, since those are already penalized. Increase to 0.5 point maximum penalty but add a smaller deduction category to compensate.

Connections: This is the one I am the most unsure about, because I don’t think I understand it as well😅I could only find a couple of examples of bad connections in RG, and it’s harder for me to translate this to FS. Reduce to 1 point.

Skating skills: Arguably more of a technical skill, but it has to go somewhere. Maybe deductions in increments of 0.5 up to 3 points.

(Fractures are often brought up with the Sambo girls because they are a sign of RED-S, formerly known as female athlete triad, which can also impact males. Essentially, starvation and/or overtraining affects the progression of puberty and hormone production, and because we need sex hormones to build bone mass, the athlete ends up with weakened bones that are more susceptible to stress fractures. This is a condition that can affect an athlete for the rest of their life.)

To make the fairest comparison, I tried to find coaches that often pick up younger skaters, rather than mostly 'finishing' off older ones, and who have at least some experience with students placing well in the senior ranks. This turned out to be tricky – many skaters switch coaches a LOT in their careers, many coaches don't have a Wikipedia page that makes it easy to find their students, and if they do, many coaches only have one or two star students that someone has bothered to list there, etc.

But I found four-ish workable comparisons and tried my best to find info. I also mostly list longer-term students, not people who moved on after a year or two or who haven't been with that coach for long. In addition, I skipped students from far enough back, because in the pre-internet age, we definitely wouldn't be hearing about every injury, especially outside of the top stars. (For the sake of fairness, I will also note that the more famous skaters will still have their health reported on much more than less famous ones, and there may be cultural differences in reporting and injury disclosure.)

Hamada – note: Hamada is accused of physically and emotionally abusing her students Hosoda – (no record of injury that I could find), 26 Kawabe – bone bruise in 2018 at 13 Shiraiwa – fractured shinbone in 2016 at 14, injured other leg in 2019 at ~17 Honda (Taichi) – (no record of injury that I could find), retired at 22 to begin a career Miyahara – eating disorder*, stress fracture in her pelvis in 2017 at 16, foot injury in 2017 at 17 Kihara – (no record of injury that I could find) Retired at 21 and began choreographing Honda (Marin) – (no record of injury that I could find while she was with Hamada) Muramoto (Kana) – (no record of injury that I could find while she was with Hamada) Muramoto (Satsuki) – unspecified injury in 2010 at ~20, retired at 22 to become a coach Oota – ankle injury that become bone inflammation in 2004 at 17, missed 2005-2006 because of it as well, more injury problems in 2008 at ~20, retired at 22. Kihira – broken finger in 2016 at ~14, ankle injury in 2019 at ~17 that still hadn’t fully healed as of late 2021 and contributed to her missing the season Yoshida – hip injury at 13 in 2018 *There was an interview where Hamada said that she just had trouble putting on weight because of who knows maybe her work ethic, but I've read Satton’s book, and she clearly describes an eating disorder.

(Zhou is also a student of hers, but I am unclear about how much time he actually spends with her as opposed to the other coaches he has listed, given that they live in different countries.)

Mishin Tuktamysheva – knee injury at 16 in 2012, back injury at 17 in 2013, torn ankle ligament at 18 in 2014, ankle injury at 20 in 2016 Guliakova – unspecified injury in 2020 at ~17 Samodurova – (no record of injury that I could find), 19 Petrov – ligament injury in his leg in 2015 at 16, leg injury in 2016 at 17. Dmitriev – back problems in 2010 at ~17, injury in 2014 at 22 Stavitskaia – (no record of injury that I could find), last competed in singles at 17 before doing ice dance for a few seasons Gachinski – developed a back injury(?) in 2011 at 17 that made his feet go numb D: and seems to have never fully recovered, last competed at 21 Lazukin – back injury in 2015 at ~17, knee injury in 2020 at 23 Lutai – broken foot in 2005 at ~19 that apparently never fully healed, last competed at 23 (though he also had legal troubles at that time) Basova – (no record of injury that I could find), last competed at 22 Doronina – (no record of injury that I could find), last competed at 19 Novoseltsev – (no record of injury that I could find), last competed at 24 Lutfullin – injury in 2020 at 16 Plushenko – groin injury in 2005 at ~23, knee injuries at some point before 2006, knee injury in 2010 at ~27, knee bothering him again in 2012 at 29, back problem in 2012 at 29 that continued to bother him, knee problem again in 2013 at ~30, last competed at 31 Semenenko – stress fracture in leg in 2017 at 14, hip problems and other injuries in 2018 at ~15, injured rib in 2021 at 18

Yamada & Higuchi Uno – sprained ankle in 2018 at 21 Matsuike – injury in 2019 at ~15, ankle injury in 2021 at 17 Yamashita – foot injury from boot issues in 2019 at 17 Murakami – sprained ankle in 2015 at 20, last competed at 23 Koiwai – Wikipedia claims she had 'chronic foot injuries' by 19 in 1994, but I can't find any source for that statement and that's not mentioned in her Japanese page, last competed at 22 Onda – ankle injury in 2003 at 20, last competed at 25 Yamazaki – (no record of injury that I could find), last competed at... 18? I can't even find her birth year, she is not well known Nitaya – fractured leg at 22 in 2019, injured tailbone at 23 in 2020 Ito – broken ankle in 1982 at 13, broken ankle in 1985/6 at 16, chronic knee pain by 1991/age 21, mostly finished her amateur career by 21 to move on to the pro scene, with a brief comeback at 26

Grütter Ovcharova – (no record of injury that I could find while she was with Grütter), retired at 19 Bacchini – unspecified injuries in 2012 at 27, retired at 29 Alvarez – (no record of injury that I could find), last competed at 21 Contesti – (no record of injury that I could find while he was with Grütter), retired at 29 due to funding issues/supporting his family Silberer – hip injury in 2009, appears to have stopped competing afterward at 18. Lambiel – knee issue in 2002 at 17, again in 2004 at 19, again in 2006 at 21, retired at 24.

Sambo Pitkeev – back injury at 17 in 2015 that he was made to compete on through painkillers and made worse, can no longer jump due to pain (Eteri made fun of him for not just training through it), tried to switch to ice dance but was unable to continue, last competed at 17 Medvedeva – fractured arm in 2011 at 12, fractured elbow(?) in 2015 at 15, fractured foot at 17 in 2017, back injury at 17/18 in 2017 or early 2018 that turned out to be three fractured vertebrae - she competed on all of these - eating disorder, severe osteoporosis, last competed at 20, retired due to a fusing spine that makes her unable to do most jumps or even sit without pain Tsurskaya – ankle injury in 2016 at 14, knee injury in 2016 at 15, diagnosed at 15 with Osteochondritis dissecans (a disease thought to often be caused by trauma in juveniles) and a herniated disk, stated her back issues caused permanent damage, last competed at 17, retired due to lack of interest in competing Tursynbaeva – back injury at 19 in 2019, last competed at 19, retired due to back injury Kanysheva – retired from singles due to injury of some kind (I've seen back/hip injury, but I can't seem to find an official source that definitively states what it is) at 14 because she could no longer jump, retired from her try at ice dance at 16 Erokhov – injury in 2016 at 17, back injury in 2018 at 19; it seems like he either had more injuries or the existing ones continued to hamper him, because since 2018, he has competed only five times in four seasons Panenkova – fractured foot in 2017 at 14, last competed at 17 Skirda – last full season was at 14 in 2016, competed exactly once after that, seems to have attempted a change to ice dance? Lipnitskaya – twisted ankle at 14 in 2012, last competed at 18, retired due to ligament and joint problems and eating disorder (which Eteri bragged about when she was still with her) Shelepen – chronic ankle injury by 18 in 2012*, last competed at 18, retired due to ankle issues Samsonov – Osgood-Schlatter at 14 in 2019/2020, last mostly full season was in 2019, has only competed once since then Rukhin – injuries in 2019 at 14 Zagitova – broken arm in 2016? at 12 or 13 (which she says went to a competition with, where she broke her leg as well), Osgood-Schlatter by 15? in 2017?, probably disordered eating (remember, kids, avoiding puberty is easy, "you just need to shut your mouth and not eat" and also not drinking water is fine), last competed at 17 Valieva – injury at 12 in 2019, foot or leg injury at 13 in 2019 Usacheva – some kind of injury in 2021 at 15, torn ligament/hip fracture in 2021 at 15 Trusova – fractured foot in 2021 at 17 Shcherbakova – fractured leg in 2017 at 13, fractured toe in 2021 at 17, neck injury in 2021 at 17, ankle injury in 2022 at 17, chronic pain even when sitting Kvitelashvili – (no record of injury that I could find), 26 Kostornaia – fracture in her leg at 15 in 2018, broken finger at 16 in 2018, back problems by 17 in 2020?, broken wrist/hand at 18 in 2021, broke other arm at 18 in 2022 Khromykh – injury of some kind at 13 in 2019? *technically, this was first reported a few months after she switched coaches, but it was described as 'chronic', which implies it had already been having issues for some time, so I threw it in