David Dore Honored in Canada

International Skating Union Vice President David Dore was honored recently in Canada by the Sports Hall of Fame for what he's done for figure skating. Dore worked with Canadian Figure Skating Association (now Skate Canada) since the 70s. He is credited with gaining corporate support for figure skating in Canada, taking it to a new level. Congratulations to Dore.

Of course, Dore's involvement with the judging system is mentioned in the article, and there was a hilarious part. It is in the section where they speak about the current judging system. And it is in italics.

The athletes like the current system but Dore, who holds the most important position in the world in the sport he took up at age 12 to strengthen his legs after nearly dying from polio, is well aware that much remains to be done.

"This is where the challenge lies today," he says. "We have something that's a lot better, a lot more credible, and something I feel a lot more comfortable with (that pre-2002) but somehow or other we need to do a better job of selling the product we have in a better way and making it more user friendly."

Well, he obviously has taken his PR seriously, because the athletes, I don't know how much they love the current system. At least, not all the athletes. And I'm not sure how they are going to package this one and make it more user friendly... But maybe they can keep using the commentators to explain, 'silly uneducated skating fans! Look at this slo-mo replay of all that skater's underrotated jumps. Even though he stood up and "appeared" to land more jumps than the other guy, he really didn't do as well as the person who fell twice.' (okay, maybe I'm exaggerating). But a sport that makes people feel ignorant might be a tough sell.