What Should ISU's New Age Limit Really Be To Protect Skaters?

Olympics Channel / YouTube Screenshot

It is time for figure skating fans on Twitter to put their age limit rallying cries to use. As the ISU weighs whether to increase the age limit to compete in senior competition, vocal advocates have shown their real agenda in spades. If you believe in raising the age limit, you have to take it to its logical conclusion. There is only one age that would truly protect figure skaters.

[This is an opinion piece/analysis. It utilizes fact-checking to prove its point.]

The human brain does not fully mature until 30, according to what Dr. Frances E. Jensen, M.D., told Men’s Health. That means the ability of an aspiring figure skater to weigh the guts and glory involved in pursuing a career in the punishing sport is impossible. You cannot make that decision until you are a fully formed adult, and according to a little thing called science, that does not come until after your 20s.

If figure skating fans truly have aspiring athletes’ best interests at heart, the ISU needs to increase the senior age limit to 30. This rule would allow true, physiological adults to compete and do away with all of the controversy surrounding teenage sensations and their 20-something counterparts. From Tara Lipinski to Alina Zagitova, it is clear that there is no life or career after competing as a teenager and winning the Olympics.

Related: Calls For “Clean Sport” By Figure Skating Elite Ignore Key Problem

Lipinski and Zagitova have successful careers as hosts and color commentators for figure skating. Everyone can say that, though. Of course, that statement is dripping with sarcasm, as it should be. In another aside, there has not been a female Olympic gold medalist over 18-years-old since Tara Lipinski. However, Figure Skating Twitter would have you believe that this is a new phenomenon.

There could be an end to the trend. 

The ISU is set to rule on whether or not the age limit will be raised during the annual 2022 ISU Congress. It is set to be held from June 6 to June 10 in Phuket, Thailand, per RT. If it passes, the singles age limit would increase to 17, while pairs and ice dance shift to 16-years old. There is a wrinkle, though.

If a skater competes at the senior level in 2023, appearing at the World Championships etc, they will be grandfathered in as seniors despite the increase. It appears that the Russians will be banned from competing in the 2022-2023 season, so it would impact Russian skaters hoping to make the cut. June will decide if it there is a snip.

It should not be for a teenager or their parent to decide if they risk great bodily harm for the glory of an Olympic gold medal. It should be in the extremely knowledgeable hands of Twitter. A destination where self-proclaimed experts with deep ties to the figure skating world hide behind anonymous screen names without sharing their pedigree or status. 

If they truly cared for figure skaters, they cannot go in a little on the age limit. Two years is nothing. If they care, they need to agree that the ISU should ban all jumping passes because skaters fall and injure themselves. They also need to exclude any figure skater from competing until their brain is fully formed.

An aspiring figure skater can make a fully equipped decision to put their bodies through the punishing ordeal of competitive figure skating when they are a scientific adult. Goodbye to Nathan Chen, Elizaveta Tuktamysheva, Sofia Samodurova, and Wakaba Higuchi. You will not have to worry about not having figure skating for grown women (wink). Unless they are 30 -- they are not grown, women. You are welcome!