On July 11, the International Union of Skaters will conduct an ISU Skating Awards ceremony in online format, at which winners in seven categories will be determined according to the results of the past season. Initially, the event was to decorate the Montreal World Cup 2020 and be the end of the season. The pandemic mixed these plans, the championship was canceled, but did not refuse to award the laureates of the season, ISU published Friday lists of applicants - three names in each nomination.

The exit to the finish line was preceded by an attempt to fan a scandal around the upcoming celebration: Alina Zagitova, who was initially presented in three categories at once, “Most Valuable Athlete”, “Best Costume” and “Best Program”, did not get into any of the nominations. On the one hand, everything is logical: the champion of the Games in Pyeongchang announced the suspension of her career in December, and she did this, to put it mildly, not too thoughtfully in terms of her own image.

The position voiced in the style of the first Russian president Boris Yeltsin (“I'm tired, I'm leaving”) completely ruled out someone’s guilt that the season of one of the brightest skaters in the world turned out to be inferior and ragged. Accordingly, to curtsy in the direction of the athlete was already useless.

On the other hand, in the nomination "Program" remained Evgenia Medvedeva, who missed all the major starts, although not at will. Therefore, Alina's fans had every reason to consider a favorite infringed on their rights.

Otherwise, no sharp moments happened: the top three candidates for the awards turned out to be exactly as fans, coaches and journalists had previously predicted in their predictions. However, the International Skating Union still retained an element of secrecy, announcing that the name of the laureate in the Legend nomination would be announced only during the ceremony. This is quite logical, since the seventh nomination is the only one where the choice is made not by voting, but by the decision of ISU.

In late March, RT compiled its list of triumphs of the upcoming award. Moreover, this was done already after it became known about the transfer of the World Cup in Montreal, and with it the ceremony of the ice "Oscar". Then the main contenders for victory were named in all categories, including the one where the first-ever holder of the honorary title "Legends" was determined. The number of applicants included masters of the domestic coaching workshop Tamara Moskvina and Tatyana Tarasova. At the same time, it was noted that much has been said in Canada that the figurine may go to local athlete Kurt Browning, whose assets include four gold at world championships.

Could it happen that the name of the Canadian solitary would really be named in the final category? Although Browning’s presence among the contenders for figure skating legends is quite absurd in itself.

Much less questions would have been raised by the nomination of five-time world champion from the USA Michelle Kwan, Olympic champion and four-time world champion Scott Hamilton, who at one time created in partnership with IMG the grandiose ice band Stars on Ice or Canadian loner Toller Cranston, who turned over the idea of ​​how it should to be male single skating.

But there is still the only surviving two-time Olympic champion Katarina Witt, who in addition to this won four times in world championships. If we again turn to the representatives of the coaching workshop, in addition to Tarasova and Moskvina, all those who without any connection to nationality made a tremendous contribution to the development of their sport deserve mention: Yutta Muller, Alexey Mishin, Frank Carroll, two-time Olympic champion and five-time champion World Dick Button, who has held professional world championships for 25 years. Finally, Tom Collins, the first to realize the idea of ​​grand champion shows in figure skating. And how to choose one from this variety of real legends?

The reverence towards Browning was understandable: the ceremony was planned to be held at one of the most famous arenas in Montreal - in the 21-thousandth Bell Center, where the local hockey club Canadiens holds their home matches. The event was to be held with the great attention of Canadian viewers, sponsors and television, who probably wanted to see their home star in the final, final nomination. But the translation of the show into an online format highlighted a number of nuances.

It is worth noting that the seventh nomination is completely special and the most biased. To single out one of the candidates listed above is an extremely difficult task. There will always be those who consider any of the options wrong and flagrantly unjust. The second important point is that the upcoming ceremony this year is the debut. That is, it is she who lays down certain principles in history. Including justice.

It’s even surprising that none of the organizers came up with the fact that “Legend” is generally not too right to choose each year along with the best athlete or coach of the season, because this is not about momentary heroes and champions, but about personalities outside of time and nationality . Perhaps in this connection it would be more logical to talk not about a specific character, but about a certain pantheon of great ones.

That this choice lay the cornerstone at the base of the ice Oscars. Perhaps it would be worthwhile to oblige the organizers of all subsequent world championships to raise flags with the names of legends under the roofs of palaces, just as sweaters with the names of stars are lifted to the ceiling in hockey.

Now it’s even interesting how it will end. If Browning really becomes the first of the “legends”, this may well turn into another headache for ISU, as it will untie the hands of the organizers of any subsequent world championships. Why then not the same French to demand an Oscar for Alain Gilletti or Philip Candeloro, the Swiss for Denise Bilmann and Stefan Lambiel, the Spaniards for Javier Fernandez, and the Japanese for Yuzur Hani? Although taking into account the “box office” name of the latter, it is already right now to demand the inclusion of a skater in at least five out of seven nominations. But will the ISU Skating Awards become more prestigious from this?