The 2026 Winter Olympics just recently concluded, and to be honest I didn't pay it that much attention. Winter sports as a whole seem particularly foreign - not just simply because snow/ice is a foreign concept here in Singapore, but also because there's an inherent madness about winter sports, in my mind. 

I want to take nothing away from the achievements of these athletes, but winter sports feel purposefully dangerous. Like, let's take relatively normal sports (but you know, sports aren't actually normal), and just add a whole bunch of elements to make them even more difficult and dangerous. You know this hard and slippery surface called ice? Yeah, why don't you run around on it, but while wearing knives on your feet. Here's a huge mountain, why don't you hurl yourself down the side? Let's see who can spin the most times in the air without smashing their faces into the ground. It's truly death-defying stuff. (And, curling.) 

But over the past few days, I've been slightly enamoured with figure skating (partly just due to the immense attention it seems to be getting, I will admit). Look, I know absolutely nothing about the sport. But it's a fascinating watch nonetheless. Part of it is because as someone who plays a bunch of sports, I fundamentally do not comprehend 'judged' outcomes. I can understand one team scoring more points than another because they put a ball into a net more than the other team. Figure skating's combination of technical ability and artistry is much more than my lizard brain can comprehend. 

I suppose that's the beauty of it, pardon the pun. It is equal part athletic endeavour and artistic performance. And man, do these skaters look graceful (Alyssa Liu is immensely magnetic and watchable). My approach to sports has largely always been mechanical - repetition breeds perfection, so to speak. To be able to blend extreme athletic ability (come on, spinning a few rounds in the air to land perfectly on a knife edge on a hard, slippery surface is insane) with seemingly effortless grace and artistic expression is extraordinary. 

But I also learnt a fascinating thing about the sport, and something rather unique - there's something called the Exhibition Gala. 

It seems a little mad to explain, but basically after all the competition is done, the skaters have a chance, no are required to go out on the ice and just... show off. Like that seems to be entirely the point of it. I cannot think of another sport where they're like, "okay you're done competing, now just go out and do what you do and look awesome". But that also highlights how figure skating has this intrinsic performative element that sets it apart. It's not like you could tell a 100m sprinter to be like, "ok now go out and run fast, but for fun". 

At this Winter Olympics, it also gave rise to this incredible visual: 

You can watch the whole thing here if you are so inclined. 

That's it. Figure skating rules.