The Risky Business of Choosing Music for Olympic Figure Skating Routines

Selecting music before a season is always the most important first step for a skater, but in an Olympic year, even more so. “For the Olympics you want something really memorable and something really epic,” said Gracie Gold, who won silver at last year’s nationals. “That kind of music and program that people pull up on YouTube years and years later, and as they watch that skater they think about that Olympic moment.”Even with all the triple jumps and quads, a skating program is as much an artistic performance as it is an athletic one. The goal is to tell a story through music and movement, and the transcendent moments, such as Michelle Kwan’s Salome, are remembered for years.