Spanish figure skater Tomas-Llorenc Guarino Sabate was lucky enough to get his short program music approved, just a few days before he is scheduled to take the ice; however, other figure skaters have not been so lucky and are being forced to rely on older routines with approved music.
Skating under the neutral athlete category, Russian Petr Gumennik is the latest skater to have issue with his music clearance.
Gumennik had originally planned to perform to the music from “Perfume: The Story of a Murderer” but learned only a few days prior to the beginning of the skating competition that he did not have permission; and then his backup program to “Dune” was also unapproved!
As the expression goes, third itme’s the charm, Gumennik finally got permission to use “Waltz 1805” by Edgar Hakobyan for his short program.
As a Russian skater, Gumennik was not allowed to compete in international events; meaning his music was not known and subject to copyright inspection.
Belgian skater Loena Hendrickx also had to make a last minute change from “Ashes” from the film “Deadpool 2” to “I Surrender” both by Celine Dion for her routine.
In 2014 the International Skating Union amended their rules when it comes to the music allowed for skating routines to allow lyrics. Prior to 2014, only instrumental music was allowed and the skaters used primarily classical music that was in the public domain; thus not needing permission due to copyright infringement issues.
The ISU has worked to create a system that would avoid any copyright issues with ISU President Jae Youl Kim saying, “it is a very, very, very serious problem. We don’t want athletes to be worried about the music.”