Report: Ten kiss-and-cry areas for Olympic figure skating team event

The new Olympic figure skating team event must make room to accommodate 10 nations’ worth of skaters watching their teammates compete.

With that in mind, there will be 10 kiss-and-cry areas at the Iceberg Skating Palace in Sochi, according to the Wall Street Journal.

“While ice rinks usually have only one area for ‘kiss-and-cry’ -- the spangled histrionics that help make figure skating such great television -- the Iceberg will have ’10 kiss-and-cry zones, one for each finalist team.’”

Ten nations will qualify for the figure skating team event. The medal contenders are thought to be the U.S., Canada, Japan and Russia.

The team event will begin the night before the Opening Ceremony with the pairs short program and the men’s short program. It will continue two nights later with the short dance, women’s short program and the pairs free skate.

That’s where it gets a little more complicated. The field will be narrowed from 10 to five after the short programs.

So, there will be 10 short dances and 10 women’s short programs, followed by a cut down to the top five teams, and then five pairs free skates on that Saturday night. (and, one could surmise, from 10 kiss-and-cry areas to five kiss-and-cry areas)

The team competition will conclude the next night, Sunday, Feb. 9, with the men’s free skate, free dance and women’s free skate.

Opinions mixed on figure skating team event

Follow @nzaccardi