Gymnastics and Figure Skating Go Together Like Peas and Carrots?

When I was younger I was obsessed with gymnastics (which should be plain to even those readers who never get beyond the blog's name) but I was also quite the figure skating aficionado. When my mother yelled at me for practicing back handsprings in the living room on Shabbat, I would would start doing single axels. I could already do a 540 degree straight body jump in the gym. How much harder could it be to take off from one leg and from the forward outside edge of my pretend skate blade? Of course, the carpeting was easier to imagine as a mat than as a sheet of ice and I landed the jump as gracefully as I did my back flips, which is to say with the aplomb of a tipped cow. I was inelegant at gymnastics as I was at living room ice skating.

Anyway, I tell this story to demonstrate how closely linked the two sports are, at least in the minds of fans, and in the minds of the advertisers of this upcoming event, The Progressive Skating & Gymnastics Spectacular. In this so-called "spectacular" gymnasts and figure skaters perform side by side as though this is perfectly- two creatures in a shared ecosystem- even if cold and hard frigid surfaces are anathema to one (the gymnast) and absolutely necessary to the other. Which begs the question, Are these two really as closely related as Progressive and NBC would have us believe?

Gymnastics and figure skating. Twins separated at birth?

Now, it is true that corporate sponsorship from an insurance company is apt for the two sports since they are both rife with injuries. But risk aside, how much do they have in common? I googled in search of answers and found this page on About.com which compares the two disciplines. Some of the best similarities noted:

"Both gymnastics and figure skating involve much dedication, sacrifice, and hard work."

"Both gymnasts and figure skaters must be slim and trim."

"Both sports have progressively become more athletic."

"Gymnasts and figure skaters must make sure their hair is pulled back and away from their faces. "

The last one is my personal favorite, another way of saying that both gymnastics and figure skating are best performed when nothing obstructs the athlete's field of vision. Indeed, that's a similarity worth noting. Cause it is easy to think of sports where eyesight is unnecessary, perhaps even a hindrance. Like baseball. No need for eyesight there.

And if they are indeed so similar or linked, why have we never seen a skater successfully cross over into gymnastics or vice versa, like Ashley Tisdale has made the jump from tween pop to hard edged rocker? (I totally kept a straight face as I typed that. Seriously. But in the interest of full disclosure, I did take an Ambien not too long ago and am feeling a bit too sleepy to laugh.)

Speaking of Ashley Tisdale, here is a snippet from the ice and flip tackular, set to a number performed by Ms. Tisdale. You be the judge as to whether gym and skating belong to each other.