>>Nowadays, all I see are meaningless steps taken to gain momentum for the next jump.
>
>Another interesting question is, who actually comes up with the routines that these people do? I'm not sure wether or not those 2 skaters that one Gold actually wrote the routine they did. If they didn't design it, I would give the medal to whoever did since its the author's artistic impression that is being judged.

>Same with gymnastics. I doubt their routines, wether on the floor, beam, or bars are written by the 14 year girls that perform them and win medals for them. I could be wrong though.

Depends - most of the time it's the coaches, but sometimes it's the players (somehow word "sport" doesn't fit here) who write their own coreography or invent new moves, like the legendary pair of Byelousova-Protopopov once did.

I don't think the coaches would like to get the medals; they prefer being known among the circles of prospective skaters, simply because the usable lifespan of a skater is just a few years, so they need a new host... a new trainee to move to once the last champion ends the career.