OTTAWA -- There's no "figure" at the Canadian figure skating championships this week.
Skate Canada renamed the event the National Skating Championships, marking the first time in the event's 100-year history that "figure" hasn't appeared in the title.
It's a marketing move by Skate Canada to give the event a name that is more in line with figure skating's national governing body.
"It's a just a way of creating a more focused consistent brand message for Skate Canada as the governing body and as a Skate Canada event," said Skate Canada CEO Dan Thompson.
Whatever the reason, it's been a long time coming according to three-time world champion Elvis Stojko.
"I thought it was a cool idea, because honestly I thought about it years ago, because there's no figures in it," Stojko said. Compulsory figures were dropped from the sport 23 years ago.
"And figure skating has a stigma to it. Some people who are into other sports say 'Oh figure skating,"' Stojko said, exasperatingly drawing out the word 'figure.'
"We don't have it anymore, it's just free skating. It's just artistic or free skating.
"Figure skating, it's had that image for a long time, guys who were in hockey were like, 'Figure skating, I don't want to watch figure skating.' So you take the name out then you add that extra dimension to it."
Stojko admitted he took grief in school for being a figure skater.
"Oh totally. . . 'You're a figure skater? Come on twinkle toes, what's going on?' I always got picked on in school for that."
There's no international movement, said Thompson, to change the sport's name.
The American governing body is U.S. Figure Skating, and the American championships that are also on this week, are called the U.S. figure skating championships.
More than 80 former Canadian champions are in Ottawa for the 100th anniversary of the championships.
