Now that the Canadian pair has been awarded a second gold medal along with the Russian pair, everything is right in the world of figure skating. Right?

Wrong.

The only way to truly solve the mess that figure skating has become is to throw it out of the Olympics. The International Olympic Committee should throw figure skating, ice dancing, ballroom dancing and every other sport that relies on an "artistic interpretation" score to determine a winner.

The Olympics are about athletic competition, not art. Art has its place — in a museum. They don't give out gold medals for painting, so why do they try to judge art on ice?

The major controversy with the Canadians receiving a silver and not a gold revolves around a French judge who was allegedly pressured to vote for the Russians.

Even if these allegations are true, they still don't address the other four judges that voted for the Canadians rather than the Russians. If the Canadians' program was so flawless and perfect, why did four uncorrupted judges still think the Russians won? And what about the four judges that chose the Canadians? Were their selections completely unbiased? What if the French judge had been pressured the other way and selected the Canadians no matter what. Would there still be a great controversy?

It is impossible to answer these questions because there is no objective way to say which "artistic interpretation" was better. Art by its very nature is subjective. Some people like some kinds of art, others like different art. But there is no competitive "winner" in art.

The Patriots are the indisputable best football team in the country this year because they scored more points then the Rams and won the Superbowl. No one can contest their championship. When Oscar time rolls around and one of the movies wins Best Picture, people can still argue that another movie was better. It is the nature of art judging — beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

But the Olympics aren't about art or subjective champions. Lugers don't get a five second head start if their uniforms are a prettier color and ski jumpers don't get extra meters added to their jump if their eye shadow is nice. But somehow those things matter in figure skating. Choreography is great on Broadway but has no place in an athletic competition.

So if the IOC really wants to solve this figure skating fiasco, it needs to throw the "sport" out of the Olympics. Tell figure skating officials to come up with a new system for judging and then figure skating and other "artistic" sports can be allowed back in. Rather than basing points on artistic interpretation, base it on degree of difficulty. Just like arial skiing or diving, certain maneuvers and tricks are worth certain points.

Judges are still involved but their role is clearly defined. If a triple toe loop is worth eight points, there will be a list of automatic deductions that must be taken if the move is not performed correctly. It works in diving, why can't it work in figure skating.

If figure skating and "sports" like it don't want to make these changes, that's fine. They just won't be allowed back in the Olympics. They can continue to perform their routines at places like Carnegie Hall where art belongs — not in an arena.

This system is not a knock against figure skaters — the are better athletes than I am. But their sport is completely flawed. Ballet dancers are more athletic than I am but that doesn't mean the Olympics should be handing out gold medals to dancers any more than a point guard should expect to win a Tony Award.

Art and sports have their places. Combining the two of them together, only produces a mess.

Contact Mike Connolly at connolly.28@nd.edu

• Sport or not a sport?