Coldplay and the Moulin Rouge soundtrack appeared to be favorites Sunday for figure skaters able to compete using music with lyrics for the first time at a Winter Olympics.
In previous Games, skaters have only been able to perform to instrumental music.
Now the restriction has been lifted — allowing more personality, more drama (and seemingly more Coldplay) on the ice.
In an interview with Billboard published last week, US skater Adam Rippon said the rule change allowing vocal music had left skaters with “no excuse not to be original now.”
“The big thing I always look for is, ‘Is this music going to really affect someone sitting in the last row of a 15,000-seat arena?’ I want to skate to something people can feel throughout the whole arena,” he told the publication. “Chris Martin has this voice that resonates through a whole arena.”
On Sunday, Rippon skated to Coldplay’s “O” and his compatriots Alex Shibutani and Maia Shibutani to the band’s songs “Paradise” and “Fix You.”
“Coldplay: The Official Band of the Pyeongchang Olympics,” commented one Twitter user.
“Apparently figure skaters really love Coldplay,” said another.
Some Twitter users made it clear using Coldplay as a soundtrack scored zero points for them.
One expressed concern about how the US skaters’ choices could reflect on the reputation of the United States: “Worried about how much the international community thinks Americans like Coldplay after tonight’s skating programs,” he tweeted.
Another said after Rippon: “That was great skating. Coldplay still sucks.”
But there was support.
“Wait anyone who chooses Coldplay to skate to is the automatic winner cause i said so #Olympics,” commented Pattin Murin (who plays Princess Anna in the Broadway production of “Frozen”).
“Oh my goodness. Now I want to watch Moulin Rouge again. Why am I crying??,” a later tweet said.
Canadians Virtue and Moir took gold in the figure skating team competition, dancing to music from Moulin Rouge, including the film’s version of “Roxanne.”
Last year, Moir told Canadian media that they had always loved the movie.
“We know it’s a (theme) used a lot in figure skating, but as we always do, we try to give our own stamp on it and make it unique. Only a handful of times in our career, we’ve brought music to our coaches and almost insisted we skated to it.
Baz Luhrmann, who directed and co-wrote the movie, tweeted: “Moulin Rouge on ice! It’s moving to see so many champions skating their way to @pyeongchang2018 to the music from #MoulinRouge…”
The pair are known for their take on Moulin Rouge’s version of “Roxanne.”
Other artists heard in the stadium included Beyonce, The Beatles, Jeff Buckley and Elvis.
