Earlier this season skatedom was abuzz revisiting the controversy of whether the penalty for a fall on an element (and more specifically jumps) was inadequate.  The argument on one side of this is that the current rules reward failure by giving the skater too many points when the skater falls on a jump attempt.

Rewarding failure, however, is not just limited to falls in jumps.  The scoring system is full of partial credits for elements the skaters really cannot do;  for example, under-rotated, two-footed jumps.  Below are two frames from Mao Asada's triple Axel attempt in the 2012 Four Continents Ladies Short Program.

A triple Axel is a jump that takes off on a forward outside edge, rotates 3 1/2 times in the air, and is landed on one foot on a clean edge.  It is not a jump that almost rotates 3 1/2 times and is landed on the side of the foot and then two-footed to keep from falling.  Even though the skater managed to stand up, the jump was not a triple Axel.  It was almost a triple Axel.

Skating's current scoring system is the only one in sports where failure is rewarded, and skating is the worse off for it.

In football if a team drives 99 yards and is stopped on the one yard line attempting a touchdown, they don't get 70% of the points for a touchdown.  If the ball bounces off the goal posts and back onto the field on a field goal attempt, the teams doesn't get some fraction of the points. There are no points for almost a touchdown or almost a field goal.  Either the teams scores or they don't.  In baseball a long fly ball caught as the outfielder leaps above the wall and "robs" the hitter of a home run is an out and the scoring opportunity is lost.  It's not almost a home run worth a fraction of a run.  But in skating, almost a triple Axel is almost as good as actually being able to do one.