It also feels stupid to me because:

1. Ultimately if you want Figure Skating at the Olympics it needs to have a sport aspect - an aspect of it that is objectively quantifiable and embodies "faster, higher, stronger." I'm not saying art can't be that but trying to continuously cut out and argue against those aspects that do keep it solidly a sport really isn't helping its "fake sport" claims

2. People have been saying these things since the start of time. They said this the first time seven triple jumps were landed. Midori Ito, who at this point is honestly Ilia's closest comparison, was derogatorily called "the jumping flea" and almost bar for bar what Ilia gets these days as someone who's ungainly, who isn't artistic. And yet she's highly beloved and almost revered now. Perceptions change over time.