- Joined
- Mar 28, 2005
Mens:
Gold-Plushenko will definitely win this. It is a done deal, slam dunk, seniorita, barring a major injury.
Silver-Lambiel will probably win silver. He is not a total lock but a fairly solid bet. He can afford his usual quota of mistakes and still be fairly safe, he will have to make more mistakes than usual to lose the silver.
Bronze-this is wide open. Buttle is so inconsistent, that combined with his lack of a quad leaves this open. Lysacek, Weir, Takahashi, all have a shot at this. Sandhu is too inconsistent, I am pretty sure now he wont be on the podium. Joubert wont do it, he seems to have lost his confidence, and I dont like his skating anyway. Lindemann has had his moments in the sun, it is over for him.
Pairs:
Gold-Totmianina and Marinin are favored but I am not sure they are safe. There is talk Shen/Zhou might return, remember how inspired a performance they put on at the 2003 Worlds when she had a serious foot injury? Zhang/Zhang beat them technicaly and challenged them overall in the free program at the GP final. Totminaina/Marinin have been solid this year but not specatcular, I am not sure if they are safe, but they are still the most likely winners.
Silver-The three teams I mentioned before could make up the podium on their own. Still Petrova/Tikhonov have a chance to beat Zhang/Zhang or a poorly prepared Shen/Zhou and come as high as silver. They have no chance for gold since they have no chance to beat Totmianina/Marinin who they have not beaten in many years.
Bronze-Savchenko/Szowkowlsky I could not see doing any better than 3rd, but they could sneak in for the bronze. Pang/Tong I could also not see doing any better than 3rd but they could sneak in the for the bronze as well. Both these teams have a chance vs any team except Totmainina/
Marinin, but they wont beat every other contending team to win silver, they might beat all but one(not a specific one)to get a bronze.
Dance:
Gold-Navka Kostomarov have this in the bag unless they have a huge error in more than one program, or two in the same program. Belbin/Agosto getting citzenship changes almost nothing, except they could lose with a disaester now. George Bush is arrogant to think him touting Belbin/Agosto for gold like he did at the citzenship officialization will mean anything to the Olympic judges.
Silver-Belbin/Agosto are probably now favored for this, but Grushina/
Goncharov have a shot at this too. Belbin/Agosto have been set back by injuries this year and I dont see them as close to Navka/Kostomarov as last year, and I see Grushina/Goncharov being on of the teams closer to them now than before.
Bronze-Dubreuil/Lauzon could sneak onto the podium over one of Belbin/Agosto or Grushina/Goncharov. Chait/Shaknovsky I give even a more outside shot to sneak in for the bronze, but it would take a great skate, since these 4 teams have all been bettering them this year.
Ladies:
Gold-Irina Slutskaya is now vurnerable. She still is the odds on winner, but it is not as near to clear cut as before. Arakawa and Cohen are the ones with the most potential to upset her IMO. Arakawa needs to stop cheating her triples, making minor stumbles, and start doing her 3/3s again, if she does that she is all set to pull off something big. Cohen of course needs to do a completely clean free program, something she has never done, the other two women are technicaly superior to her IMO.
Silver-I could not see Suguri winning gold, I could see her winning a silver or bronze with a performance like she had at the Japanese Nationals though. She knows how to get to a global podium, she has been World medalist twice, and she is a complete package when she skates well. She just doesnt have the extra spark to win, but she is a threat to anybody except Irina.
Bronze-Kwan I could not see doing any better then bronze, but I would not totally discount her from surprising and sneaking in for the bronze, she is such a tough competitor and champion you cant totally overlook her even though everything seems bleak for her now. Kostner I also give an outside shot to repeat her surprise World bronze from last year, she is not skating well at all this year, and will need to draw some inspiration from the crowd to pull off something big. Ando is probably given the gift to be on the Japanese Olympic team, and will need to get her act together if she has any chance at stealing a bronze.
Gold-Plushenko will definitely win this. It is a done deal, slam dunk, seniorita, barring a major injury.
Silver-Lambiel will probably win silver. He is not a total lock but a fairly solid bet. He can afford his usual quota of mistakes and still be fairly safe, he will have to make more mistakes than usual to lose the silver.
Bronze-this is wide open. Buttle is so inconsistent, that combined with his lack of a quad leaves this open. Lysacek, Weir, Takahashi, all have a shot at this. Sandhu is too inconsistent, I am pretty sure now he wont be on the podium. Joubert wont do it, he seems to have lost his confidence, and I dont like his skating anyway. Lindemann has had his moments in the sun, it is over for him.
Pairs:
Gold-Totmianina and Marinin are favored but I am not sure they are safe. There is talk Shen/Zhou might return, remember how inspired a performance they put on at the 2003 Worlds when she had a serious foot injury? Zhang/Zhang beat them technicaly and challenged them overall in the free program at the GP final. Totminaina/Marinin have been solid this year but not specatcular, I am not sure if they are safe, but they are still the most likely winners.
Silver-The three teams I mentioned before could make up the podium on their own. Still Petrova/Tikhonov have a chance to beat Zhang/Zhang or a poorly prepared Shen/Zhou and come as high as silver. They have no chance for gold since they have no chance to beat Totmianina/Marinin who they have not beaten in many years.
Bronze-Savchenko/Szowkowlsky I could not see doing any better than 3rd, but they could sneak in for the bronze. Pang/Tong I could also not see doing any better than 3rd but they could sneak in the for the bronze as well. Both these teams have a chance vs any team except Totmainina/
Marinin, but they wont beat every other contending team to win silver, they might beat all but one(not a specific one)to get a bronze.
Dance:
Gold-Navka Kostomarov have this in the bag unless they have a huge error in more than one program, or two in the same program. Belbin/Agosto getting citzenship changes almost nothing, except they could lose with a disaester now. George Bush is arrogant to think him touting Belbin/Agosto for gold like he did at the citzenship officialization will mean anything to the Olympic judges.
Silver-Belbin/Agosto are probably now favored for this, but Grushina/
Goncharov have a shot at this too. Belbin/Agosto have been set back by injuries this year and I dont see them as close to Navka/Kostomarov as last year, and I see Grushina/Goncharov being on of the teams closer to them now than before.
Bronze-Dubreuil/Lauzon could sneak onto the podium over one of Belbin/Agosto or Grushina/Goncharov. Chait/Shaknovsky I give even a more outside shot to sneak in for the bronze, but it would take a great skate, since these 4 teams have all been bettering them this year.
Ladies:
Gold-Irina Slutskaya is now vurnerable. She still is the odds on winner, but it is not as near to clear cut as before. Arakawa and Cohen are the ones with the most potential to upset her IMO. Arakawa needs to stop cheating her triples, making minor stumbles, and start doing her 3/3s again, if she does that she is all set to pull off something big. Cohen of course needs to do a completely clean free program, something she has never done, the other two women are technicaly superior to her IMO.
Silver-I could not see Suguri winning gold, I could see her winning a silver or bronze with a performance like she had at the Japanese Nationals though. She knows how to get to a global podium, she has been World medalist twice, and she is a complete package when she skates well. She just doesnt have the extra spark to win, but she is a threat to anybody except Irina.
Bronze-Kwan I could not see doing any better then bronze, but I would not totally discount her from surprising and sneaking in for the bronze, she is such a tough competitor and champion you cant totally overlook her even though everything seems bleak for her now. Kostner I also give an outside shot to repeat her surprise World bronze from last year, she is not skating well at all this year, and will need to draw some inspiration from the crowd to pull off something big. Ando is probably given the gift to be on the Japanese Olympic team, and will need to get her act together if she has any chance at stealing a bronze.