U.S team going to the Olympics, some bold statements already!

Placing Michelle in the 4th to 6th range is just wishful thinking...........

Anyway, B and A are our best shots for medals, at least silver I'm thinking.....

The men........if we get two in the top 10 we'll be lucky........no podium finishers...

Pairs.........top ten maybe.........

Ladies........one lady I'm thinking in the top three......not Kimberly Meissner, though, she's not ready (maturity wise, not jump wise)...............42

Jaana said:

I think that Weir and Lysacek have equal chances of medalling or at least being among top five. Savoie, well, he might be among top ten on a good day for him and bad day for many other skaters.

I really loved Weir´s and Lysacek´s performances!!! I´m very biased though as they both are my huge favourites among international male skaters. I´m not that crazy about Savoie, although there is flow also in his skating, but something is lacking, I don´t know what, LOL. Besides, he seems to have a scary looking technic in some jumps, looked slow and with not that much ice coverage (maybe it ws just on TV?). I though definetely agree that he deserved the 3rd place for the Olympics and am feeling happy for him.

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Savoie has never never never skated well before international judges and I do not think he will this time.

Joe

realistic51 said:

Irina will not win? Ok soogar, that intrigues me. Why do you think that because, for the first time, I actually agree with you. (although in the back of my mind I know that Irina will more than likely win)

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B/c Irina will not do enough to win (like 2002) and another lady will have an inspired skate. Irina will need to have an inspired skate under Olympic pressure and I don't think she has it in her. She has shown in the GP final that she cannot raise her level of skating to beat a skater who lands everything. That is critical to win in Torino. My belief is that Kimmie Meissner (or any other young skater) is going to go out and land 2 3-3s and while they might be held down under PCS marks, the TES will be a different story and Irina will not be able to beat it and lose.

My belief is that there will be some shockers for the medals in Torino b/c of the new scoring system. This system (unlike 6.0) can produce some stunning upsets and it will be applied fairly b/c of all the scrutiny. I also think that under this system (esp for ladies), it's important to have all the weapons on your side. Anyone who nails a bunch of triples and has decent levels on spins can be a contender. So the skaters to watch will be Miki Ando, Carolina Kostner, and Kimmie Meissner. Kimmie looked especially good at nationals and those 3-3s are going to be dangerous for Irina and Sasha.

I dont' know what Sasha has in her bag of tricks, but TEB has shown that unless Sasha has a 3-3, she does not control her own fate under COP as much as she could with a 3-3. In that regard Irina is a little better off than Sasha, but I don't think she will pull off 3-3s under pressure. Though Irina has the best shot of pulling them off b/c she has been doing 3-3s on a regular basis.

Joesitz said:

Savoie has never never never skated well before international judges and I do not think he will this time.

Joe

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Neither had Paul Wylie....

MidnightNess said:

I predict Kwan is going to come out blazing at the Olympics. What placement she gets, I don't know but I'm sure having been forced to sit home much of the season and watch it go by her, I'm sure she is just DYING to prove herself.

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I have this feeling that she's going to pull off a Dan Jansen at these Olympics.

I might not be an American, but I'm extremely excited to see that Silverstein & O'Meara are going to the Olys. I read a story on them a little while ago. The fact that Jamie can take 2 years off and then bounce back to land on the Nationals podium AND go to the Olys is just simply amazing. I think it shows that this girl is a natural born skater. I can't wait to see how they do in Torino!

The US is fielding an interesting team - great mix of characters and styles. However, I cannot imagine any of them, beside B/A and possible Sasha, medaling, let alone taking the gold. B/A have the best shot for a silver. Sasha may take a bronze, if she's lucky.

This is not the strongest team we've ever fielded to an Olympics, by any stretch of the imagination. It's one of the BIGGEST in size but not in overall quality. I wish them the best, though. Good people & hard workers.

MidnightNess said:

I predict Kwan is going to come out blazing at the Olympics. What placement she gets, I don't know but I'm sure having been forced to sit home much of the season and watch it go by her, I'm sure she is just DYING to prove herself.

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I do not think so. I think she is scared of the CoP. However I give her great for her long efforts on behalf of the USFS to bring in fans and new skaters.

Saundy said:

I might not be an American, but I'm extremely excited to see that Silverstein & O'Meara are going to the Olys. I read a story on them a little while ago. The fact that Jamie can take 2 years off and then bounce back to land on the Nationals podium AND go to the Olys is just simply amazing. I think it shows that this girl is a natural born skater. I can't wait to see how they do in Torino!

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From the video clips I have I think she is an Angel of Dance

Gregor said:

I do not think so. I think she is scared of the CoP. However I give her great for her long efforts on behalf of the USFS to bring in fans and new skaters.

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scared? I'm not so sure about scared...but she does seem a bit "weary" of it and slightly unwilling to change. Anyway, she still got big scores with her "Cop-unfriendly" program in Moscow, so maybe all is not over for her after all...

IF and ONLY IF Kwan is fully healthy, I think she can pull off a Top Five Finish.

Red Dog said:

scared? I'm not so sure about scared...but she does seem a bit "weary" of it and slightly unwilling to change. Anyway, she still got big scores with her "Cop-unfriendly" program in Moscow, so maybe all is not over for her after all...

IF and ONLY IF Kwan is fully healthy, I think she can pull off a Top Five Finish.

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How can she be "weary" of it if Michelle has not fully addessed the CoP yet? Please understand that I am a Kwan fan big time but I was sorry to see her result last year which I felt was due to fear of CoP. This new scoring system is difficult! She does not have a coach well versed in it so it seems.It is too hard work to understand this CoP system.

Gregor said:

How can she be "weary" of it if Michelle has not fully addessed the CoP yet? Please understand that I am a Kwan fan big time but I was sorry to see her result last year which I felt was due to fear of CoP. This new scoring system is difficult! She does not have a coach well versed in it so it seems.It is too hard work to understand this CoP system.

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What do you mean she hasn't "addressed'' the COP yet. This is her second year doing COP programs. I know that she hasn't competed this year but she was ready to at SA until she was injured. She also skated under it last year even if she was only judged under it at worlds. When she started preparing "Spartacus" and "Bolero" in the summer of 2004 she started working
under COP. Her 2005 World's scores were not that bad and higher than anything any of the other U.S. ladies other than SC had score up to this year's Nationals (not sure how they compared with those). Arturian coaches Buttle too so I don't think he has any trouble understanding it. Neither Kwan or Arturian are stupid people or known to be lazy so I really don't think that COP is any harder for them to grasp than it was for any of the other coaches and skaters.

People talk like Kwan has been hiding out from the COP monster or something, LOL. She decided to stop doing the GP before the COP started so 2005 Worlds was her first opportunity to be judged under it.. Maybe the USFS should have implemented it at Nationals before this year.

Piel - I don't think posters are discussing MK as hiding from the CoP, although she did say at the beginning that she would skate the way she always has, and she did well with it. Then, she opened up in Moscow and said, I now understand what I have to do.

I believe before Moscow, Arutunian got her to improve her spins, and made her jumps solid. That was the extent of the Moscow Worlds.

I think posters are saying that she has not gotten feedback on what she learned about the CoP. Given her injuries, it is understandable, but there is no understanding by the judges who can only judge what they see.

Michelle will skate beautifully in Torino, but the contest is all about points!

Joe

soogar said:

Neither had Paul Wylie....

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What is the maxim about Hope and Eternal?

Joe

OK - I'll bite....

My take on American Oly prospects... (and we all assume the ice is slippery by now, right??? )

The US Men - they all go in with IMO a disadvantage being quadless (at least in competition). This will be tough against the likes of Lambiel, Plush, Joubert and even E-Man on a good day who are likely to try quads in both SP and LP, and maybe more than 1 in the LP. I think one has to have a really stellar set of programs without quads to count on a podium finish in that mix - unless one counts on mistakes by others which of course can always happen. I think Johnny's SP is VERY good, but that LP is a mess on the international quadless level. Evan's showmanship can take him a ways. I think Johnny's more introverted style really forces him to be "on" and have two superior programs for podium. I think Matt could do OK too if he can do two programs like his FS was at Nats - but ....... I think a top 10 finish would be a tremendous accomplishment for him, and I bet he thinks so too.

Ladies - Sasha can be a threat for podium as she has proven at the last two Worlds. While I think Michelle is a "darker horse" for podium, she has lots of history to prove she has consistent competitive nerves. I think the fact that she has yet to compete this season works against her (of course due to injury, and recovering from injury) but if anyone might pull it off, I think it would be MK. I don't see Kimmy near the podium unless there are lots of melt downs. Maybe top 10 - but even that IMO might require a couple of melt downs.

Pairs - I would love to see I/B in the top 6, which I think is possible if 1) John can land a SBS triple jump cleanly (I can wish, can't I??) and 2) they land that amazing 3A. I don't see them on the podium, but could see them getting close. I'm not sure how high I'd rate H/P's chances (not podium - but maybe top 12 would be a stretch??), but I sure enjoy watching them skate.

Of course I hope B/A medal in dance. I know so little about dance, but one of the cool things about Nationals was seeing the clear difference between "World Class Medal Contenders" and "Very Good Dance."

2 cents and a sandwich..

DG

My half-prediction for the Olys, at least in ladies:

I DO NOT expect to see a lot of clean performances. I think there will be quite a few skaters that will give in to the pressure. In fact, I will go to say either no one will skate clean, or one skater will have the skate of her life to win in the FS.

Red Dog said:

My half-prediction for the Olys, at least in ladies:

I DO NOT expect to see a lot of clean performances. I think there will be quite a few skaters that will give in to the pressure. In fact, I will go to say either no one will skate clean, or one skater will have the skate of her life to win in the FS.

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I think most people expect lots of splats in the Olys. I don't want to get into the names but it is expected.

Joe

Joesitz said:

I think most people expect lots of splats in the Olys. I don't want to get into the names but it is expected.

Joe

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I don't agree with your opinion on what most people expect from the Olympics.
The optimistic people expect the skaters to go to the Olympics and all have a good skate and no splats.
The pessimistic people expect skaters (not mentioning her name) to go to the Olpmpics and have lots of splats.
May the optimistic people rule. I'm reformed, no more Rofl.

Millie - You're a hoot and a half and absolutedly correct about the Pessimists and the Optimists.

Joe

Seems it doesnt matter

I also think 1 skater is going to skate clean. The sad part is the skaters dont have to skate clean with COP. Stay on your feet. I dont think the skaters are being expected to skate well or clean and that makes for boring skating. The judges may be taken to task if 1 skater skates clean and the flawed skater gets the OGM. Now that will stir the pot. I do predict mistakes and 1 great skate and will laugh my head off watching the judges squirm trying to GIFT their predetermined winner whoever that is. Im not counting anyone out.