purplecat said:Very untrue. Kristi did clean free programs in the 1990 Skate America and 1989 Nationals. And she had many programs where she did not skate totally clean, but did not fall including the 1991 Worlds (single salchow, NOT a fall). Plus she almost always did a clean short program.
Now getting back to Sasha, I agree that the obsession with having her skate clean is overblown since the majority of skaters do not skate clean. After all the falls in the U.S. Ladies' free skates, I don't think we should be complaining that Sasha had two step outs. Congrats to Sasha! I think she did great!
Back then, three was only one req'd triple in the SP so that wasn't a hard program to skate clean. Heck, Nancy was great at skating SPs too. Either way, only Michelle has skated numerous perfect programs. No other skater can match this accomplishment. And before Michelle, no other skater was held to this standard. I never heard commentators gasp or Oh! after Kristi made a mistake and she has made her share of them. Whenever I watch Sasha skate, as soon as she does anything you can hear the winds sucking out of Dick and Peggy's sails. I would bet that in Sasha's mind as she competes, she probably "mentally hears" the gasps from Dick and Peggy when she makes a mistake b/c they've been doing it for so long.
For myself, I would rather see Sasha attack her free skate and pick up after a fall than skate so nervously and cautiously. Obviously it would be great if she can skate perfect, but ironically she has a better shot at skating perfect if she let go of the expectation of a medal or a perfect performance and just enjoyed her program.