Pairs LPs (begining now!) | Page 4 | Golden Skate

Pairs LPs (begining now!)

Shmuzzy

On the Ice
Joined
Jan 20, 2005
Frau Muller said:
So that's it. Maybe the first of four golds for Russia, in figure skating? let's see. Can't wait to SEE this tonight...maybe NBC will show us more than 7 or 8 skates? Let's hope.

CBC showed 12 but that was probably because of the two Canadian pairs in the 2nd to last flight.
 

soogar

Record Breaker
Joined
Dec 18, 2003
Frau Muller said:
Oooo...gossipy stuff here....as Gwendal interviews T. Totmianina, she says: "Well, the Chinese were very aggresive in warm-up. Basically, they didn't allow us to warm up so maybe what happened was the result?" ooooo.......

I heard this with my own ears, boys & girls.

p.s. Here is the Eurosport transcript: Tatiana on her final contest: "I'm so happy, I was kind of tired tonight...... but happy, happy, happy."
22:55 THE DOUBLE-WORLD CHAMPIONS: Tatiana Totmianina and Maxim Maranin win their first Olympic gold on a personal best MARININ: "It was a great support for us and it gave us a little bit more power." TOTMIANINA: "They were very agressive on the warmup, they basically didn't let us warm-up normally, maybe they (unintelligible) so that's their decision."

You know what, everyone (including myself) jumped on Vassiliev for b!tching about big Zhang. But I just read the Second Mark, and I really think that perhaps the Chinese ARE very aggressive practice skaters. The Chinese teams have the biggest throws and twists of any couples. The guys just hurl the girls off into the throw. No doubt that with that kind of athleticism and the competitiveness of their coach, the Chinese are intimidating in practice.
 

Shmuzzy

On the Ice
Joined
Jan 20, 2005
Saundy said:
That was definitely one nasty fall. CBC kept showing the replay and I cringed every time. OUCH! I have newfound respect for them now. How anyone can finnish their program AND win a silver medal after that fall is beyond me...

VERY happy for S&Z. I had tears in my eyes when they finnished.

I'm happy for T&M, although I was secretly hoping someone would surpass them as they are not my favourite pairs team. Oh well. They worked hard and they deserve it.

I absolutely agree with everything you said!
 

Kwanford Wife

Record Breaker
Joined
Dec 29, 2004
soogar said:
You know what, everyone (including myself) jumped on Vassiliev for b!tching about big Zhang. But I just read the Second Mark, and I really think that perhaps the Chinese ARE very aggressive practice skaters. The Chinese teams have the biggest throws and twists of any couples. The guys just hurl the girls off into the throw. No doubt that with that kind of athleticism and the competitiveness of their coach, the Chinese are intimidating in practice.

Good point... But so happy for S&Z... I love this team and glad to see them on the podium.

As for Zhang's power split.... one word.... ouch!
 

Engwaciriel

On the Ice
Joined
Dec 27, 2005
Before today I didn't really dislike TT/MM, I just didn't like them..no that has changed. What a *****! She hugged Z/S but then she came to Dan (that is the girl, right?) and just shook her hand very cold..not to mention that comment about the fall. Show some sympathi! A shame really when he seems really nice, and actually has the ability to show emotions...

oh, wasn't aware that some words wouldn't show..well, anyway..
 

jan

On the Ice
Joined
Nov 21, 2004
I am very disappointed in the quality of the lifts tonight. What happened to "end to end lifts"? First through Fourth place teams had very weak lifts with poor footwork on the mans part!!!!! I was also disapointed with the speed of the programs. I think if we were to compare these programs to 2002 they would be very inferior in these departments
On the other hand the drama was amazing as usual.!!!
 

RemyRose

YOLO
Record Breaker
Joined
Dec 28, 2005
Country
United-States
I first want to say congrats to S&Z for winning the bronze. They are my favorite pair and I am so estatic by this comeback of theirs. :bow: And congrats to Z/Z for continuing on to win the silver. :) I would hate to be in P&T position though, talk about losing a medal by such a close margin.

Frau Muller said:
Well, they just played the Russian anthem for Dmitri Dorofeyev, who won 500K speed skating today. Announcer wonders: "Will they be re-playing the Russian anthem 45 minutes from now, for Pairs skating?"

Off topic: Russia only won 2 golds today, not 3. Dmitri did not win, someone else did, unless I am looking at the results wrong.
 

FrenchLady

Rinkside
Joined
Jan 26, 2005
I commend all the tremendous athletes that competed in the pairs competition. Many beautiful moments. My favorites today: T/M (in the class of their own except for their lifts), S/Z and S/S, D/D (loved their natural unison). Kudos to S/Z and Z/Z for skating in such difficult circumstances!

But I have to say something. I'm not totally comfortable with the effect that CoP is having so far on the discipline. I posted quite the same thoughts after World's last season. MAYBE it's growing pains, I don't know?? Yes there are some creativity and some very interesting things, but I still think the added difficulty and athlecisism are taking too much weight and the quality, the musicality and interpretation, the unison are suffering.

I agree about the lifts. I also noted that in MANY cases, the man doesn't finish the lift on one foot. Pairs have been increasing the level of difficulty of lifts (for example with changes of positions, one-arm take-offs and releasings, etc.) and the price to pay seems to be the lack of speed, stretch and control.

I see the advantages of CoP but I would like it to go under some significative changes.
 
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jan

On the Ice
Joined
Nov 21, 2004
I don't think that all of the pairs have been increasing the difficulty of their lifts. the gold medallists have very basic lifts....compare their lifts to Sale and Pelletier and you will see the difference.
 

rain

Record Breaker
Joined
Jul 29, 2003
FrenchLady said:
But I have to say something. I'm not totally comfortable with the effect that CoP is having so far on the discipline. I posted quite the same thoughts after World's last season. MAYBE it's growing pains, I don't know?? Yes there are some creativity and some very interesting things, but I still think the added difficulty and athlecisism are taking too much weight and the quality, the musicality and interpretation, the unison are suffering.

I agree about the lifts. I also noted that in MANY cases, the man doesn't finish the lift on one foot. Pairs have been increasing the level of difficulty of lifts (for example with changes of positions, one-arm take-offs and releasings, etc.) and the price to pay seems to be the lack of speed, stretch and control.

I see the advantages of CoP but I would like it to go under some significative changes.

I have to say I totally agree with this after watching the pairs today. It was full of drama, but IMO not full of memorable skates, which is something quite different.

T/M totally deserved to win, however, it may be the least memorable Olympic Gold skate in recent years, at least IMO. Don't get me wrong, it was skated well - it just lacked that certain something to make it great. This pair just never has learned to share a skate with the audience.

While I have the utmost respect for Z/Z and Shen/Z for competing under such difficult circumstances, I felt neither deserved to finish ahead of Pang/Tong - in spite of the fact that I don't love P/T's choreography or music choice. I simply felt they had the second best free skate here and deserved to finish on the second step of the podium.

I actually couldn't believe Obertas and Slavnov stayed in the top 10 with their dreadful skate. To put things in perspective, yes, I did see the top 10 - in fact between CBC and French CBC I saw the entire field. This team totally highlighted the weaknesses of COP in pairs right now. They skated horribly. There was no speed, no musicality, no grace, no precision with bad choreography. Almost every single element they did, they did badly. All of their lifts were terrible and looked as if they were about to come down at any minute. However, under COP they had shoved enough difficult elements in - no matter how badly they performed all of them - to pull out enough points to stay top 10. The overall mess that was the program didn't seem to matter enough. In my mind, both D/D and Zag/Sui did enough that they should have finished ahead.

On a less specific note, I found the clutter added to many of the elements in the quest for COP points to be extremely ugly. The many ladies who did the shoot-the-duck position going into the death spirals, for example. I can count on one hand the number of actually beautiful death spirals there were in this final. Pairs spins (not to mention the side by side spins) is another area that needs significant work by almost all of the teams.

What really got me was the lack of coherent programs I saw. Almost all of them were a series of elements with some music playing in the background. It significantly lessened by enjoyment of this competition.

On a positive note - yea to D/D for an impressive 10th place finish in their first significant senior international. This team has it all to move up quickly. I fully expect them to be top 5 in the coming years on a regular basis (many of the current top teams I expect to retire after this comp.)
 

Ninjagirl

Rinkside
Joined
Nov 17, 2003
I feel like Tanya but I also have no words - I'm just HAPPY, HAPPY, HAPPY!!!
It was wonderful for me to see T&M winning the gold. I have followed them for 4 years now (in fron of the TV and live) and I think they are amazing!

They skated fantastic and really deserved to win (even if I may not be objective). While some might be happy that T&M will quit now, I'm going to miss them. I think Tanya is really, really cool!! And Max is SO handsome!!
 

Shanti

On the Ice
Joined
Mar 26, 2005
Ninjagirl said:
I feel like Tanya but I also have no words - I'm just HAPPY, HAPPY, HAPPY!!!
It was wonderful for me to see T&M winning the gold. I have followed them for 4 years now (in fron of the TV and live) and I think they are amazing!

They skated fantastic and really deserved to win (even if I may not be objective). While some might be happy that T&M will quit now, I'm going to miss them. I think Tanya is really, really cool!! And Max is SO handsome!!

I agree with every word.

They will be loved, missed and remembered.
 

twm

Spectator
Joined
Jun 15, 2004
shameful for TT/MM's interviwe~~
zhangs did nothing to them ~~but she said that,what a shame~~

good for s/z,z/z and P/T~~they are so woundrful~~
 

SusanBeth

Final Flight
Joined
Jul 28, 2003
What an amazing performance from S/Z and Z/Z under extraordinary circumstances. However, I do worry that once people look back on Z/Z's actual performance, it's going to be scandal time again. It was indeed magnificient under the circumstances, but ummm not Silver and maybe not Bronze.
 

rain

Record Breaker
Joined
Jul 29, 2003
SusanBeth said:
What an amazing performance from S/Z and Z/Z under extraordinary circumstances. However, I do worry that once people look back on Z/Z's actual performance, it's going to be scandal time again. It was indeed magnificient under the circumstances, but ummm not Silver and maybe not Bronze.

See, yeah, this was what I thought. I was even surprised (not in a good way), as I mentioned in a previous post, that S/Z beat Pang/Tong who had a good performance. It seemed a sentimental, rather than justified decision.

With Z/Z — I think it's akin to the situation at Four Continents where Oda won the gold in mens despite a terrible fall that caused him to skate aimlessly around for a good portion of his program, though he managed to do some good elements to get points as well. Perhaps they need to spell out some kind of specific deduction for this kind of extraordinary occurance. That Z/Z won the silver medal does not particularly lend credibility to the sport.
 

Saundy

On the Ice
Joined
Dec 2, 2004
I thought at first that it would be stupid if they won a medal after that fall and having to restart, etc. But then I thought about it. They do get judged on the elements they did and the judges (while still taking a deduction for the fall) probably look at it as if they never fell.

Paul Martini said that they would probably get a 2.00 deduction. One for the fall and one for restarting the program. But I guess he was wrong because I could only see 1.00 deduction.

However, with that being said, I would still give them a medal (they deserved it), but it would have been bronze if it were me. S&Z, in my opinion, skated their program much better than Z&Z.

Oh well. All is confusion in the world of figure skating at times...maybe that's why I like it so much. At least there's no SLC type scandal this time...well for now...:p
 

jan

On the Ice
Joined
Nov 21, 2004
I just looked at zhang and Zhang's performance again and Now agree with the silver medal. Their lifts were more complex than the 2 other chinese pairs. As well her Dbl axel/triple toe gave them huge marks. ...remember a combo receives more marks than a sequence.
 

Dee4707

Ice Is Slippery - Alexie Yagudin
Record Breaker
Joined
Jul 28, 2003
Country
United-States
I just saw S&Z free skate and all I can say is in my mind they won the gold!!

It seemed like I&B went all out. I liked that.

Dee
 

cmego500

Rinkside
Joined
Mar 28, 2004
I just got done watching the LP and i must say for sure that the silver placed team shouldn't have gotten marks that high. They not only had that huge fall, but then she double footed the other throw and they were a little sketchy on some other elements. I truthfully would have given S/Z the silver medal because aside from a couple mistakes on the single jumps, they had a strong program overall.
 
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