Ladies LP

wonderlen3000 said:

Well let's hope Yuna retire after winning the OGM, so the rest of the world and figure skating can move on. I'm sick of hearing how great she is and don't want to see another Plusheko in ladies field. It's more exciting to watch when everyone is fighting for the gold.

At least next event will be exciting to watch.

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Or maybe the other ladies can step it up and then Yu-na won't be dominating any more. I'm sorry but Ando is perfectly capable of out jumping Yu-na. But she's inconsistent. And as for Mao, she's perfectly capable of beating Yu-na too. But I think Mao has made a series of some bad choices in the last few years. Like being part time coached by Tarasova, instead of having a strong technical coach guide her. Mao's issues remind me a lot of Kwans decision to go coachless in 2002.

And as for Rochette, she could help herself by actually landing the 3/3s she does in practice.

It was never Plushenko's fault that the other men couldn't get their freakin acts together. And I frankly don't enjoy seeing the rest of the men flounder around in the last four years. And it's not Yu-na Kim's fault right now that the rest of the women don't have THEIR acts together. Although Joannie was looking VERY strong in Japan.

Whether Yuna retires and evens the playing field, or the other ladies catch her up, I just want a good, close competition.

yangjie said:

kim yu-na, she always get high score not deserved to her performance.
do you guys really think her crazy high score is right?
is there anyone who questions her score?
is she so amazing so that she get the most highest score?

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It is a joke. Everybody in the skating world is worshipping her because they finally found somebody who the crazy idiosyncrasies of the CoP do not effect. Whatever she does, whatever rules she breaks the judges find a reason to have her win by unreal margins. Sure she deserved to win. Of course. She was pretty much 100% clean and nobody else was. Her programs are good, but where do the judges find 35 points worth that nobody else had. A world record with only 4 triples? What a joke.

I really don't know the other ladies even bother trying. Yu-a Kim (or shall I make a point of saying Kim Yu-na) will win the OGM and everything else even if she makes more botched elements than Sasha ever did in one program.

R.D. said:

Whether Yuna retires and evens the playing field, or the other ladies catch her up, I just want a good, close competition.

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Well that all depends if by Olympics time, the judges decide to sort of level the playing field.

Remember how Slutskaya had a pretty good lead on her competitors in the year leading up to the Olympics?

Also, the more important question for me is why Mao has fallen out of the judges' favor? Has her skating deteriorated a lot? Thing is, I really believe that Mao is the only one that could catch up to Yuna and make ti a close competition. Joannie and Miki won't make it.

krenseby said:

Also, the more important question for me is why Mao has fallen out of the judges' favor?

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Or maybe her fall is related to recent rule changes before this season?

wonderlen3000 said:

Well let's hope Yuna retire after winning the OGM, so the rest of the world and figure skating can move on. I'm sick of hearing how great she is and don't want to see another Plusheko in ladies field. It's more exciting to watch when everyone is fighting for the gold.

At least next event will be exciting to watch.

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I think it is great when an athlete perform very well - close to excellent. It is even better when multiple athletes perform close to excellent.

A bunch performing mediocre, but close to each other in performance makes me want to move to a new sport.

Tinymavy15 said:

It is a joke. Everybody in the skating world is worshipping her because they finally found somebody who the crazy idiosyncrasies of the CoP do not effect. Whatever she does, whatever rules she breaks the judges find a reason to have her win by unreal margins. Sure she deserved to win. Of course. She was pretty much 100% clean and nobody else was. Her programs are good, but where do the judges find 35 points worth that nobody else had. A world record with only 4 triples? What a joke.

I really don't know the other ladies even bother trying. Yu-a Kim (or shall I make a point of saying Kim Yu-na) will win the OGM and everything else even if she makes more botched elements than Sasha ever did in one program.

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The rule is the rule, its same to everyone. Kim's team did a good job to max her base value by understanding the rule. For example, last season her got "!" marks on her filp several times, so they decided to change to lutz comb to earn more points and do the solo filp because with the solo jump, she can hold the blade into the inside edge better than in the comb and it works. That is what a coach and cheo should do in my opinion, understand the rule and doing their best to max their skaters value with what they can do. It is not Kim's team's fault to understanding how the system works.

By the way, Kim landed 5 triples not 4, 2Lutz, 2Toes and the Sal with 3 combinations, she missed filp.

krenseby said:

Also, the more important question for me is why Mao has fallen out of the judges' favor? Has her skating deteriorated a lot?

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A great question that Tat and Mao should be asking. Maybe they are spending so much time on the 3x that time spent on other elements isn't sufficient.

Ptolemy said:

A bunch performing mediocre, but close to each other in performance makes me want to move to a new sport.

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I agree. Even thinking about it makes me gloomy. :no:
I'll still cheer for the skaters and stick to the sport, but it won't thrill me as much.

woshisunnya said:

The rule is the rule, its same to everyone. Kim's team did a good job to max her base value by understanding the rule. For example, last season her got "!" marks on her filp several times, so they decided to change to lutz comb to earn more points and do the solo filp because with the solo jump, she can hold the blade into the inside edge better than in the comb and it works.

By the way, Kim landed 5 triples not 4, 2Lutz, 2Toes and the Sal with 3 combinations, she missed filp.

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Or she can just skip the flip altogether. after all, why bother? She already did her precious combo that places the judges in the palm of her hand. Funny she would never think of "skipping" a flip last year when she had that triple toe to do.
Okay fine, 5 triples. There are skaters out there doing 7. and all those people saying how unfair it was that Mao was winning without doing all 6-7 different triples in her program. Lutz, Toe sal....hmmmm. that is three. and two of them are the easiest ones in the book.

Tinymavy15 said:

Or she can just skip the flip altogether. after all, why bother? She already did her precious combo that places the judges in the palm of her hand. Funny she would never think of "skipping" a flip last year when she had that triple toe to do.
Okay fine, 5 triples. There are skaters out there doing 7. and all those people saying how unfair it was that Mao was winning without doing all 6-7 different triples in her program. Lutz, Toe sal....hmmmm. that is three. and two of them are the easiest ones in the book.

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Good grief, sour much? Yuna already said that the reason she didn't jump was because she felt her body shake and something wasn't quite right, so she decided it would be better to forgo the jump rather than do it and fall (smart choice, IMHO. maybe it seems cowardly or calculating to you, but if she felt something wrong then that's what she felt, no one can gainsay that).
And more importantly, is it Yuna's fault that the judges are giving her the scores that she gets? If you're that riled up about it go ask the judges, they're the ones dishing out the numbers.

Interesting that those incredibly easy jumps Yuna is doing also happen to be the ones that Mao often has trouble with (a few commentators had difficulty distinguishing her lutz from her flip, I recall - while her loop isn't exactly scraping in those GOEs).

And since when did the number of triples become the absolute and only standard of the difficulty of a skater's program? I don't see a whole bunch of skaters out there doing 2A-2T-2L combos, do you?! Since when did fans become so fixated on the number of difficult jumps and the number of revolutions in a jump that they began to ignore the cohesion and intricacy of the program itself altogether?

Originally Posted by Ptolemy View Post
A bunch performing mediocre, but close to each other in performance makes me want to move to a new sport.

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I, too, agree. I remember feeling bored watching Pro-tennis when Roger Federer was really dominant during 2006-2007. I'm not an avid swimming fan, but I suspect the same with Michael Phelps dominance.

Anyway, here's my dream wish list for Mao, so we don't get "bored" with figure skating:

1. Ditch TAT;
2. Burn all 6 hideous costumes she got outfitted for this season - she can afford it!
3. Hire a full-time coach who can dedicate his/her time for Mao, ideally someone she can trust, Arturian(?);
4. SP: Heck with the notion that Caprice does not work for SP per TAT. Go for Caprice. It's much more upbeat and suited to Mao;
5. LP: Hire Lori Nicols for choreography and come with light and happy music choice together. Mao should have her own input.
6. Spend next 2 1/2 months abroad to work on her new LP. No media interviews - that's why staying abroad is better.
7. Don't worry about GPF; focus on the Japanese National for the new program unbail.
Sigh - if it's only this easy...

Or she can just skip the flip altogether. after all, why bother? She already did her precious combo that places the judges in the palm of her hand. Funny she would never think of "skipping" a flip last year when she had that triple toe to do.
Okay fine, 5 triples. There are skaters out there doing 7. and all those people saying how unfair it was that Mao was winning without doing all 6-7 different triples in her program. Lutz, Toe sal....hmmmm. that is three. and two of them are the easiest ones in the book.
__________________

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Oh please. I saw Yu-na's interview on NBC afterwards and she sounded upset about missing the 3flip and rather shaken by it. It was not intentional on her part. She thought she saw something on the ground and it threw off her timing. She also did land a gorgeous 3flip in her short program, so she did do 4 kinds of triples at this competition.

and may I point out too that Kim did one of her 3toes in combination with a 3 lutz and the other with a double axel. A 3toe may be an easy jump on it's own but it's not easy in combination with another triple or a double axel.

Neverending vicious cycle.

Low score, blame the judge.
High score, blame the judge.

Tinymavy15 said:

Or she can just skip the flip altogether. after all, why bother? She already did her precious combo that places the judges in the palm of her hand. Funny she would never think of "skipping" a flip last year when she had that triple toe to do.

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What a funny sarcasm

Tinymavy15 said:

It is a joke. Everybody in the skating world is worshipping her because they finally found somebody who the crazy idiosyncrasies of the CoP do not effect. Whatever she does, whatever rules she breaks the judges find a reason to have her win by unreal margins. Sure she deserved to win. Of course. She was pretty much 100% clean and nobody else was. Her programs are good, but where do the judges find 35 points worth that nobody else had. A world record with only 4 triples? What a joke.

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Yeah, I actually laughed when I first saw the 133.whatever they gave Yuna at TEB. I was like come ON! She was good but not THAT good! She skipped a jump for crying out loud. that set of performances was worth a world record? get out of here

I really don't know the other ladies even bother trying. Yu-a Kim (or shall I make a point of saying Kim Yu-na) will win the OGM and everything else...[snip]

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If she does, at least, that may be it for her. I don't think the Korean mob will make it possible for her to continue on after that. :chorus:

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US Nationals is going to be the most exciting comp this year IMHO- the US ladies field has not been this competitive since I can remember.

Then again, Cohen might show up and pull a Yuna Kim in the short.

kandidy said:

Neverending vicious cycle.

Low score, blame the judge.
High score, blame the judge.

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Maybe we should start blaming Cinquanta?

ehdtkqorl123 said:

Maybe we should start blaming Cinquanta?

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And of course, there is always good ol' NJS to beat.

while i can understand the mentality that it is more "exciting" to watch a ball game if it is a close match vs. the winning team running away with it by a huge margin, i don't understand all the complaining about yuna and comments that almost seem like they want her to just go away/retire, etc.

if yuna had not skated in this competition, and mao had won the gold with her mediocre skate, would that had made it a much better TEB? just because of the suspense, "oh who will win the gold?" i don't think so.

figure skating is an individually competitive sport, so it's different from a team-team match. this is not a game of hot-potato where everybody who shows up should get a chance to be "it" just to be fair and make the game more fun or exciting.

and since somebody previously used the example of michael phelps, i would say every sport should be so lucky to have a michael phelps or a tiger woods. they show the excellence that could be accomplished within that sport and what boundaries can be pushed, and they elevate the bar for the rest of the athletes who compete against/with them. even people who normally would not be interested in that particular sport take notice. they also become examples that little boys and girls can look up to and dream about while they practice, to someday be a great athlete too. now i don't know if yuna can be held up to the status of a michael phelps or tiger woods yet at this point (she can still improve much more), but i don't think it's right as a fan of figure skating to think she should just go away and retire so everybody else can have a chance at winning a gold medal and we can be more entertained.

when i used to work as a graphic designer and was involved in design competitions, nobody looked at the best design that won and was like, "what!! how disgusting that this design is so much better than the other ones that it won the award. next time this designer should not submit an entry so somebody else can win this award." of course not! the excellent design is that much more admired, the talent is appreciated, and everybody goes home inspired to be more creative and come up with even better ideas!

It sounds like some of you don't like Yu-na or are actually blaming her for the high scores she receives. What's she supposed to do, go to the judges and say, "Hey, don't inflate my scores, OK?"

And remember guys, unlike us who can say or post whatever we want without being responsible for pretty much anything, these are professional people who get paid to do their job right. Do you think they have some kind of a meeting before a compeition and go "Let's give Yu-na more points tonight"?

If you really think that the judges are that biased and unfair, I suggest not watching figure skating at all because it's only going to frustrate you.

One more thing. I saw a few pages back that some of you are still going, "Oh Michelle, we miss you Michelle... There's not going to be another skater like you, Michelle~~." I don't know how some of you will take this, but honestly, if Michelle in her prime were to compete against Mao and Yu-na in their primes, MK wouldn't even stand a chance.