I'm sure she's allowed to petition, but I doubt that they'd send her. In Michelle's case, she'd won Nationals 8 years in a row before the Olympic season (and was the 2nd-highest placing skater at World's the season immediately preceding the Olympics), whereas Sasha hasn't even been skating (competitively, at least).Originally Posted by silverlake22
Michelle was off the podium at Worlds in 2005.
So Alissa could win Nationals and make the olympic team!
Yeah I suppose it could. It might mean though if Ashley were to come in say third, she might be sent instead of the number 2 finisher because she competed better internationally and went to the Grand Prix Final.
Another situation I could see this happening would be if say Mirai beat Alissa at nats by a very small margin, but say Alissa medaled at SC and Mirai bombed, the judges could end up sending Alissa by arguing her 4th place finish in Russia and podium finish at SC make her more deserving of the spot than Mirai who had a 5th place finish in China and a bad finish at SC where she competed against Czisny, considering the close finish at nats.
I don't think the reverse would be true, say if Alissa or Kimmie or Sasha beat out someone like Caroline or Mirai by a small margin, but Caroline or Mirai had competed better internationally, I think they'd send the 2nd place veteran finisher at nats because they want a "woman" and not a "teenager" to represent the US in the Olympics and would tell the youngsters to try again in 4 years. I think that's stupid though, because maybe the young skaters don't want to wait four years and would rather have a normal life, the best skater should go to the Olympics regardless of her age, amount of time she's been competing, and what she looks like. That's just MPO though
Perhaps, but I don't think anyone has successfully defended a US title since Kwan left...if others caved under the pressure certainly someone like Czisny wouldn't be the exception...So Alissa could win Nationals and make the olympic team!
I never said that she was on the podium. My reference to 2005 Worlds was to shed light on why they had more reason to send Michelle to Torino (2nd-highest placing US Lady in the previous Worlds) than they do to send Sasha to Vancouver (absent in the past 3 Worlds).
Back on to the original topic; with the Skate America scores; does this mean that, since Rachael was unable to defeat Yu Na overall that Alena is a lock together with Yu Na and Miki? Only Ashley could potentially be kicked out of the final by Caroline or Alissa?
Ashley is in the Final unless 3 girls move above her. In order for that to happen, 3 things must all take place.
1) Caroline or Alissa win.
2) Joannie comes in second with more total points than Ashley.
3) Akiko finishes higher than 5th.
^^Exactly! I knew that! I guess I'm finally starting to understand the system :D.
I'm pretty sure Ashley is in...I bet Joannie will win. But I thought Ashley and Alena Leonova were tied for points right now?
^^They are; but the tiebreaker for them is the combined score; Alena is ahead of Ashley by less than a point.
Oh I see, that's ok, I like Ashley but Alena Lenova is adorable. She reminds me of a young Irina Slutskaya and I love her upbeat music. She is the only skater who uses that kind of music in her program.
It's weird to think that Rachael probably won't be at the final after her great performance at SA and that Mao definitely will not be at the GPF. I just realized that Mao may not even go to the Olympics...I bet she will, but she, Miki, Akiko, Yukari, and Fumie will all be going head to head at Japanese nationals and anything could happen. I bet it will be Miki, Mao, and Akiko but who knows. The Japanese ladies sure have interesting costumes this year though....between Mao's vampire dress, Miki's cleopatra dress, Fumie's clown dress, and Akiko's jacket outfit. Always keeps me entertained
I think Asada is Japan's best chance at an OGM (or OM in general). IMO it would be a mistake on their part not to send her even with her recent struggles. Ando could do it also but she's also been very underwhelming so far. But I think her scores are higher than they should have been.
I think the math ensures an American lady in the GPF. Whether it is Wagner or not remains to be seen, but she tweeted that she has to keep training for "the possibility" of going.
^^^^
Well, we will know the whole story by the end of this weekend.
Japan definitely has to send Asada to Vancouver. There would be riots in the streets if they didn't (okay, that's a bit of exaggeration). Of all the Japanese skaters, Mao has the potential to score the most. Ando may be underwhelming so far but I would never count her out. She might just be working to peak during the Olympics.
As for Ashely, I think it's mostly a question of which American will go. Joannie and Suzuki will most likely go. So probably the only ones who can really knock off Ashely is Alissa and Caroline and they would need to win SC. Which is not going to be easy. There is a tiny chance that Asada can get it in... for that to happen the results would have to look something like this in SC:
1. Lacoste
2. McCorkell
3. Hecken
4. Helgesson
5. Phaneuf
6. Zhang
7. Cizny
8. Lepisto
9. Nagasu
10. Rochette
11. Suzuki
Which is near impossible!
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