In the end, I think the only ways to beat Yuna is 1) Yuna does really really bad and messes up BOTH her sp and LP or 2) A skater who can match with Yuna's speed and jumping height and better flexibility does a clean performance.
Because the audiences witnessed Yuna's incredible SP, no one that I knew or sat with (many of them were old skating fans) doubted Yuna's victory. All I heard was, "Oh she was fantastic last night, it is too bad she fell today."
I wonder how on earth will I watch Yuna's FS? it is the only one that is not up on youtube.
Hello All! I am writing this in Lake Placid.
I still can't believe that I watched Evan and Yuna live and GOT BOTH OF THEIR AUTOGRAPHS!!! WOO HOO!!!
Ok. Let's get to the point.
As I was going through the thread, I realized that many of you question whether Yuna's score was inflated and that whether she deserved to even win.
I attended Yuna's official practice sessions, and on Saturday, she fell twice or so. Everyone was worried that she was either in a bad condition or she couldn't get used to the ice. Luckily she pulled through 007, but she really fell hard during the LP.... I guess it was kinda predictable that she was not in her best condition. However, her sp was just incredible... she clearly separated herself from the other skaters. (Not to mention how beautiful she was with her long slim legs and arms... she would smile at the audience during the performance, and it was just breathtakingly pretty!) She is in a class of her own. You just have to see it youself to believe it.
Yes, Rachael did a very good job in her LP, but can her perfect program match with Yuna's clean performance? No, absolutely not.
Rachael is shorter than Yuna (or it seems), and she is much much
slower than Yuna. When she does her triples, she does not go into the jump with as much speed as Yuna, and also the jumping height cannot match with Yuna's either. Moreover, many people criticize Yuna's spiral for her "ugly" foot and leg position, but you really don't feel that way when you see it. Yuna's spiral was by far the most impressive spiral of the competition. It is FAST, and she literally covers the entire ice.... NO ONE at the competition did anything like that, and everyone was clapping and cheering Yuna with amazement. In comparison, Rachael's spiral looked even less flexible and
both Rachael and Suguri's spiral sequences are really slow. (I thought Suguri was gonna stop in the middle of the ice)
In the end, I think the only ways to beat Yuna is 1) Yuna does really really bad and messes up BOTH her sp and LP or 2) A skater who can match with Yuna's speed and jumping height and better flexibility does a clean performance.
Because the audiences witnessed Yuna's incredible SP, no one that I knew or sat with (many of them were old skating fans) doubted Yuna's victory. All I heard was, "Oh she was fantastic last night, it is too bad she fell today."
For some weird reason, the CoP does not want to acknowledge the difficulty in executing elements in both directions. It interfere's with their scoring system, yet John Curry when auditioning skaters for his shows insisted that the cast be able to spin both ways. So the diffiulty winds up in show skating - not in the Sport. You figure.
For some weird reason, the CoP does not want to acknowledge the difficulty in executing elements in both directions. It interfere's with their scoring system, yet John Curry when auditioning skaters for his shows insisted that the cast be able to spin both ways. So the diffiulty winds up in show skating - not in the Sport. You figure.
I only just now watched Rachael's LP -- what a great skte for her! She really showed well for herself in this compeition, her spark is starting to come through in these programs.
Does that spin not being counted mean that she'll be likely to change it? or could she have easily pulled it off without taking such a large step between. Is it too big a risk? I'm not a skater, so don't know - but to me it seems necessary to have some distance between to the 2 halves, if you're changing direction... Can someone in the know, fill me in on that?
I think it's an attractive element (when done competently), and would be a shame to see it go because of rigid COP rules, instead favouring yet another spin to look like all the rest...
That's interesting to hear about Curry's skating shows. It shouldn't surprise me. He based his skating on ballet, which believes in symmetry. Curry himself was a master of the spin in both directions, which you'll see in his Olympic long program.
.And I don't know how to double-quote