How will Joannie Rochette skate from now on?

623 · Dec 5, 2009

It looks that so far Joannie did not live up to our (and perhaps her own, too) hopes. When she had problems in China I really believed that it was not going to affect her other perfomances as she herself stated that it was good that bad skates happened at the Cup of China and not later in the season. But except for her short programme in Canada she seems to be not able to handle the pressure. This is surprising to me since I though that she learned how to deal with pressure last season. After all, much was expected from her at the Four Continents Championships and the Worlds and she delivered.

And she looked so promising at the Japan Open. I really thought at the time that she was going to win two Grand Prix events and finish on the podium at the Grand Prix Final. And now she did not even manage to earn 100 points for her free skate.

It is a great pity since in my opinion her short programme is the best of all her short programmes and her free skate is the best of all her free skates, too. But she needs to land her jumps in order for people to appreciate her programmes.

I know it is difficult for Canadian skaters to live up to their potential with all those expectations placed on their shoulders. But I cannot help wondering: if Joannie is not able to skate clean at relatively insignificant (compared to the Olympics) Grand Prix competitions, will she be able to deliver in February when the pressure will be much much greater than it is now?

silverlake22 · Dec 5, 2009

I don't know. I certainly hope so, but maybe we just have to come to accept that she's a good but inconsistent skater, like Carolina Kostner and Alissa Czisny. The question about will any of these skaters deliver when it matters most is up in the air. We can speculate, but we don't know for sure.

Joannie is very physically strong which helps prevent her from complete implosion, but she still seems to struggle quite a bit during her long programs. If she can just rely on her strength and technique, she should be fine, but maybe she struggles with nerves and anxiety like Alissa does. I really hope she delivers in Vancouver, but that being said, I highly doubt she'll "bomb"

prettykeys · Dec 5, 2009

It's hard to say.

Her SP is so-so to me but her LP is one of my favourite of the ladies this season. I would love for her to skate well at the Oly's but I cannot say for sure. She didn't have the best performance at CoC and at the GPF I thought she looked tired; it also could not have helped for her to be the one to skate after Akiko's standing-ovation performance in the Long!

Then again, she may feel much more at home in Vancouver and the jet lag for her should be less than compared to Tokyo. I'm hoping for a repeat like her Japan Open performance in the LP...or better!

janetfan · Dec 5, 2009

silverlake22 said:
I don't know. I certainly hope so, but maybe we just have to come to accept that she's a good but inconsistent skater, like Carolina Kostner and Alissa Czisny. The question about will any of these skaters deliver when it matters most is up in the air. We can speculate, but we don't know for sure.

Joannie is very physically strong which helps prevent her from complete implosion, but she still seems to struggle quite a bit during her long programs. If she can just rely on her strength and technique, she should be fine, but maybe she struggles with nerves and anxiety like Alissa does. I really hope she delivers in Vancouver, but that being said, I highly doubt she'll "bomb"

Joannie has many great qualities that can help here when she is missing her jumps.

But last year at Worlds was her best performance and one she has not lived up to this season.

If she doesn't skate better in Vancouver the most she can hope for is a top 6 finish which would be similar to how she did at Torino.

She is capable of much more and I hope she delivers two fine programs in Vancouver.

R.D. · Dec 5, 2009

It depends on her mindset. Like Yuna- will she let the mistakes get into her head and mess her up, or will she use it as motivation, fuel to perform her best when it counts most?

I believe for her, she has Canadian nationals to straighten things out before Olys.

i love to skate · Dec 5, 2009

I knew it wouldn't take long for a thread to open up about this :laugh:

Everyone is going to completely count her out now and I love that! Have any of the ladies this season skated up to their capabilities?? I don't think so, so I hardly think Joannie should be labelled "inconsistent".

R.D. · Dec 5, 2009

i love to skate said:
I knew it wouldn't take long for a thread to open up about this Everyone is going to completely count her out now...

<-- Except for this guy.

i love to skate · Dec 5, 2009

R.D. said:
<-- Except for this guy.

I'm glad I'm not the only one :agree:

623 · Dec 5, 2009

i love to skate said:
I knew it wouldn't take long for a thread to open up about this Everyone is going to completely count her out now and I love that! Have any of the ladies this season skated up to their capabilities?? I don't think so, so I hardly think Joannie should be labelled "inconsistent".

I an very sorry if I offended you. I have started this thread because of my great disappointment since it looked that she was going to be so good at the beginning of the season. And while Miki and Yuna were inconsistent, they did not score 95 for their free skate at any of their events (Mao is a different story).

But I do agree with R. D. that Joannie might skate well at the Nationals and get the confidence boost. I think that going into the Olympics it is important to for one's confidence to remember their last performance as a successful one. That why I thought that it was very important for Yuna to land her flip in the free skate at the Grand Prix Final - now in Fenruary she may think 'Yes, I had problems with my flip. but in the end I landed it when it counted, so there is no reason why I cannot land it at the Olympics'.

I want Joannie to perform well at the Canadian Nationals so she can think 'Yes, my Grand Prix season was very bad, but I skated great at the Nationals so I can skate great at the Olympics. too'.

After the disappointment in Torino, she worked so hard to get her Worlds medal and to get to the Olympic podium. I remember an interview with her in 2007 where she was talking about it. I do not want her effort to be in vain. That is all.

i love to skate · Dec 5, 2009

623 said:
I an very sorry if I offended you. I have started this thread because of my great disappointment since it looked that she was going to be so good at the beginning of the season. And while Miki and Yuna were inconsistent, they did not score 95 for their free skate at any of their events (Mao is a different story).

But I do agree with R. D. that Joannie might skate well at the Nationals and get the confidence boost. I think that going into the Olympics it is important to for one's confidence to remember their last performance as a successful one. That why I thought that it was very important for Yuna to land her flip in the free skate at the Grand Prix Final - now in Fenruary she may think 'Yes, I had problems with my flip. but in the end I landed it when it counted, so there is no reason why I cannot land it at the Olympics'.

I want Joannie to perform well at the Canadian Nationals so she can think 'Yes, my Grand Prix season was very bad, but I skated great at the Nationals so I can skate great at the Olympics. too'.

After the disappointment in Torino, she worked so hard to get her Worlds medal and to get to the Olympic podium. I remember an interview with her in 2007 where she was talking about it. I do not want her effort to be in vain. That is all.

I'm not offended, I just knew as soon as she finished her long program that people were going to be questioning her, wondering if she has what it takes, etc. They may not have scored 95 but YuNa won this event with only four triples - not that consistent if you ask me. I just think ALL of the ladies have been inconsistent. Joannie does better when she is an underdog though so I have no problem with people counting her out.

She will be fine....she is a fighter. She didn't skate well at last year's GPF either and then came back to skate this program at Canadians - where she also had a disatarous short program and was in second:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9uTvFa396g

BTW, Torino wasn't a disappointment at all. She was 11th at the previous Worlds and did darn fine to finish 5th at her first Olympics. She also landed the most triples in that long program than any other lady in the top 10!

623 · Dec 5, 2009

i love to skate said:
BTW, Torino wasn't a disappointment at all. She was 11th at the previous Worlds and did darn fine to finish 5th at her first Olympics. She also landed the most triples in that long program than any other lady in the top 10!

You are right. I do not think that being 5th at the Olympics is a bad result. In fact it is a great accomplishment. I wrote that it was a disappointment because I read somewhere her words saying that she was apparently very disappointment with her short programme in Torino (maybe she was aiming at medal there). I thought that she was being very hard on herself because I saw her short programme and it was not that bad at all, but the way she was talking about her short programme suggested great regret and disappointment on her part.

R.D. · Dec 5, 2009

i love to skate said:
I'm glad I'm not the only one :agree:

Yes, I have her and Ando as the potential dark horses at the Olympics (as of now, this could change later). I think Ando is more likely than Rochette to pull out the stops but I do think the latter is in a better position than say, Rachel Flatt or Akiko Suzuki. But Rochette is showing signs of her previous inconsistency again.

The Gold is still Kim's to lose. But Silver and Bronze are wide open, I feel...everyone's been very inconsistent and those two medals could be anyone's at this point...

janetfan · Dec 5, 2009

R.D. said:
Yes, I have her and Ando as the potential dark horses at the Olympics (as of now, this could change later). I think Ando is more likely than Rochette to pull out the stops but I do think the latter is in a better position than say, Rachel Flatt or Akiko Suzuki. But Rochette is showing signs of her previous inconsistency again.

The Gold is still Kim's to lose. But Silver and Bronze are wide open, I feel...everyone's been very inconsistent and those two medals could be anyone's at this point...

What about Mao? We have no idea how her practices have been going.

I think Yuna and Joannie's recent performances bring Mao back into the equation.

Maybe Mao even changed her music - but is keeping it secret

And wasn't there a report that someone was seen at Lake Arrowhead landing 3x3's recently? Or maybe that was Sasha :laugh:

R.D. · Dec 5, 2009

janetfan said:
What about Mao? We have no idea how her practices have been going.

I think Yuna and Joannie's recent performances bring Mao back into the equation.

Maybe Mao even changed her music - but is keeping it secret

I left her out but yes, I still consider Asada a favorite. Just because of what she's capable of. However, if she continues to struggle, she could very well be leaving Vancouver without an OM.

And wasn't there a report that someone was seen at Lake Arrowhead landing 3x3's recently? Or maybe that was Sasha

It might be Kostner.

623 · Dec 5, 2009

http://www.ctvolympics.ca/worldcupwatch/sport=fs/newsid=21569.html?cid=PULSE_TW

This is an article in which Joannie discusses her skate at the Grand Prix Final.
She says it is not because of jet lag.
You can also see some nice pictures of Joannie. I like the third and forth ones best.

prettykeys · Dec 5, 2009

623 said:
http://www.ctvolympics.ca/worldcupwatch/sport=fs/newsid=21569.html?cid=PULSE_TW

This is an article in which Joannie discusses her skate at the Grand Prix Final.
She says it is not because of jet lag.
You can also see some nice pictures of Joannie. I like the third and forth ones best.

I love the last picture best.

i love to skate said:
"She's not quite sure what went wrong. Perhaps she didn't get enough training time because she competed only two weeks ago at Skate Canada, she said."

OMG, stop making excuses, Joannie!

silverlake22 · Dec 5, 2009

I like all the pictures. She's so muscular but still looks very feminine. I wonder if she was a gymnast in her past life....I noticed at SC that Amelie Lacoste and Cynthia Phanuef are also very muscular. Maybe the Canadians just train harder:agree:

Wicked · Dec 5, 2009

Well, if you're going to have a bomb skate better now than at Olys. I'm hoping she's done her bombing for the season and it'll be all great skating from here on. At least no one will argue she's peaking too early!

Ladskater · Dec 6, 2009

Oh my, I am not giving up on Joannie. Remember Elizabeth Manley at the Calgary Olympics? No one even considered Liz to have a podium finish going into the Olympics, but she did - Silver. I think Joannie has enough spirit in her to do the same. Besides, it's better Joannie did not leave her best skate at the Grand Prix final. She still has enough time to prepare for the Olympics.

How will Joannie Rochette skate from now on?

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