"Sasha Cohen expects US figure skaters to flop in Vancouver"

[Tinymavy15]

Studying is great - but maybe the other girls are practicing and working on their posture instead of being hunched over a book a week before the biggest competition of their lives.
For Rachael to win a medal it seems we would have to see a bad competition full of mistakes.

I would rather see the best skaters perform well and if that means Rachael only finished 5-8 so be it.
If the judging has any semblance of fairness I would not be surprised if Mirai finished ahead of Rachael.

I am begining to think that Racheal return to Colorado is for her skating as much as her studies. Official practices for the ladies don't start for a while yet, and finding sufficient time to train on ice my be difficult in Vancouver. Sure there are rinks in the area, but with dozens of top skaters descending on the area finding quiet ice time can't be easy. At least she showed up for opening ceremonies unlike the asian girls.

[dewey]

The link at the beginning takes you to to a snippet taken from her interview with People. The writer at the link is picking and choosing her words, then twisting them to be more inflammatory than they really were.

http://http://www.people.com/people/...342694,00.html

I disagree with Sasha that the US girls are "hit or miss", and I think they have more international experience than she gives them credit for, but the person who swiped her quotes and posted them on the UK site is just a jerk.

[Mrs. P]

I am begining to think that Racheal return to Colorado is for her skating as much as her studies. Official practices for the ladies don't start for a while yet, and finding sufficient time to train on ice my be difficult in Vancouver. Sure there are rinks in the area, but with dozens of top skaters descending on the area finding quiet ice time can't be easy. At least she showed up for opening ceremonies unlike the asian girls.

I agree.

Did anyone catch Liz Manley's comments during the Figure Skating Review on Universal Sports this morning? She mentioned that one thing that really helped her in the Olympics was the ability to go home after the Opening Ceremonies and return before the ladies competition. She noted that she had great benefit from "sleeping in her own bed" and "keeping her regular training routine."

So perhaps this will benefit Mirai and Rachael as well.

[mskater93]

I am no expert -- far from it -- but from the videos I have looked at, it appears that the problem is that she reaches down for the ice with her toe-pick before completing the rotation, then she gets caught for underrotation. Skaters with more solid technique seem to be able to let the ice come up to meet them, or something like that (?)

That's a very good assessment of Nagasu's under-rotation issues. The interesting thing related to it is that one of my coaches worked with Frank C for a while and Frank's jumping philosophy is that you let the ice come up to meet your skate as opposed to reaching for the skate with your skating foot. So, Frank and Mirai are a good match once she gets this concept. I know this about his philosophy since my coach keeps coming back to it with me when I don't let things float. He's trying to get me to finish jumps as if I were "opening a parachute" (again, something he learned in CA).