Ladies' LP

[jiggs]

That's what it sounded like to me. I don't understand that. I can't believe she didn't think about all of Frank's skaters results and know that a lot of that success is that they do full runthroughs every practice.



I went to Frank after she split with her coach for awhile but it sounds like the commentators were saying she left because Frank made her aware that if she was going to be with him then she will be doing full runthroughs. That is mandatory with Frank.

That is simply not true. The reason she left Frank was that they BOTH decided together that he couldn't spend enough time with her. Christa went to Euros with her, it worked out well and they decided it would be best if Christa takes care of her full time. Frank is still on the team, but in the background. He is a wise man and knows when to step back. It has nothing to do with her not wanting to do full runthroughs (because in fact, she does. I have seen her practice full runthroughs loads of times - she just didn't do them here in Vancouver). Some people make her sound as if she was a lazy skater, which is simply not true.

[Bennett]

I just watched it!

Akiko What a joy to watch! A little mistakes, but she performed from the heart! I am glad that she moved the audience! That's what she wanted!

Lepisto What a strange incident with the music! Wow! But she did it well! It was by far the best performance of hers I have ever seen! She looks very skinny, BTW.

Caro Beautiful program and beautiful costume! I loved it! I am sorry about the jumps. But supportive audience. She is very graceful and beautiful to watch. Great speed as always.

Rachael I didn't see any URs real time. I don't think that she rotated any less than she did at SP or at her nationals.
Aside from that, it was a great performance. I don't quite see why people put down on her presentation. Her posture, stretch, and spin positions could have been better. But other than that, she is great. She also had great speed, too.

Miki The major issue was the speed. But wonderful height in her jumps. Her second jump tends to be higher than the first one. That's what I like. Some might have been a little URed. It was a good performance to watch and I can watch it more than twice. But I think that she would do better with stronger, faster music. I wonder if she is losing her stamina lately. She always had some speed issue throughout the season. But it was a very decent, respectable performance for the Olympics. I didn't think that the emerald green is her color. Her makeup is not good much. But I like the darker face and darker body suit. She looks nice with tanned skin.

Yuna What can I say. She was Miss perfect at this Olympics. It was the first time that I saw her go clean in both programs. The program is not the most interesting one in the world. Her SP is a lot more memorable. But the quality of jumps and speed were simply fantastic. I especially liked her last lutz. It took off at the top speed and really great in quality.

Mao Both 3As were very high and and big. The first one was particularly impressive. She looks so much more secure with these jumps than she was at 4cc. I wish she had gotten better GOE on these though. Her performance was great in quality and I don't necessarily agree with the low TR score. She did omitt some TR but not that much. I am really sorry about the two mistakes. Her flip has not been going well lately. The toe loop seems to have been affected by that mistake. But great step sequence. I was really sorry to see her cry and so sad at the medal ceremony. Silver is actually a great accomplishment and three 3As that few people expected that she would really land. Yet, I am sorry that she couldn't deliver the kind of performance that she wanted.

Rochette I am amazed that she put herself together. She did make mistakes. But she was a lot faster than Miki. So I am fine with her going higher than Miki. Mirai might have deserved the podium if she were more established in her career and if this were not Canada.

Mirai I am kind of surprised that she didn't get any UR calls. What's the differences from the nationals???? She is such a joy to watch!!! Her skating was among the fastest of all and everything she does is so beautiful and refreshing. She certainly deserves better PCS. Hope she builds up her career and get the OGM next time!!! How cute she is. I am glad that she got 4th place.

[hurrah]

I am just abhorring the scoring at this event. I mean honestly..... 9th in the mens...??????????? Either the scale and judgements should be absolute or toss it out the window right now.....

Yuna deserves gold medal for what she did, the judges deserve to be put through the wringer.

The only reason why this didn't turn out to be a judging scandal was because Yuna herself went out there and put on a performance that deserves gold. The judges were there to make sure that even if she put on a mediocre performance, she was still going to get gold.

[screech]

I am just abhorring the scoring at this event. I mean honestly..... 9th in the mens...??????????? Either the scale and judgements should be absolute or toss it out the window right now.....

Don't forget, most of the men took part in a major splatfest. So she would have been 9th in this event, but in any other event, maybe not so much.

[museksk8r]

Yeah, their coverage was just atrocious.

I have a huge problem with them only showing 9 of the skaters, though, and then not even showing all the good ones at that. Why on Earth were we subjected to some crappy Australian skater (in both the SP and LP)? It's not like she had some special story. Leonova, Lepisto, and Suzuki were all cut out for no reason at all.

Totally agree! I honestly think this was the worst coverage of the ladies' LP EVER in recent Olympic history since I've been closely following the sport since the Albertville 1992 Olympics. I mean, seriously, they only showed 1 skater (Elene G.) from that strong penultimate group. In total, all we got was Tugba, Cynthia, Cheltzie, Elene, Rachael, Miki, Yu-Na, Mao, Joannie, and Mirai. I'm so .

[Sk8n Mama]

The judges were there to make sure that even if she put on a mediocre performance, she was still going to get gold.

That's a pretty bold statement considering Yu-Na skated two clean, sparkling performances worthy of gold. On what are you basing that judgement?

[hurrah]

That's a pretty bold statement considering Yu-Na skated two clean, sparkling performances worthy of gold. On what are you basing that judgement?

Funny how you edited out the first two lines:

Yuna deserves gold medal for what she did, the judges deserve to be put through the wringer.

The only reason why this didn't turn out to be a judging scandal was because Yuna herself went out there and put on a performance that deserves gold.

[sorcerer]

Congratulations to the medalists !!!
YuNa was such a perfection ... simply incredible.
Mao, be proud of your three 3A, and of conquering that heavy music.
Joannie, just Bravo, as a former Montrealer I feel you close.

Mirai, yes, you are the Future(mirai) and it's already coming.
Rachael, you are never unreliable, impressively steady.

Well I'm a BIG Miki fan so whenever she doesn't do well I'm very sad, but this time I am absolutely NOT because she skated so beautifully! I'm very happy for her. It was exquisite.
Her performance was filled with delicate expressions integrated to her skating.
Most of them aren't broadway style so I imagine they could be hard to be comprehended in Western (or maybe North American?) culture.
She was definitely not just "skating around".
But if such impression as "empty" is posted like here in this forum, (which is utterly opposite of what all the commentaters say over here in Japan,) might it be better for Miki to reconsider her program choices? ...After all, this is figure skating and it's root is western.
However this Cloepatra program was choreoed by Lea Ann Miller. Morozof only tweaked it, and what's more, it was retweaked by Lea Ann twice last week, IIRC.

(Or maybe just a matter of choreo being too subtle?)

[miki88]

I didn't manage to wake up in the middle of the night, I just finished watching the last group up to Joannie so far, so I'm only going to comment on Mao/Yuna for now.

First of all, my impression from this Olympics is that the COP did a lot of good things but also a lot of bad things for skating. The good thing is that the ladies used to bore me to tears before but anymore, the programs have become so much more interesting, there wasn't one skater in the top 15 (of the short program) whose program I didn't enjoy (didn't see the rest), and the same is true for what I've seen of the long so far.

But on the other hand the scoring is beginning to turn me off figure skating big time, because IMO it has taken dishonest scoring to a whole new level. At least under the 6.0 system, you could only give a skater a relative advantage, now they can be given an absolute advantage so big that noone has any chance to catch up to. I also think with the COP you can almost place the skaters anywhere you want with the component/GOE scores, and sometimes some skaters are very blatantly under/overscored in a way that I've not seen before, and this is a HUGE turnoff for me.

Yuna was absolutey brilliant and she completely deserved her win, but the 20 point advantage is ridiculous.
I really can't imagine how Mao felt when she heard the scores for Yuna, that score was so huge that I think Mao had zero chance to win no matter what. I was really afraid she would collapse under the pressure, so RESPECT to her for landing both triple axels, just wow. Of course, she also made some mistakes, so I don't have any issues with her second place, and actually even if she went clean, I would still be ok with second place, but not with a score difference of 20 points which is just absurd. I feel Mao wasn't given even a theoretical chane to win this and that leaves a very bad taste for me.

I liked both Miki and Rachel, and I have to say I'm very pleasantly surprised by the US ladies because every performance I've seen from them was very enjoyable with good choreo and great musicality, so congrats to them as well.

Yuna deserves to win but the score was just too much. They really did not give a chance for Mao or Joannie (even if they skate clean) to catch up to her and that makes it not really like a competition.

[seniorita]

Don't forget, most of the men took part in a major splatfest. So she would have been 9th in this event, but in any other event, maybe not so much.

having her non splat in her first Olys while being the fav for gold, makes her position among men even more impressive

I mean last 3 Olys the fav didnt win the gold. I liked her sp much better than Lp, and while I like Mao's skating more, Yuna she was pretty awesome, and her jumps oh my god, they have the quality of the top men, in height and ice coverage.

I forgot to say before, but I didnt like Miki this time. She skated small. All dresses of Lp this year were disaster.
I hope Mao skates to caprice in Gala

[TT_Fin]

I mean last 3 Olys the fav didnt win the gold.

In fact, 4. There was Oksana Baiul 1994, when Nancy Kerrigan was the favourite. Nobody seems to remember her.

[Sk8n Mama]

The only reason why this didn't turn out to be a judging scandal was because Yuna herself went out there and put on a performance that deserves gold. The judges were there to make sure that even if she put on a mediocre performance, she was still going to get gold.

No, I understand that you're saying that the judges would have given it to her no matter how she skated and I'm asking on what you base that statement. If they held her up in one portion of the event, you might have some basis for a statement like that but it seems to be just coming out of nowhere or just your own complete personal supposition. How in the world would this have been a judging scandal? You don't know that had Yu-Na had mistakes that Mao wouldn't have won. The fact is, none of us have any clue what the judges would have done had the skaters performed differently.

[hurrah]

No, I understand that you're saying that the judges would have given it to her no matter how she skated and I'm asking on what you base that statement. If they held her up in one portion of the event, you might have some basis for a statement like that but it seems to be just coming out of nowhere or just your own complete personal supposition. How in the world would this have been a judging scandal? You don't know that had Yu-Na had mistakes that Mao wouldn't have won. The fact is, none of us have any clue what the judges would have done had the skaters performed differently.

Well, the protocols are out already and Yuna got nearly 18 points on GOEs alone, and I think I am not alone in thinking that GOEs are subjective. Even with a great skate, that's a very high number. Also, I am not alone in asserting that PCS is determined by reputation.

Please, please do remember that I am not saying Yuna doesn't deserve gold. She completely deserves it because of the performance SHE gave.

[ARipp42014]

Morning everyone! Just saw the Today Show and they had Joannie on. What a brave young woman! Glad she's got a mother figure in Manon to keep her in check in this tough time in her life. I'm sure Therese was very pleased of her daughter's performance last night. Also Rachael and Mirai was on too. They're just happy about their performances.

I am wondering... where do you rank Yuna's LP with other winners? I think it's among the best skate from a winner in a very long time.

[miki88]

Well, the protocols are out already and Yuna got nearly 18 points on GOEs alone, and I think I am not alone in thinking that GOEs are subjective. Even with a great skate, that's a very high number. Also, I am not alone in asserting that PCS is determined by reputation.

Please, please do remember that I am not saying Yuna doesn't deserve gold. She completely deserves it because of the performance SHE gave.

You have a point. Both GOE and PCS are subjective. I think Mirai's performance was the second best (if not the best) but her PCS doesn't reflect that because her reputation isn't as strong as the other top contenders.