How did your Olympic podium hopes pan out?

[DesertRoad]

My podium hopes and how they panned out:

Pairs:
- For Shen/Zhao to win gold. +
- For Kavaguti/Smirnov to be kept off the podium, I hate her flexed feet. +

Two for two there! Yay!

Men:
- For Plushenko to not win gold. +
- For Daisuke Takahashi to win gold. He is one of my favorite male skaters and he has my two favorite programs this season out of the men. -
- If not Daisuke, then for Johnny Weir to win gold. I'm not fond of his programs this season, but a win by him would shoot his fame into the stratosphere where he can upset even more people with his gender-bendery. -
- If not Weir, then Patrick Chan for gold. He is one of my favorite skaters, and his win would upset so many people on this forum. Plus, you know he'd be saying even crazier things. -

I didn't think any of these scenarios were likely. So 1 out of 4 ain't too bad. And the bitterness of Plushenko and his supporters after (hahahaha platinum medal) made it that much sweeter.

Ice Dancing:
- For Virtue/Moir to win gold. They have been my favoritest ice dancing team for a good long while. And I love their programs this year. +
- For Domnina/Shabalin to be kept off the podium. Their two programs this year were pathetic, that OD fails to make even racial stereotyping fun. Plus, I don't care for Shabalin's skating or his hair. -

Well, I was pretty sure Davis/White were going to win gold, so I didn't think either of my hopes were realistic. But the one that came true did so beautifully and oh-so-satisfyingly.

Ladies:
- For Yu Na Kim to win gold. Her LP is my favorite competitive ladies program this season, and she is one of my favorite skaters. Plus, I didn't want to see South Korea riot. +
- For Rachael Flatt to be kept off the podium. Ick, posture. Ick, slow skating. Get her out of here! -

OK, the second hope was rather modest and plenty likely to come true. And it did! The first one, however, I was convinced was not happening. The favorite for gold in ladies just haven't delivered in decades due to the pressure. And Yu Na had more pressure than even the previous medal hopefuls. And then she did it by skating perfectly throughout the entire competition. What can I say? Dreams (plus all my voodoo rituals) do come true!

[Bennett]

Mao silver. Not totally in the way I wished though because she seems SO sad. But landing three 3As. Who believed that she could! Wow! I am sorry that she got nervous towards the end, rather than becoming happy for landing the two as she did in SP. Is her flip getting in the way? Her missed 3T seems influenced by the flip. She also says that she was getting nervous in the latter half and her legs were getting tired.

IMO, I guess she really wanted to be perfect and win. And landing two 3As was not enough to ease her during the rest of her performance. She said that she didn't know Yuna's score because the audience was so loud. But even if you didn't know that score, skating after what would seem like a perfect performance by Yuna wouldn't have been easy.

I wanted Miki to be on the podium but her skating has been so slow lately. What's going on? I think that she would have had a chance if she had a clean SP because Joannie was not perfect, but I am sorry that things didnt work out for her at this time.

[screech]

Not necessarily hopes, but my predictions were spot on for mens, ladies and dance, as well as my gold pick for pairs.

I had hoped for S/Z to win and was thrilled with it, though I wish it had been more of a battle with S/S.
Overjoyed with V/M and D/W - their skates and their medals.
Thrilled for Kim and Brian Orser for the gold. I had hoped Joannie would have gotten silver, but bronze is outstanding for what she went through, so I'm ecstatic with that result.
I would have loved to see Verner on the podium, as well as Chan, Weir and Nobu, but I'm happy with Dai getting a medal and Evan's win.

[#1Kerryfan]

For the most part, things turned out how I wanted:
Men: The highlight of the Olympics for me. I hoped and prayed for Evan to win the gold, but I thought there was no way he would because Plushenko was going to be there. When Plushenko led after the short program, I was like, "Okay, Evan's done." I was having a heart attack while watching Evan's free skate, and prayed as he entered every jump. It was one of the best performances I've ever seen. Such skill, such artistry.... IMO, he is truly amazing. When his scores came up, I was crying with him. After a hard two days, this was just what I needed. When Plushenko (who I hoped wouldn't win another gold) skated and had some sloppy landings, I knew Evan had the gold. And when I saw him on the top of the podium, with the gold draped around his neck, listening to the national anthem, with the American flag in the center, I was like "THIS is what it's like when your favorite skater wins the Olympics." Pretty good feeling. After he skated that wonderful program, I didn't care what anyone else did. I did think Johnny should be higher though.
Okay, I know I was being a crazy sappy Evan fan. Moving on...
Pairs: I was happy to see Shen and Zhao win the gold. They've always been my favorite pairs team and I've WANTED them to win the gold. I just thought the Americans should have been placed higher.
Dance: I liked Virtue and Moir. Originally, I'd hoped they'd get silver, with Belbin and Agosto with gold, but it turned out pretty well. I did think B&A deserved a medal though.
Ladies: In the past, ladies has been the best part of a competition for me. In these Olympics, I didn't enjoy it at all. I thought Kim was extremely overscored and that Asada deserved the gold in the ladies event. I was hoping for Rochette, Kostner or an American, but between Asada and Kim, I thought it was Asada. My only consolation in Kim's gold is that most skaters end their careers with Olympic Gold (though I hate to see Evan go, this will probably be the case with him).
But still, I was happy with 3/4 competitions. A step up from 2006, when my hopes for gold had been Evan (men), Sasha (ladies), Shen and Zhao (pairs) and Belbin and Agosto (dance).

[ademption]

I didn't think my favorite skaters (Takahashi, Rochette and Belbin/Agosto) were going to get on the podium based upon past performance. I thought that Belbin/Agosto had a chance at the bronze, but once Dom/Shab did so well in the compulsory, I knew the competition was over for them and they would have to settle for 4th place.

At the beginning of the season, I hoped that Takahashi would get in the top 5 at the Olympics, given his comeback from an injury. After his meltdown in the Grand Prix Final, I adjusted my expectations for Takahashi downward and hoped that he would at least place in the top 10 at Vancouver. I was so surprised and elated that Dice-K was in 3rd after the short program. But I tried to lower my expectations again and just hoped that he would make the top 5. I was hoping that he wouldn't have a meltdown in the long like the Grand Prix final. But I just didn't know. I was so glad to see him skate so well (sans the quad). He made me so proud in both the short and the long and by far exceeded my expectations.

Rochette was my favorite competitor in the ladies' competition even before I heard the sad news about her mother. I wanted her to do well and make the podium. But I just wasn't sure how well she would do at the Olympics. She had mixed results in the earlier part of the season. I thought the pressure might get to her on home ice. I was hoping for a top 5 finish for Joannie, so it was a great surprise that she received the bronze with 2 heartwarming skates.

Other than Belbin/Agosto, I was pleasantly surprised by the results for my favorites. I have few complaints about these Olympics...

[museksk8r]

I had hoped for:

Rochette, Kim, Kostner, or Suzuki on the podium and I got 2 out of 3, so pretty good for the ladies.
Lambiel, Abbott, Kozuka, Takahashi, or Verner on the podium and I got 1 out of 3, so about the men.
Savchenko/Szolkowy, Mukhortova/Trankov, Shen/Zhao, or Kavaguti/Smirnov on the podium and I got 2 out of 3, so pretty good for the pairs.
Davis/White, Virtue/Moir and Delobel/Schoenfelder on the podium and I got 2 out of 3, so pretty good for the dance.

[Ren]

Well, I wanted Shen and Zhao to win pairs. I didn't much care who was on the podium with them frankly. I am just a little disappointed that they didn't skate lights out during their LP (compared to Pang and Tong).

For the men, I didn't really have a favorite, but before the competition happened (and the ugly aftermath), I was willing to go Plushenko over Lysacek, because I knew Lambiel was a long shot (he wasn't having as good a comeback as Evgeni). This was before I laid eyes on Daisuke Takahashi's SP. Even with the knowledge that Dai had not been landing his quad effectively since his injury in 2008, I was hoping against hope he'd land it (and shut up the quad vs.non-quad arguments). What's worse, Stephane seemed to have the life sucked out of him in the LP after his botched jumps. So, no, my hopes for men didn't really pan out.

This season was the one that introduced me to ice dance. I was initially hoping for Davis/White to take gold (I loved their OD), but Virtue/Moir crept up on me. I'd say I was 55-45 on the two pairs, but I was totally okay with the eventual 1-2 positions. I thought it was fitting that the rink/training mates got gold and silver. So in the end, I was really rooting for Team Marina and Igor. On the other hand, I avoided watching Domnina/Shabalin's OD all season and finally watched them live. Their Tango Romantica was the best, IMO, but I could have gone my whole life without watching their OD. (Did he...really pull her hair?)

For the ladies, I wanted Yu-Na in the top spot, with Mao taking silver. I wanted them to do their best and skate cleanly, though I feared the fan-fueled vitriol which might follow should the winner skate past the other with close scores. (Ubers can be scary.) It didn't totally work out, seeing what happened with Mao, but it was a good, brave skate. My bronze medal pick was a sentimental longshot: Akiko 'Maria' Suzuki. She made mistakes, but I'm happy she had the skate of her life in the LP. I'm sorry that many Americans didn't get to see it; as I understand it, NBC didn't air her skate live. I honestly think many people missed out on this. For the top 5, Mirai was a very pleasant surprise coming in fourth.

Overall, the skaters I wanted on the podiums were there in the spots I wished for them, with the exception of Daisuke and Akiko. More importantly, I'm glad to see that the competitions were mostly fairly scored (in terms of placements).

[ARipp42014]

Well here's what I said on the Hopes thread. Comments on red.

I love this thread! Throwing stuff already said at the nightmare thread.

1) No splatfests or judging controversies! Had a semi-splatfest on the Mens and Pairs side and with the exception of Plushy not being happy with the result, the judging was fair.
2) Stephane, Jeremy, or Daisuke medaling. 1 out of 3 ain't bad!
3) Plushenko not winning gold (even though it looks like he's gonna win again). Oh good thing I said that! LOL
4) Weir skating with a platinum wig (to complete the Gaga look) during his exhibition! Johnny Gaga wuzrobbed... of skating to that!
5) An amazing final flight for the ladies. I wanna see some SOYL performances from Mao, Miki, JoRo, Akiko, and Yu-Na. Vancouver Ladies Final Flight: BEST OLYMPIC FF EVER! While Akiko didn't made the FF, she did gave a wonderful performance.
6) Mirai making the final flight with the ladies stated at #5 and fully rotating her jumps. WHOO HOO!
7) Massive group hug if there's a NA sweep in Ice Dance. But if it's just Marina/Igor's kids (Vior and Marlie), I'll be happy to see that.I got my Team Shpilband group hug so I'm happy!
8) Barbra Ann Scott presenting the medals to the ladies!She didn't (Speedy did) but she was at the Opening Ceremonies, looking great!
9) Shen and Zhao winning gold! ...and they lived happily ever after!
10) A reaction from Joubert when he doesn't medal and someone who doesn't have a quad does.Not sure he comment about Evan winning quadless but if epic bombing your LP is a reaction, I'll take that!
11) For Senorita, no burned popcorn and Plushy skating to "Bad Romance" Yay Senorita didn't burned her popcorn but no Plushy skating to Gaga!
12) For Scott and Sandra to STFU when it looks like it's gonna be a magical skate. Also no nitpicking from Uncle Dicky. It gets annoying sometimes! Gimmie Nicky Slater from Eurosport any day! Heck even PK Kwong is better than Scottie and Sandy! Eurospot>>>>NBC's Skating Coverage At least Scott & Sandy did STFU when they need to. Dick Button will always be Dick Button. LOL
13) Most of all, everyone skating to their potential! We've seen many Seasons and Personal Bests during these games so I'm happy!

Wow I really did well on that game!

[Mathman]

Ladies:

- For Rachael Flatt to be kept off the podium. Ick, posture. Ick, slow skating. Get her out of here! -

Oh, that's mean. Why would you say such a thing? Rachael skated two great programs and did her country proud.

[DesertRoad]

Oh, that's mean. Why would you say such a thing? Rachael skated two great programs and did her country proud.

What can I say? I'm a rascal.

[mishieru07]

Very well indeed. 3 out of 4 of my favourites won OGM!

Pairs: I got my dream pairs podium in the exact order. Never cared much for K/S (Their FS looks so tacky and immature; I hated it) and I'm glad the judges didn't hold them up. S/Z didn't have the "skate of their life" that I was hoping for but Pang/ Tong did!

Dance: I was rooting for V/M, D/W, DelSchoes but that didn't pan out. I'm kinda sad that DelSchoes will never win an Olympic medal but absolutely delighted that V/M and D/W delivered amazing performances for all 3 segments, particularly the OD and FD. GO TEAM SHPILBAND!!

Men: Urgh. Uber splatfest. Jeremy bombed and I wanted him to win. Dice-K and Oda both made costly mistakes, as did Patrick. The only consolation was Dice-K was on the podium. Also sad that the men in general didn't skate up to their potential unlike the dancers and ladies.

Ladies: YU NA WON!! I wanted a podium with 4 spots but am quite happy with the outcome (Poor Miki! ). The last flight of ladies is quite possibly the best I've seen. I had hoped there wouldn't be a splatfest and got my wish for Ladies!

But my greatest hope was that there would be fair judging. And it came true! (at least for the podiums, barring maybe DomShabs).

[zizi]

ShenZhao win gold!

[Layfan]

I'm pretty happy...

Hopes met:

Evan won gold
Kim won gold (could NOT bear to see that girl not win gold. I think my head would have exploded in misery for her...)
Mao won silver. (I know she wasn't perfect and in the end didn't come as close to challenging Yuna as I had hoped ... but I am so happy and relieved there wasn't a repeat of 2009 worlds.)
Joannie making the podium. (Took on special significance because of her mom... but even before that I was desperately hoping she would do well on her own soil with so many expectations.)
The Americans girls skated like they did at nationals!!!! That was one of my hugest hopes and even better was that Mirai placed 4th and didn't get an UR calls. Wheeeeeeeee!!!!

Hopes dashed:
Jeremy bombed
Stephane didn't really shine.
Akiko didn't land higher in the standings. (Not to say that I'm disappointed in HER. I still totally loved watching her skate.)

[Nadine]

Good question, and in all honesty they turned out the way I expected.


LADIES: I knew as soon as I saw Yuna Kim's FAB James Bond program at Trophee Lalique that she would win, and I even stated so, one only needs to look at my comments wherein I said I would give her 6.0s all the way across the board for that skate & that program. Just hand her the gold now I said because everybody else is honestly skating for silver & bronze. And that turned out to be exactly true. ***Note: and I also stated even if Mao's landed all her triple axels she couldn't touch Yuna Kim; she could try to make it close if she skated clean, but she couldn't touch her in the end***

MEN: I wanted The King to win, oh how I wanted it, but I knew back in November he wouldn't, after I had my dream about him for the first time ever in my life (just as I had the dream about Sarah Hughes in November 2001 that she would win gold, which can be veriified down to the exact costume she was wearing on Adrian Chew's old f.s. board). In that dream, which I posted about in that huge/long Evgeni Plushenko thread, I said we had to support him, and that's exactly what I did! Even to the point of attending my first ever Olympic Games. Also, when he opens the gift I threw him after he skated his phenomenal FS, he will see what I mean.

The other disciplines I haven't watched nor do I intend to, so I have no comment.

[Jaana]

This is the first Olympics where in every discipline those skater(s) got the gold medal that I hoped to win:

Shen/Zhao
Lysacek
Kim
Virtue/Moir