Should Flatt have skated at the World Championships on an injury? | Page 12 | Golden Skate

Should Flatt have skated at the World Championships on an injury?

Joined
Aug 16, 2009
How many base points are there for a smile? Skaters, particularly the Ladies are more concerned about their looks than the Men. Who cares if you are going for the points? (It is a contest.) How much closer should the Senior Ladies get to the smiles of the uninhibited little tykes in the Children's Pagaents or the serious smiles of the Ladies in Ms Universe?

Is Ladies Figure Skating to be how pagaents are judged? No wonder the men of sports shy away from it. it's not like Evert v. Natrilova.

My feeling is that ladies care about looks because judges care about them, consciously or subconsciously. Audiences care about them, and consequently skating in general cares about them. In the days when skaters had enough clout to become spokespeople for nationally advertised brands, advertisers looked for either cuteness or glamor. I'm sure you can think of one or two top American lady skaters who did not become household words. They were talented but didn't look like Peggy or Dorothy. This is a pressure that's exerted more on ladies than on men, in just about every aspect of life. I don't like that the world is like this. But I can't bring myself to blame skaters themselves for trying to look like Hollywood creations.
 

jaylee

Medalist
Joined
Feb 21, 2010
The "earning" part is controversial and questionable though. I think her FS score being 8 points higher than Mirai's at nationals was not right. After she skated, I thought it would be close but that Mirai would come out on top, but it ended up that Rachael came out on top, and it wasn't even that close so...idk. Placing ahead of Mirai at nationals would have been acceptable, but the margin should have been like 1 point, not 7, and then when Mirai beat Rachael by 9 points at 4CC, she should have been given the nod to go to Worlds instead, especially considering Rachael was clearly fighting an injury at 4CC.

In regards to the larger than expected margin between them--I think in terms of trying to compare both performances, Mirai benefits from the fact that her biggest mistake, the botched spin, visually didn't seem as serious as a fall, thus it's natural to think she deserved a higher score. But by the rules, it was an even costlier mistake than a fall as it was voided and resulted in zero points. Mirai got 4 points for her flying sit spin at 4CCs, and none at Nationals.

I'm not saying that there is no argument for Mirai being ahead of Rachael at Nationals, and I agree the point spread was still too high, but that large 7 point difference was due in part to that costly voiding of the spin. Once that's factored in, I think the gap is debatable but not really controversial.
 

Jammers

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 4, 2010
Country
United-States
Flatt has always been held up at Nationals and everyone knows it. I mean c'mon even if Mirai didn't deserve to win in 2010 because of her underotated jumps Rachael beat her by 12 points!! Are you kidding me? Did any of the judges actually watch the two of them skate back to back? Racheal was over 200 points which was in Yuna territory at the time. It was a disgrace.
 

Layfan

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 5, 2009
Flatt has always been held up at Nationals and everyone knows it. I mean c'mon even if Mirai didn't deserve to win in 2010 because of her underotated jumps Rachael beat her by 12 points!! Are you kidding me? Did any of the judges actually watch the two of them skate back to back? Racheal was over 200 points which was in Yuna territory at the time. It was a disgrace.

Yeah well, all the scores at nationals were hyped that year, not just at U.S. nationals. It was an Olympic year. The score at Japanese nationals and Canadian nationals were also huge. I was flabbergasted at first. But then I watched the Olympics and saw how huge the scoring was there too. Joannie Rochette's LP score was similar to Yuna's 2009 World LP score. I guess it's just what happens in an Olympic year.
 

janetfan

Match Penalty
Joined
May 15, 2009
Back on topic.
Yes! Flatt had every right to skate even when injured. She earned the spot and that's the way the cookie crumbles.

I agree that Flatt certainly "crumbled" at Worlds. Her skating was even worse at the GPF and after that fiasco she also said she was injured.

Her team showed poor judgement twice this season letting her compete when she was physically unable to skate anywhere near her best.

Just showing up is not enough. And let's face it, that is all she did at the GPF and Worlds.
She was not prepared to compete at either event and it is ashame her team didn't give her better advice.

Mirai needs to start living up to her potential. Flatt appears to have peaked two years ago.

Whoever thought Alissa would be our top skater heading into 2012?
 

pangtongfan

Match Penalty
Joined
Jun 16, 2010
Flatt has always been held up at Nationals and everyone knows it. I mean c'mon even if Mirai didn't deserve to win in 2010 because of her underotated jumps Rachael beat her by 12 points!! Are you kidding me? Did any of the judges actually watch the two of them skate back to back? Racheal was over 200 points which was in Yuna territory at the time. It was a disgrace.

Exactly. Flat has ALWAYS been overscored at Nationals. In 2008 she beat Wagner who skated the performances of her life with a triple lutz-triple loop in both programs which was a joke (Wagner should have been the champion that year with Nagasu's LP problems). In 2009 she should have been below Zhang who in fact matched her jumps that year and far exceeded her in other areas, along with that Flatt's basic skating was almost as poor back then. In 2010 Nagasu probably should have won or atleast been alot closer to Flatt, and Wagner should have been up with Flatt in the LP. 130+ LP for Flatt, :laugh: give me a break. And this year she was given a huge gift again.

I always said putting Flatt on the World team over Nagasu was an incredibly stupid move and the USFSA is helping to dig their own grave in the ladies event with their continued oversupport of Flatt. I was proven right, her 12th place finish at Worlds is no surprise to me, I always said 9th-13th would be where she would finish and the U.S were unlikely to keep 3 spots with her unless Czisny had an incredible event.

Anyway I am pretty sure Flatt's incredibly poor judgement to skate at Worlds injured (not that I think she would have done much better healthy anyway) has probably ended the USFSA Flatt lovefest that has been going on for years. I would be very surprised if she makes the World team next season, if she even tries which more likely she will wisely go to college full time and see it is time to move on.
 
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silverlake22

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 12, 2009
Anyway I am pretty sure Flatt's incredibly poor judgement to skate at Worlds injured (not that I think she would have done much better healthy anyway) has probably ended the USFSA Flatt lovefest that has been going on for years. I would be very surprised if she makes the World team next season, if she even tries which more likely she will wisely go to college full time and see it is time to move on.

She did score 180+ at 4CC and finished ahead of Czisny, Phanuef, and Suzuki at that event though. That score at Worlds would have put her comfortably in 6th and close to 4th and 5th place. So she could have done better healthy. Not medal better, but considerably better than 12th.
 

pangtongfan

Match Penalty
Joined
Jun 16, 2010
Flatt has not skated as well as she did at Four Continents in any other event this season, so who is to presume she was likely to skate that well. She isnt even that consistent a skater anymore, so her skating her best is more the exception rather than the rule now, just like it is for most other skaters. Anyway many felt the scores at 4CCs in the ladies event were inflated. Asada had about 4 mistakes and still scored a 135 or something.
 

FlattFan

Match Penalty
Joined
Jan 4, 2010
The "earning" part is controversial and questionable though. I think her FS score being 8 points higher than Mirai's at nationals was not right. After she skated, I thought it would be close but that Mirai would come out on top, but it ended up that Rachael came out on top, and it wasn't even that close so...idk. Placing ahead of Mirai at nationals would have been acceptable, but the margin should have been like 1 point, not 7, and then when Mirai beat Rachael by 9 points at 4CC, she should have been given the nod to go to Worlds instead, especially considering Rachael was clearly fighting an injury at 4CC.

People have pointed out many many times that Rachael's mistakes were on easier jumps, and she backloaded most of her jumps.
Mirai's mistakes were on the money jumps.

Not all mistakes are equal. Are you really that slow to not grasp this simple fact? :rolleye:
 

FlattFan

Match Penalty
Joined
Jan 4, 2010
Flatt has not skated as well as she did at Four Continents in any other event this season, so who is to presume she was likely to skate that well. She isnt even that consistent a skater anymore, so her skating her best is more the exception rather than the rule now, just like it is for most other skaters. Anyway many felt the scores at 4CCs in the ladies event were inflated. Asada had about 4 mistakes and still scored a 135 or something.

Mirai has not skated as well as she did at 4CC in any other event this season, so? So she didn't get to go to Worlds. Suck on that, Mirai's fans.
 

pangtongfan

Match Penalty
Joined
Jun 16, 2010
Mirai has not skated as well as she did at 4CC in any other event this season, so? So she didn't get to go to Worlds. Suck on that, Mirai's fans.

I am not a Mirai fan so your comment already becomes ridiculous. As someone who is a fan of neither Flatt and Nagasu I always knew that putting Flatt on the team instead of Nagasu when they basically skated virtually the same at Nationals was dumb as a team with Flatt on it was never going to regain 3 spots. Obviously being a Flatt fan you wont admit to things like her constant overscoring at Nationals which even NBC and many journalists have pointed out frequently so no point discussing further.
 

FlattFan

Match Penalty
Joined
Jan 4, 2010
I am not a Mirai fan so your comment already becomes ridiculous. As someone who is a fan of neither Flatt and Nagasu I always knew that putting Flatt on the team instead of Nagasu when they basically skated virtually the same at Nationals was dumb as a team with Flatt on it was never going to regain 3 spots. Obviously being a Flatt fan you wont admit to things like her constant overscoring at Nationals which even NBC and many journalists have pointed out frequently so no point discussing further.

Since when does Miss Cleo follow figure skating? :rolleye:
Who are the journalists? Talking heads != journalists.
 

Jammers

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 4, 2010
Country
United-States
Rachael is never going to medal at big international events and everyone knows it. Even her best isn't enough. And without her trademark consistency she's done. Next time Rachael when your injured don't try to tough it out it will only end in disaster as we've seen twice now.
 

R.D.

Record Breaker
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
Next time Rachael when [you're] injured don't try to tough it out it will only end in disaster as we've seen twice now.

Her team really needs to start looking out for her long-term health as opposed to "toughing it out". I mean, it also depends on the injury- some injuries aren't as severe and one can PROBABLY grin and bear it if it's for a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and doesn't affect performance- but this one seemed pretty bad. She was lucky nothing more serious happened IMO.
 

pangtongfan

Match Penalty
Joined
Jun 16, 2010
Maybe she knows she is done after this year, either retiring or that her gravy train period with the USFSA that nearly all of us have noted upon is finally over (in which case her stint on the World team now that her skating and consistency have further declined is also for sure over, especialy with the U.S with her in tow continuing their 2 only spots status). So maybe she just wanted to skate at one final big event.
 

pangtongfan

Match Penalty
Joined
Jun 16, 2010
What would be the point of doing anything. The ISU would wisely cancel the ladies event altogether for the next 5 years after the lowly attendance of 8 people in the stands for the ladies event at Worlds if things ever reach that point.
 
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