What happened to the US Ladies? | Golden Skate

What happened to the US Ladies?

Ladskater

~ Figure Skating Is My Passion ~
Record Breaker
Joined
Jul 28, 2003
I fully expected to see at least one or two of the US ladies in the top flight. As the coverage for skating this season was very spotty at best, I never saw any US ladies skate. How did they do?
 
Joined
Mar 14, 2006
Alissa - better than feared. Rachael - far worse than expected (skating hurt). No medals. No three spots for next year. We are desperately seeking our Chanley woman.

But ask us about ice dance!
 
Joined
Jun 21, 2003
Alissa Czisny skated in the last flight. She did pretty well, but with a fall on her opening jump. She finished fifth :clap: , could have challenged for the bronze medal without the fall.

Rachael Flatt's performance was terrible. :cry: She couldn't land anything and finished 14th in the long program and 12th overall.

Afterward it was revealed that she was skating with an injury.
 

brightphoton

Medalist
Joined
Jan 23, 2009
Flatt did terribly. Her placement was really low. She mentioned a fractured tibia in her interview. I think she'll go to Stanford and stop skating.

Alissa fell on her first jump, managed to do everything else relatively well. She came in at 5th.
 

Blades of Passion

Skating is Art, if you let it be
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Joined
Sep 14, 2008
Country
France
Alissa skated quite well and deserved to win the Bronze medal. Unfortunately her reputation/momentum/bribery scores (PCS) were not up to snuff and she did not receive the credit she deserved over the rest of the field for her spins. She still managed a respectable 5th place finish, though.

Rachael skated one of the worst competitions of her entire life. It was very disheartening to see because several jumping passes into her program it became quite apparent she had an injury. I almost teared up and I'm not a big fan of hers. Really sad. I wish her the best in college.
 

Jammers

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Joined
Nov 4, 2010
Country
United-States
Pretty pathetic that even the mediocre Russian women have 3 spots for next years Worlds. I mean are you telling me Leonova and Makarova are both better then what we have in the US right now?
 

Puchi

On the Ice
Joined
Sep 26, 2010
Pretty pathetic that even the mediocre Russian women have 3 spots for next years Worlds. I mean are you telling me Leonova and Makarova are both better then what we have in the US right now?


No. They're telling you Leonova and Makarova's placements combined here were better than those of the two Americans combined, which is all what the number of spots for next year's Worlds is about.
 
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Tonichelle

Idita-Rock-n-Roll
Record Breaker
Joined
Jun 27, 2003
I fully expected to see at least one or two of the US ladies in the top flight. As the coverage for skating this season was very spotty at best, I never saw any US ladies skate. How did they do?

considering our team for the last two or three years has consisted mainly of teeny boppers still trying to find their way and older skaters who have no consistency it's not surprising that they were all but ignored by non USA networks... kinda like Canadian ladies in the US... though for the SP we did get to see Phaneuf.
 

Serious Business

Record Breaker
Joined
Jan 7, 2011
Alissa had her best skate ever at Worlds and kept her composure completely together aside from the fall. She was up for a medal but for two skaters who skated better than her in this competition. I have no problems with the results and I'm proud of Alissa.
 

pangtongfan

Match Penalty
Joined
Jun 16, 2010
Pretty pathetic that even the mediocre Russian women have 3 spots for next years Worlds. I mean are you telling me Leonova and Makarova are both better then what we have in the US right now?

The Russians have the deepest overall poll of women in the World right now, other than maybe the Japanese.

The U.S results didnt surprise me. I expected Czisny to be somewhere from 4th to 7th and Flatt to be somewhere from 9th to 12th. I always said 3 spots were unlikely and I was right.

Sending Flatt to Worlds was a stupid move on the U.S's part and I said that all along. I bet the geniuses who crowed that I was wrong on my prediction of Flatt not making it to Worlds are just as thrilled now. :rolleye: She didnt skate that much better than Nagasu at Nationals, if at all, yet Flatt was even inflated in the marks and given a bigger margin over Nagasu then deserved. Furthermore the marks suggest she would have beaten Czisny had she skated cleanly which is ridiculous. It is time for the U.S skating federation to start considering the potential and international prospects of skaters. And that is clearly not Flatt at this point. Also the fact Flatt more than any other U.S skater has been consistently overscored at Nationals the last 4 years (minus possibly 2009) is a reflection she is the pet of the USFSA. Why on earth a skater of such limited potential would be the USFSA pet is beyond me. Other than possibly her consistency, but now that she has lost that there is absolutely no reason for the USFSA to protect her status in the future. Unless she skates lights out and nobody else skates very well, she should not be near a World team again.
 

pangtongfan

Match Penalty
Joined
Jun 16, 2010
And yes I know Flatt was injured. The fact she chose to skate knowing she was injured when there was a quality replacement like Nagasu who was really getting it together going into Worlds based on her 4CC's performances and reports of her training was pety and foolish of her. It is one thing to try to be a hero when your country clearly needs you for any chance of spots, as there is nobody who can skate anywhere near up to your level, but this is clearly not the case here. And that decision along with her poor showing at Worlds will be the last straw when it comes to her past support from the USFSA.
 
Joined
Jun 21, 2003
...Also the fact Flatt more than any other U.S skater has been consistently overscored at Nationals the last 4 years (minus possibly 2009) is a reflection she is the pet of the USFSA. Why on earth a skater of such limited potential would be the USFSA pet is beyond me.

More generally, I do not understand why a national federation would have a "pet" at all, ever. What could the USFSA possibly gain by inflating one skater's score over another's, by fixing the results of nationals, by "wanting" one skater to win a berth on the world team rather than another, etc.?
 

janetfan

Match Penalty
Joined
May 15, 2009
More generally, I do not understand why a national federation would have a "pet" at all, ever. What could the USFSA possibly gain by inflating one skater's score over another's, by fixing the results of nationals, by "wanting" one skater to win a berth on the world team rather than another, etc.?

You really believe that US Skating is non-political :eek:
Let's see if Flatt gets Skate America for the fourth straight year. I wouldn't be surprised if she requested it since it will be less disruptive to her studies.

I certainly hope we see Alissa or Mirai at SA this season with either Agnes and/or Christina.
 
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Joined
Jun 21, 2003
You really believe that US Skating is non-political :eek:

I don't doubt it, but my question is "why?"

Federations are "political" in an attempt to gain some kind of advantage over other federations. What advantage accrues to the USFSA to be mean, nasty, and corrupt?

What would induce the USFSA President, for instance, to send a bum to worlds and leave a good skater home? Is that good politics?

That seems more like the Republican Party nominating Donald Trump just to spite their own face. ;)
 

Tonichelle

Idita-Rock-n-Roll
Record Breaker
Joined
Jun 27, 2003
That seems more like the Republican Party nominating Donald Trump just to spite their own face. ;)

No one else wants the job! Not like we have much choice! :p (though if he or Sarah runs they aren't getting this republican's vote!)
 

janetfan

Match Penalty
Joined
May 15, 2009
I don't doubt it, but my question is "why?"

Federations are "political" in an attempt to gain some kind of advantage over other federations. What advantage accrues to the USFSA to be mean, nasty, and corrupt?

What would induce the USFSA President, for instance, to send a bum to worlds and leave a good skater home? Is that good politics?

That seems more like the Republican Party nominating Donald Trump just to spite their own face. ;)

I don't believe that a group of officials and judges can be basically political and occassionally sleasy at Intl events and suddenly transform themselves into models of virtue at national events. That just doesn't fly with me.

As to being political at Natls? It comes down to the samethings we see at international events. Many officials/judges (not all) tend to play their favorites and favors can be traded and repaid exactly the same way at natls as they are at intls.

Big boosters and wealthy skating patrons can play a part as can certain coache's friendship or history of animosity with judges and techpanel have an effect on the results.

What do you think we have been watching all of these years :think:

ETA: I left out TV influence. Although I am a Sasha fan, NBC has made it known they wanted Sasha as part of the 2010 Olympic team. Her SP marks reflected as much. Sadly for NBC, nothing could save Sasha's trainwreck of an LP.

Had it been close the team would have been Sasha and Rachael.

Do you really think Evan would have been treated the same as Jeremy had he just missed the Natls podium by a point last season?
 
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ImaginaryPogue

Record Breaker
Joined
Jun 3, 2009
Mathman, as you've pointed out in the past, the US Federation has a great deal of responsibility that has nothing to do with Worlds. Politicking, say, Bradley to first (someone who's appealing to an American audience, funny, good story, resolutely heteronormative) and sending him to Worlds may suit an agenda that has nothing to do with World placements.
 

pangtongfan

Match Penalty
Joined
Jun 16, 2010
Had Sasha gone to the Olympics in the shape she was in at Nationals she probably would have finished around 12th. NBC would have had huge ratings though from guillable stupid fans who watched just to see Sasha "go for the gold" (ROTFL) so they would have won. So I fully understand the agenda for wanting washed up old never a champion even in her prime Cohen on the Olympic team. The agenda for Flatt's unrelenting popularity up to now with the USFSA and U.S judges is another matter though.
 

Violet Bliss

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 19, 2010
Had Sasha gone to the Olympics in the shape she was in at Nationals she probably would have finished around 12th. NBC would have had huge ratings though from guillable stupid fans who watched just to see Sasha "go for the gold" (ROTFL) so they would have won. So I fully understand the agenda for wanting washed up old never a champion even in her prime Cohen on the Olympic team. The agenda for Flatt's unrelenting popularity up to now with the USFSA and U.S judges is another matter though.

But the resulting "Sasha wuzrobbed" scandal might just be what would spark the interest in figure skating in the US.
 
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