and by hiding the injury and participating in a diminished state at Worlds Rachel undoubtedly directly caused the US to have only 2 spots for this years worlds - by participating injured at the GP Final , Alissa only hurt herself. I also wonder if she didnt withdraw because of Mao having to leave - it would have been awful tohave had only 4 ladies in the event?Originally Posted by gold12345
Alissa was raked over the coals when she placed 12th at World's.
Let's be honest here. Alissa's performance at the Grand Prix final was embarrassing and awful, but nothing was at stake, except maybe Alissa's pride. Rachael's 2011 and Alissa's 2009 world performances resulted in 2 spots for the next year's World's, which affects other skaters. Rightly so, the reaction was much less sympathetic.
^^THIS
i understand that unlike flatt's moscow worlds skate, AC's GPF performance didn't affect any other skater's ability to enter future competitions. that is a significant difference.
IMO AC's skate wasn't embarrassing and awful. in fact it showed her pride and determination, how fiercely she fought for some of those jump landings. it showed how far she's come that she could eek out those landings even when in pain and not at her physical best.
and i honestly don't think anybody has to say *anything* to her. she's clearly a strong person who's come back from much lower points than this. this performance was affected by injury.
no disrespect to the OP, who i think means well, but i think it's a bit unfair to her for anyone outside the situation to presume that she needs comforting, like she was profoundly shaken by this one bad skate, or thinks all the progress she's made with her jump consistency has gone away because of one skating-while-injured performance. i would have thought that her fans would have more faith in her own words--that she's a new skater now-- the 12th place finisher at worlds is long gone.
i have at times questioned the holding up of her spins and spirals as the ultimate standard. i still wonder about the non-calls of her underrotated jumps, still dislike her stiffness and narrow range, but i don't question her strength as a competitor or the improvement in her jump technique. and i wonder if well-meaning folks who rush to send her comforting words are all the while re-enforcing the notion that she's somehow terribly fragile, when she's in fact incredibly resilient.
I'd hug her and shrug. This is vintage Alissa. Let her do what she wants comp wise. I will eat my laptop if she ever wins a world championship. That is why she is still around. People tell her she has every quality and they see what she does is practice. It must be very nervewracking. I could nevr have done that as I suffered from no confidence, (not in skating) when i had "it all." So please don't think I have no sympathy for all of them. I have tons. but maybe a WC bronze if Asada, Suzuki, Leonova, Tut and of course Carolina all skate very badly. Well, at least three have to bomb. Injury maybe? Then why not announce what she pulled or strained and what to expect? She has lovely elements but i still get knots when she competes. It is not fun. I Ashley has two clean performances I will be disgusted if they don't give her silver or gold. This girl is a competitor. I don't get why some people feel she is mediocre, not world class?
Rachael -amazing gutsy Rachael is done on the intl scene. I hate to say this because she is someone worthy of admiration, but at her best, The intl judges gave her a 7th place, when the experts rinkside were surprised and clearly felt 5th and so did I. Great skating. She belonged up there with Asada, Kim, Rochette and a lights out surprise from Mirai in Vancouver. She will never be back in that Oly shape while being a Stanford student, commuting. USA judges like her and may hold her up but they should not. I know she is a true competitor, but I think she has reached her peak. She should not quit school or miss out on all the college experience because she has no big future even as a show skater. The judges know she is not a lifer and they actually factor that in. She is a USA Champion. She could skate 7 perfect triples and Carolina as one favorite would get gold at Worlds with 4 triples because they love her speed, her lines, etc. Rachael will figure out by the season's end that she can't stalk world tites in this shape. Maybe it is enough for her just to be at nationals and skate part time, but I don't think she wants to skate and get lower placements. She seems too proud for that. I also would be fair and guess the judges do not like Rachael's body type, which seems to affect her appeal to them. Everyone seems to say she is slow, her jumps seem heavy, and that she does not look athletic. It is wrong but looks and body type affect your marks. She is heavier now, for a petite girl, she cannot afford weight gain.
I dislike these judgements on women but skaters like Mao get lauded for being tiny fairies and tall skinny girls like Alissa are beautiful to the eye. Alissa can probabaly skate badly at Nationals as well as Mirai and make the world team. I want to see Ashley rewarded if she skates well. If Mirai bombs, maybe Agnes will skate well. Whoever goes to Worlds this year, I just hope Ashley is one.
I don't know what to expect of the 3 top US ladies champions. Every year that goes by makes it clearer how rare a competitor we had in MK.
I am a bit fed up but then it's probably me. No more patience with anyone. Bah Humbug!
Last edited by skateluvr; 12-12-2011 at 06:52 PM.
Point taken, skfan. I worried that my post implied just what you say immediately after I wrote it. To clarify, I don't mean to suggest that Alissa is more psychologically fragile than any other skater competing today. I posted this question in reference to Alissa because she happens to be my favorite skater of the past 3-4 years; I just have a greater concern for her than I do for other skaters!
I think a skate like that would rattle anyone. Lots of people (incorrectly) blame their own lack of ability even when they have legitimate "external" explanations for their lack of success (in this case, for Alissa, the injury). And I was especially concerned in this case because it was, by a notable margin, Alissa's most flawed FS since the beginning of last season. (I agree, though, that it would be an exaggeration to say it was embarrassing or awful.)
Well said, Pepe. After seeing her talk at the post skate interview, I think she was just disappointed that she worked hard and did well all season and at practice before the GP final, she injures herself. And the way she was skating, she could have won the whole show.
But injuries happen. This bravo sierra that it is easy to power through injury to win is for football players, not people relying on muscle memory to do intricate yet powerful jumps. She did a good job for being injured,
and showed class by not blaming the injury....I will take class any day over Arrogant OGM winners....that is why Michelle Kwan is a legand and some OGM winners are mere champions....
Alissa is considered a psychologically strong skater now? I guess all those years of telling us about her nerves and Scott and Sandra opining about her gentle nature not fitting in with the trials of competition were jokes.
A phrase that is commonly applied to Alissa is "at least she didn't give up" or "at least she showed fight." To this day, I'm not sure what it means, but it seems to mean, "at least she only fell on 70% of her jumps, not 100%. That's improvement!"
I suppose it means that she did not skate off the ice in the middle of the event holding her injured body part, going ow ow ow I quit.
Yeah, but no one does that ...
The phrase should apply to a skater who falls in an opening or early jump, but executes all the other jumps correctly. But for Alissa, it means what you've said. I guess.
Alissa just had a bad day at the office, she will be fine, she is in fine form and seems to get better and better, u should be looking at the US Champion again!!
She has a great team around her
On FB, she was grateful for the fan support and concern for her injury. She said she would take a week off to rest the injury, which occurred during practices on Thursday.
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