Can Takahashi Close The Gap On Patrick Chan?

[Boeing787]

Actually I think Patrick's biggest rival in Sochi could be Hanyu. With a young man, you never know what to expect. He might improve drastically just like Patrick did in the past several years.

[Bluebonnet]

^^^Agree!

[spikydurian]

^^^Agree!

Me 2 ..... Two years is good enough for any upcoming skaters to improve if they set their hearts and minds towards the goal. The Sochi gold is not for Patrick to take.

[Bluebonnet]

Or...we could all get together and give Paula a prize.

Paula created and sustains this board by thousands of hours of hard work and thousands of dollars out of her own pocket, just to give us a place to chat about figure skating.

Thank you so much, Paula! This is a great forum!

[spikydurian]

Who is Paula? Sorry, I am an ignorant newbie to GS? Anything to give me a peep into the life and inspiration of Paula?
Anyway, agree that a prize should be given to Paula as GS has given me the opportunity to know some 'virtual FS fans' and share rumours, horror stories, jokes and whatever under anonymity.
But I still think one of us should get a prize for being the last one to post in this thread too.

[dorispulaski]

Paula is the board owner. She posts as gsk8. (Generally when she is giving us a link to the articles in the GS newsletter and GS front page.) As you say, we are anonymous on the boards, unless we choose to be otherwise.

[spikydurian]

Thanks Doris. Paula's labour of love is our gain indeed.

[Olympia]

Paula is the board owner. She posts as gsk8. (Generally when she is giving us a link to the articles in the GS newsletter and GS front page.) As you say, we are anonymous on the boards, unless we choose to be otherwise.

Thanks, Paula! This board is a wonderful place for us skating maniacs to congregate. Besides being fun, for me it's been like college for skate fans.

[Boeing787]

Thanks, Paula! This board is a wonderful place for us skating maniacs to congregate. Besides being fun, for me it's been like college for skate fans.

^^^^That's exactly what I want to say!

[emma]

let me add my thanks and admiration!

[deedee1]

I might be late for the bus, but let me thank to Paula, too!

I have always enjoyed all the articles on this Golden Skate during my lurking period, especially in the earlier years and learned a lot about figure skating; e.g. its trend, rules, insightful information on foreign skaters that I seldom know, through these articles.

It also helped me a great deal to understand the results thru pre and post competitions reports.
It was and is still a great vehicle for me to learn writing/reading English, too. Thanks a million!

[Skater Boy]

In some ways when I read this post I think, hmm in many ways it was Chan closing the gap and passing Daisuke. Chan sort of played Dai's game just with less style. Chan is beatable; I actually detest the fact people villanize him as though he is the root of all evil or causing some kind of unfair or unjust placements. If that is the case maybe we should villainize Carolina Kostner the woman who could win worlds with no triple lutz and just one triple flip. This the woman who constantly lucks out on the podium. But we should probably not villainize anyone = they are all beatable if people can outskate them Dai has all the tools - pcs, choreography, program and jumps =- it's just ggetting them there when it counts.

[Boeing787]

In some ways when I read this post I think, hmm in many ways it was Chan closing the gap and passing Daisuke. Chan sort of played Dai's game just with less style. Chan is beatable; I actually detest the fact people villanize him as though he is the root of all evil or causing some kind of unfair or unjust placements. If that is the case maybe we should villainize Carolina Kostner the woman who could win worlds with no triple lutz and just one triple flip. This the woman who constantly lucks out on the podium. But we should probably not villainize anyone = they are all beatable if people can outskate them Dai has all the tools - pcs, choreography, program and jumps =- it's just ggetting them there when it counts.

So true, but some people just can't see it, what can we do?

[Dee4707]

if someone gave me the magical power to look like anyone I chose, "Jennifer Aniston" would not be the first words out of my mouth.

From another woman, I totally agree.

[Vash01]

In some ways when I read this post I think, hmm in many ways it was Chan closing the gap and passing Daisuke. Chan sort of played Dai's game just with less style. Chan is beatable; I actually detest the fact people villanize him as though he is the root of all evil or causing some kind of unfair or unjust placements. If that is the case maybe we should villainize Carolina Kostner the woman who could win worlds with no triple lutz and just one triple flip. This the woman who constantly lucks out on the podium. But we should probably not villainize anyone = they are all beatable if people can outskate them Dai has all the tools - pcs, choreography, program and jumps =- it's just ggetting them there when it counts.

The problem has been that Chan has been consistently held up by the judges. Takahashi is a great skater and a great performer. He is not some immature kid who knows no basics. Recently Chan with 4 mistakes was placed over Daisuke who made just one mistake. Chan has great basics, but Daisuke is not a third rate skater to put him below Chan for THAT performance. It's biased judging that causes anti- reactions from some fans. When Chan makes mistakes, he has to pay for them. Unless that happens he is unbeatable because even Chan knows that no matter how anyone skates, he is going to win. No pressure at all.