Gracie Gold

Figure 8's said:

Frankly I am torn between Yuna. Gracie and Julia. Julia may have a lot of pressure on her to shine but than so does Yuna to repeat. This is the Olympics so anything can happen but I predict that Gracie will impress even if she does not win gold.

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Gracie has already impressed me. She has a lot to work on not unlike the rest of the youngsters but she is coming along quite nicely. She's America's #1 for some time to come. I could watch her spins all day long.

travelbug said:

Then we have Gracie, who, like Shawn, will very likely not leave with a gold medal this Olympic season, but is obviously at least walking away with the team bronze.

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But Shawn DID leave the Olympics with a gold medal - a gold on the balance beam. Not to mention a couple of silvers and a bronze. She was one of the more successful U.S athletes of the Games. Plus she was the reigning world champion (all-around, floor, and with her team) heading into the Olympics. That is a marked difference between her and Gracie - Shawn was already at the top of her sport before getting all the sponsorships heading into the Olympics. She was "rightfully" hyped. And while Nastia came across as less bubbly than Shawn, she had that something about her that got her deals and sponsorships throughout her competition days, even before winning the gold in Beijing. Not on a level as big as she did after (or in the months leading up to the Olympics), but she was already doing things. She had that 2004 adidas commercial where her bars routine was superimposed onto Nadia's bars routine from 1976. That was a pretty big deal, especially for someone who just coming off the junior ranks at the time. I think maybe Gracie is more like Nastia in that way - someone people paid attention to when she won the junior title as a great big hope for the future. Of course with Nastia she had the gymnastics family background which made her even more noticeable. But I think her hyping was really based more on what she could do against her competitors while I think with Gracie it is really hope and a play on her name.

I think Gracie's hyping is more on the level of Lolo Jones, although I think Lolo did win Trials (in track & field) before they started hyping her up to win gold in Beijing. But with both of them there is someone else on the team with the success, but they still get the most attention. While Ashley had more credentials than Gracie Gold and she counts a bit as someone who got a bit less attention than Gracie, it is more so Davis/White who are getting less attention in the media based on their success compared to Gracie. Articles after the team bronze even credited Gracie for leading the team to the bronze, and it was ridiculous.

More and more I am seeing that Gracie may be able to be the next U.S. ladies skater to make the world podium in the future, but she is possibly running the risk of being hyped too much too soon to the point where some people may resent her if she doesn't deliver the results soon enough (like Lolo). I think the media has done too much too soon already, and while it is nice to see a skater get a lot of attention (and nice for Gracie's pockets), I wish they would chill out a bit about her being a bet for the gold.

Sam-Skwantch said:

Maybe Mao and Caro could get makeovers. ..

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Digressing re Gold's off-ice look:

sky_fly20 said:

lol, what makes you think Wagner will score higher than Gracie if both go clean

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Because Wagner HAS scored higher than when Gracie has gone clean. And as it still stands, Gracie has yet to complete a clean SP & LP, or score over 190 points.

One would assume she would have done so if she competed in the team SP, but she's been prone to crumble in the FS after a strong SP.

And if Gold scores 129 when she skates perfectly clean, that will come nowhere close to Kim -- who you said Gracie would get the same PCS as, heck, not even close to Julia.

I'm hoping Gracie does really well, and think she's a legit bronze or (if Kim/Asada/Julia/Sotnikova/Kostner falter) silver threat. But to say she's the most consistent skater at the moment based on her first clean FS of the season is just your fanaticism droning on again.

I'm sure I could take your original post and match it to the million other threads and posts you've made about her. I get people being a fan of a skater, but you're almost hellbent on having people see a post extolling Gracie's virtues every other post on this forum. Your posts aren't constructive, and are spam at best which clog up any meaningful discussion.

golden411 said:

Digressing re Gold's off-ice look:

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I was just taking a light zing at sky_fly20's expense. She/he said something in another thread like "Gracie has artistry,speed, jumps, and PRETTY FACE for her GOE and PCS to rise".

I love Gracie and have no qualms with her on or off ice. Wouldn't be surprised if she wound up being the one to keep Caro and maybe even Mao off of the podium :giant sadface/love:

Gracie will the perfect poster girl for ladies FS after Kim retires
she already has so much endorsements and media coverage and she hasn't even won a World medal yet

If Gracie Gold can't revive interest in figure skating in the U.S., I don't think anybody can.

YunaBliss said:

If Gracie Gold can't revive interest in figure skating in the U.S., I don't think anybody can.

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, she is getting plenty of media attention in the US leading to Sochi, she is touted as the "golden girl"
if she wins in Sochi, which is also among the gold medal contenders will definitely spur interest in US skating and the media will be all over her

a clean Gracie has BV and GOE almost the same max score as Yuna, minus Yuna's PCS of course

What I said was in compliment of Gracie... I agree with you that Gracie is perfect in every way... she just needs to develop artistry and she should be THE star in the next quad.

I've heard that no Olympians are really that marketable after the Olympics are over (with a few famous exceptions) and I find that to be true. You don't see ads with Gabby Douglas all over the place, for example. Gracie will do well if she medals, but if not, she will probably never star in as many commercials as she does now.

She'd gain a lot of press if she wound up dating Gus Kenworthy, that super-cool slope style skier, who has great teeth and has already stated he has a crush on her.

Latest update/news:

Gracie Gold is 4th in the SP, 6 points behind 3rd, after a clean skate (albeit rather shaky jumps).

Gold achieved only the 8th best PCS, in spite of incessant predictions that she would get PCS akin to Kim laugh, Kostner laugh and Wagner laugh.

4th is doable
a clean FS will get Gracie the OGM if judged fairly

Go Gracie

Gracie's chances at the OGM/any medal?

Gracie had a strong SP, even with shaky jumps she still went pretty much clean.

However, the judges clearly agreed with most of us that she shouldn't get higher PCS than Kim, Kostner, Wagner, Suzuki, Mao, Lipnitskaia, and Sotnikova, even when she goes clean -- 8th best PCS of all the ladies.

Now, her team FS was clean and yet she didn't manage to clear 130 points whereas many of the aforementioned skaters, including Kostner, Lipnitskaia, and Kim, have all done so. Sitting in 4th, and with over a 6 point deficit from bronze, what are her chances at gold (or silver, or bronze)? Will her Hollywood looks be able to save her?

Her chances of a medal depend on a few things. Her chances of OGM are .000000000001.

To get a medal:
-Julia has to make another mistake. I still believe, as I posted before the competition, that Julia has a 1 mistake cushion over Gracie between the SP and LP.
-With a 6 point cushion and higher PCS, Adelina has to make at least 2 bad mistakes. If she makes 1, she will stay ahead.
-With a 6 point cushion and higher PCS, Carolina also has to make 2 bad mistakes. If she makes 1 she will stay ahead.

-In addition to needing them to make these mistakes, Gracie has to skate clean.

-I am calling it now that Yuna will not make enough mistakes to fall behind Gracie. Hence OGM is out of reach.

So, basically, IMO, Gracie's fate rests not only in her hands, but in the hands of Julia, Adelina, and Carolina. Yuna is queen and will finish above Gracie.

In addition to a clean skate for herself, she'll need major errors from at least on of the girls ahead of her and some moderate errors from Lipnitskaya. On the plus side, I doubt that any of the other ladies can catch Gracie if she's clean.

I think that both Russian ladies were given generous scores. And Gracie, considering the wonky-ness of her jumps. If I had to predict the top six, I'd go:
1. Yuna
2. Julia (with a clean free)
3. Adelina (with a mistake)
4. Carolina (with a mistake)
5&6. Ashley and Gracie in whatever order

I wouldn't count her out for a medal. She's coming from behind now and only five and half points out of contention. Very doable.

If she is clean (and a little less shaky) in the LP and someone has a less than stellar night above her, she can move onto the podium...

Shani said:

I wouldn't count her out for a medal. She's coming from behind now and only four points out of contention.

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Why do people keep saying 4 points? She is fully 6 points behind Adelina (a bit more actually), over 6 points behind Yuna and fully 5.5 points behind Carolina.