Interesting question. My thoughts so far:
U.S.
Likely--2 (1 ice dance, 1 team)
Possible--3 (1 ice dance, 1 ladies, 1 team). I do think it's possible that Gold/Wagner could win a surprise medal.
CANADA
Likely--4 (1 pairs, 1 men, 1 ice dance, 1 team)
Possible--4. Some might think Osmond or Weaver/Poje are outside shots for a medal, but I don't see it happening.
RUSSIA
Likely--2 (1 pairs, 1 team)
Possible--5 (2 pairs, 1 men, 1 ice dance, 1 team)
Outside possibility if Putin bribes/strong-arms judges/ISU--6 (2 pairs, 1 men, 1 ice dance, 1 ladies, 1 team) I don't think there will be a Russian lady on the podium unless something funny happens behind the scenes.
JAPAN
Likely--2 (1 men, 1 ladies). I don't think the Japanese men will be denied two years in a row.
Possible--3 (2 men, 1 ladies)
Russia - possible is one medal in Ladies.
If Adelina will earn jumping stability
or
Liza will be in her best (she is best female jumper in Russia and very good at all if in her best)
or
Julia will restore her stability of season 2011/2012
- one medal (bronze) may be.
Not more than one medal even all three will be in their best.
And of course only possible.
No.yes but it will also require the crumbling of 3 or 4 other top skaters
No.
Only not ideal skating of Mao or Caro is needed. Mao often skates not ideally, clean skating of Caro I don't remember for years.
Yuna is unbeatable.
All other skaters may be won by Adelina, Liza, Julia in their best.
Ashley Wagner, and possibly Zijun Li and Akiko (she is very good in her best) also will be fighting for podium.Yuna - true will be unbeatable unless she has an epic meltdown
but others Mao, Carolina, Gold these three will be fighting for podium too
outside shots Kanako maybe Wagner along with the Russian girls Adelina or Julia
No.
Only not ideal skating of Mao or Caro is needed. Mao often skates not ideally, clean skating of Caro I don't remember for years.
Yuna is unbeatable.
All other skaters may be won by Adelina, Liza, Julia in their best.
And how long has it been since Liza and Adelina skated clean?
I see no one is mentioning Korea whereas Spain, Germany, Italy and China are mentioned.
Is it because Yuna is from Republic of Yunakim?
This lot:
https://fbcdn-sphotos-c-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-prn2/1146703_3333845962965_186276650_n.jpg
Sorry, I know not all of these athletes are skaters, and not all of the skating team are pictured either. But, I just couldn't resist using this question as an excuse to show this photo.
Thanks for sharing this photo on Facebook, Ira.
Seriously, I do think Russia will do well in the medals count. Realistically, the only chances of a home Gold medal will be in the Men's (Plushy) and the Pairs (Volosozhar/Trankov). But, they have chances of other medals in all of the categories (Sotnikova or Tuktamysheva in Ladies; Bobrova/Soloviev or Ilinykh/Katsalapov in Dance; Kawaguchi/Smirnov in Pairs).
Japan will hopefully win the gold in the Ladies (Asada), and will hopefully get the bronze as well (Suzuki). They should be in with a good chance of at least one medal in the Men's (Takahashi and/or Hanyu).
Canada will also be up there. Unless something radically goes wrong, their best chances at Gold will be in Men's (Chan) and Dance (Virtue/Moir). But, they could also be in with a realistic chance of a Bronze in the Pairs (Duhamel/Radford, or maybe even Moore-Towers/Moscovitch), and maybe even a Bronze in Dance (Weaver/Poje).
America's only chance of a Gold medal is in Dance (Davis/White), and their only other chance of a medal is in the Ladies (Wagner).
So, it will be between Russia, Japan and Canada. If I have to choose one, I'm torn between Russia and Japan. But I think I'll go with...
RUSSIA
The reason for this choice is simply that Russia has realistic chances of at least 1 medal in more categories (all of them, in fact!). Japan only has chances of at least 1 medal in 2 categories (the singles categories).
But, we'll just have to wait and see!
CaroLiza_fan