"I feel like Sarah Hughes," says Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer | Golden Skate

"I feel like Sarah Hughes," says Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer

Mrs. P

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By way of explanation she mentions an improbable role model: Sarah Hughes, the American figure skater who competed at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. “No one thought Sarah Hughes had a chance to win,” she says. Then all the favorites flubbed their routines, and Hughes landed seven spectacular triple jumps and ended up with the gold. “Afterward, Hughes said that she didn’t quite know how she had done it,” Mayer says, “and she wasn’t sure she would ever be able to repeat it. It was the routine of her life.”
It’s an inspirational story that could be interpreted in two ways: Plucky underdog triumphs because of talent or because superior rivals choke.

What a reference!

Sarah Hughes tweeted about it:https://twitter.com/SarahHughesNY/status/362960434564829184

Honored and humbled to be mentioned by @Yahoo CEO @MarissaMayer in today's @BW http://buswk.co/15xxB6X
 

chuckm

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Maybe Sarah is a role model for the unexpected win, but surely not for continued success in her area of expertise.
 

gmyers

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Let's not equate Kwan and Cohen who fell with slutskaya who had just had some minor issues and was deserving of gold.
 
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What's cool is that this big-time corporate executive is enough of a figure skating fan to know that Sarah landed "seven spectacular triple jumps."

Just don't flutz at Yahoo, Ms. CEO. :)
 

chuckm

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Slutskaya skated a slow, cautious, lifeless FS without any of the personality she had shown in her previous efforts that season. Many of her jumps were just barely landed. I didn't see that her performance was a gold effort.
 

gmyers

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She needed a triple-triple to beat Hughes' performance.

Yeah but she did more lutzes and harder jumps just not 3/3 so she almost won because of that.

Slutskaya skated a slow, cautious, lifeless FS without any of the personality she had shown in her previous efforts that season. Many of her jumps were just barely landed. I didn't see that her performance was a gold effort.

THis is just wildy exaggerated! Many of her jumps were not just barely landed. The performance was very solid in jumps and spins and a good all around effort with no falls like Kwan Cohen who were also in win position because of there SP placement. They did not do anywhere near as good as Slutskaya.
 

Krislite

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It's interesting Mayer sees herself as an underdog a la Hughes. Based on my impression it seems people actually expect a lot from her leadership at Yahoo and see her as a superstar/celebrity in Silicon Valley and the tech industry. In my opinion she's more of a "favorite".
 

Mrs. P

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It's interesting Mayer sees herself as an underdog a la Hughes. Based on my impression it seems people actually expect a lot from her leadership at Yahoo and see her as a superstar/celebrity in Silicon Valley and the tech industry. In my opinion she's more of a "favorite".

Mayer, herself, is a Silicon Valley superstar, but I think she's talking more about Yahoo! than herself personally. Until she took over, people considered Yahoo! and all its associated properties (i.e. Flickr, delicious, etc) dead man walking.

I think people are skeptical still whether Mayer, for all her superstar qualities, can turn Yahoo! around and make it a relevant tech company again.
 

ice coverage

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Agree with Mrs. P. (Meanwhile, sorry, Mrs. P .... I am mortified that I failed to include the exclamation mark that belongs in the company name.)

What's cool is that this big-time corporate executive is enough of a figure skating fan to know that Sarah landed "seven spectacular triple jumps."

And agree with MM that it's cool that Mayer knew all about Hughes.
(Forgivable exception: Not the end of the world, but did Mayer misremember the skate order? I thought that first Hughes landed her jumps ... then the favorites flubbed their routines?)
 

chuckm

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THis is just wildy exaggerated! Many of her jumps were not just barely landed. The performance was very solid in jumps and spins and a good all around effort with no falls like Kwan Cohen who were also in win position because of there SP placement. They did not do anywhere near as good as Slutskaya.

Sarah had always been the cautious skater in her previous competitions, always holding back to ensure a clean performance, if not a sparkling one. She skated before the top 3 in the FS and had no idea they would all falter. She didn't think she had a chance to win, so for once in her career, she let it all hang out.

Slutskaya knew she had to beat Hughes, so she skated not to lose, hence the cautious, bland effort, very uncharacteristic of Irina. You don't win a major competition by holding back because you might make a mistake. Irina needed to skate as aggressively as she usually did. If she had, she might have beaten Hughes.
 

TontoK

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Maybe Sarah is a role model for the unexpected win, but surely not for continued success in her area of expertise.

Maybe not, but she's a good role model for performing great when it counts most, conquering the world, then moving on to something else.
 
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Yeah but she did more lutzes and harder jumps just not 3/3 so she almost won because of that

Still...This was 2002, not 2006. Men were expected to do quads and ladies were expected to do a triple-triple. Both Kwan and Slutskaya planned two triple-triples, and both of them missed both. Hughes upped the technical ante of her program in the weeks before the Olympics and she delivered what she planned.

But anyway, the Russian judge agreed with you. She put Hughes 10th in the short program and 4th in the long. ;)

That would be Tatiana Danilenko, the same lady who was suspended after 1986 Worlds for giving Alenander Fadeev a 5.9 when he fell twice.
 

chuckm

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Maybe not, but she's a good role model for performing great when it counts most, conquering the world, then moving on to something else.

Except Sarah never really moved on to "something else". After graduating from Yale, she hasn't done much other than pose on various red carpets. She's skated in a few benefit events---but no jumps. She is reportedly writing a book about figure skating (but she's been writing it for the past two years, so far). Emily graduated from Harvard and is gainfully employed by an elite contracting firm.
 

TontoK

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Opinions will vary, but mine is that going to a prestigious Ivy League school and graduating from it would qualify as "something else."

Now... whether she's getting the maximum return from the investment in her education... I won't comment on that.
 

Blades of Passion

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THis is just wildy exaggerated! Many of her jumps were not just barely landed. The performance was very solid in jumps and spins and a good all around effort with no falls like Kwan Cohen who were also in win position because of there SP placement. They did not do anywhere near as good as Slutskaya.

Slutskaya's performance was not "good all around". There was virtually no choreographic or interpretative value to it and her performance was cautious. She was outskated by both Kwan and Cohen, IMO.
 
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