Ashley Wagner's chance of an Olympics Medal after Nationals | Page 5 | Golden Skate

Ashley Wagner's chance of an Olympics Medal after Nationals

scooter

Rinkside
Joined
Jan 12, 2014
Ashely is going to Sochi with so much baggage that I don't think she will be able to over come. Hopefully, she won't give a performance like czisny did at her last worlds, but I won't be surprised if she does. She needs to drop the 3/3. It really is hard to understand what happened.

How much you think the airline will charge for all that baggage? :-D
 

Sasha'sSpins

Medalist
Joined
Apr 2, 2009
Country
United-States
No I didn't say she already got it, I said just that she CAN do it on this nationals. If she'll win LP there's no doubt who will be considered as #1 in Sochi by judges. Whether you like it or not ;)

I think this is about completely failed LP's with 70 points in PCS.

Sorry but this theory doesn't hold water. Ever heard of Paul Wylie, Tara Lipinski, Sarah Hughes, Alexei Yagudin, and Evan Lysacek to name just a few? None of them were their countrie's #1 going into their respective Olympics and it didn't hurt them any. All made the Olympic podium, placing ahead of their teammates who ranked above them domestically. I would throw someone like Mirai Nagasu in there too. She had never competed at a Worlds heading to Vancouver yet placed 4th, well ahead of her 7th ranked teammate Rachael Flatt - the National Champion.

At the Olympics, for the most part I don't think the judges give a hoot what happened at home - Wylie being the best example imo. He had never even made a Worlds podium and had imploded constantly throughout his career - but the Olympic judges didn't hold that against him. That being said, if everyone hits in Sochi, whether they make the podium or not, I think that Gracie is going to be the top-ranked American - she's just that much better than her teammates and has improved massively since last year especially artistically. She's no ballerina but she's not marching and windmilling her arms anymore.
 

sky_fly20

Match Penalty
Joined
Nov 20, 2011
At the Olympics, for the most part I don't think the judges give a hoot what happened at home - Wylie being the best example imo. He had never even made a Worlds podium and had imploded constantly throughout his career - but the Olympic judges didn't hold that against him. That being said, if everyone hits in Sochi, whether they make the podium or not, I think that Gracie is going to be the top-ranked American - she's just that much better than her teammates and has improved massively since last year especially artistically. She's no ballerina but she's not marching and windmilling her arms anymore.

oh it will, this news hit the international news, Judges knew what happened at US Nationals with the Mirai-Wagner issue
you'll see Wagner's PCS hit the dump in contrast to Gracie's whose PCS will skyrocket
 

Skater Boy

Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 24, 2012
So sad...I think Ashley will find it hard to medal but it is not impossible. She will have the pressure and emotional baggage with what has happened THe media and the public are powerful. This could have gone undetected but now that everyone has dramatized it well I am not sure anyone is the winner. The USFSA is decimated. A lot wrongfully blame Ashley for the decision but she made her own bedby not competing well. Mirai is going to get a lot of s ympathy but also some who just got fed up with her - waiting for her to peak abut goign nowhere for so long. What is lost is Mirai didn't skate all that brilliantly at nationals and has had a long lull and has fallen well short of what was anticipated after her fourth place finish at 2010 olympics and leading worlds in 2010 before her fall from grace (didn't she almost have it all) so to speak.
 

desertskates

Medalist
Joined
Nov 19, 2013
I just wonder what kind of cretin would bash any young woman over a decision she did not make. I hope she takes her computer, phone, Ipad, etc... and chucks them into the ocean.

I meant to quote Taan on the twitter issue.
 
Last edited:

Taan

On the Ice
Joined
Sep 27, 2003
Russian Press Gives Olympic Ice Skater an Original Smear
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/eliza...mp_b_4592445.html?utm_hp_ref=sports&ir=Sports
"Pro-gay American Figure Skater Dragged to Sochi," read the headline on RBC Holding, a media conglomerate. Without actually accusing the judges of promoting a human rights agenda over fair play, the article calls the unprecedented nature of Wagner's selection "not according to sport principal," and reveals that Wagner spent the evening after her poor showing at the national championships "drinking wine and watching movies".
 

FlattFan

Match Penalty
Joined
Jan 4, 2010
wow, media backlash starts in Russia, too?
I guess her PCS will drop like a rock in Sochi.
 

sky_fly20

Match Penalty
Joined
Nov 20, 2011
wow, media backlash starts in Russia, too?
I guess her PCS will drop like a rock in Sochi.

her PCS will probably equals that of Polina Edmunds
basically they sealed it, Wagner now confirmed has a negative chance of an individual Olympics medal
 

Frenchie

I'm gonna customize the CRAP out of this title!
Medalist
Joined
May 4, 2013

Without actually accusing the judges of promoting a human rights agenda over fair play, the article calls the unprecedented nature of Wagner's selection "not according to sport principal"
LOL - that's awesome, I'm sure Maxim Kovtun and his team will be glad to hear that, according to this RBC Holding media conglomerate, his spot for Sochi over Plushenko is secure, since he won the Russian Nationals... And sending Plushenko would be "not according to sport principle" :rofl:
 

Sasha'sSpins

Medalist
Joined
Apr 2, 2009
Country
United-States
Now Ashley will definitely have a chance to wear her rainbow colored fingernails and earrings in Sochi. I still think that her chance of getting a medal at the Olympics is none. If anyone says that Gracie Gold might have a chance to get an Olympic medal, I will agree.

Frankly, I hope that Ashley forgets about rainbow colored fingernails and earrings. While I too am appalled about Russia's policies against gays, the Olympics is no place to try and champion their cause. To be honest I feel that most people won't even care - they're going to watch the Olympics and they're not going to even think about Russia's anti-gay laws. Ashley should just focus on doing her best each time she goes out on the ice. I have the feeling that if she bombs the media just might be merciless - just as some of them already have been since Mirai wasn't named to the team.
 

desertskates

Medalist
Joined
Nov 19, 2013

JayW

Final Flight
Joined
Dec 8, 2013
LOL - that's awesome, I'm sure Maxim Kovtun and his team will be glad to hear that, according to this RBC Holding media conglomerate, his spot for Sochi over Plushenko is secure, since he won the Russian Nationals... And sending Plushenko would be "not according to sport principle" :rofl:

Bingo!:laugh:
 

sky_fly20

Match Penalty
Joined
Nov 20, 2011
more drumbeat from the Nytimes: http://blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy/2014...shley-wagner-and-the-myth-of-the-golden-girl/

though Wagner has no chance to medal in Sochi, ditching the internet might save her some physochological problems in Sochi
almost feel sorry for her

I’m talking about fans of Mirai Nagasu, the 20-year-old figure skater whose Olympic hopes were dashed this week when U.S. Figure Skating made the shocking decision to ignore her bronze medal in the U.S. National Championships — the event that traditionally determines the candidates selected as Olympians — and instead pick 22-year-old Ashley Wagner, who placed a distant fourth after falling twice in her routines, for the team that would represent America in Sochi.

So why was Wagner ultimately chosen over Nagasu? The skating federation pointed to Nagasu’s spotty record over the past 12 months, and to Wagner’s higher overall standing in global rankings. But given the dramatic and unprecedented nature of USFS’s decision, it’s hard not to see other reasons for the slight — conscious or unconscious.

Wagner’s flowing blond hair, bellflower-blue eyes and sculpted features mark her as a sporting archetype: She’s the embodiment of the “golden girl” the media has extolled when they’ve waxed poetic about idealized ice queens of the past, from Norway’s Sonja Henie to East Germany’s Katarina Witt, a marketer’s dream who’s already signed up tent-pole sponsors like Nike, Pandora Jewelry and CoverGirl, which assessed her Teutonic beauty as being worthy of serving as one of their global “faces.”

Pundits are largely more discreet these days. No one will state outright that Nagasu may have had her dream punctured because Wagner better conforms to USFS’s central casting fantasy, and the millions in corporate support that might follow it.

And even if they did, none will point out the obvious: That with Wagner, silver winner Polina Edmunds and gold medalist Gracie Gold (talk about central casting fantasies!), the U.S.A. will be taking to the ice with a porcelain-skinned, blond-tressed triple-threat, any of whom will unleash a geyser of sponsorship money if she manages to earn a chunk of Sochi metal for the motherland. That’s been left for Nagasu’s fans, who briefly pushed the Twitter hashtag #MiraiEarnedIt into prominence on the microblog, hoping to generate empathy for her plight.

But if Wagner’s “all-American” looks played any role in her selection — and of course, we’ll probably never really know — the real irony is this: blue-eyed, blonde Wagner was born in Heidelberg, Germany. Nagasu, meanwhile, was born in Montebello, Calif.
 

Sasha'sSpins

Medalist
Joined
Apr 2, 2009
Country
United-States
Not sure where you guys are, but the story is on all the major networks here in NY.

I've been watching mostly recorded shows (I work pretty long hours in public safety) but my sister recorded a CNN snippet that briefly mentioned the controversy for me. I had no idea it had reached the television media (which shows how much of a hermit I am). I thought it was just on a few sites on the net.

So sad...I think Ashley will find it hard to medal but it is not impossible. She will have the pressure and emotional baggage with what has happened THe media and the public are powerful. This could have gone undetected but now that everyone has dramatized it well I am not sure anyone is the winner. The USFSA is decimated. A lot wrongfully blame Ashley for the decision but she made her own bedby not competing well. Mirai is going to get a lot of s ympathy but also some who just got fed up with her - waiting for her to peak abut goign nowhere for so long. What is lost is Mirai didn't skate all that brilliantly at nationals and has had a long lull and has fallen well short of what was anticipated after her fourth place finish at 2010 olympics and leading worlds in 2010 before her fall from grace (didn't she almost have it all) so to speak.

True, but it didn't help that Mirai was blocked from opportunities (i.e. 2010 Nationals which she SHOULD have won, 2011 Worlds where she SHOULD have gone) and saw others consistently favored over her domestically (i.e. Flatt, Zawadski, now Edmunds, and only one GP at one point versus Gracie who got two) even when she skated well. That had to play into her psyche and lowered her self-esteem. The USFSA has NEVER shown Mirai any love. The only reason she was sent to the 2010 Olympics is that both Wagner and Cohen imploded. In 2008 she wasn't never going Worlds anyway as she was not age-eligible. Hard to train with much motivation or joy when your own Federation keep throwing up road blocks year after year and clearly favors other competitors over you.


This is outrageous. While I don't agree with Mirai not being selected to the Sochi team they don't need to go after Ashley - none of this is her fault. The 'drinking wine' bit almost makes it seem like she was out on a drunken binge. :mad:

And as if the Russian Federation has never been corrupt - Alexei Yagudin never won a National title for a reason. They didn't like him. Plushenko was always their Golden Boy.
 

mhu714

On the Ice
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
I've always liked Ashley but think USFSA made a mistake. The rules should be changed making the US championships an Olympic trial. I've been supremely frustrated that Mirai has been so in and out (mostly out) the past several years but to her credit she skated 2 excellent programs and deserved to be on the team. That being said it's certainly within the realm of possibility for Ashley to skate at least as well as she did at last yr's Worlds and be in the top 5, with higher PCS than Gracie will get. I believe she hit her 3/3 in every comp this yr leading up to last week, and I think she can do it again. She could also totally blow up but I'm hoping not. Uncle Dick always said any country's nationals provokes the most anxiety and that obviously happened to her.
 

Sasha'sSpins

Medalist
Joined
Apr 2, 2009
Country
United-States
I did not say no chance. I said slightly less chance. When they go out for olympic, judges are not going to be thinking " oh this is going to be great, they will be on the podium", they will be thinking " she is not going to land two 3A's". Yes if they are clean im sure they probably will be on the podium, but will the slightly less components push her from gold to silver, or silver to bronze

Unless you're clairvoyant, you have no way of knowing what the judges at the Sochi Olympics will be 'thinking'.

Not being National champion didn't hurt Wylie, Lipinksi, Hughes, Yagudin, or Lysacek at their respective Olympics. Wylie, who had a history of bombing programs, won silver and the rest became Olympic Champions - the Olympic judges at each of those skater's Games didn't seem to care - so your theory doesn't hold up.
 
Top