It was the fact that plushenko had a quad! All of a sudden being world champion meant nothing because there was no quad. I don't remember reading about mistakes then or now refreshing my memory.
Who were the favorites for OGMs four years ago?
- Thread starter sweetskates1
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It was the fact that plushenko had a quad! All of a sudden being world champion meant nothing because there was no quad. I don't remember reading about mistakes then or now refreshing my memory.
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Ladies- Yu Na Kim was the overwhelming favorite. Mao was actually not even the clear favorite for silver. She had not medalled at the 2009 Worlds and missed making the Grand Prix final that season. Mao, Rochette, Ando, were all given a good shot at silver. Flatt, Suzuki, and Kostner outside shots of a medal.
Mens- The field was wide open. No real favorite. As many as 8 men could have won or 12 men won a medal going in.
Pairs- Shen & Zhao were favorites. Savchenko & Szolkowy had a poor season but were still probably their main challengers for gold. Kavaguti & Smirnov and Pang & Tong had strong seasons and were also gold contenders. Zhang & Zhang, Mukhortova & trankov, and home country favorites Dube & davison were shots of the bronze.
Dance- Virtue & Moir, Davis & White, and Domnina & Shabalin all went in as gold contenders. Belbin & Agaosto, Failla & Scali, Delobel & Schoenfelder (back from injury) were bronze hopefuls.
Mens- The field was wide open. No real favorite. As many as 8 men could have won or 12 men won a medal going in.
Pairs- Shen & Zhao were favorites. Savchenko & Szolkowy had a poor season but were still probably their main challengers for gold. Kavaguti & Smirnov and Pang & Tong had strong seasons and were also gold contenders. Zhang & Zhang, Mukhortova & trankov, and home country favorites Dube & davison were shots of the bronze.
Dance- Virtue & Moir, Davis & White, and Domnina & Shabalin all went in as gold contenders. Belbin & Agaosto, Failla & Scali, Delobel & Schoenfelder (back from injury) were bronze hopefuls.
I read some predictions ariticle that mentioned lambiel but immediately discounted him because of no 3A. And I don't even remember reading Abbott even after us nationals.
When push came to shove and people were forced to pick 3 it was all lysacek and plushenko and someone else.
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A lot of folks (me included) pointed to Evan being the reigning World Champion as why he wouldn't win the gold... I mean he was the first since Scott Hamilton to actually deliver and win the dang thing. the years inbetween it was almost a death sentence for any chance at gold! 
A lot of folks (me included) pointed to Evan being the reigning World Champion as why he wouldn't win the gold... I mean he was the first since Scott Hamilton to actually deliver and win the dang thing. the years inbetween it was almost a death sentence for any chance at gold!
It's all skewed because browning was 91 and 93 and he couldn't do Olympics. Then 97 wc was majorly injured in Nagano. Lysacek was healthy and gpf winner and its true he wasn't being predicted to win but silver or bronze and everyone said he would medal and plushenko would win because of the quad.
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And Plushenko lost the gold in 2002 after the SP when he was fourth, plus Yagudin was healthy and stronger than ever.
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couldn't do it? he was at both?
That's the competiton where like 88 the wc was just totally outskated!
Browning couldnt do Olympics means he was there but he couldn't perform. He couldn't perform well at an Olympics. Couldn't do Olympics.
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...but how does that "skew" the idea that the reigning world champion has a "jinx"/"curse" on them? By all accounts Browning *should* have been able to do it. 92 he had no business competing IMO. He was very injured for much of the lead up and "reinjured" (I believe he had not fully healed, though) himself. Neither he or Elderedge *should* have been there. But neither knew Olympics would be held two years later at the time.
94 was a total bomb of the SP... he didn't do too terribly in the LP. He *could* have done it.
94 was a total bomb of the SP... he didn't do too terribly in the LP. He *could* have done it.
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That's not how it went at all.
Chan had a bad season leading up to the Olympics and he was a longshot for a medal. Plushenko, Lysacek, Oda, Abbott, and Lambiel were seen as the biggest podium threats. Joubert, Takahashi, and Chan were next in line; nobody thought they had a chance for Gold.
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Mostly agreed, except I think Takahashi was seen as a bigger contender than that. He hadnt had a particularly strong season, but he had led after the short program at the Grand Prix final. Chan was definitely not a favorite going into Vancouver the way he had been at the 2009 Worlds.
If Plushenko was perceived as the overwhelming favorite than it just proves people are stupid. It was obvious to anyone with a brain he was very vurnerable in Vancouver. The only thing he had going for him was his famed consistency, which almost all his rivals (other than Lysacek) lacked, but there were atleast 6 guys who could easily beat him if they skated to their potential, even if Plushenko went clean; a far cry from Turin where he could only beat himself (which had almost no chance of happening).
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It is all relative. As much vulnerable as he was he lost Gold for one point, and while Lysacek had the best Lp that night, Plushenko lost the Gold in sp. Plushenko got a 90.+ sp in Vancouver while Lysacek got an 89. + , would a skater with a 3-3 get an almost 90 with no quad these days?
An article from 2010 that I think pretty sums up what was predicted for the men.
I miss Lambiel so much.
An article from 2010 that I think pretty sums up what was predicted for the men.
I miss Lambiel so much.
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I thought because it was the same person lol. One wc was cursed not two world champions.
Maybe it was six or eight but when people from a wide array of publications and sites were forced to predict the medalists plushenko was always gold because of the quad. I think that is what is being discussed. Not all the men who potentially could have won but the ones everyone were predicting to medal. Everyone may not have agreed that plushenko would win In a huge landslide like 2006 but all or most agreed he would win. If they didn't say because of quad they'd say it was because Russia would just get it through politics.
That's the article I referenced before. It's a very good one.
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That's not quite right, though. The IOC had decided in 1986 to split the summer and winter games, and Lillehammer won the 1994 bid in 1988.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1994_Winter_Olympics#Host_city_selection
Yahoo predicted this:
http://voices.yahoo.com/vancouver-2010-figure-skating-analysis-5420841.html
They had the men as Plushy, Evan, and Oda.
For the women they had Yuna, and then don't actually say who will be 2nd and 3rd, but do say that Mao is the only one that can challenge Yuna.
http://voices.yahoo.com/vancouver-2010-figure-skating-analysis-5420841.html
They had the men as Plushy, Evan, and Oda.
For the women they had Yuna, and then don't actually say who will be 2nd and 3rd, but do say that Mao is the only one that can challenge Yuna.
This really reflected a mistaken belief that quads difficulty was reflected in cop value or something. He actually said plushenko would win easy! When people wrote falter like he did I'm sure they meant fall or popped jumps.
well actually that's from Yahoo Voice, formerly known as AssociatedContent, an online content farm for self publishing, it's one person's opinion, it's not "Yahoo Sports Column", I won't give it much credit.
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- Jun 3, 2009
I tend to agree. Euros was telling to me because Plushenko won, but Lambiel actually out-PCS'ed him. Compare that to Turin where he destroyed the field in terms of PCS (Jeff Buttle tied him on Transitions in the LP, but otherwise he was the indubitable number 1). That suggested (to me) that if someone else skated at or near Plushenko's level, he'd be the winner.
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