And Dick said no one brought it up at Nationals because it'd be like criticizing an icon. Michelle owns the Nationals, so no one dares mess with anything minor.Originally posted by heyang
Actually, Dick pointed out that she was over the time limit at Nat's by 3 seconds. I think Terry mentioned that Dick noticed it at Nat's, but the judges chose to ignore it.
It's too bad that either the judges or someone didn't warn her after Nationals that her program was too long. That way she would have had a couple of months to edit the program to fit within the time limit. I have no problem with them enforcing the rule. If you're not going to enforce them, why have rules in the first place. Also, to enforce some rules and not others isn't fair because people would have a legitimate beef that they got a deduction for breaking a rule but another competitor got no deduction for breaking a different rule.
I am in Dortmund, and I think that Kwan was held up in both the quali (by 2-3 places) and the SP (by 1 place), regardless of the time deduction.
A hardline "the rules is the rules" approach is fine as long as rules are consistently interpreted and uniformly applied. The problem is, this rarely seems to happen in real life. We've all seen examples of it at school, at work, and within families. Teachers, bosses, and parents often have favorites and scapegoats. Some people are allowed to get away with a lot, while others have to toe the line.
What bothers me about the Kwan situation is that I suspect the time limit rule was applied more strictly to her than is normal practice. In many years of following skating, I don't recall another time when this rule was invoked. My gut feeling is that the time limit penalty traditionaly has only been applied when there is an egregious violation; skaters who run over by a few seconds were routinely pardoned. Probably, the more established the skater, the greater the wiggle room.
Kwan may not have worried that she was cutting things close on the short because minor run-overs were customarily forgiven. Then the officials took a rule, normally laxly enforced, and applied it stringently.
The rules shouldn't be manipulated to selectively benefit or punish skaters. At times, the '04 worlds seemed to be a last hurrah for the excesses of the old system. Let's hope skating officials don't become equally adept a subverting the new one.
Thank you hum, this too was my point all along.........42Then the officials took a rule, normally laxly enforced, and applied it stringently.
The rules shouldn't be manipulated to selectively benefit or punish skaters. At times, the '04 worlds seemed to be a last hurrah for the excesses of the old system. Let's hope skating officials don't become equally adept a subverting the new one.
Didn't anyone else hear what MK had to say about it in her short interview? She said in the practices the clock said 3:40 every time and she didn't know why it was 3:42 in the competition. I guess, from her interview, they use the clock when they practice so they can be sure of the time.
I think you mean 2:40. 3:40 is almost a LP. LOLShe said in the practices the clock said 3:40 every time and she didn't know why it was 3:42 in the competition.
Sorry. You're right.
I think the wish is further to the thought-he wants her to retire so his skaters can move up. He needs to concentrate on his own skaters performances and not comment on someone elses. He is classless.
Mk will retire. Every skater retires. That day will come when Kwan is ready. And the infamous deduction, it is a shame that no one reminded her that her SP was too long before Worlds, and what's up with those practice times? Time and time again, MK proves she's strong enough
I think the only messages the judges sent Michelle were, don't fall down in the qualifying round and don't go over the time limit in the short.
I love grassy knoll theories as much as anyone, but in this instance it seemed to me that the judges were more interested in judging a figure skating contest than in sending "messages" to anyone.
I think Mpal's observation might be right. That Callaghan made his comment after Michelle received her marks but before Mr. Hofmann explanined the deduction. In that case Callaghan was merely saying that he was surprised that Michelle's marks were so low -- what are they saying, that she ought to retire or something?
Mathman
I think Callaghan's remarks were also directed at the Japanese federation (the "rich American" comment) reflecting his bitterness at being fired as Arakawa's coach (after her successful GP, GPF and Japanese Nationals results) and then being offered Onda as a replacement.
There was a Japanese judge on the QA and SP panels, but no US judge.
BTW, Michelle knows all too well that she has to chalk up her bronze medal to her own subpar performance in the QR, because the SP time deduction, although upsetting, really didn't have a net effect on where she ended up. She wasn't going to beat Arakawa's FS, and the best she could finish because of her QR performance was bronze.
She has learned some important lessons from this Worlds: (1) be sure to time your SP so that it is at least .3-.4 seconds under 2.40, for insurance and (2) arrive at the competition well-rehearsed and put in maximum practice time BEFORE the QR on the ice where the QR is to be skated (3) work on those 3/3s.
Richard Callaghan. Hmmm. I'm sure that if skating wanted to send a message to Michelle the messenger they'd select would not have molestation charges on his resume.
I wonder if there would be a deduction for a too short programme as well? I don´t know but have always assumed that the programmes do have to have a certain specific length?Originally posted by euterpe
She has learned some important lessons from this Worlds: (1) be sure to time your SP so that it is at least .3-.4 seconds under 2.40, for insurance and (2) arrive at the competition well-rehearsed and put in maximum practice time BEFORE the QR on the ice where the QR is to be skated (3) work on those 3/3s.
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