My thoughts on Michelle at 2004 Worlds

Appach88, even as a Kwan fan I quite understand why Arakawa win. And she deservedly. I've always liked Arakawa reserved style and smooth edge quality. I saw that before it happen, if any one can beat MK in every aspect of skating skill now it is Arakawa. She has been terriblely undermarked since last season. As I said before, each incident judge had a legimated right to do so, but if you put the whole thing together and considering the whole scenario what happened surrounding MK, it did smell fishy. IMO, it was nealy pre judged event, had USFSA didn't file the protest the result could well be Miki Onda on podium instead of MK.

MK's mistake in QR certainly gave the first optunity to put her after Miki Onda. How can you explain both skated the same programs in QR and LP, in QR both of them had the same number of triples but MA came ahead of MK with a split panel, in LP after US protested, MA had 6 triples with 2 3/3s while MK had 5 triples but all judges put MK ahead of MA (may be except 1). IMO, the whole thing just smell fishy.

.The man was identified as 30-year-old Ron Bensimhon of Canada. According to organizers, he was released because a misdemeanor is not an arrestable offense.

HAHAHA

I agree with Zheng. There did seem to have been an impetus to put Ando on the podium. Her FS performance could only be classified as mediocre: she cut her 4S to a 2S (not even a 3S); her 2nd 3/3 was very underrotated; her spins were OK, but not great; her spin positions and spirals definitely needed improvement; and in the second half of the FS her speed dropped to nearly a crawl and her movements became very sloppy. Yet she received all 5.7s and 5.8s for presentation--much too high for the performance she gave.

Ando's SP was slightly better on the presentation side, but still far from great, and although she did a 3/3 and Kwan did not, Kwan DID perform an excellent SP and 5.1 (or even 5.2) is an outrageous technical mark, and 5.6 (or even 5.7) an outrageous presentation mark.

Also, since .1 is deducted from each and every mark (technical AND presentation) it seems clear that without the time deduction, Kwan's SP would have gotten mostly 5.9s and 6.0s for presentation.

euterpe said:

Kwan DID perform an excellent SP and 5.1 (or even 5.2) is an outrageous technical mark, and 5.6 (or even 5.7) an outrageous presentation mark.

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Most of the judges did not seem to have quite the same opinion. Her technical marks in SP moved between 5,1-5,8 (1x 5,1, 2x5,4, 3x5,5, 6x5,6 and once a 5,7 and 5,8). Presentation marks were between 5,6-5,9 (1x5,6, 3x5,7, 6x5,8 and 4x5,9).

Michelle´s technical marks seem to have been the lowest of 6 top skaters in short programme:

http://www.isufs.org/results/wc2004/seg007.htm

In LP Michelle came nicely back and skated an almost faultless programme (not supposed to be a double lutz).

Marjaana

Apache,
Thank you for your insightful posts and this interesting topic. And to all the other posters who have covered most of the important points.

I think that one thing that needs to be mentioned about Michelle and this Worlds is the work (and consequent changes) that she has been putting into her skating.
Here's what I have noticed:
1. She has been looking to improve the speed of her skating. This is especially noticeable in the final footwork sequence of her LP, where at least at Altanta, where I saw it live, the speed and complexity is now Amazing! When you consider how many people critiqued her speed in this past, this is significant.
2. Improvement of both position and speed of rotation in her camel spin while still having perfect centering. In years before 2002 Michelle's position didn't have that from the body center extension, and the speed of rotation was on the slow side, so that she would just eke out the required number of rotations. This year she had one of the very best camels in the SP.
3. Improvement of leg position, prior to getting her foot down into the heart layback spin. She actually had her foot for a bit in the classic layback position, something she has never done.
(SP), while maintaining improved rotational speed.
4. She has changed her second combination for the LP. She is now doing a 3S2T. She completed this in the LP, too.
5. Work on getting better jump technique preparatory to scheduling a 3/3 of some sort in the long. She has been seen completing 3S/3T (see 4) I expect to see it included next year. Her flip is now very very high and the 3S also. The 2A seems to have more height and speed into it as well. If she has been working on the 3L, I haven't seen any good effects. Her 3T (solo) was not well executed, and didn't look good at World's last year either, and I don't see any improvement.
If she has been working on the lutz, and I think she has, I also don't see any good effects and wonder if this is what going on with missing the 2nd lutz twice-or if the extra speed overall is causing her to be tired when she reaches the end of the program, where the second lutz is, and where she has to be gathering strength to end Tosca in that huge, fast explosion of footwork.

When a skater makes that many significant changes, the effects are not always positive on their placings.

Also, in the case of Michelle's World's LP, including the streaker, she said she had an adrenaline rush when she realized he might have a gun. This may have upset the whole chemical balance, leaving her more tired than usual at the second lutz.

I think with regard to the placings of all the US girls, we need to remember that not only was this competition not in North America, there was no US judge on the panel. Over time, that has never helped a skater, when their federation does not have a judge on the panel. And anyone who does not believe that in skating there is a home court advantage, not just in the crowd support, but also in the judging, just hasn't been watching over time.

Congratulations to both Sasha and Michelle for working so hard this year to improve their performances! I am so happy that Sasha finally got her first World medal.

And congratulations to Arikawa for her well deserved win.

However, having watched both Ando's Jr. Worlds and her World's performance, I think her second marks were awfully high for what she actually did.

Doris - Great post. I too had noticed increased speed, a wonderful 3F, and better 2A. As to the 3L problem, I'm hoping that they are in the middle of tweaking it, and it still hasn't been perfected because it was so nice last year.

I thought she looked great in both the SP and LP. I hope she continues to work on her tech with Rafael and is able to get some nice 3/3s in the near future.

Am I just naive about the Byzantine intrigues of the world of figure skating judging? To me, the only "messages" Michelle can take away from this competition are:

1. Don't fall down in the qualifying round.

2. Don't go over the time limit in the SP.

3. If you skate the third best overall you will end up in third place.

That having been said, I agree that the marks both for Miki and for Carolina were too high. I scored it

Short program:

Michelle
Sasha
Shizuka
Miki

Long program

Michelle
Shizuka
Sasha
Julia S.

Mathman

Mathman -

a final thing

I read that original Michelle's qualifying group was scheduled to be the latter of the 2 groups to skate, and was swapped in the schedule the day before. Michelle was one of the first to skate in her QR group, about 8 am Dortmund time. I wonder if her internal clock had just not reset correctly so to speak yet. Johnny Weir certainly had this problem and he is an east coast boy,3 or 4 hours closer to Germany, depending on when German Day Light Savings hits.

I wonder if this had an effect on her QR?

dpp

I wish Mathman.

I thought Michelle's short was amazing and I would have placed her 1st before the deductions. I think Michelle was placed right in the free skate. Had she landed the 3 lutz and bursted into her footwork then I would have placed her first.

lavender said:

I thought Michelle's short was amazing and I would have placed her 1st before the deductions. I think Michelle was placed right in the free skate. Had she landed the 3 lutz and bursted into her footwork then I would have placed her first.

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Me, too, Lavender. And you know what? Even with the flub on the last Lutz, like Peggy Fleming said, she did a perfect double Lutz, with an exquisite flowing edge on the landing!

But then, like you say, that gave a little different meaning to the footwork sequence. At Nationals, her footwork sequence said, "I just kicked y'all butts, now I'm going to dance on your head for good measure."

At Worlds it was like, Oh well, everything went wrong that could, but I'm still your Michelle. No wonder she got all those 6.0s.

Doris Pulaski, that is interesting news about the switch in the qualifying groups. I'm sure the time thing had an effect on Michelle. She said that it took her the first half of the program before she started really to feel that her legs were uinder her.

Then again, everyone in the group was in the same situation.

Mathman

Yes, Mathman, But first to skate was Fumie, who tanked, second was Vika who tanked, third was Michelle, who....tanked. the first skater in group A to skate well was Shizuka, who skated 6th. And kudos to her!

I think Michelle has been around long enough to know that ups and downs are a part of sport. She's had some Worlds where the stars aligned for her and she gave a winning performance (2000, 2003) and others where it was one unfortunate thing after another (1999, 2004). She soldiers on regardless, like a true champ. I just hope she wasn't too freaked out by the streaker.

quote

At Worlds it was like, Oh well, everything went wrong that could, but I'm still your Michelle. No wonder she got all those 6.0s

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I like that quote! AND this one too

She soldiers on regardless, like a true champ.

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Only Michelle can take a beating to the ground and still get back up and fight and keep on going and proving everyone why she's a true champ. I mean how many skaters can you think of that can endure the media continuously writing her off, plus pressure of defending her title, unfairness in applying a rule(well IMO), a streaker and still come out as great as ever?

Doris, great posts, you must be a long time fans or skater/coach yourself. Since every improvements you list in your post, exactly were what I heard she was working on.

The comments from the rink are:
1) Her camel spin leg are more stretched (higher?).
2) Spin in general are faster. When she spin, RA would yell 'Fast! Fast! ...' lol
3) The jumps are 'Higher and Beautyful'.
4) Double axle with more power and secure.
5) Changed loop and lutz entry curve to make landing more secure. Here I suspect her musel memory has not been working too well when under pressure. Cuz I heard these two jumps were really VERY consistant in practice no problem at all.
6) The speed sure improved since there is one session for stroking and spin.

Though I thought RA made a stratege mistake by announceing MK will at least add a 3/3 into her LP at world when he was interviewed after Nats. So ppl's expectation is high. At that time MK did have her 3t/3t back (only worked with RA for about 6 weeks), but not consistant enough to put into program. He might thought given more than 2 monthes work towards worlds, she can get the consistancy down. They diddn't thought MK's long beaten body need more time to have consistant 3/3s. His rule for putting 3/3 into program even more strict than Frank Carol.

Michelle's fall on the ice was just plain carelessness. I believe she set out to do a mediocre routine. Why I just don't know. The SP although better left much to be desired. However, she made quite the comeback in the LP. Clean jumps and the spins are getting faster and faster at ech compeitition. She was 2nd in that round and I hope she got the message that she could have been first if she ups the technical and stays away from the blues.

Joe

Joe, I'm curious about your take on Michelle's short program. Both you and Hockeyfan said that it wasn't up to par. On TV, at least to me, it looked great. Was there some specific mistake that she made, or did you just think it was a lackluster performance in person?

I thought Michelle's performance was riveting from beginning to end.

MM

Doris, great post and I did see the same improvement except the layback. I probably missed it. Her jumps were higher, even her 2A seemed to have more spring. But like you said, her 3S and 3T remained the same. Her 3z seemed to be just ok but its height was better. I guess this must be a temporary effect from her adjustment on her 3z.

The best 3z I have seen her do was the first 3z in Red Violin at 2000 Worlds. She really was holding out on a long outside edge all the way to the board before the liftoff. As to whether she switched it back to the flat just before takeoff was too difficult to detect even in slow-mo. It was the closest to the true lutz jump she had ever got to.

The one improvement at 2004 Worlds that struck me was her camel spin. Much more beautiful posture, more arch and the rotation was actually fast! In the past, her camel spin was excruciatingly slow (by world standards of course).

Joe, I'm with Mathman, I thought the SP was great. Full of tension and energy and the spins especially the camel spin were fast. The footwork perhaps wasn't as good as it was at 2003 Nationals and Worlds. Other than that, it was great. Even the spin combo at the end before the infamous late ending pose was nice to see. In the past I would find her spin combo boring.

If I remember correctly, when Sasha moved to train with Tarasova, there was a thread discussing what we could expect to see for the following season. I think it was Rgirl, in one of her thorough and thought provoking posts, who stated that because of the coaching change we shouldn't expect much for the following season and indeed we might see a little back sliding and her arguments supporting this conclusion were formidable.
(If Rgirl or someone has this post, please feel free to repost.)

Back to the object of this post: I think many people thought that because of the coaching change to Artunian, Michelle would have 3x3s, a quad, better and more varied spins, changed choreography, etc., in short a completely revamped Kwan and were disappointed when that didn't happen.

What did happen were the more subtle changes and upgrades; the higher jumps, better speed, footwork added in preparation of faster spins and upgrades to the variety of spins.
We must remember that those changes improvements were only over a couple of months.

What happens next - who knows, we can only wait and see. Though I do predict we will see MK on the GP circuit probably at SA and SC. Will she medal? Who knows but I'd wager we'll see steady improvements in everything.

4dk