Michelle Kwan's Short Program "Time" Issue

[SkateFan4Life]

Actually, I was surprised that there wasn't much of a bruhaha. Everyone, Kwan fans and foes alike, pretty much agreed on his one. She went over the time. She got a deduction for it. That's sports.

Mathman

Well, the "bruhaha" eminated largely from Michelle Kwan and her new coach, both of whom were upset over the technical mark deduction. However, the judges called this one fairly and squarely, in my opinion. Michelle was clearly still skating when her music stopped - anybody could see that.

My point is that the judges at US Nationals must stop viewing Kwan as some sort of icon (which she is, of course) and award her marks that accurately reflect her performance. Michelle also ran over time in her short program at Nationals, but she was not penalized for doing so. She flubbed her double axel, however, and she was marked down for that.

Sometimes you have to be cruel to be kind.

[toutestgrace]

I love MK and I love TFB, but I still don't get how she and her team allowed this to happen. I'm no skater, but I would think with time restrictions being integral to deductions, NO ONE would construct such a tight program. Can anyone give me the strategy behind timing a program?

[Chrystia Mee]

Well, the "bruhaha" eminated largely from Michelle Kwan and her new coach, both of whom were upset over the technical mark deduction. However, the judges called this one fairly and squarely, in my opinion. Michelle was clearly still skating when her music stopped - anybody could see that.

My point is that the judges at US Nationals must stop viewing Kwan as some sort of icon (which she is, of course) and award her marks that accurately reflect her performance. Michelle also ran over time in her short program at Nationals, but she was not penalized for doing so. She flubbed her double axel, however, and she was marked down for that.

Sometimes you have to be cruel to be kind.

I think the whole time thing is a little silly to be honest. I can understand why Michelle would be upset. After delivering a good program to hear you get deducted for something like a time deduction must be exceptionally frustrating. I don't think she came across as feeling entitled, just not sure how to express frustration. Even though she clearly went over it is never pleasant news to hear you were penalized for time instead of mistakes. And besides even with deductions some of her scores were much lower than I thought they should be. And really the only reason anyone cares is because it is Michelle. If it had been Kostner or even Ando I don't think there would be nearly the controversy over it.

[katherine2001]

It is up to the skater, the coach, and the choreographer to know what the rules are. They all know that there is a time limit for the program. If hearing the music can be a problem due to the crowds, why run the music right up to the time limit? End the music 3 or 4 seconds early so that if she goes past the end of the music, she will still be able to finish the program within the allotted time. It was very fair to make the deduction for going over on the time. I also think that the judges at Nationals should have taken the deduction as well.

[MidnightNess]

I bet Michelle was also frustrated because no one mentioned to her the fact that she went overtime at Nationals. When you're on the ice, I imagine it must be the hard to tell the difference between ending on time and a few seconds, especially if the crowd is with you. True, it is her responsibility make sure she stays within rules but the USFSA also failed to do their part and at least acknowledge the fact that she went overtime at Nationals,instead of waiting until the whole "controversy" happened at Worlds. If she had been told at Nationals, she would have taken care of it ASAP and it wouldnt' have happened. She would have scored at least second in the SP (depending on which judges marks counted) and have gotten 4 6.0s. Hopefully now with the additional 10 seconds added to the SP time, she'll make sure not make such a mistake again.

[Kwantessence]

It is up to the skater, the coach, and the choreographer to know what the rules are. They all know that there is a time limit for the program. If hearing the music can be a problem due to the crowds, why run the music right up to the time limit? End the music 3 or 4 seconds early so that if she goes past the end of the music, she will still be able to finish the program within the allotted time. It was very fair to make the deduction for going over on the time. I also think that the judges at Nationals should have taken the deduction as well.

I'm sorry but the ISU lost it's credibility on this time issue when they amended the rule after the fact. If the extra two seconds was such a crucial error, then why add 10 more seconds to the sp. Oh please don't tell me that it is because skaters can add more elements to their program, if anything, this extra time will be used up doing extra crossovers. :\

Wouldn't It be funny if Michelle changed her sp to 2.50 sec for next year? :D

[Mathman]

Wouldn't It be funny if Michelle changed her sp to 2.50 sec for next year? :D

Do it, Michelle, do it!!! Then skate for 2:52 right in the judges faces, LOL.

Mathman

[R.D.]

Ha ha...and the next thing you know, they'll be extending the short program time to 3:00

[SkateFan4Life]

I think the whole time thing is a little silly to be honest. I can understand why Michelle would be upset. After delivering a good program to hear you get deducted for something like a time deduction must be exceptionally frustrating. I don't think she came across as feeling entitled, just not sure how to express frustration. Even though she clearly went over it is never pleasant news to hear you were penalized for time instead of mistakes. And besides even with deductions some of her scores were much lower than I thought they should be. And really the only reason anyone cares is because it is Michelle. If it had been Kostner or even Ando I don't think there would be nearly the controversy over it.

OK - at the risk of sounding like an old broken record, I am simply saying that the US Nationals judges should have done their job and deducted technical points for Michelle Kwan's short program at this year's Nationals. She clearly skated after the music had stopped. Had the judges taken the deduction, she would most likely have corrected the situation - rechoreograph the ending so her ending would be in sync with the music's ending, and she would have not made this mistake at Worlds. The US judges gave her a false sense of security by choosing to ignore this mistake.

Again - you have to be cruel to be kind at times.

[R.D.]

I agree.

[Joesitz]

It's much ado about little. I ws there. The music stopped and she rushed for the final pose. big deal. she got the deduction and that's all there is, folks.

Joe

[SkateFan4Life]

It's much ado about little. I ws there. The music stopped and she rushed for the final pose. big deal. she got the deduction and that's all there is, folks. Joe

Sorry to sound like a broken record, but, the US Nationals judges did not deduct from Michelle's technical marks when she "rushed for the fiinal pose". She was clearly moving after the music had ended - and that calls for a deduction, plain and simple. Michelle did the same thing at Worlds - she "rushed for the final pose", and this time the judges (correctly) deducted from her technical scores.