Plushy is one of the best CoP competitors out there and is also a born performer. As he is a perennial judge AND audience favorite, there is no pressing need for him to test out his programs, but If he wants to do a performance test before Torino, he can do it at Euros.
One thing I do agree with is that a healthy Plushenko is the very likely winner of the OGM. It will be interesting to see what shape he is in. He really should have withdrawn from Worlds if he was injured though, I have read he may have exasperated the injury further and put himself at further risk for the Olympics.
In any case Lambiel only has to worry about his own skating. He has enough ability that if he skates a clean competition he is ensured a gold or silver
(only a healthy Plushenko maybe beating him), regardless what anybody else does or who has a quad next year.
Exasperated which injury?Originally Posted by slutskayafan21
I don't know about that. He seems more nervous when he competes "cold" and makes mistakes like he did at COR in the SP. I think he's the kind of skater who needs competitions to stay sharp and to get his legs under him (so to speak).
You could say that about any competitor, which would include Sandhu; Buttle and Weir with competition quads; and even Lysacek with a competition quad.
All these skaters have the ability to win with a clean competition.
No one is "ensured gold or silver".
And as for skating a clean competition, Lambiel sure didn't do that in Moscow--he had numerous mistakes in his FS. I have yet to see him skate a clean competition. He lost out on a medal at Worlds 2004 because he bombed in the SP
Heck, Joannie Rochette could have medaled at Worlds 2005 if she skated a clean competition. But she didn't.
Far, far easier said than done.
As to Plushy making mistakes in CoR last year, he was already injured before he competed. He skated only because the ISU was threatening the Russian Federation. He was dismayed when Weir withdrew from the GPF, forcing him to skate there, too. He did not skate well at Russian Nationals and Euros, and it all culminated in his withdrawal from Worlds with TWO inguinal hernias, a sore back and a bum knee.
Last edited by chuckm; 04-19-2005 at 12:11 PM.
Plush didn't blame his injuries for his SP mistakes in COR, he said he was nervous. BTW, just before COR he competed in a small russian event and landed both a 4 salchow and a 4 toe , and was doing shows which was why the ISU leaned on him. However he was not forced to do COR: he originally was only going to compete in that event and pulled out of NHK.
Abberation? Joubert's always been inconsistent. In the 03-04 season, he did so poorly on the GP series that her missed the GPF. At 03 worlds, he completely bombed the QR. In some ways, this has been his most consistent season yet.
Maybe Plushy didn't blame his injuries, but it's pretty obvious he already had quite a few---you don't get double inguinal hernias overnight. The weakness had to be there long before the abdominal wall broke down, and he had to be feeling pain for sime time. Plushy has been in a state of denial about his injuries for a long time--one reason why he hasn't had surgery on his knee. Apparently, he doesn't want his physical weaknesses known.
Through now, the only competition in which Joubert has skated consistently and earned a podium spot is Europeans. I was hoping that his World silver last year was a turning point, even though I expected a slow GP start. It must have been frustrating for Joubert knowing that his technical score in the qualis was 19 points lower than Lambiel's (although only one point lower in PCS for a 10 am performance in which he barely had a pulse). Although this translated into a feasible 5.62 deficit coming into the long, Lambiel's quali TES of 77.9 was over eight points higher than Joubert scored all year with the program. (And much higher than the 56.41, 57.96, and 63.2 that he received at GP events this year.)
Even had Joubert landed his highest LP score of the year -- 147.45 at Euros, with LP TES of 69.71 a little higher than Lambiel's World LP TES of 67.32 -- he still would not have made up the deficit from qualis. I know that's mixing events, and that 147.45 from the Euros judges might have translated into the 150+ or so from the World's judges, but counting on surpassing his highest score of the year, particularly when his quali TES of 58.90 was already 8.42 points below Lambiel's LP (with mistakes) TES of 8.42 was quite a gamble.
I think the improvements he's made in his spins should pay off in the long run, though.
I would not have wished hernias on Plushenko, but the silver lining was that he gave two performances in Moscow in qualis and SP through sheer will, pulling out his last drop of reserve from his toe nails, and then retired, and as a result, he has no obligation to skate GP next yearIt's the best thing that could have happened to him in an Olympic year. He and his coaches and choreographers have had enough experience with CoP programs to know how to craft winning programs, and while shows are not the same as competition, he performs his competitive programs in them, and if he skates shows, he won't be rusty for Russian Nationals.
He can skate at CoR only, particularly if by the start of competition 12 points won't qualify for the final, which is more likely now that the ISU has reportedly cut out the third event for seeded skaters, who can no longer take points away from other competitors in their non-scoring events. For example, assuming the same scores from the rest of the field, without Johnny Weir at NHK last season, Chengjiang Li would have had a total of 14 points (5 instead of 4), and Michael Weiss would have had 14 (7 instead of 5) and a bronze medal, as well as the first alternate spot, which would have made him Weir's replacement in GPF. In 2003-4, Joubert would have had 14 points and a berth in GPF instead of a last-minute replacement invitation, and Gao would also have had 14 (moving up one in NHK), bumping Goebel with his 12 points from his single event (CHN) to first alternate. Dambier would have been third alternate, with 11 points, after two moves up. First alternate isn't quite safe enough, though, at least in the last two years.
I don't think Plushy has to skate the GPs if he doesn't want to. He is by far, imo, the most consistent skater on the Men's circuit. Unless there are news about the hernia surgeries otherwise, I believe he should be back skating in no substantial time lost.
How badly the knee is and if he intends to have surgery is still the most important question about his future. And still no one seems to know anything about this.
Joe
For starters I never said Lambiel was a safe bet to skate cleanly. What I said is what he should focus on, first and foremost is doing what he is capable of, and skating cleanly, since in the situation that he does he is safe to win gold or silver at the Olympics, he has too many skills as a skater not to, especially now with the clout of a World Champion. I did not imply it was easy for him to skate cleanly, but his focus for next year should be more on capatilizing on all his abilities with greater consistency, as oppose to improving his skills.
No that is not true of all those others. In the case of Buttle, Weir, and Lysacek they dont have quads, so you are talking about them gaining an ability they dont have right now(doing a jump in practice occassionaly is not a pair with being inconsistent in a jump but often doing it in competition). As well Lysacek imparticular would not come close to beating Plushenko and Lambiel even with a quad, unless they had major errors. Those other skaters are more likely to have to be concerned with what other skaters do, whether others make enough mistakes or not. Lambiel by contrast has to just focus on what he can do, does not need the help some of those you mentioned would to ensure a medal spot.
I think he/she means 'exacerbated'.
The problem Lambiel will have in skating a clean competition is that his money jumps other than the quad (lutz, 3A) are inconsistent. Weir is a very consistent jumper and he rarely misses a 3A or 3Z, so IMHO, he has just as much chance of landing a clean quad as Lambiel has of skating a clean FS.
I have seen Weir skate a clean FS (NHK), but I have never seen Lambiel do the same thing.
I read an interesting detail in the latest issue of Spotlight on Skating, about the little flap last year in which the ISU and the Russian federation forbade Plushenko to skate an exhibition in Prague. Since he had already promised to appear, he went to the arena the very afternoon of the scheduled performance and taped it, to be shown that evening. I guess this was OK with the ISU -- or at least a compromise that they could live with despite "rules 136.6 and 125.4."
In the men's medal race, I think it is way too early to discount Buttle's chances. He actually does have a quad that is fairly reliable, when he choses to include it. Buttle's problem in the past has been that when he does the quad early in the program, it seems to take so much out of him, either mentally or physically, that the rest of the program suffers.
Another contender, IMHO, is Li. To me, he has everything. Everything, that is, except the respect of the international judges.
On the issue of whether a skater should work on his own skating rather than worry about whether others will make mistakes, that is obviously good advice for every competitor. As Alexei Yagudin says, this isn't boxing -- there is nothing you can do to make your opponent mess up, so why worry about it?
Mathman
Last edited by Mathman; 04-20-2005 at 09:32 AM.
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