Mathman said:Soogar, what made you change your mind about Miki Ando as a promising Olympic hopeful?
I still like Miki, and I hope for her to win everything. However that Emily has something going for her that Miki doesn't : a strong federation backing her. The Japanese federation can't do for its skaters that the US federation can for its skaters. While the US men can probably hope for a bronze medal at best, the ladies event has been a US medal haul the past 2 Olympics. I also think that luck will run Emily's way. It's just a feeling I get (though I get good feelings about Carolina as well).
I just want to add my 2 cents about Li and say that the reason why Li won't medal is that the Chinese federation can't politick for him. The Canadian federation has been going out of its way to embrace COP and kiss ISU butt that with every chance the judges got , they were very kind to the Canadian men (that didn't quite work with the Canadian women, but they really didn't have good performances at Worlds).
I believe that Klimkin has an excellent shot for a bronze medal if he can get his jumps back. From what I've seen of him on the Averbukh tour, his body looks fantastic but the one triple jump that he has right now is quite inconsistent. I would say that Andrei has a better shot than Klimkin for the Russian team, however athletes always amaze me with the comebacks they can make. Klimkin has made lots of comebacks and there's no doubt that two months of intensive work can get him back to snuff.
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