Olys: Will USA medal at all? | Page 7 | Golden Skate

Olys: Will USA medal at all?

bdreampixie

On the Ice
Joined
Jan 22, 2004
I think Kwan handled the pressure at 98 Olympics extremely well. JMO. 2 clean performances seems pretty good to me.

I must say that even though Irina gave an incredible LP at Worlds, her sp showed just how much pressure she was under. All year she had been doing perfect short programs and at the most important comp. she makes 2 big mistakes. Fortunately, for her the judges were very kind to her and she had a comfortable lead going into the long.

I think Irina, Michelle, Tara and Katarina are probably the toughest ladies I've seen in FS, but they've all had moments were the pressure got to them a bit.
 
Joined
Jul 11, 2003
Pressure, pressure, who's got the pressure? It's like two years ago when the subject of 'passion' came up. Everyone's favorite came up with passion. Some even believe if you are not Russian you can not have passion. Oh well, I digress. I don't want to get into that, when I think of Callas - a Greek American!

Pressure comes with the will to win. Take any sport and you will see the players taking careful aim at their goal. It's not pressure that makes losers. It's lack of pressure that makes losers. There is no will to win. The strategy with pressure is to use the nerves in a positive way. One can skate his personal best under pressure and not win but be satisfied that he gave it his all.

Imagine yourself on the ice and there is dead silence while waiting for your music to begin and thousands of people are peering at you and the judges are sitting there in there inevitable smugness. Anyone who does not have butterflies at that point isn't human. Do as the French do in show business, just say merde merde merde and go for it - not necessarily to win but to skate your best.

Katerina new how to use pressure. It wasn't that she didn't have any.

Sarah had nothing to lose after the SP, so she used the pressure to skate her best in the LP' (Luck was with her). Similarly with Shizuka in Dortmund although she did have a good SP.

Shen and Zhao in the DC Worlds used the pressure to overcome the sprained ankle of Shen.

So, I contend, there is nothing wrong with having pressure if you know how to use it positively.

Joe
 

attyfan

Custom Title
Medalist
Joined
Mar 1, 2004
Red Dog said:
Actually, I'd say it got to her at Nationals, too- but due to the lack of competition she was still able to pull it off. Say she performed like that at the 06 Olympics. I'm sure someone would have blown the cover off of that (un)inspired performance.

JMO though.

Kwan at Portland (and at Olys) reminds me of an interview with Plushy, where he explained his melt down at 2000 Worlds by saying he had his mind on the gold medal, not on his jumps. IMO, Kwan also doesn't do well if she starts focusing on gold. In Portland, IMO, she was focused on her ninth gold, and at Olys, it was getting gold. If Kwan can get herself into a different mode than "gold fever", she's a contender. If not, then not.
 

curious

Final Flight
Joined
Aug 15, 2003
chuckm said:
The problem is Irina has a very serious chronic illness that saps her strength and energy. Skating at home for Worlds '05 may have given her that extra 'edge' to get her through the competition with flying colors, but she will not be skating at home for the Olympics. Her FS at Torino (Europeans '05) was a disaster, and at the Olympics, she will be facing much tougher competition than Poykio and Liashenko.



yes,but irina will be training in italy before the olys. that will help her get ready for turino :biggrin:
 

R.D.

Record Breaker
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
attyfan said:
Kwan at Portland (and at Olys) reminds me of an interview with Plushy, where he explained his melt down at 2000 Worlds by saying he had his mind on the gold medal, not on his jumps. IMO, Kwan also doesn't do well if she starts focusing on gold. In Portland, IMO, she was focused on her ninth gold, and at Olys, it was getting gold. If Kwan can get herself into a different mode than "gold fever", she's a contender. If not, then not.

ITA. I covered this in an earlier post; I believe it was in this thread. It's not a good sign for the Kwan fans when she says she wants to "go for it one more time". Of course, we don't know what she truly means by "it", but I think it wouldn't be too far-fetched to assume that she means the gold medal. "One more time" just gives it away for me. She's going to go to the Olympics, hoping for gold, and she won't get it. Maybe being underestimated this time could help her cause somewhat, but if she busts out of the gate (starts the season strong) then it's deja vu all over again- I can almost smell it right now.

Like I said in my post regarding pressure, she (and a few others as well) need to adopt the guts and "go-get-it" attitude that Tara had in 98 and Hughes had in 02. That is, if they want to win. If they don't, then they can always stick to the status quo.
 

euterpe

Medalist
Joined
Sep 4, 2003
curious said:
yes,but irina will be training in italy before the olys. that will help her get ready for turino :biggrin:

Training on site is fine, but it won't do anything to alleviate the pressure of performing in the Olympics. Irina's doctors said her illness was very likely brought on by the tremendous pressure she was under at SLC. She began to suffer bouts of 'bronchitis' during the summer after SLC while touring with COI, then had to drop out of Campbell's because she was too ill to compete there. She had a rocky 2002-2003 season, winning no gold medals in the GP and losing her Russian championship to Sokolova. Then Irina dropped out of Worlds to stay by the side of her critically ill mother before being hospitalized herself that summer.

2005-2006 will surely be Irina's last competitive season. That alone will add to the pressure.
 

bdreampixie

On the Ice
Joined
Jan 22, 2004
Red Dog said:
ITA. I covered this in an earlier post; I believe it was in this thread. It's not a good sign for the Kwan fans when she says she wants to "go for it one more time". Of course, we don't know what she truly means by "it", but I think it wouldn't be too far-fetched to assume that she means the gold medal. "One more time" just gives it away for me. She's going to go to the Olympics, hoping for gold, and she won't get it. Maybe being underestimated this time could help her cause somewhat, but if she busts out of the gate (starts the season strong) then it's deja vu all over again- I can almost smell it right now.

I have to disagree with the idea that Kwan always skates bad when she wants to win. I'm sure that she went into 96 Worlds thinking of gold. She gave great performances and won. What about 01 Worlds and pretty much every Nats since 98. I don't know Michelle personally, and have no idea what she thinks before every performance but I'm almost sure she thinks of winning gold and not "Gee, I'd really like that bronze medal" or "I just want to give a nice performance." Sometimes she skates great under lots of pressure and sometimes she doesn't. In 98 Olympics she skated well under pressure and in 02 she didn't. What was the difference? Maybe for that day she was unable to handle the pressure for whatever reason, it could be anything.
 

R.D.

Record Breaker
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
I'm sure any skater always wants to win. Whether that translates into a great performance or not depends on the skater, and/or the day of the performance.

Pressure can come from within, and from outside. Some people can take it, others can't. Some can take it sometimes and other times can't. It's an X-factor and will never go away.
 
Joined
Jul 11, 2003
bdreampixie said:
I have to disagree with the idea that Kwan always skates bad when she wants to win. I'm sure that she went into 96 Worlds thinking of gold. She gave great performances and won. What about 01 Worlds and pretty much every Nats since 98. I don't know Michelle personally, and have no idea what she thinks before every performance but I'm almost sure she thinks of winning gold and not "Gee, I'd really like that bronze medal" or "I just want to give a nice performance." Sometimes she skates great under lots of pressure and sometimes she doesn't. In 98 Olympics she skated well under pressure and in 02 she didn't. What was the difference? Maybe for that day she was unable to handle the pressure for whatever reason, it could be anything.
bdreampixie - Don't get worked up over someone's post who has never skated; has no idea of the difference between a bunny hop and a waltz jump; can only talk positive about a skater once he is sure she has won; blabbers on about 'pressure' who more than likely has a personal problem with,. and who has never been in a position to face 10,000 people and 11 judges while alone on frozen ice in a cold arena; uses the term 'maybe' constantly because of insecurity, and gets off on other peoples reaction to his posts.

The negative poster's threads should be avoided since if you've read one, you've read them all. By answering them, you just feed his ego.

Joe
 
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