2018 Olympic Figure Skating Mens SP

[moonvine]

I wonder how much of the hype about nathan was based on the cute video of him skating when he was young and interview with andrea joyce. Davis and White were a big shoo in for gold, yet they did not hype them like that, and while the Shibs are a dark horse for gold, they could have made that into a narrative making it out to be that the 3 teams battle. Except for that video, and winning things this year in a trucated field with injured skaters and javi not being at his best, nathan's "story" was not that compelling nor was it much different than some of the ice dancings in the past few olympics. most similar to patrick chan in the vancouver olympics - he was too early.

The only good thing about this is that I probably never have to see that video again; I've seen it at least 1,000 times over the past 2 months (I watch a ton of Olympic channel).

 

[curious]

First time I agree with you on anything.

Me too lol

 

[Miss Ice]

Nathan looks so down in practice

Also, why does he keep adjusting the back of his costume?! Jeez, I hate Vera Wang even more now.

 

[moonvine]

Question to the really very old fans,

Was Brian Orser and Brian Boitano scrutinized as closely in proportionate to the media technology at those times in 1988, as compared to Nathan in 2018?

LOL, I don't qualify myself as "really very old." But the world was quite a bit different then. It was hyped but I can't even compare now and then. There was one or maybe 2 network broadcasts per day. We watched what was shown on the network broadcast and that's what we had. For news we had the paper newspaper and the broadcast news. That being said, figure skating was probably THE most important sport at the games (no snowboard, snowcross, etc) There's a documentary that NBC did specifically on the Battle of the Brians (may be geolocked, I don't know) that is worth watching to learn more about it. http://stream.nbcolympics.com/calgary-88

 

[amateur]

Am I the only one who enjoyed the German guy, Paul Fentz?

I fairly enjoyed him, I thought his choreo and movement was quite good, better than expected even, but that he didn't know how to really throw his personal expression into it, like he was just "doing" it but was kinda shy or something. Kurt Browning made observations along these lines also.

 

[moonvine]

To me the whole Nathan thing was good for getting people in the US (casual fans) to watch but bad for Nathan. And bad for people who are now disappointed and saying stupid things like "Nathan let them down". That's crud. Nathan owes you nothing. But the media tried to turn him into Hanyu. That was grossly unfair to Nathan.

They should have said something like: "Nathan has an excellent chance to medal here if he skates cleanly. If Hanyu brings his A or even B game he is going to be hard to beat."

In some ways I think it's NBC's job to explain that to casual viewers. No one was going to beat a clean Hanyu. Fernandez and Chan of old are the only two who really have a chance at all to be close.

Problem is they want people to watch. In the US people will generally only watch if they are already fans, or if they think an American has a chance to medal, and preferably win a gold. The US fanbase for figure skating has been dying for a long time. Even Scott Hamilton said the Japanese fans are holding up the sport internationally. NBC is trying to bring in the young viewers with Tara and Johnny. I think that is a mistake and I think young people these days (heh) are now more interested in X games type stuff.

- - - Updated - - -

Anyone else love reading Dick Button on twitter... loved having him participate even if we see things differently at times. His mind and wit are as sharp as ever. Hoping he sends Nathan some advice...

I never thought to try to FIND him on twitter. I must go follow him right away!

 

[moonvine]

I don't know guys. Nathan, up to the team event, was undefeated. He won both his GPs and the GPF (yes, I know the field was diluted somewhat). I don't think it was off base to say he was a gold medal contender.

Tara had him awarded the gold medal already. And there was the whole "quad king" thing.

 

[curious]

Much improved costume for Nathan. Likey, likey!

I loved his old costume more.

 

[moonvine]

Tarasova used to force her skaters to skip nationals going into the Olympics when they know they are already part of the Olympic team (she did it with Yagudin, Kulik, Grishuk/Platov,...) and honestly Nathan could have done the same thing here.

I don't think so. US Figure skating expects people to compete at Nationals if they are physically able to. If you are injured you may be able to petition on to the team. Sometimes that works and sometimes it doesn't. But to just not compete if you're physically able, I don't think that would fly.

 

[moonvine]

There was a wonderful documentary on the olympic channel called calgary '88 based on the skaters that year. They really got into the battle of the brians, about how that "title" was started by one of the magazines, and how much respect each skater had for each other. They periodically run those documentaries on olympic channel so look for it after the games. very interesting as they interview both of them now too in it.

I was a child then but i distinctly remember the rivalries- they also really hyped up debbie thomas as well as roslyn in '84- kinda the cold war thing i guess. They focused more on the ladies because we had a viable lady that year - debi thomas - against witt but there was still alot of attention paid to brian.

here unlike then all the media attention went to nathan. there was no obsession about a lady skater as it was then so bb probably felt it less since more attention went to debi. And debi bombed in the free under the pressure.

That documentary is streaming on NBC Olympics.com http://stream.nbcolympics.com/calgary-88

 

[curious]

You must hate poor Nathan. if he breaks it will be all your fault lol th

 

[moonvine]

The figure skating events finally feel like an Olympic atmosphere. Last few events felt so dead and felt more like a challenger event because 90% of the time the audience didn't clap or even acknowledge the skater on the ice and only seem to exist when there was an Korean skater on. I guess it's because of the vast number of Hanyu fans present who clapped for other skaters. Hope the ice dance and ladies event will get a good crowd reception.

It is the Hanyu fans. I don't know if they attend ladies and dance or not. But I was glad to see all the skaters get applause and not be skating in an empty rink.

 

[curious]

I don't think so. US Figure skating expects people to compete at Nationals if they are physically able to. If you are injured you may be able to petition on to the team. Sometimes that works and sometimes it doesn't. But to just not compete if you're physically able, I don't think that would fly.

I thought nathan was under the weather at nats. He should have not done nats my opinion.

 

[LandShark]

I mean yes, the NBC coverage definitely damaged Nathan - BUT. What should Shoma or Yuzuru say, with the hype they get? Or Javi who has the weight of Spain on his shoulders? Nathan needs to work on his mental game, because he will always get attention and coverage.

Watching Michael Johnson interviewed on TV some years back , he remarked that he teaches athletes he mentors to regard pressure as a privilege . It is your talent that has brought you into this position , so embrace your talent and let it flood through you rather than deny it. Without your talent you wouldn't be here.

Do not fear fear itself.

I liked that .

 

[moonvine]

There should be a FAR wider gap between the different tiers or skaters. As a teacher, I hate it when people throw around A's and B's like they're parmesan cheese. The AVERAGE student is AVERAGE. They have to impress the heck out of me to get a B, and blow my mind to get an A. Just b/c someone skates clean to some pretty music does NOT mean that they should outscore a master.

This is the Olympics. None of them is average.

 

[draqq]

On an interesting note, Jason Brown's 4CC score in the short of 89 points would have been good enough for 1st place among the American men here at the Olympics.

 

[moonvine]

There rather have to be outcry WHY there is no Ross Minor, why there is Zhou at Olympics; how on earth one can dare to do such a PSYCHOLOGICA ABUSE, psychological cruelty to the skater! Not my business, though, I am not American but a psychological abuse against Ross seems to me a mind blowing. It was his place to be there, at Olympics, and he EARNED his place by being second at Nationals. And I am sure he would have skated much better than Zhou; not everything is predictable by logic only. Anyway, all the best to Zhou, not his fault how a decision was made.

I don't believe he would have skated better. He has no international experience to speak of and he didn't do a quad in his SP at Nationals. Zhou also does not have international experience to speak of, but was the first to do a quad lutz in the Olympics. The judges had to reward that. I am not a fan of sending skaters without international experience to worlds and Olympic competitions. They can get good GP assignments for the following year. I would have sent Chen, Rippon, Brown. They would all have gotten to skate later, which tends to lead to higher scores.

 

[ks777]

I do not understand what this means. Are you saying that no one noticed the Nathan Chen hype on the NBC, or that those who noticed were already aware of him? And the NBC was not hoping to get new viewers via its hyping of Chen?

NBC hype thing is a double-edged sword. There are friends and family members of mine who tuned in to watch figure skating because they thought Chen would win the gold. Had Chen performed better, it could have been a first step for them to learn more about figure skating and to become a fan. Without the expectation they most likely would not have bothered to begin with. With Chen's medal chance gone the whole thing looks silly in retrospect, but you gotta start somewhere and rooting for your countrymen is often what gets you started. How many of us started watching figure skating because of some off-chance encounter with the hype surrounding a figure skater? I know I have.

What I was trying to say was that Figure Skating existed a long before Nathan Chen in the US.

 

[moonvine]

The criteria for the selection were out there for years. Under which, the team should have been Jason, Adam, and Nathan. Ross has done basically NOTHING internationally. He had ONE good competition.

That was exactly my team!

 

[LandShark]

Question to the really very old fans,

Was Brian Orser and Brian Boitano scrutinized as closely in proportionate to the media technology at those times in 1988, as compared to Nathan in 2018?

I'm sure there probably was in North America , but in Europe , and possibly other large chunks of the World , the '88 Calgary Olympics was all about the ladies. Witt vs Thomas was the showdown of the games. An ongoing grudge match from the previous three years that was slated as a winner takes all let's-finish-this -right -here shootout in the Saddledome.

And , boy , was it exciting. It's what the games of that year was waiting for. A white hot atmosphere that scorched right through the whole competition. The SP was an absolute classic of tension and drama. Witt's showgirl , Thomas's thudding , wall collapsing hard-house beat , all the while Manley's airy floatiness threatening to get in on the act and spoil the party.

It was a classic. No , 1988 was not about the guys.