After the men's short program: Japan (10 points) , Russia (9) and Canada (8) lead

[R.D.]

I don't watch nor follow men's skating but have been aware of Abbott's missteps from tweets so this wasn't a complete shock to me. Disappointment? You bet. But it's always easy to be right in hindsight - I think taking a gamble on Abbott was actually the right call for the SP - he just didn't come through. You roll dice and while you may get 12, sometimes you get stuck with 2.

Besides, who's to say Brown (or Aaron, had he been sent and available) wouldn't also have folded? Even a normally "consistent" skater can be rattled by Olympic pressure (see Kwan).

Having said all that, I still feel somewhat frustrated over what happened. But oh well. Hopefully we can still pull up. D/W should get at least 8 or 9 and pull us up...worried about Wagner though, not confident that she can shake off what happened in Boston while dealing with this much pressure on her. While she may not be a Czisny, she doesn't have a history of clutch performances either.

 

[kresslia]

Patrick looked subdued and lost his usual 'fighting' look, at start, even before his competition performance.
He used his Rachmaninov SP, two years old program. Without any changes. No new input at all, while others improve and surpass, Patrick just has been stagnant, staying at the same level, just doing his best not to retrogress! What a shame, from a young 22 year old. He can't even compare to Pluyshenko, the 'oldie' he jested, who came from injury, but rebounded to a wonderful performance, with new jestures, to get 91 points overall, in front of his home crowd. Obvious result from chooosing a non-skating coach, but she looked funny, a non skater sitting amongst the Canadian team roster, the only non skating coach in the whole Rink in Sochi! What a laugh! She looked to have put on a lot of weight, since summer 2012, too. She was the only one, in the Canadian team, who looked like buddha of satisfaction, of course, after gaining most from her coaching job with the former world champion.

His performane component mark was still high, compared to the others. But his technical marks are just not good enough to lead the pack.

I was surprised that Hanyu didn't use the Women's double handed blade pull spin, in his SP. He used that spin, usually taken by women skaters, in his LP in the GPF last December, in Japan, to show his super pliable body, slim, almost like a girl's, unique/rare for a Japanese man. His spins alone would have won the Olympic event, men's single and for his home team, in Sochi. But his performance, last night, is almost at par with Patrick, the performance par excellence skater, and added to this his perfect jumps (no falls this time, he has matured, under Orser. My wife asked, why wouldn't Patrick hired Orser, like Yuna and Fernandez? I answered, Patrick's parents are careful with their money, they are not supported by any sponsors, and saving is their virtue, besides, old grudges still linger in their minds....)

Looking ahead, the chance for Canada, in the Men Single Old Medal competition, is almost certain. Gold for Japan, Silver for Russia, Canada for Bronze, or out of the podium altogether. For Patrick's future, he may quit, or start regular university, like all Chinese parents, they had saved a education fund for their son.
I would be surprised, if Patrick continues to skate competitively, after Sochi, after all, he threatened, or thought of quiting, after Vancouver 2010, after getting fourth or fifth, just before the GPF in Nice, he would not continue his career, like so many world class skaters around him, until his late twenties.

Jeez, I'm not even a gigantic Patrick fan but... what. So now he "can't compare to Plushenko", despite scoring well above Plushenko's SP score in the past? Hell, even here in this team event he was just two points behind Plushenko, so if you're basing it just off of this, he clearly still DOES compare. That podium is "almost certain"? As much as I agree that Hanyu is the favourite for gold, we have SEEN Hanyu fall all over the place. We have seen him collapse against Patrick twice this very season. His win is not certain. Plushenko is easily beatable by Hanyu and Chan if they are (mostly) clean. Nothing about the men's event is certain - these guys are prone to costly mistakes.

Don't even know what to say about the strange and irrelevant singling out of his Chinese heritage.

 

[dardar1126]

I dearly wish that the U.S. men had three slots, and that Max were competing in Sochi.

That said, I think Max's first and primary instinct would be to feel a lot of compassion for any skater from any country -- incl. Abbott -- who is competing under the weight of expectations.

Max understands very well that flawless run-throughs in training do not provide immunity from mishaps in competition.

I agree. Max is a good friend, and a team player...I am confident that he wishes Jeremy and the whole team only the greatest success. :agree:

 

[hyperinflation]

patrick has the talent and the skills to take gold, just like he did in vancouver, he just doesn't have the mental fortitude. he didn't then and i doubt he has it now

 

[Sasha'sSpins]

Patrick looked subdued and lost his usual 'fighting' look, at start, even before his competition performance.
He used his Rachmaninov SP, two years old program. Without any changes. No new input at all, while others improve and surpass, Patrick just has been stagnant, staying at the same level, just doing his best not to retrogress! What a shame, from a young 22 year old. He can't even compare to Pluyshenko, the 'oldie' he jested, who came from injury, but rebounded to a wonderful performance, with new jestures, to get 91 points overall, in front of his home crowd. Obvious result from chooosing a non-skating coach, but she looked funny, a non skater sitting amongst the Canadian team roster, the only non skating coach in the whole Rink in Sochi! What a laugh! She looked to have put on a lot of weight, since summer 2012, too. She was the only one, in the Canadian team, who looked like buddha of satisfaction, of course, after gaining most from her coaching job with the former world champion.

His performane component mark was still high, compared to the others. But his technical marks are just not good enough to lead the pack.

I was surprised that Hanyu didn't use the Women's double handed blade pull spin, in his SP. He used that spin, usually taken by women skaters, in his LP in the GPF last December, in Japan, to show his super pliable body, slim, almost like a girl's, unique/rare for a Japanese man. His spins alone would have won the Olympic event, men's single and for his home team, in Sochi. But his performance, last night, is almost at par with Patrick, the performance par excellence skater, and added to this his perfect jumps (no falls this time, he has matured, under Orser. My wife asked, why wouldn't Patrick hired Orser, like Yuna and Fernandez? I answered, Patrick's parents are careful with their money, they are not supported by any sponsors, and saving is their virtue, besides, old grudges still linger in their minds....)

Looking ahead, the chance for Canada, in the Men Single Old Medal competition, is almost certain. Gold for Japan, Silver for Russia, Canada for Bronze, or out of the podium altogether. For Patrick's future, he may quit, or start regular university, like all Chinese parents, they had saved a education fund for their son.
I would be surprised, if Patrick continues to skate competitively, after Sochi, after all, he threatened, or thought of quiting, after Vancouver 2010, after getting fourth or fifth, just before the GPF in Nice, he would not continue his career, like so many world class skaters around him, until his late twenties.

What does the woman's weight have to do with anything? And what's with comparing her to 'buddha'? You seem obsessed with her in this rambling post. You seem to have something personal against her. Weird. :scratch:

 

[karne]

He wasn't chosen purely based on his record. He was chosen because overall he skated better than anybody else at Nationals.

That's my point. Based purely on his record, he should never have been chosen. Because his record says that he is terrible at these events, no matter how good he was at Nationals.

I agree. Max is a good friend, and a team player...I am confident that he wishes Jeremy and the whole team only the greatest success. :agree:

I am confident that Max is a good man, and that he wants only the best for all of Team USA in Sochi. But he is only human and it must be so incredibly difficult to be stuck at home and watch a complete and utter meltdown...from someone you beat at Nationals last year, from someone who is consistently bad at these events, when you were the main reason there were still two spots for the US men, and only barely missed out.