In praise of Rachael and other "athletes." | Page 3 | Golden Skate

In praise of Rachael and other "athletes."

aftertherain

Record Breaker
Joined
Jan 15, 2010
Yuna beat Rachel by more than 13 points at SA. Yuna set another world record in her SP at SA but her SP had been of that level consistently. It was less than 0.3 points higher than her own previous SP world record. Rachel could have beat Yuna at GPF? Wow... Rachel didn't even qualify for GPF. Yuna's extremely unusual Saturday night at SA must give some Rachel fans illusion.

I think she meant at the SP. No need to be snarky.
 

FlattFan

Match Penalty
Joined
Jan 4, 2010
Yuna beat Rachel by more than 13 points at SA. Yuna set another world record in her SP at SA but her SP had been of that level consistently. It was less than 0.2 points higher than her own previous SP world record. Rachel could have beat Yuna at GPF? :scratch: Wow... Rachel didn't even qualify for GPF. Yuna's extremely unusual Saturday night at SA must give some Rachel fans illusion.

I said if Yuna skated like she did at the GPF, Rachael would beat her. Wow. Do you have problem understanding what you read because I didn't say Rachael was at the GPF.
 

inside edge

On the Ice
Joined
Nov 26, 2009
QUOTE=Buttercup;457777]High scores at Nats? there is no meaning. :p

A 200 is no more reflective of Rachael Flatt's skating than a 100+ was for Plushenko's SP at Russian Nats, or Patrick Chan getting the score he did this year in Canadian Nationals, or Stephane Lambiel's marks at Swiss Nats. I'm fine with generous scores but they shoudl still be within reason (e.g. Abbott at US Nats). Some in the US media have suggested that Flatt is now on the level of Asada/Kim, when really, she can only be competitive with them if they screw up. A lot of casual viewers and journalists simply don't understand that in many countries, Nationals scores are worthless in predicting international scoring.]

:yes: :yes:
 

Queens Guy

Rinkside
Joined
Nov 11, 2009
I said if Yuna skated like she did at the GPF, Rachael would beat her.

No, you are seriously under illusion.

Flatt's 2010 Nationals
SP 69.3
LP 130.7
Total 200.X :rock: :rofl:

You don't even know scores are ridiculously inflated at nationals. Joannie and Mao all surpassed 200 in their nationals this season. Mao's record score at nationals is 211, which she set a few years ago.
 

aftertherain

Record Breaker
Joined
Jan 15, 2010
No, you are seriously under illusion.

You don't even know scores are ridiculously inflated at nationals. Joannie and Mao all surpassed 200 in their nationals this season. Mao's record score at nationals is 211, which she set a few years ago.

Clearly, she would, because she said this:

Maybe Yuna should go back to Korea and skate at her National once in a while (say a year). Then she can get 3098273408.23 ... for the short program. :rofl:
 
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gio

Medalist
Joined
Jan 23, 2006
Flatt is a hard working person. She fixed the Lutz, for that alone she should be praised.
She also did a wonderful interpratation in her SP. She should add humor in her programs as she did in her SP. She should play with that bad posture by choosing appropriate programs. I can see her doing a Charlie Chaplin routine.

If she fixed the Lutz, she could fix also spins and spirals.
 

silverlake22

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 12, 2009
They say nationals have 10 percent inflation. 10 percent of 70 is 7, so Rachael's score for her SP at nats internationally would have been around 63, which seems reasonable. 10 percent of 130 is 13, so that would mean her LP would have scored around 117 internationally, which is also reasonable b/c she almost got that at SA where her last spin didn't count, but her overall carriage there was a bit better.

If you just accept the 10% inflation rule for nationals the scores make since. At US nationals it's better than some other countries, I mean, Joannie got a 144 for her LP and Patrick got a 90+ for a program with no quad and no 3-3, even Phanuef got a 67 for her SP with a 3toe as her solo triple.
 
Joined
Jun 21, 2003
They say nationals have 10 percent inflation. 10 percent of 70 is 7, so Rachael's score for her SP at nats internationally would have been around 63, which seems reasonable. 10 percent of 130 is 13, so that would mean her LP would have scored around 117 internationally...

I am going to hate myself for this post, but....it's not 10% of 130, it's 130/1.10 = 118.2.

Now take 10% of 118.2 and see if it works. :p
 

adamlondon

On the Ice
Joined
Feb 7, 2004
I'm not being rude but she does not have the most appealing look on the ice. I mean, in ballet for example, the shape of your body is very important to the overall effect of your dancing regardless of how many turns you do. The Miss Piggy look she has certainly does not help her and she looks almost clunky on the ice.

Every politically correct person will start saying I'm bashing her and being superficial etc but I feel this will be the thing which will let her down. It's also not just her looks but she is just not very comely on the ice. I find it hard to believe her PCS are similar to Mirai and Sasha's.
 

yunasashafan

On the Ice
Joined
Jan 22, 2010
I am going to hate myself for this post, but....it's not 10% of 130, it's 130/1.10 = 118.2.

Now take 10% of 118.2 and see if it works. :p

:rofl: don't worry Mathman, I understand. It was bugging me too but I was too chicken to point it out :clap:
 

gio

Medalist
Joined
Jan 23, 2006
I'm not being rude but she does not have the most appealing look on the ice. I mean, in ballet for example, the shape of your body is very important to the overall effect of your dancing regardless of how many turns you do. The Miss Piggy look she has certainly does not help her and she looks almost clunky on the ice.

Every politically correct person will start saying I'm bashing her and being superficial etc but I feel this will be the thing which will let her down. It's also not just her looks but she is just not very comely on the ice. I find it hard to believe her PCS are similar to Mirai and Sasha's.

Figure skating is not ballet. Michelle, Irina, Katarina, Midori etc. were not balletic, but were very good skaters.
Rachael can seem goofy doing a balletic piece. Well that's true, but she could interpret tons of other music which is not for ballet. In fact artistically speaking her SP was very good and she did merit high scores in the interpretation and execution departments.
 

Mrs. P

Uno, Dos, twizzle!
Record Breaker
Joined
Dec 27, 2009
Figure skating is not ballet. Michelle, Irina, Katarina, Midori etc. were not balletic, but were very good skaters.
Rachael can seem goofy doing a balletic piece. Well that's true, but she could interpret tons of other music which is not for ballet. In fact artistically speaking her SP was very good and she did merit high scores in the interpretation and execution departments.

I think the key thing for Rachael is she needs to pick programs that maximizes how she looks. The SP does that quite well, I agree.

If you look at her, she's actually pretty. But yeah, her body structure does not allow her to be a ice ballerina, which I think is still what people expect out of women figure skaters. I think up-beat, rah-rah type music might be great. Sing, Sing Sing is a great one, of course. Maybe something powerful that makes the most of her technical ability. Not sure what that would be on the top of my head, but I'll think about it.

Another thing to consider to is that she is 17-years-old. I think she's still at that age where she's still learning how to make the most out of her skills and style, I don't know about some of you, but I certainly didn't necessarily know that when I was her age.

And there's a great challenge in having both the technical and artistry down. There's been quite the comment about skaters who worked on their artistry to only lose the technical content. Meissner and Brandon Mroz are two examples of this. So I think it's smart for Rachael to do what works for the time being then think about some easy way to bring out her artistry.
 

janetfan

Match Penalty
Joined
May 15, 2009
Figure skating is not ballet. Michelle, Irina, Katarina, Midori etc. were not balletic, but were very good skaters.
Rachael can seem goofy doing a balletic piece. Well that's true, but she could interpret tons of other music which is not for ballet. In fact artistically speaking her SP was very good and she did merit high scores in the interpretation and execution departments.

I think you raise an interesting point. Rachael has a very effective SP.

I think her team did well with the SP. I don't think the LP works nearly as well for her.
 

silverlake22

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 12, 2009
I think the key thing for Rachael is she needs to pick programs that maximizes how she looks. The SP does that quite well, I agree.

If you look at her, she's actually pretty. But yeah, her body structure does not allow her to be a ice ballerina, which I think is still what people expect out of women figure skaters. I think up-beat, rah-rah type music might be great. Sing, Sing Sing is a great one, of course. Maybe something powerful that makes the most of her technical ability. Not sure what that would be on the top of my head, but I'll think about it.

Another thing to consider to is that she is 17-years-old. I think she's still at that age where she's still learning how to make the most out of her skills and style, I don't know about some of you, but I certainly didn't necessarily know that when I was her age.

And there's a great challenge in having both the technical and artistry down. There's been quite the comment about skaters who worked on their artistry to only lose the technical content. Meissner and Brandon Mroz are two examples of this. So I think it's smart for Rachael to do what works for the time being then think about some easy way to bring out her artistry.

Okay, the thing is, not all elite female figure skaters today are "ice ballerinas". I mean, you have the thin white ladies (Cohen, Lepisto, Czisny) and the wiry asian ladies (Yuna, Mao, Miki, Mirai), the muscular ladies (Rochette, Wagner, Meissner), the tall ladies (Kostner, Korpi) and the normally built ladies (Flatt, Hughes, Leonova). All the skaters are built differently, and therefore, I don't think people's problems with Rachael's skating are due to how LOOKS but how she SKATES. Rachael looks like she's in great shape, and I don't think some aspects of her skating look sloppy because of the way she's built, but because she probably spends most of her time working on jumps and doesn't have the time to work as much on spins and spirals. She clearly has to be in great shape to land all those triples...
 

Mrs. P

Uno, Dos, twizzle!
Record Breaker
Joined
Dec 27, 2009
I think you raise an interesting point. Rachael has a very effective SP.

I think her team did well with the SP. I don't think the LP works nearly as well for her.

Rachmaninoff is dark, even if that piece isn't. I think maybe the intent is the music is powerful, so maybe matching with the jumps, but yeah...don't think the dark music quite works. Maybe something modern - like the early 20th century. Something like Copeland or Gershwin (American in Paris, not so much the Concerto stuff). Or something on the jazz genre--like Louie Armstrong?
 
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