- Joined
- Dec 29, 2004
I understand now. I can see why you would think I had animosity towards Yu Na. So let me put my remark in context. I don't like it when skaters, which include the Men's, Dance and Pairs when they decide to skip the whole season just to do the WC/Olympics unless it's due to injury. Yu Na is certainly not the 1st person trying to do that, but those who do and are not injured, seem to demonstrate some kind of contempt for this sport - that they are too good for you. Well, you can't possibly be too good in this sport, it's a dynamic environment. If Patrick Chan does that next season, I'll just say the same thing as well and expect him to do poorly at WC. The reality is virtually anyone who tried to pull this off since the modern era of skating, they all did poorly in the WC/Olympics. Hence, the smart ones, usually old veterans doing a comeback, e.g. Plushenko & Shen/Zhao last year, they all put themselves through the fires of competitions before the actual big event. By doing so, they are also signaling a respect for their competitors, which to me is important in this sport because we are not hockey or soccer, in this sport, we need to treat each other with respect and that includes competing.
Good save Wally and on one hand I totally agree about the need to compete the whole season unless due to an injury. However, I don't blame the skaters or think they're being disrespectful. I blame the system.
The ISU and the federations allow skaters to skip seasons and appear at big events to ensure ticket sales & drama with little to no regard to the individual skaters. Yuna simply took advantage of this loop-hole. And let's keep it real - a silver with a few points to spare after a long break from competition ice speaks volumns about the talent level that Yuna brings to the table.
Now what I thoroughly disagree with is the comparison to soccer and hockey... These sports DO NOT allow teams to simply show up for championships and to imply differently is kinda dumb. Last time I checked, the Detroit Red Wings and Barcelona need to play week in & week out to earn their berths while competiting with passion, integrity and respect. If we want figure skating to be taken seriously as a sport populated with strong atheletes, we as fans need to start treating it as such and leave the lord of the manor attitudes at home.
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