Lambiel announces retirement

[psycho]

My gut feeling is that the judges knew that Joubert had not done enough technically and therefore to keep him in second they had to bolster his PCS.

Wait, what? Are you implying he should not have been second?! He had 6 points technically over Johnny Weir, who ended up third, so a couple of points off Joubert's PCS would not have made a difference. And as much as I love Johnny, there is no way his performance was better than Brian's. Brian fought with passion and confidence, and Johnny had a "Dear God, please let this end" expression on his face throughout his FS. I am proud of him for pulling through, but he was kind of lucky to get third. There is no way Brian should have been below him, sorry.

 

[antmanb]

Wait, what? Are you implying he should not have been second?! He had 6 points technically over Johnny Weir, who ended up third, so a couple of points off Joubert's PCS would not have made a difference. And as much as I love Johnny, there is no way his performance was better than Brian's. Brian fought with passion and confidence, and Johnny had a "Dear God, please let this end" expression on his face throughout his FS. I am proud of him for pulling through, but he was kind of lucky to get third. There is no way Brian should have been below him, sorry.

No that's not what i was saying at all I think Joubert was deserving of the silver medal! The only point i was making was that Joubert IMO did not deserve the highest PCS marks of the night with that program. He should have been well below Jeff and arguably others. The point i was making was that Joubert was only in 9th place on the technical . So many skaters made a botch job of their technical elements, perhaps botch job is too strong (except for Verner), but made mistakes that lost them major points e.g. Joubert, Takahashi, Verner, Weir (though i think the downgrade of the quad was completely wrong) and others, that the judges knew it boiled down to the PCS. In order to ensure the IMO correct result of Joubert with the silver medal overall they inflated his PCS. When Joubert skated Buttle was still to go (and first after the SP) the Judges IMO boosted Joubert's PCS to ensure he would slip into 1st place with Buttle left to go and the last skater, if he made mistakes they'd left joubert with a comfortable lead to ensure his win, if he skated lights out (as he did) he would give them enough on the technical and the PCS to give him the title.

I guess the point of it is simply that the judges use the PCS like the old presentation mark under 6.0 - to place the skater where they think they should be.

Ant

 

[Buttercup]

Ant, I think you mean Joubert was 9th in base value, not in tech score. Some of the men with more ambitious programs had negative GOEs that knocked down their scores (Jeremy Abbott lost almost 5 points). Joubert was actually 4th on tech, behind Buttle, KvdP and the 3-3-3, and Voronov. Looking at the GOEs (the average of the full panel, not the individual judges), only Buttle and Voronov did not get any negative GOEs in the LP.

I guess the point of it is simply that the judges use the PCS like the old presentation mark under 6.0 - to place the skater where they think they should be.

Oh, absolutely. An elite skater who disappoints will almost always be held up.

 

[antmanb]

Ant, I think you mean Joubert was 9th in base value, not in tech score.

Yes that's exactly what I meant (teach me to post before i've had a full cup of coffee!) - thanks for clarifying it for me!

Ant

 

[Medusa]

Russian magazine

КОММЕНТАРИЙ АЛЕКСЕЯ МИШИНА:

– Конечно, завершение чемпионских карьер Баттла и Ламбьеля – очень значимое событие в мировом фигурном катании. Но на самом деле это совсем не равнозначные потери. Если уход Баттла не вызвал у меня особой тоски и сожаления – канадец, конечно, хороший фигурист, но далеко не гений – то уход Ламбьеля – это громадная потеря. Стефан – выдающийся артист, гениальный «вращальщик», которого задушили современные правила фигурного катания. Его уход я воспринял с печалью. Как музыкант ощущает потерю выдающегося коллеги-исполнителя.

Rough translation:
COMMENT by ALEXEJ MISCHIN
- The retirement of the champions Buttle and Lambiel is certainly a very important event in the figure skating [world]. But I wouldn't say that the loss is the same. Buttle's retirement hasn't invoked intense feelings of melancholy and regret in me - the Canadian is of course a good skater but not a genius - the retirement of Lambiel is an enormous loss [though]. Stéphane is an outstanding actor, an ingenious spinner, who was destroyed by the rules of modern figure skating. His retirement brought a great sadness to me. Like a musician who feels the loss of a fellow virtuoso.

I am actually very afraid of Mishin and if I were ever to see him somewhere I would probably scream and run in the opposite direction. But it's amazing how many kind words he had for Stéphane.

 

[museksk8r]

Russian magazine

I am actually very afraid of Mishin and if I were ever to see him somewhere I would probably scream and run in the opposite direction. But it's amazing how many kind words he had for Stéphane.

Wow! What wonderful sentiments from Mishin regarding Lambiel. It was widely documented that Plushenko and Mishin thought Stephane was the greatest threat to Evgeny during the 2006 Olympic season. Also, during Stephane's Olympic LP video, you can clearly see Plushenko and Mishin sitting in the kiss and cry area watching his entire program.

 

[Buttercup]

What I really like about this statement is that it's not a standard "he was a great competitor and will be missed" type thing - it is very specific as to what made Stephane Lambiel so wonderful and why he'll be missed. And I agree that some of the things that were most impressive about his skating were not properly rewarded under CoP.

 

[Joesitz (RIP)]

He would have walked away with this year's SA with all due respect to Kosuka.

 

[antmanb]

He would have walked away with this year's SA with all due respect to Kosuka.

I thought you hated coulda, woulda, shoulda's Joe?

Ant

 

[dancingqueen]

Maybe for everyone's own favorites, it's a little difficult to be objective ?

 

[shine]

Wow, Mishin's words really surprised me (in a good way). I didn't know he had such high regards for Stephane, which echo mine exactly. Maybe he does know genius when he sees it.
Stephane's retirement is definitely a great loss to the skating world. To me he's everything that I love about a skater, or a performer in general, who brings life to the art that he displays in front of our eyes. We may never have see a skater like him in our life time.

 

[Joesitz (RIP)]

I thought you hated coulda, woulda, shoulda's Joe?

Ant

Oh, I do but Ant, I'm miserable without Stephane.

 

[antmanb]

Oh, I do but Ant, I'm miserable without Stephane.

I think many many share your sentiments Joe.

Ant

 

[Kati]

Wow, Mishin's words really surprised me (in a good way). I didn't know he had such high regards for Stephane, which echo mine exactly. Maybe he does know genius when he sees it.
Stephane's retirement is definitely a great loss to the skating world. To me he's everything that I love about a skater, or a performer in general, who brings life to the art that he displays in front of our eyes. We may never have see a skater like him in our life time.

I second all you wrote. I will miss him. There will not be another artist like him on ice anymore...

 

[Simone]

One of the great losses, October had a lot of great losses to me. Stephane is irreplaceable, at least he still wishes to skate in shows.

 

[Joesitz (RIP)]

I'm hoping he shows up for the Olys.