Remarkable Demonstrations of Mental Strength

[anyanka]

Can I also add - back to the original topic - Maxim Trankov at 2013E when he competed and won after his father passed away? He was pristine that day, and their performance wonderful.

 

[karne]

Last comment on the crowd thing: Please remember that the crowd at the Olympics in Sochi is NOT a figure skating crowd.

 

[sses1]

I'd include Tessa Virtue in this thread. She suffers from chronic exertional compartment syndrome and she was in terrible pain during Vancouver but yet she pushed through it, the whole season actually, and she didn't let it hold her back.

 

[Meoima]

Having said that, some of the talk about the audience is veering into conspiracy territory; sure, audiences are going to root for the home competitors more, but I have trouble believing that using mirrors to distract a skater has any practicality, given 1) the practical challenges of aiming a reflection onto a quickly moving target 2) the lighting typical at many sports arenas (many "small" lights, rather than one huge light, since a mirror will more or less only reflect a single light at the target) 3) how much it would affect the skater given that there's a lot of flash photography going on at these events already 4) the lack (at least that I'm aware of) of any image where a skater's face was noticeably brightened at the competition, given that there's a lot of network camera close-ups (and if it can't be seen on a close-up, how can someone in the stands know if they're succeeding or even pointing in the right direction?). Compare this with people using laser pointers at soccer matches, such as here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWcNHJ5B1nE .

:thumbsup: ITA. That "mirror conspiracy" doesn't sound very practical. If I were a nasty person I would think of other effective ways to distract skaters.

 

[gotoschool]

:thumbsup: ITA. That "mirror conspiracy" doesn't sound very practical. If I were a nasty person I would think of other effective ways to distract skaters.

The mirrors might work better at distracting the skaters if smoke was added to the mix, leading to a "smoke and mirrors" conspiracy.

Back to the topic of the thread other great displays of strength:

Midori Ito's Worlds LP 1989 and 1990

Shizuka Arakawa 2004 Worlds LP 2004

Mao Asada 2007 Worlds LP and Grand Prix Final LP, Worlds LP 2010- already mentioned Sochi LP

 

[Junstella]

I'm sorry for bringing Sochi crowd thing again and again, but I must say that I half-believed in the 'mirror conspiracy' for reasons.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IXf_ntww6vU

Just look at 1:14, one of the audiences flashes his camera when Yuna was getting into the combination jumps(and when Yuna was right befor his eyes), and people keep flashing while she's doing Camel spin.
Maybe I mistaken flashlighs for mirror lights, but did they really need to turn on the flashlights in such bright place?

And I won't mention what happens in 0:54 and 2:41....

 

[Franklin99]

The mirrors might work better at distracting the skaters if smoke was added to the mix, leading to a smoke and mirrors conspiracy.

 

[LittleLotte29]

Mao, Asada, Kim and Sotnikova all deserved standing ovations, but only 1 of them got one.

Sorry for quoting this, but yes, both Mao and Asada deserved standing ovation in Sochi

Back to topic, Shen Xue demonstrated a wonderful mental strengh while skating during World's in 2003, when she suffered from injury and, as she said, couldn't feel her leg. They showed a splendid program, the best I have ever seen, to be honest - they were skating with power and finesse, being both athletic and artistic.

I think Tatiana and Maxim proved everybody how strong they are when they skated basically perfect free program in Nice, 2012. After such a short program disaster they got back to shape and showed everybody what they are able to do.

Kaitlyn Weaver and Andrew Poje did a great job at World's in Canada - performing in front of their audience, after long break caused by an injury, they did two wonderful programs, which were inspiring and intriguing.

And what about Chen Lu in Nagano? She had a marvellous program, skated so well, after such a meltdown previous season. She was 25th at World's! Struggling with injuries, her coach and pressure of Chinese Federation, Lu Lu was under such a pressure to get an Olympic spot that wasn't even able to qualify to the free skating. She changed the coach, but still had to finish sixth or higher at three preceding events during 1997-1998 season. And did so. The Chinese skated a lovely program to the admirable piece of music, Butterfly Lovers Violin Concerto, made 3-3 combination and clean triple lutz. Her performance was touching both for the spectators and for her as her tears after the competition were indeed genuine and demonstrated how many obstacles she had to overcome.

 

[cooper]

In Vancouver, I didn't cheer when Asada singled her 3T, thinking that Rochette would have a better chance at silver. And the audience gasped in dismay at the error, and then clapped to cheer her on, see 2:30 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=878_grgdn_00). THAT'S a good crowd. I'm always encouraging of skaters and don't like to see them make mistakes even if it betters the chances of Canadian skaters.

The Russian audiences were pretty bad -- they cheered when S/S fell in their FS, they practically cheered when Kim almost stumbled on her second lutz, they never gave standing ovaKostner, Kim or Asada (not that she had a full Russian crowd to watch her) they deserved but gave it to Sotnikova. In curling, the British women were annoyed that the Russian audience would cheer when they seemingly missed shots. And of course, the Russian crowd filing out of the men's competition when they found out Plushenko had withdrawn.


Compare:
4:55 of Sotnikova's LP: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CrVL5tM926s
5:15 of Kostner's LP: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rghZERsRga4 (I mean a perfect skate... and a lukewarm ovation)
5:05 of Kim's LP: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hgXKJvTVW9g (LOL @ "So many others standing", cut to a shot of nobody standing)

I understand when a home country skater does well, people will cheer louder, but you only have to compare the Russians to crowds like Japan and Spain to see that the non-Russian skaters were facing a crowd that wouldn't be particularly excited if they skated successfully.

this..

i wonder what kind of audience pyeongchang will be..are they going to retaliate? or just don't care? or being a good sport like the audience in vancouver?? only time will tell..

 

[gsk8]

....again

Please try to stay on topic and limit the Sochi conspiracies, disagreements, etc to their respective threads.

If you have other examples of "remarkable strength" to contribute, please feel free to do so.