- Joined
- Jan 25, 2013
He wasn't wrong. It was his ideal that he wouldn't compromise, no matter what. He said he was happy to have won a medal at all after coming back from such an awful injury (and I think his genuine joy and the happy tears he cried are proof that he actually meant it). He also stated that he doesn't think he would have been content had he won without attempting a quad. He was fine with the result and he made history anyway, just like the two OBMs after him did.
I’m glad he did medal - he deserved to be higher than Lambiel and not that close, even with the technical deficiencies. Winning of course is a different matter since Lysacek and Plushenko clearly outskated him. If we are considering figure skating as an Olympic *sport*, Takahashi really deserved no higher than 3rd - maaaybe 2nd because many of Plushenko’s jumps were off and not their usual standard of execution. If we are considering it an art/exhibition skate then by all means give him the gold.
I give him credit for going for broke with the quad - he knew he needed it to win. Unfortunately he badly executed it and got almost no credit -sure the system was flawed but everyone was playing under the same rules and if he wasn’t rotating his quad then it wasn’t worth the risk. One of the greatest skaters ever - but not the greatest in the 2010 Olympics.