Take a look at Fumie's actual performances at Worlds and you'll feel she was fortunate that she ever won any medals. Fumie had weak, wobbly spirals with lousy extension. In fact sometimes you just wanted to reach through the TV screen and straighten her leg out. She had a really ugly layback spin with her foot hanging off her ankle like a loaf of bologna. She had some good jumps, but some that weren't all that good, including a persistent lip and problems landing on an outside edge. And she couldn't get through two performances without errors in one or the other, usually having multiple pops, turnouts, and or falls. Usually she was better in the SP. She had no particular complexity in her transitions, and a deadpan presentation that could lead you to fall asleep. The one time she actually deserved a medal and didn't get one was probably the 2006 Olympics , which was sad.
In 2002, there is absolutely no way Fumie should have beaten Irina. Irina was 1 in her qualifying round. Michelle won the other qualifying round. Fumie was second in hers. Then in the SP, it was Irina, Fumie, Michelle. In the LP Irina, Michelle, Fumie. Irina just swept the board that year.
In 2003 in DC, I was there, and believe me, she was lucky to medal. If Sasha had been able to do as good an SP as she couldand hadn't had an unlucky assignment in the QR , she wouldn't have. Sokolova was charming, and in 2003 Michelle was absolutely flawless and deserved to win. Her The Feeling Begins SP was superb. The height and quality of her last 3Lz in her LP was amazing. Including QR, Michelle was 1,1,1. Sokolova was 2, 2, 2. Fumie was 1, 3, 4 and was lucky that Sokolova wasn't in her QR, or she wouldn't have won that. Fumie's biggest competition in her QR was Jennifer Robinson and Viktoria Volchkova. If Sasha was in Fumie's qual group, she would have been better than Robinson at least, and she might have well edged Fumie overall. As it was, she finished 3,5,3 and beat Fumie in the LP.
In 2006, none of the ladies skated their best except Kimmie Meissner.
Rank Name Nation Total Points QB QA SP FS
1 Kimmie Meissner United States 218.33 2 5 1
2 Fumie Suguri Japan 209.74 1 2 2
3 Sasha Cohen United States 208.88 3 1 4
4 Elena Sokolova Russia 202.27 6 3 3
5 Yukari Nakano Japan 195.65 2 6 6
6 Sarah Meier Switzerland 195.11 5 4 5
The ordinals, as you can see, were all over the place.
In 2002, there is absolutely no way Fumie should have beaten Irina. Irina was 1 in her qualifying round. Michelle won the other qualifying round. Fumie was second in hers. Then in the SP, it was Irina, Fumie, Michelle. In the LP Irina, Michelle, Fumie. Irina just swept the board that year.
In 2003 in DC, I was there, and believe me, she was lucky to medal. If Sasha had been able to do as good an SP as she couldand hadn't had an unlucky assignment in the QR , she wouldn't have. Sokolova was charming, and in 2003 Michelle was absolutely flawless and deserved to win. Her The Feeling Begins SP was superb. The height and quality of her last 3Lz in her LP was amazing. Including QR, Michelle was 1,1,1. Sokolova was 2, 2, 2. Fumie was 1, 3, 4 and was lucky that Sokolova wasn't in her QR, or she wouldn't have won that. Fumie's biggest competition in her QR was Jennifer Robinson and Viktoria Volchkova. If Sasha was in Fumie's qual group, she would have been better than Robinson at least, and she might have well edged Fumie overall. As it was, she finished 3,5,3 and beat Fumie in the LP.
In 2006, none of the ladies skated their best except Kimmie Meissner.
Rank Name Nation Total Points QB QA SP FS
1 Kimmie Meissner United States 218.33 2 5 1
2 Fumie Suguri Japan 209.74 1 2 2
3 Sasha Cohen United States 208.88 3 1 4
4 Elena Sokolova Russia 202.27 6 3 3
5 Yukari Nakano Japan 195.65 2 6 6
6 Sarah Meier Switzerland 195.11 5 4 5
The ordinals, as you can see, were all over the place.