The Returning Skaters for the Olympics

[heyang]

Shen/Zhou have never done better than bronze at the Olympics and legends because of their caliber of skating, World titles, and other titles. So it would be hard to diminish themselves in their comeback. The pairs field is so weak they will probably win atleast bronze if they are in half decent shot, have a good shot of silver, and even have an outside shot of gold if they come back stronger than expected given their ages and the Germans still have consistency problems. Either way they will probably be on the podium and they are well into their 30s now. I think them diminishing themselves in their comeback is nearly impossible if they make it.

Don't forget a lot of people expected S/Z to win gold and then were just hopeful for a medal when Zhou tore his Achilles. They had very little training time before Oly's and still managed to pull off a bronze medal.

I think part of the comeback is for the gold. I do think they have more than just an outside shot at World's. They might not be the outright favorites, but I'd definitely rank them at 2nd if not 1st for medal placement. Other than the Germans, I don't think the other teams have the same performance factor of S/Z. For whatever reasons, the other 2 Chinese teams have not broken the performance barrier and they have not looked nearly as elegant as S/Z or the Germans. To be frank, I really don't remember the 2nd and 3rd place teams' performances at the last few Worlds for pairs. I definitely don't see any of the American pairs teams on the podium.

I guess we'll wait and see what shape everyone's in a couple of months!

 

[Nadine]

In honor of one of my favorite male skaters of all-time ~ Elvis Stojko ~ I repeat what Al Sharpton said about Michael Jackson at his memorial (& which applies to Elvis as well):

Elvis never stopped...Elvis Never Stopped...ELVIS NEVER STOPPED!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DYlV-V6rfHQ (4 minutes into his fantastic speech)