Who you want to win Oly medals in S.Korea?

[Crossover]

Due to the space limitation in title, I had to submit it instead of this; Who do you want to win Olympic medals in PyeongChang?

The Four Continents Championship is now over, so we're heading into the Olympics to be held in PyeongChang, South Korea.

In principle, best skaters in the world delivering the very best of each event will take the medals especially the golds. However hyping our favorite skaters and teams is also a part of the enjoyment during every Olympics. I want fair and square wins without any scandalous and controversial judging like the Sochi Olympics; not just in the ladies, but also in dance and pairs as well as the disappointing men's event.

I'm interested in hearing what would be GS members' dream and wishful podiums regardless of the possibilities and then foreseeable yet relatively preferable podium finishes together. So here are my picks.

W means a wishful podium while F meaning a foreseeable podium. #1, #2 are other scenarios.

Team (wishful = foreseeable)
1. Canada
2. USA
3. OAR (Olympic Athletes from Russia)
Canada is strong & all around across the board. At least Patrick can break the Canadian curse in men's event with the Team Gold. As for US, except the pairs, all look relatively strong. I guess Bradie Tennell will be strongly pushed in both Team segments. Team OAR has strong ladies and pairs while the men are so inconsistent especially Kolyada and dance is not as much strong as the other two.

Men - too unpredictable
W#1: 1. Patrick Chan (CAN) 2. Javier Fernandez (ESP) 3. Denis Ten (KAZ) - admittedly, this is my most wildest dream
W#2: 1. Javier Fernandez (ESP) 2. Patrick Chan (CAN) 3. Boyang Jin (CHN) vs Shoma Uno (JPN) vs Nathan Chen (JPN) vs Yuzuru Hanyu (JPN)
F: 1. Nathan Chen (USA) 2. Shoma Uno (JPN) 3. Boyang Jin (CHN)

The reigning Olympic and World champion, Yuzuru Hanyu's status is such a mystery after his abrupt injuries at NHK. No news heard about his physical condition yet but the Olympics is coming in less than 2 weeks. I hope Hanyu to continue until Beijing. I also don't wish Nathan to retire from competition in pursuit of study in medicine after winning the Olympics and perhaps the World title. Therefore, I'm really reluctant to put him in first but he's won every title he entered this season so far, so I have no choice. I really hope Javi to win any colored medal and happily to retire (at least Patrick will get a Team medal) but I don't know which Javi will show up in the free.

Ladies
W: 1-2. Carolina Kostner (ITA) vs Kaetlyn Osmond (CAN) 3. Satoko Miyahara (JPN)
F: 1. Alina Zagitova (OAR) 2. Evgenia Medvedeva (OAR) 3. No idea but I'd be very happy if one of Osmond/Kostner/Miyahara wins it. I don't rule out the chance of Sakamoto/Tennell/Sotskova/Daleman for the bronze.

Pairs
W: 1. Aliona Savchenko & Bruno Massot (GER) 2. Wenjing Sui & Cong Han (CHN) 3. Xiaoyu Yu & Hao Zhang (CHN)
F: 1-2. Aliona Savhenko & Bruno Massot (GER) vs Wenjing Sui & Cong Han (CHN) 3. Evgenia Tarasova & Morozov (OAR) vs Megan Duhamel & Eric Radford (CAN) vs Vanessa James & Morgan Cipres (FRA)

I equally love S/M and S/H. However, S/M's programs are very strong and I really want Savchenko finally to grab the elusive OGM. Besides, Sui/Han's programs are less interesting than their last season's and they are highly likely to have a great moment at Beijing if they are healthy. Both Yu/Zhang and James/Morgan's two programs respectively are also my favorites but I wonder the judges will award the two teams enough GOE and PCS for the bronze unless T/M bomb a big time. Except the program qualities, clean T/M will also aim for the gold, but I rather wish not because of the dreadful Candyman, cherry pop, panties drop...no no.

Ice Dance
W: 1. Gabriella Papadakis & Guillaume Cizeron (FRA) 2. Tessa Virtue & Scott Moir (CAN) 3. Madison Hubbell & Zachery Donohue (USA)
F: 1-2. Gabriella Papadakis & Guillaume Cizeron (FRA) vs Tessa Virtue & Scott Moir (CAN) 3. Madison Hubbell & Zachery Donohue (USA) vs Maia Shibutani & Alex Shibutani (USA) vs Madison Chock & Evan Bates (USA) vs Kaitlyn Weaver & Andrew Poje (CAN) - basically the bronze will be an US National redux though.

In terms of qualities, V/M deserve their second OGM if both go clean, but their programs this season (why again like the Sochi ones) don't work for me unfortunately. However, they are such legends and veterans to have participated in the three consecutive Olympics while P/C will have their first Olympic debut, so the key is who will overcome the immense pressure.

 

[Puchi]

I want Kaetlyn Osmond to win an individual Olympic medal. The shinier the better

 

[Winnie_20]

P/C to get the Gold, which is realistic.
Hanyu and Shoma to share the gold (not realistic, lol), Boyang can have the bronze. But since I already got my dream podium at Helsinki, I doubt I can have it again. Maybe they can save it for Milan...

 

[CaroLiza_fan]

Oh, goody!


Ladies

Wishful: 1. Zagitova. 2. Kostner. 3. Sotskova
Foreseeable: 1. Zagitova. 2. Medvedena. 3. Osmond


Men

Wishful: 1. Chan. 2. Fernández. 3. Kolyada
Foreseeable: 1. Chen. 2. Kolyada. 3. Fernández


Pairs

Wishful: 1. Savchenko / Massot. 2. Sui / Han. 3. Tarasova / Morozov
Foreseeable: 1. Sui / Han. 2. Savchenko / Massot. 3. Tarasova / Morozov


Ice Dance

Wishful: 1. Virtue / Moir. 2. Papadakis / Cizeron. 3. Weaver / Poje
Foreseeable: 1. Papadakis / Cizeron. 2. Virtue / Moir. 3. Weaver / Poje


Team

Wishful: 1. Russia. 2. Japan. 3. Canada
Foreseeable: 1. Russia. 2. Canada. 3. USA


Of course, there are other skaters I would like to see up there on the podium, but there just aren't enough steps for them all!

CaroLiza_fan

 

[happyskate6]

My ultimate podium for the ladies would be:

1. Kaetlyn Osmond (if she skates clean, she has the tech content and the PCS to give her the edge over CK)
2. Carolina Kostner (slightly better PCS potential than Kaetlyn if clean, but not as high in Tech)
3. Evgenya Medvedeva (her injury has led to bigger under rotations and sloppy edges, and I find she "emotes" her programs too much - she isn't as genuine as KO or CK).

Zagitova. Let's talk. She's an incredibly talented skater, and yes jumps in the 2nd half, but - I'm sorry - her jumps take off 180° late (why there is no rule against this, I don't understand), and they are almost all under-rotated. When you look at KO or CK or Daleman who have worked extra hard to get the height to fully complete the rotations, it makes me angry to see that judges sometimes give these under rotated jumps a higher BV. It's ridiculous. Her PCS are absurd - she just does not have the maturity. All I see is a lot of flail. I do like her Ina Bauer, though. I know she's a gold medal contender, but the to me she is just not in the same league yet.

Thoughts on the other disciplines to come...

 

[anonymoose_au]

I kind of want T/M to win the pairs gold, but at the same time it'd be the crowning moment of awesome for Savchenko and Massot to get it so I'm conflicted!

I'd lose my mind if Katia/Harley got on the podium somehow that'd be the biggest surprise! Australians with a figure skating medal!!

James/Cipres are also amazing - those end-of-program lifts are incredible, so I'd love to see them on the podium too! But then there's still the Chinese pairs to consider!

I'm also conflicted in Men's I'd love to see Yuzu go back to back, but Javi winning would be incredible and after seeing Boyang's skating at 4CC...If you really press me though, I'm holding out for Javi.

In Ladies...it's hard to go past Med, she's been so dominant and I've come to enjoy her skating quite a lot, so I'd love to see her win the gold! I also like Maria Sotskova's skating so it'd be great if she could get a medal too.

I'm not as invested in Ice Dance as the others, but it'd be something if Scott and Tessa manage to get gold after coming out of retirement. Their free dance makes my jaw drop at some points!

Also I love the Shibutanis and it'd be a happy day if they got on the podium too.

CaroLiza is right, too many skaters, not enough medals! (They should totally have ties in skating...because sometimes more than one person/team deserves a gold!)

 

[CaroLiza_fan]

Hanyu and Shoma to share the gold (not realistic, lol)

We had a tie for the Gold in the Women's Downhill in Sochi, when Dominique Gisin and Tina Maze had the same time.

But, that was because the stopwatches only measure to hundreths of a second in ski racing. If they went to thousandths of a second like in motorsport, we would probably have had an outright winner.

With it being so close, it would have been really heartbreaking for whoever missed out. So, it was nice that it was declared a tie.

CaroLiza is right, too many skaters, not enough medals! (They should totally have ties in skating...because sometimes more than one person/team deserves a gold!)

Yeah!

I'll be honest, I don't understand how the tiebreakers work in figure skating. Because, surely if one thing is higher, then to get the same score another thing must be lower.

So, to me anyway, it would be fairer to let them all have the glory! :agree:

CaroLiza_fan

 

[pearly]

TES score breaks ties in short.
Someone wrote PCS breaks ties in free - not sure!
FS placement breaks tie overall.

 

[Spinning]

Men: Boyang or Javier
Lady: Kaori
ID: V/M
Pair: Sui/Han

But it will be hilarious just to see people melted down with Satoko or Osmond winning.

 

[rikaquegira]

Let's see...

Men:
I want Hanyu to win the gold, period. No Chen, no Uno, no Jin. Yuzuru Hanyu, two time Olympic gold medalist. And this time with two clean skates. That is my dream. He deserves it and I believe in him. Go, Yuzu!! *fangirling*

Ladies:
Well, my wishful gold will not even be in the competition: Wakababy [emoji24]
So I kinda don't care what happens...? But I believe Kaori has the potential to sneak into the podium if the others are having a bad day. So does Kostner if she lands all her jumps including a 3Lz.
One of my favorite skaters is a long long shot... Satoko. I wish the tiny queen had a chance to win a medal, but I can see how that would be very strange if others go mostly clean.

Now, back to reality: I don't see Medvedeva and Zagitova out of the podium. Either one will get the gold. They've had the highest scores, almost perfect PCS, Zagitova has the highest BV. And I'd bet on her for the gold and Med for the silver.
I don't see a Russian sweep happening. Maybe a Canadian will get the bronze... I wish that in this more realistic scenario, Kostner would get the bronze though.

Ice Dance:
I want V/M to get the gold. They deserve it and it would be so emotional... I'd cry a river most definitely. I do think P/C has a more sophisticated FD, it is magical and just breathtakingly beautiful. But I love the drama of V/M's FD and I absolutely cannot stand P/C's SD. That music is unbearable. Awful. I've never been able to watch it from start to finish with music because it just gets on my nerves. That's probably a personal issue, but anyway. I'd rather see V/M taking the gold and retiring like the two legends they are. It would definitely enter my top Olympic moments.
For the bronze I think the ShibSibs are a strong possibility.

Pairs:
I want S/H to get the gold. I love S/M and it will be epic if they win but Sui/Han are in my heart. Savchenko/Massot can take the silver and the bronze could go to James/Cipres.

 

[Alifyre]

Ladies:

To be honest, even though the field has been incredible to watch this season, a lot of my favorite skaters aren't at this event due to injury/poor nationals placements, so I'm really having a hard time coming up with a dream podium other than Kaori Sakamoto with a medal of any color. Since I'm not too invested in the other ladies, I guess it would be nice for Medvedeva to win gold simply because she's got a winning personality and I would hate to see two years of dominance foiled by a stupid foot fracture. Plus her AK free is a definite improvement on her last season's work. So, I guess Med for gold and Kaori for silver and maybe Osmond or Miyahara for bronze. (Am I being realistic? Absolutely not, but this is wishful after all).

Men:
In the men's events I actually really do have strong feelings about it. I absolutely 100% want Javier Fernandez to take home an olympic medal. The olympic medal would really ice the cake of being a double world champion who has worked so hard and done so much for the sport in his home country. I also want Yuzuru to medal quite badly -- again, he has put so much into pushing this sport forward and is in my eyes the most complete male skater we have. I would hate to see his olympic moment ruined by an injury incurred by his constant push to go further even when he doesn't have to. For my third slot... if you had asked me a year ago, I would have said Shoma 100%, but his programs have regressed since last season in my eyes. He's young, so I can want him for gold in 2022 and hope he gets a new choreographer. Nathan has good technical prowess but only one convincing program -- his short. Same goes for Boyang, although I find myself enjoying Boyang's programs more as a whole overall. I also just like Boyang's sort of goofy personality. So I guess I would like to see: 1. Yuzuru Hanyu 2. Javier Fernandez. 3. Boyang Jin OR Nathan Chen, with a lean towards Boyang.

Dance:

Not many strong feelings here. I do really like V/M's free dance, so it would be nice to see them take gold, and it would be cool for the shibs to get a medal.

 

[silverfoxes]

Just based on my personal preferences, but without any silly fantasy wishes (my 2 favorite boys have no chance here, realistically).

Men - Javier, Yuzuru, Boyang in whatever order

Ladies - Evgenia, Kaori, and I guess Alina. I wouldn't be sad to see a Canadian girl medal either. I wish I could be more enthusiastic about Alina, but I just don't feel any emotional investment in her skating yet...

Pairs - Sui/Han, James/Cipres, Tarasova/Morozov or Savchenko/Massot (both pairs have some good qualities, but I'm not a super fan of either...still much prefer them to D/R)

Ice Dance - Papadakis/Cizeron, Bobrova/Soloviev, and...Hubbell/Donahue I guess?

 

[MelDee]

Ice Dance

Wish
1. PapCiz (winning the Gold with a huge lead)
2. Hubbell/Dohohue (a girl can dream ok)
3. Shibs

Reality
1. PapCiz (still winning with a considerable lead)
2. V/M
3. H/D or S/S

Pairs

Wish
1. Savchenko/Massot
2. Sui/Han
3. James/Cipres

Reality
1. S/M
2. S/H
3. T/M

Men

Wish
1. Yuzuru
2. Javi
3. Nathan

Reality
1. Yuzuru
2. Shoma
3. Nathan

Ladies

Wish
1. Carolina
2. Satoko
3. Kaetlyn

Reality
1. Evgenia
2. Alina
3. Carolina

Team Event

Wish
1. OAR
2. USA
3. Japan

Reality
1. Canada
2. OAR
3. USA

 

[MaiKatze]

Team:
Honestly, I don't really care about the team medal, I still think it's a stupid competition in a sport that focuses on individuals. But if I'd have to chose...
Wish: 1. Canada 2. OAR 3. Japan
Reality: 1. Canada 2. OAR 3. U.S.A.

Men:
For me there are two scenarios. In one scenario, Yuzuru wins the Gold medal. I want nothing but the Gold medal, if it isn't Gold I don't want him to podium. The same goes for Patrick Chan. All those who medalled before shouldn't medal again, because I believe anything BUT the Gold would be a big disappointment for Yuzuru, while all the others would be ecstatic about silver or bronze.
So, Wish 1: 1. Yuzuru Hanyu 2. Shoma Uno 3. Javier Fernandez
Wish 2: 1. Shoma Uno 2. Javier Fernandez 3. Boyang Jin
Reality: 1. Nathan Chen 2. Yuzuru Hanyu 3. Anyone of Boyang Jin/Shoma Uno/Javier Fernandez

Ladies: I don't *insertswearword* care. Honestly, I don't. I want Kaori to do well, but I doubt she'll medal, so everyone else I don't have strong feelings about. I supported Anna since 2013/2014 season and since she doesn't play any part, I checked out. Still...
Wish: 1. Kaori Sakamoto 2. Alina Zagitova 3. Kaetlyn Osmond (*lol* Never would that happen)
Reality: 1. Evgenia Medvedeva 2. Alina Zagitova 3. Carolina Kostner/Satoko Miyahara/Kaetlyn Osmond/Maria Sotskova

Pairs:
This one is pretty straightforward.
Wish: 1. S/M 2. S/H 3. T/M
Reality: 1.S/H 2. T/M 3. S/M (since Aliona is destined for the bronze, urgh)

Dance:
I don't care about Dance. I guess I support V/M, but I won't lose sleep if P/C win this. I have no feelings about bronze, but I do like the Shibutanis, so I guess I'm rooting for them.

 

[AngelENTL]

Ladies:
Wish: 1. Kaori Sakamoto, 2. Evgenia Medvedeva, 3. Mirai Nagasu/Satoko Miyahara
Reality: 1. Alina Zagitova, 2. Evgenia Medvedeva, 3. Carolina Kostner

Men:
Wish: 1. Javier Fernandez, 2. Shoma Uno, 3. Patrick Chan/Boyang Jin
Reality: 1. Shoma Uno, 2. Nathan Chen, 3. Javier Fernandez/Yuzuru Hanyu

 

[TontoK]

Dance: I'd like V/M to win and H/D to medal.

Men: I'd like Nathan or Shoma to win.

Pairs: I'd like S/H to win.

Ladies: It doesn't matter, although I hope Bradie surprises some folks and makes it to the last FS group.

 

[VegMom]

Ladies
Wishful: 1. Zagitova 2. Medvedeva 3. Kostner
More likely: 1. Medvedeva 2. Zagitova 3. Nagasu


Men
Wishful: 1. Chen 2. Hanyu 3. Fernández
I think that's pretty likely actually

 

[Winry]

Ladies
Evgenia for Gold. I really like her style, and even with the akward breath at the and of the short, her Anna Karenina program is really special !
I also want Kaori to medal at Oly!!

Men
Too many possibilities.
It will depend on Yuzuru condition after his injury...

Pairs
Definitly Sui/Han for Gold!!
James and Cipres for Silver

Ice Dance
Papadakis and Cizeron

Commentating
Ted Barton and ONLY Ted Barton

 

[ancientpeas]

Team:
Wish: 1. Canada 2. OAR (I hate calling them this) 3. Italy (because.. I can, it's a wish)
Reality 1. OAR 2. Canada 3. USA
(In the end though the team event is hard when it comes to that bronze because I'd love to see Italy, China, Japan, France or the US win)

Pairs:
Wish: 1. S/H 2. J/C 3. S/B (go Julianne and Charlie)
Reality 1. S/M 2. S/H 3.T/M (only thing with T/M is that if they skate both SP/FS in the team they are going to be pooped) so my alternate choice would be Y/Z.

Men:
this is really hard for me because I love Hanyu but he's not my favourite but I really think he deserves to be a 2 time gold medalist because of what he has meant to the sport.

Wish: 1. Hanyu 2. Javi 3. Uno
Reality: 1. Chen 2. Hanyu 3. Javi

Dance
Wish 1/2 I love both P/C and V/M so either winning is fine with me. 3. H/D
Reality 1. P/C 2. V/M 3. Shibsibs

Ladies
Wish: 1. Satoko 2. Evgenia 3. Kaetlyn
Reality 1. Alina 2. Evgenia 3. Carolina (I prefer Evgenia but I think Alina has the technical edge)

 

[Anyasnake]

Men :
W : 1.Javier 2.Hanyu 3.Nathan/Shoma/Boyang/Dmitri (whoever skates the best)
R : 1.Nathan 2.Shoma 3.Hanyu

Ladies :
W : 1.Alina 2.Kaori 3.Carolina
R : 1.Alina 2.Evgenia 3.Carolina

Pairs :
W : 1.Savchenko/Massot 2.Sui/Han 3.James/Cipres - Dream Podium
R : 1.Savchenko/Massot 2.Sui/Han 3.Tarasova/Morozov

Dance :
W : 1.Papadakis/Cizeron 2.Virtue/Moir 3.Either Shibutanis or Hubbell/Donohue (who skates the best)
R : 1.Papadakis/Cizeron 2.Virtue/Moir 3.US Team and more likely Shibs.

Team Event :
W : 1-2 OAR and Canada 3.Japan - I want OAR to be amazing just to prove everyone wrong and get away from these scandals, and then whoever wins... is the winner
R : 1.Canada 2.OAR 3.USA