.
@Arts&Sport
I agree with most of your
opinions, but
not the
reasoning behind them (particularly your overemphasis on the 'politics' at play):
1) On U.S. SKATERS BEING UNDERSCORED...
In the case of Gracie and Ashley, when they skate exceptionally well, their scores are still held down. It's at bottom about politics, and the fact that the U.S. Fed has historically not known how to politically support their skaters. In the current environment, U.S. Fed has little to no clout politically, especially with the fact that skating money and popularity is overseas and television contracts in the U.S. are meaningless.
Wow, really? Actually, neither Satoko, Radionova, or Tukt skated better than either Gracie, Ashley or Polina in the free program. ... The U.S. ladies' scores were clearly held down a bit and most will say [it's] because they skated early, but it's also due to politics and perception.
I would argue in this case that
"most" would be correct! We see this same thing happen time & time again: a terrific skater commits errors in the SP, and rebounds with an outstanding LP (now that the pressure is off). Unfortunately due to skating that LP earlier in the competition, they
NEVER receive the marks they would (
and should) have received had they skating in the final group. A clear example of this is Mao Asada at the 2014 Olympics.
And, as
Minze2001 &
aftertherain point out, your broad conclusion that the US skaters were underscored for political reasons clearly doesn't hold true when you look at the scores for Gracie and Ashley in the SP:
You seem to forget that Gracie got 60 points for and SP with a missed combo. She was over scored in the sp.
LOL. And what did you think of Gracie's score in the SP? That she was scored "just right"?
"The fact remains" that there were some cushion points in there as well, so [you cannot] accuse only the top three of having inflated scores[!]
2) On SATOKO...
I agree with your opinion here:
I love Satoko, but she is not at a point where she deserved a silver medal at Worlds. Both Gracie and Ashley are right now overall better skaters. Satoko has tremendous potential, but she needs to refine her technique and work more on getting better height on her jumps. She's a lightning fast rotator, but I question how high her overall score was.
While I too would
not have scored Satoko so highly, nevertheless the
key factor that led to Satoko's silver medal was
not over-scoring related to politics; rather, as
Minze2001 points out, simply that:
Satoko delivered [on] both segments.
Satoko's clean SP allowed her to skate her LP in the final group. And,
as for ALL competitions, those in the final group tend to be awarded more generous marks than if they had performed the
identical programs in an earlier flight.
[*So long as they put out at least a mediocre performance; poor performances in the final group do not tend enjoy this same 'inflation'].
However, while I would
not go so far as to claim:
Satoko's ... skating skills are on par to Gracie and above Ashley.
...nevertheless, it is true that:
The key is to using what you have and using it well in respect to programs and artistry. Satoko does a good job artistically but yes, like Tara those jumps are puny. And it should be reflected in the scores.
But alas...
[The] COP doesn't have a downgrade for "puny" jumps. Height and distance are just one feature among 6 (8?) for GOE.
I would therefore argue that Satoko's 'high scores' (which allowed her to claim the silver medal) are a result of the current COP system having no clear/major deductions for small jumps, and the fact that she skated in the final group.
3) On POLINA...
Again, I agree with your opinion:
Another thing: Polina, for whatever reasons was robbed in the sp. And then with her teammates skating very well in the fp, and Polina skating almost equally as well, the decision was to keep Polina's scores down and examine her with a fine tooth comb. ... BTW, Polina won 4CC over Satoko and the other Japanese ladies, so now why wasn't she given more cred at Worlds? Polina should have placed higher in both sp and fp. She skated better than Hongo and Kanako who are placed in front of her. Skating very well and coming in as the 4CCs champ, Polina was kept in 7th in both sp and fp and still overall dropped a spot to 8th!? No way. If all the ladies who came after the U.S. ladies had skated their best without significant mistakes, okay, But that's not what happened.
Also, Polina clearly skated well in both sp and fp and deserved higher placements in both segments. Plus she's the 4CC champ coming in, and that was overlooked. It was as if Satoko had come into Worlds as the 4CC champ.
It is also puzzling to me why Polina scored as low as she did in both segments (especially the SP). But, even though she is considered by many to be the
#3 U.S. lady
(which might seemingly lend support to your argument of her marks being held down accordingly), I still
don't buy into your political conspiracy rationale!
Unlike many others, I like Polina's programs, jumping & spinning style, choreography and interpretation. In fact, her short program reminds me of
Caryn Kadavy's 1988 Olympic short program which was one of the best skated at that competition!
Admittedly, Polina is lacking some maturity; but so are most, if not all of the other 'teens' competing in Shanghai. She's obviously not as fast as Gracie or Ashley, yet she does appear (at least to me) to be skating at an
adequate speed. [**My opinion based only on TV and video clips; I've never seen Polina skate live]. Nevertheless, given comments by others, perhaps her speed is the major issue accounting for her lower scores??
Polina looks like she is skating verrryyyyy slowly tonight.
I was watching off and on, and thought Polina's performance was being replayed in slow motion, but nope -- it's live. LOL
I'm sorry, but that felt like 8 minutes with how slow Polina skates.
Poor Polina. I hate her costumes and music but I think she has pluck. Tonight she seemed slow and tentative maybe? Normally she has attack.
Polina's low scores remain somewhat of a mystery to me. But, given that so few on this forum have raised any issue/concern over the marks she received, or with her SP, LP or overall placements, I must conclude that my evaluation of her skating is flawed. I simply must
not be seeing what it is that others' view as detracting from Polina's performances. But, most surely,
grand political conspiracies are not the reason!
With respect,
Steve