2018 Olympic Figure Skating Ladies FS

[rikaquegira]

Hey everyone! What a nice competition!
For the first time I truly didn't care about the Ladies event. So I'm happy with the outcome. Of course, I could say that Sakamoto should've been above Kostner in the FS. Kostner has one of the best SP, the free... not so much. And she certainly did not skate that program well. I would've given her lower PCS.
And can we talk about how incredibly lenient the tech panel was?? I mean, I know at this point it is basically the norm to ignore all sorts of bad technique and mistakes but... At the Olympics? Alright then.
So we can't complain about flutzes or URs or extreme pre-rotation or poor toe picking technique because apparently no one cares about it anymore.
So, as much as I love Satoko, I'm not complaining about her scores because, yes, she is lowballed on the PCS but we all know most of her jumps are missing rotations. So in the end I guess it evens out.
But of course the ideal would be to give her the PCS she deserves to show the world what is figure skating.
Which brings me to the top girls. Look, I'm not the biggest fan of neither of them. I like Zagitova's boldness and Evgenia's strength. As I've said before, I'd give the gold to Zagitova because her jumps are miles better than Medvedeva's and on top of that, she has the most difficult content. Artistically, to me they're both at the same level. The smart part is that they have programs that suit them perfectly. I was a little confused as to why Evgenia won the Free... But ok.
Osmond... I don't care. Her programs do nothing for me. Absolutely nothing. But she skated well under the pressure, I think she deserved her bronze and I'm happy for her! After all that she's been through...
So that went exactly as I thought it would go. After the team event I knew the podium would be Alina/Zhenya/Osmond. I knew Carolina would get overscored to the heavens. Don't get me wrong, I never think she is overscored, if she skates mostly clean and really gives a performance, if she doesn't miss a beat of the music, I say YESSS give her those PCS!!! But that was not the case here.
But what's done it's done.
Overall it was nice. It wasn't amazing. It was nice. An okay event.
Oh, it was so sad to see Medvedeva crying like that. Never thought I'd see the day...
Then Alina won and it felt like she couldn't celebrate her gold because it seems everyone wanted Medvedeva to win. I think I even heard booing??? Very disrespectful. Poor Alina! I think she was rooting for Medvedeva. [emoji23]
I hope she can enjoy her gold medal and I'm curious to see what happens next.
Will Alina or Evgenia retire? Will they try to compete with the youngsters? How will they manage to keep up? Will they be able to get spots to the 2022 Olympics if they keep competing until then? So many questions.

 

[qwertyskates]

I feel overwhelmed....it's the result I anticipated but the drama, the misatke and the gutsy save, and emotional wrenching to get there...:reye:

Although it wasn't Alina's best skate, she is clearly the best skater in this field and the scores are fair and just, with her beating Evgenia technically, not just jumps but spins and stsq, but Evgenia beating her PCS wise as a 2x WGM. Wow...it was weird, to totally even out this way!

It was the Black Swan that made the difference, which is also creepy in its own way.

I watched the film after seeing Alina's SP, as I watched Mao's Last Dancer after seeing Nathan's FS, and its almost voodoo what Black Swan did for Alina, almost parallel to the film as she herself had tellingly said.

However, I hope for a happier end/future forward for both Alina and Evgenia.

It's exactly mirroring my state of mind - elated for Alina, brilliant enfant terrible, the "Plan B" waiting in the wings and sad for Evgenia for the series of events that set her back from defending her position at the top.

Alina is quite obviously not the most favored by the Russian skating community, even Tat at Nationals, Euros and now the Olympics made it quite clear how she felt it should have been. She is a Tartar, she was broken, injured, she was wearing Evgenia's cast-off, her town, family background, etc. aren't at the same level of social hierarchy as Evgenia's more privileged and protected environment. Alina needs the OGM more than Evgenia....she sacrificed a lot for this moment .

Evgenia is the epitome of what the Russians love - beautiful, stable, mature, humble, talented, radiant, a great ambassador for Mother Russia.

However, she's a hot-house flower, too carefully nurtured and groomed for the crowning moment with politically correct programs that showcase "emotions" to win hearts and minds of not only Russian but North American, European and Japanese judges and audiences, etc.

She is completely packaged, while Alina is left alone pretty much to Danii's charge experimenting with ideas, choreography, music mixes and concepts. She is challenged and she rises to every challenge like a champ, growing stronger with each competition, leaving rivals in the dust.

So the wild flower bursts forth with colors and brilliance that escape the beautifully, elegantly cultivated bloom, which suffered a slight ailment.

I wish I could give Gold to both, but deservedly, it's Alina's - she brought her story into her performances.:agree::hap85:

 

[viennaskater]

The handwringing over Medvedeva losing and claims of her not getting enough PCS are the real Gold of this event - comedy gold.
Zagitova compared to Medvedeva at least made some sense with the music, rather than highly contrived movement being placed on a jumbled music cut, especially that footwork sequence which was very grating.

Agree, agree, agree. Why has no one picked up on this before? That music cut is awful. And I dislike the calculated method of milking points with tano jumps etc (like Sotskova and her ugly arm position), also the miming and facial expressions.

Hate me, everybody, but I actually chuckled when Med cried.

And I was a huge Kristi Yamaguchi fan back in the day.

 

[madison]

I feel overwhelmed....it's the result I anticipated but the drama, the misatke and the gutsy save, and emotional wrenching to get there...:reye:

Although it wasn't Alina's best skate, she is clearly the best skater in this field and the scores are fair and just, with her beating Evgenia technically, not just jumps but spins and stsq, but Evgenia beating her PCS wise as a 2x WGM. Wow...it was weird, to totally even out this way!

It was the Black Swan that made the difference, which is also creepy in its own way.

I watched the film after seeing Alina's SP, as I watched Mao's Last Dancer after seeing Nathan's FS, and its almost voodoo what Black Swan did for Alina, almost parallel to the film as she herself had tellingly said.

However, I hope for a happier end/future forward for both Alina and Evgenia.

It's exactly mirroring my state of mind - elated for Alina, brilliant enfant terrible, the "Plan B" waiting in the wings and sad for Evgenia for the series of events that set her back from defending her position at the top.

Alina is quite obviously not the most favored by the Russian skating community, even Tat at Nationals, Euros and now the Olympics made it quite clear how she felt it should have been. She is a Tartar, she was broken, injured, she was wearing Evgenia's cast-off, her town, family background, etc. aren't at the same level of social hierarchy as Evgenia's more privileged and protected environment. Alina needs the OGM more than Evgenia....she sacrificed a lot for this moment .

Evgenia is the epitome of what the Russians love - beautiful, stable, mature, humble, talented, radiant, a great ambassador for Mother Russia.

However, she's a hot-house flower, too carefully nurtured and groomed for the crowning moment with politically correct programs that showcase "emotions" to win hearts and minds of not only Russian but North American, European and Japanese judges and audiences, etc.

She is completely packaged, while Alina is left alone pretty much to Danii's charge experimenting with ideas, choreography, music mixes and concepts. She is challenged and she rises to every challenge like a champ, growing stronger with each competition, leaving rivals in the dust.

So the wild flower bursts forth with colors and brilliance that escape the beautifully, elegantly cultivated bloom, which suffered a slight ailment.

I wish I could give Gold to both, but deservedly, it's Alina's - she brought her story into her performances.:agree::hap85:

I don't know.... it's hard to say who deserved better based on their backgrounds and personal history.... I honestly think that TAT and the others would have wanted Med to win because she was seen as the person who worked harder during this time (2-3 seasons), showing nerves of steel in competitions and so on, not linked in any way with their social backgrounds

 

[chairmanmao]

I will take Shizuka Arakawa's spiral, ina bauer, strong edges and flow, and controlled regal quality over the flailing and meaningless movement seen here. I will take the grace and beautiful positions and genuine surprise exuded by Sarah Hughes. The jubilation of Tara Lipinski. The introspective genius of Mao Asada. The soul-baring radiance of Lu Chen. The body fluidity of Oksana Baiul. The extension and vividness of Sasha Cohen. The sheer starpower of Katarina Witt. The detailed class of Kristi Yamaguchi. The unbelievable raw strength of Midori Ito and Tonya Harding. The total mastery of Michelle Kwan!!

That crack me up.

 

[leilaraj]

Does anyone know when the official press conference is.. or was it already held?

 

[chopinskate]

Obviously the fact has not "sunk in" yet because they are still complaining about it after all this time. And yes the expression is sink in.

We're not buying that "fact" so we don't need it to "sink in". We read your post, waited for an appropriate amount of time for it to get sunk in, and we decided that we weren't buying it.

 

[Tigerlily87]

I fell asleep. Disappointed for Medvedeva, but so thrilled for Katelyn and Carolina!

 

[Osmond4gold]

Does anyone know when the official press conference is.. or was it already held?

Held after the "stuffy" rink, not a medal ceremony.

 

[viennaskater]

We're not buying that "fact" so we don't need it to "sink in". We read your post, waited for an appropriate amount of time for it to get sunk in, and we decided that we weren't buying it.

:rofl2:

 

[jenaj]

Some of these comments--laughing when Evgenia cried? Well anyway, there is so much wrong with ladies skating that it's hard to come up with a constructive suggestion. And in my opinion, only one skater measured up to the greats of the past--Satoko Miyahara. Her performance, interpretation, composition scores should have been 9.75 if not 10. Instead, she got 9 or less. Inexplicable except to assume the judges want to keep her score down to favor others.

 

[viennaskater]

Zhenya, I feel so heartbroken for you.

You may not have gotten gold, but your performance tonight will always be in my heart. Every jump superb, flawless (cmon guys, please let us ignore that one maybe-flutz for one tiny frozen moment in time). GOE through the roof. Interpretation - feels like such a clumsy word, doesn’t it? You can hardly call Zhenya’s skating an interpretation of Anna Karenina when it’s somehow so different, as if you added another dimension to the story. I love the way Caro flows across the ice and how Osmund irresistibly tempts you into her program and how Satton’s every movement is in perfect harmony with everything else, but there is something about you, Zhenya, that I have never seen and doubt I will ever see again. Maybe it’s the way your every program tells a story, or how every moment in your program is filled with these tiny details that turn a good program into an interpretative masterpiece.

Every day, training endlessly for hours, putting heart and soul and something more as well into every moment, while in front of your eyes a young skater almost effortless surpasses you, not by skill but by gaming the system. Years and years of hard work that is the behind-the-scenes preparation for the magic that takes place during your programs. And all for nought? Maybe there is something poetic in how Yuna Kim also lost the battle between true artistry and true system manipulation. Everyone knows that Yuna will always be the real champion of Sochi. Zhenya, for me at least, you will always be the real champion of Pyeongchang.

I saw a clip of you trying out Alina’s 3Lz3Lo in practice… oh Zhenya! You thought that you could beat everyone by just being your perfect self, but you realized that you could not beat Alina. That 3Lz3Lo… you didn’t end up landing that combo, at least not that time. You fell, and banged the wall, and skated away for another try. But maybe you also realized that you couldn’t be exactly like Alina either. What point would there be anyway, to have two clones executing the same program in two different disguises. Backloading, tano, rippon…

Maybe Alina knows this too. And in the end, when she was crying in that box, maybe some of her tears might have been for you too.

I can hear the lamenting violins playing ... oh boo hoo hoo!!!

 

[LeeJiHye19]

I just managed to watch the ladies (not a big fan of Ladies) and I see Evgenia lost because of her SP. Is it curse people are talking about; the favourite for OGM will not get the gold?

 

[viennaskater]

I just managed to watch the ladies (not a big fan of Ladies) and I see Evgenia lost because of her SP. Is it curse people are talking about; the favourite for OGM will not get the gold?

She didn't lose because of her SP - she lost because Zagitova got more points.

 

[Tigerlily87]

Gosh, I feel like I’m reliving chat after the free dance

 

[Makkachin]

I maintain that Satoko, Mirai, and Dabin are being lowballed in PCS. Dabin was a standout through this whole competition - congrats to her for such strong performances at an Olympic Games and in her home country.

That being said, I agree with the overall result and am very happy for Alina. There was a moment after Evgenia's FS that I really thought she was going to win. The judges could have given her the PCS to do so and I would not have questioned it, but I think Alina's gold is deserved. What a spirited performance all the way through, putting that triple loop on the second lutz like that, and her SP was probably the best I've seen her skate it.

 

[qwertyskates]

I don't know.... it's hard to say who deserved better based on their backgrounds and personal history.... I honestly think that TAT and the others would have wanted Med to win because she was seen as the person who worked harder during this time (2-3 seasons), showing nerves of steel in competitions and so on, not linked in any way with their social backgrounds

I got that vibe from watching documentaries on the two, and I saw translations of Tat's commentary too. Evgenia is so well-prepared from since 2-3 years ago since her debut. She was flawlessly performing along the trajectory to this Olympic crowning moment, until her injury, which shook her team's confidence and opened the way for Alina to shine, building up PCS and medals one after another, repeatedly defending Russia's fort from other strong rivals, without Evgenia's own brilliance casting a shadow over hers.

Ultimately, the mantle is clear - when Evgenia made a mistake, she laughs it off to hide the nervousness, when Alina makes one, she shows not a single sign and calmly goes on to time her second 3Lz differently to tag on the 3Lo so that the musical highlight fits exactly to the landing as her unforgiving program demands.

I said many times that if Alina were to make even one mistake with this 0-7, the clustering of jumps and transitions timed EXACTLY to every musical note and nuance, her program will fall apart. There is no room. She will be left chasing and catching up with the music. It will show. It's the same for the ballet, no faltering possible, but ack, she did it, she timed her 3Lz to the exact second for the 3Lo to nail the landing at the precise note.

This to me is the mentality of a champion.

She's tougher physically and mentally than her competitors and even most skaters, male or female.

I don't know how to make an athlete like that, all coaches would love to teach this.

It isn't Evgenia lacking in perfection and brilliance, it's Alina being exceptional...:dance:

I suspect it's the background of overcoming obstacle after obstacle, instead of being feted and groomed for glory.

I don't know about others but seeing this side of an athlete makes it more satisfying and fulfilling than having a perfect DQ win from Alina.

 

[LeeJiHye19]

She didn't lose because of her SP - she lost because Zagitova got more points.

it's just the same...if Zhenya had a perfect SP like she used to the judges will have given her 1.31 higher instead

 

[Miss Ice]

The handwringing over Medvedeva losing and claims of her not getting enough PCS are the real Gold of this event - comedy gold.

Neither of the programs were great and there wasn't any LP in this event that I would label as such (don't even try to sell me Osmond's half-baked grey swan). Zagitova compared to Medvedeva at least made some sense with the music, rather than highly contrived movement being placed on a jumbled music cut, especially that footwork sequence which was very grating. And it was exciting to see Zagitova nail the 3Lutz+3Loop so late on the program, getting more lift on the second part of the combo than I think she ever has before! A commanding statement, her technical advantage deserved to win, because who cares about these mechanical programs. Nothing here comes close to the elegance and luminosity of what skating provided in previous eras.

I will take Shizuka Arakawa's spiral, ina bauer, strong edges and flow, and controlled regal quality over the flailing and meaningless movement seen here. I will take the grace and beautiful positions and genuine surprise exuded by Sarah Hughes. The jubilation of Tara Lipinski. The introspective genius of Mao Asada. The soul-baring radiance of Lu Chen. The body fluidity of Oksana Baiul. The extension and vividness of Sasha Cohen. The sheer starpower of Katarina Witt. The detailed class of Kristi Yamaguchi. The unbelievable raw strength of Midori Ito and Tonya Harding. The total mastery of Michelle Kwan!!

Your post made me nostalgic. You forgot the sassiness of Yuna though, and her effortless, balletic 3-3's. A golden post nonetheless!

 

[Shayuki]

She didn't lose because of her SP - she lost because Zagitova got more points.

... She lost because Zagitova got more points in the SP, yes. Medvedeva won the FS.