2022 Olympics: Men's Free Skate

[lariko]

And yet there are other skaters who have this stone cold fixed look on their faces when they skate, and they come alive and become real people when the music stops and when they are off the ice. Asian skaters seem to have this natural talent for facial artistry during performances (a generalization to be sure but I feel is mostly true). For me, it is very distracting to musicality and the artistry if skaters go out there and basically could do their program to classical music or "Three blind Mice" with the same level of interpretation. Here are two skaters who can draw the audience into their performances....IIRC, they got 1st and 2nd in PCSs at Olys free skate.
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Yeah, I never get drawn by one of them, he does zip for me. Nathan Chen, I am a huge fan of. Artistry comes when they are easy with their layout and sure of their content. Most of them are compet8ng a little above their head and don’t have any room for error. Hence, they focus on not breaking their necks.

 

[CoyoteChris]

I know that Nathan has not been certain about his future plans, but personally, from what little I know, I would be surprised if he did not at least take a break from competition next year.

Not because he can't do both. He can. His skating has improved as a full time student at Yale, I think it did wonders for him *as a skater* to be out in the academic world.

But because it appears he really really really likes Yale and is excited about taking advantage of all it has to offer and is excited about his life after skating.

What does he have left to prove in skating? nothing, zilch, nada. He knows there is life after the rink, and I admire him for that.

Exactly. He knows it is time to get on with his life and he will take his victory lap with Stars on Ice and get some jack in his jeans for college. And he will succeed at what ever he choses to do. I hope he keeps in touch in the next 10 years and we an all see him become whatever his heart desires....

 

[moonvine]

I wish we could always be considerate and kind to these skaters. That's the least we can do.

The very least.

 

[moonvine]

What else needs to be said, really?

 

[sworddance21]

The very least.

Hear, Hear!

 

[el henry]

And yet there are other skaters who have this stone cold fixed look on their faces when they skate, and they come alive and become real people when the music stops and when they are off the ice. .... For me, it is very distracting to musicality and the artistry if skaters go out there and basically could do their program to classical music or "Three blind Mice" with the same level of interpretation. Here are two skaters who can draw the audience into their performances....IIRC, they got 1st and 2nd in PCSs at Olys free skate.
....

The bowl cuts and the stretches: iconic photos in the Jason/Nathan pantheon.

What I find interesting about Jason and Nathan is how they commit to what they are doing and kill it in their own different ways.

Of course, Jason is my favorite and I am absolutely thrilled to see not only his performance skills rewarded on skating's biggest stage, but his difficult technical skills of mastery of the blade and of spins and of steps.

Very few other skaters, if any, could do what Jason does, I don't care if their program is nothing but waltz jumps. It is a gift.

 

[slider11]

And I'll add to that - per Johnny Weir looking at protocols last night - Jason got 20 points in GOE. That's 2 quads right there. He works the scoring system to his advantage.

SO good to see that FINALLY Jason got the GOE and PCS scores he deserves! I still would not have put Yuma nor Junhwan's PCSs quite as high but still a recognition of the value of truly extraordinary artistry by Jason!

 

[moonvine]

They've been talking about our Donovan on Olympic Ice.

 

[Wafflecakes]

He has been attending Yale and skating for...I don't know, 2 years? He did take this year off to concentrate on Olympics. He was training by Facetiming with Raf from Boston.

He has been doing it part time every year. Then a full year this year.

I can't imagine he wants to take 8 years doing his undergrad

 

[el henry]

He has been doing it part time every year. Then a full year this year.

I can't imagine he wants to take 8 years doing his undergrad

Unless they have changed their criteria, Yale (or any other Ivy) does not allow part time undergrads.

Nathan has been studying full time for two years and winning championships for two years. He took off this year to prep for the Olympics.

My guess is that he will return to full time studying, but I am not privy to his decision making.

 

[Erin9]

What else needs to be said, really?

That is so cool!

On a related note- I’ve had Rocket Man running through my head on a loop ALL DAY.

Also- the super colorful shirt Nathan wore was very appropriate for an Elton John program.

 

[Erin9]

Unless they have changed their criteria, Yale (or any other Ivy) does not allow part time undergrads.

Nathan has been studying full time for two years and winning championships for two years. He took off this year to prep for the Olympics.

My guess is that he will return to full time studying, but I am not privy to his decision making.

It wouldn’t surprise me if he did retire from fs. He’s achieved it all now.

That said- it does interest me that what he’s saying for now is “we’ll see.” He apparently hasn’t made up his mind for sure yet.

 

[moonvine]

This is adorable. https://fb.watch/b5bcxexMJQ/

 

[sjchilly]

Yes and she was amazing. And a legend. But I must point out that that was back when skaters had to be amateurs, there were figures and no short program and I doubt she was doing triple jumps. The first woman landed a triple in what, 1962? but Dorothy Hamill won OGM in 1976 with no triples. She was probably "only" training a few hours per day as they were all amateurs and had to work (or on occasion) have generous benefactors that paid their way. Skating wasn't their job. Not that I could go to Radcliffe OR graduate from medical school anywhere, let alone Harvard.

My brother worked at Starbucks while attending medical school, but he didn't go to Harvard either.

Elite skating was time intensive even in "ancient times". Peggy Fleming spent four hours a day on the ice and three off ice training for 1968. Even though the future Dr. Albright's hardest jump was a single axel, she practiced on outdoor ice rinks from 4-6 a.m. before class and took ballet later in the day. She attended summer school so she could take a semester off for the 1956 Olympics. She skated briefly in shows after her competitive career to repay her father for her skating expenses. https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2007/6/1/tenley-e-albright-57-when-i/

 

[CanadianSkaterGuy]

I must be only one annoyed by Yuzu and his excuses and/or victim personality. If everything is going according to the plan ,he is amused , but when he flops he blames everything else and he makes people feel sorry for him. He loves attention , thats for sure.
Today again he had problem with salchow, so it was caused by a hole, too? There were no deep hole(like twitter fans say) two days ago. But now it is an ankle and "injury". But if you have an injury you dont try to do multiple 4A on practises, especially when you underrotate it every single time. 4 years ago he had an injury too before olys, but everything ended well for him so it was advantage : he won with previous injury, now it is: he lost because he had injury

It really is annoying when injury is used to aggrandize a skater's win, "Wow, they are superhuman for being able to skate so well in spite of being injured"... or when it's used to justify a loss, "Oh no, they messed up/lost - so they must be injured/not fully recovered! "Plushenko had the same shtick.

That was probably the best men's SP by the rest of the field (12 skaters above 90!), but thanks to Hanyu going and scrutinizing that hole and lamenting about it, that's what people focused on. And then of course, as you pointed out, he still failed to do the 4S in the FS, so of course without any hole, it becomes about dealing with injury as a reason why he didn't do well (even though he attempted a 4A). It grants people the ability to "put an asterisk" on the event, and blame anyone/anything other than the skater themselves.

 

[prorussian fan]

Nathan won, congratulations!
But Yuzu is still the GOAT! The king!

 

[chloepoco]

It really is annoying when injury is used to aggrandize a skater's win, "Wow, they are superhuman for being able to skate so well in spite of being injured"... or when it's used to justify a loss, "Oh no, they messed up/lost - so they must be injured/not fully recovered! "Plushenko had the same shtick.

That was probably the best men's SP by the rest of the field (12 skaters above 90!), but thanks to Hanyu scrutinized going and scrutinizing that hole and lamenting about it, that's what people focused on. And then of course, as you pointed out, he still failed to do the 4S in the FS, so of course without any hole, it becomes about dealing with injury as a reason why he didn't do well (even though he attempted a 4A). It grants people the ability to "put an asterisk" on the event, and blame anyone/anything other than the skater themselves.

Again, I may have missed it, but I never heard/read about Yuzuru blaming his performance on any injury…

Also, it’s a bit of an exaggeration to say he “scrutinized and lamented” about the hole in the ice…

 

[anonymoose_au]

Finally! Some Olympic figure skating medals are awarded: https://mobile.twitter.com/rockerskating/status/1491751827481808898/photo/1

What?! I missed it

I don't even know if there's a way to rewatch! Why was I not informed Ch 7 Australia? Damn you! *Shakes fist*

 

[jenaj]

That should be an ok springboard. My brother got a degree in Civil Engineering, then went to med school. I do think he had to take extra biology or something first.

Yes, but I think Nathan said he decided against medicine as a career.

 

[CanadianSkaterGuy]

Again, I may have missed it, but I never heard/read about Yuzuru blaming his performance on any injury…

Also, it’s a bit of an exaggeration to say he “scrutinized and lamented” about the hole in the ice…

I mean, he made a comment getting off the ice, and went up to the hole putting his hand in it, and described it in great detail afterwards, and also said "some other skater" maybe caused it. And while I'm sure he didn't mean to, it cause a firestorm of people questioning the Beijing ice and its quality having to be defended.

And no, he's not the one making injury excuses. But others do. The narrative consistently seems to be if he does well it's in spite of a recent injury/asthma/etc. and if he does poorly it's because he wasn't able to overcome a recent injury/asthma/etc. It's not to say those things don't affect him, but they're frequently used as failsafes and it's kind of predictable at this point.

Imagine how annoying it would be if every time any other skater fell we said "Are they injured?" / "Maybe they hit a rut?" Nathan Chen messed up all 3 jumping passes in his individual 2018 Olympic SP and there was no "reason" given, nor did he circle back to where he fell to see if he hit a rut.