- Joined
- Aug 16, 2018
The funniest thing here is that there is one single judge who had Rinka first in the Free Skate and it's... the US judge. While Rinka's lowest score and placement (5th) was given by the.... Japanese judge.
I know why (Japan is trying very hard not to complicate their Olympic selection process while it's in US best interest to have Kaori's #1 status in Japan questioned) but it's still hilarious. You can really only get to see these plays within the Grand Prix circuit rather than the ISU Championships.
I think Japan plays both sides quite well though. The lowest scores always get thrown out so if the second lowest score is pretty good, they actually bump up their skaters' final score. But at the same time it's also how they send a message to their own skaters: we have a team in mind and while good for you for collecting medals, please please please stay in line and don't give us a headache.
I know why (Japan is trying very hard not to complicate their Olympic selection process while it's in US best interest to have Kaori's #1 status in Japan questioned) but it's still hilarious. You can really only get to see these plays within the Grand Prix circuit rather than the ISU Championships.
I think Japan plays both sides quite well though. The lowest scores always get thrown out so if the second lowest score is pretty good, they actually bump up their skaters' final score. But at the same time it's also how they send a message to their own skaters: we have a team in mind and while good for you for collecting medals, please please please stay in line and don't give us a headache.
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) Hope Lara will be better at Olympics 