2026 Olympics: Free Dance | Page 55 | Golden Skate

2026 Olympics: Free Dance

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I dont know.. it looked to me that Marco Fabbri was struggling throughout the entire set of twizzles. Cizeron made a mistake.. but I think the twizzle in question may have been finished. So the mistake was perhaps outside of the element. A fraction of a second difference and it would have been more costly.
It wasn't. He was falling out of it b/c he rolled up onto his pick from the rocker from the angle I saw, he played it off well going into the wide, deep edge from there.
 
Well it is their first season together. Frankly I am amazed they work together even this well.

However, cynic in me questions, if all these Cizeron fans really thought Laurence as the best female ice dancer in the world when she was paired with Sorensen? Did they look at her and thought "Oh, if only we had her skating with Guillaume instead..."

Yeah, I don't think so.

And don't take it so that she is bad, but I just find that quite amusing.
I thought she was certainly up there is one of the best female ice dancers when she danced with Sorensen, about equal with Charlene and Piper. Lots of people on this board praised her skills back then and thought Sorensen was holding her back.
 
Marks

The Spanish judge putting C/B's spanish-themed program down in 3rd.

C/B would have won this competition with the original rendition of their snake charmer program. None of their programs since then have been as great.

What I find most glaring is the similar mistakes and levels on the Italian and French twizzles, but the extreme difference in GOE between those two teams. All the judges punished the Italians and only the Finnish judge punished FB/C..

The Italians had a bigger mistake on the twizzle. The two judges who gave +4 GOE should definitely be reprimanded though.
 
Well, the only way for change to occur would be something similar to what happened in SLC 2002 in the pairs event. France was involved in that scandal as well.
The writing was on the wall when I saw the French judge wasn't replaced for the Free Dance.

That corrupt SOB should get to stand on the medal stand with them. Credit where due - He did more to earn that medal than they did.
 
Wow.... I am overwhelmingly happy for Piper and Paul who skated a beautiful program. For me, this is the #1 FD.
I praise both Chock and Bates and FB/C but they were both just a hair tight tonight. Both performances were very good. But neither completely captured the audience the way Piper and Paul did. I know the silver must sting for Chock and Bates but I am guessing there was a 5/4 judges' lean to FB/C that C/B could not overcome.
 
I've been wanting an appeal system in figure skating for years.
But this is a sport that needs reform and ice dance in particular is all politics :(
Talked after the RD about subjective things you can’t quantify. Sentimentality is one such thing. P/C were clear favorites. He successfully recreated that. He was a sentimental favorite. I also pointed out that they were evenly matched and essentially tied. I don’t think the French team was superior necessarily. Evenly matched teams mean that these subjective, hard the quantify things matter and can make a difference.
 
Talked after the RD about subjective things you can’t quantify. Sentimentality is one such thing. P/C were clear favorites. He successfully recreated that. He was a sentimental favorite. I also pointed out that they were evenly matched and essentially tied. I don’t think the French team was superior necessarily. Evenly matched teams mean that these subjective, hard the quantify things matter and can make a difference.
No there was a 5/4 lean to C/B. What they couldn't overcome was the French judge.
 
When whole forum is cheering for bronze team and ignoring gold and silver. Wow. This shows something went really bad.
I mean not the same deal but the same happened in the women's individual.
Muted response for Anna/Alexandra, and shock at Kamila, but so much love and thrill for Kaori's bronze.

To clarify, I would have loved for this free dance to win it all because I do love their skating, and frankly I do think their programs are much better than C/B (especially the RD) and thematically stronger.

However, I am not for Cizeron as a person based on the drama/tell-all by Gabriella. He is a fantastic ice dancer (one of the strongest and most expressive), and LFB did her thing today. But he did flub, but the judges/tech panel just chose to ignore it. The 10's on presentation when they skated this far better at the Europeans are pretty telling.
 
Poor Lilah was just interviewed on HBOMax and she sounded devastated and on the verge of tears, I feel for her, I wish journalists had given her more time before pestering her.
In the interview I saw, the interviewer was quite considerate and asked her to imagine 8 year old Lilah and what would she think now that she is at the Olympics? She said she would be proud of her.
 
I have been thinking of all the empty seats all week. I think there are people in Europe not too far away that could have afforded them, but even if you have the money, you still have value decisions to make...seems funny but its true.
 
Field of play decision. You may not like the result but that doesn’t necessarily mean it was the incorrect result.
I said to my sibling that dance is the most subjective of the four events - and each one has had issues of its own regarding scoring consistency. Like, we know this!

There was a study done (I can find a link if needed) and their findings were that the discrepancies and biases aren't contained or inherent within any particular country, federation, or event. Nor are they systemic and widespread.

They found that there are many judges who are good at what they do and who are consistent. A smaller number of judges are the problem, and part of it might actually be training rather than being "crooked". The other part of the judging consistency issues can probably be solved structurally by rotating judges in and out as well as certain rigor in qualifications.
 
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I thought she was certainly up there is one of the best female ice dancers when she danced with Sorensen, about equal with Charlene and Piper. Lots of people on this board praised her skills back then and thought Sorensen was holding her back.
I was one of those people. To be honest, I still think she's probably the female ice dancer with the most potential. I just don't think this partnership with C maximizes her potential. She's capable of so many different styles, in your face performance, and athletic complicated lifts. But, he does one style. Gabby knew how to sell that particular style very well because C doesn't perform he just has beautiful extension and edges. She can show her flow and glide in this team but isn't allowed to demonstrate her other skills. Makes me sad. I feel nothing when I watch them skate but I admire the edges.
 
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I have been thinking of all the empty seats all week. I think there are people in Europe not too far away that could have afforded them, but even if you have the money, you still have value decisions to make...seems funny but its true.
I wish there was a way to give away the empty seats. I realize that it defeats the purpose of supply and demand, but it sucks to see them empty.
 
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