Ladies LP Sun Nov. 15th 2:00 PM-4:00 PM

[yunaddiction]

Her SP score is also too high. No male skater could score 76 with a 2A. Remember male skaters' component marks are much higher female skaters'.

The COP is a travesty. Another tool to fool people.

You may need to know that 2A is "compulsory" in lady's SP

 

[R.D.]

still, that's beside the point- the underlying positive is how good Rachel did! If she can make it to the Olympics and throw it down like that, who knows what could happen??

 

[show 42]

This is how I think of it:
1) The arrogant uber-fans who needed to be humbled should be humbled.
2) The haters will always be haters, nothing anybody could do about them.
3) I guess everyone could be glad that this wasn't the Oly's. Although, her SP really was great here at SA.

Well said.........sounds like the old Michelle vs. Tara era..............42

 

[prettykeys]

That much is true, R.D. I guess my hope is that YuNa will be better-prepared to handle the pressure and her nerves, and that the media and fans will be more considerate of her and the other skaters.

Well, the next stop for YuNa is GPF. If she does well there, I will be less nervous for the Oly's. If she continues to falter, hmm.......

 

[Daniel5555]

R.D.
Today something strange happened in terms of psychological pressure. Why of all places she was nervous in America? I can understand when it was at GPF last season in Korea, but America... I think it was really that she was going only up in terms of scores and she was afraid of it as she didn't really expected it. I think that now it can become a cure for her like when it's happened, there is no need to fear it again.
By the Olympics everything can happen. Maybe be she will be nervous, but it's possible that she will be much less nervous than she was today. I know, it sounds very strange, but I'm sure she was more nervous at GPF last season than at Worlds. And I think, as she handles her nerves generally well, it will be ok at Olympics.

 

[prettykeys]

still, that's beside the point- the underlying positive is how good Rachel did! If she can make it to the Olympics and throw it down like that, who knows what could happen??

Yes, hats off to Rachael, she was the star of this night.

 

[R.D.]

R.D.
Today something strange happened in terms of psychological pressure. Why of all places she was nervous in America? I can understand when it was at GPF last season in Korea, but America... I think it was really that she was going only up in terms of scores and she was afraid of it as she didn't really expected it. I think that now it can become a cure for her like when it's happened, there is no need to fear it again.
By the Olympics everything can happen. Maybe be she will be nervous, but it's possible that she will be much less nervous than she was today. I know, it sounds very strange, but I'm sure she was more nervous at GPF last season than at Worlds. And I think, as she handles her nerves generally well, it will be ok at Olympics.

I don't wish to speculate extensively as to the reason for her nervousness but she DID skate after Flatt's outstanding FS, complete with standing O, and it's very hard for ANY skater to follow up to that sort of standard. When Yuna threw it down in France, she got a standing O and Kostner, the skater after her, had to follow it up and completely bombed.

 

[Daniel5555]

R.D.

I don't wish to speculate extensively as to the reason for her nervousness but she DID skate after Flatt's outstanding FS, complete with standing O, and it's very hard for ANY skater to follow up to that sort of standard. When Yuna threw it down in France, she got a standing O and Kostner, the skater after her, had to follow it up and completely bombed.

Well, I don't think that is the reason. The reaction from public was very favorable yesterday and there was a lot of cheering for her too. And Rachael's program was really good, but Yuna's is better technically and it all was indicating that if both skate clean there is no way for Yuna to lose.
Besides, usually Yuna is not focused on other skaters.

Of course, I don't know what happened really.

One report from fan that went to arena said that another possible reason could be the arrogant behavior of some Yuna fans which came only to see her and were screaming literally in her face. A lot of them also were around her zone before she entered the ice, taking photos with flashes and asking for autographs. Yuna naturally is a shy person and, of course, she likes cheering up, but it looks like she really doesn't appreciate it too much before she finishes her program. And as she cares the most for satisfaction of audience, probably she was afraid to disappoint them, especially after she fell at the warm-up.
That's just my theory...

 

[silverlake22]

I don't wish to speculate extensively as to the reason for her nervousness but she DID skate after Flatt's outstanding FS, complete with standing O, and it's very hard for ANY skater to follow up to that sort of standard. When Yuna threw it down in France, she got a standing O and Kostner, the skater after her, had to follow it up and completely bombed.

You are so right. I remember at 2007 worlds, Kimmie had to skate after Mao had the skate of her life, winning the free skate in her home country, the crowd went wild and was super loud and on their feet. Meissner proceeded to skate pretty well, but she either put her hand down or fell on her first jump and when they interviewed her after she said having to follow Mao's amazing performance made her really anxious.
I remember Carolina's free skate from last year's worlds as well, she actually did bomb, like land one triple and single three or four other jumps bomb. Yu Na did not BOMB the long program today, she gave a decent performance

 

[R.D.]

^^ What I mentioned might not be THE reason but it could possibly have contributed.

 

[bekalc]

I don't wish to speculate extensively as to the reason for her nervousness but she DID skate after Flatt's outstanding FS, complete with standing O, and it's very hard for ANY skater to follow up to that sort of standard. When Yuna threw it down in France, she got a standing O and Kostner, the skater after her, had to follow it up and completely bombed.

Well Miki Ando got a standing ovation at Worlds last year too, and Yu-na followed that just fine. Of course it only put Ando in second but Yu-na had to figure the others skated really well then. I don't think it was the standing ovation, Yu-na had a 17 point lead over Rachael. I mean Yu-na has been in situations where she had to skate much better to win.

I think there were other things going on. First I think it was the pressure of being perfect.. She said after TEB that getting the WR for that skate was a lot of pressure. Apparently the Korean media was all about her scores and what can she top next...I thought Yu-na actually looked relieved in the Kiss and Cry. Like see folks I'm human.

Plus there are reports that the fans at Skate America were ridiculous. People running to the front of the stands, asking her for pictures etc screaming at her right before her warm up.

 

[R.D.]

You are so right. I remember at 2007 worlds, Kimmie had to skate after Mao had the skate of her life, winning the free skate in her home country, the crowd went wild and was super loud and on their feet. Meissner proceeded to skate pretty well, but she either put her hand down or fell on her first jump and when they interviewed her after she said having to follow Mao's amazing performance made her really anxious.

I remember that.

I remember Carolina's free skate from last year's worlds as well, she actually did bomb, like land one triple and single three or four other jumps bomb. Yu Na did not BOMB the long program today, she gave a decent performance

You're right. It wasn't that bad overall, but for Yuna, well...a major disappointment nonetheless.

 

[Daniel5555]

R.D.
A lot of factors could contribute.
I think that principals are those high scores with media expectation which put her in the competition against herself (and she can be clearly defeated by herself) and some of her fans which behaved really bad.

Then, of course, it could be reaction to the Flatt's performance, annoying details like untied shoes, a bunch of journalists yesterday (ok, it were good, but what would happen if I did bad?) or I don't know... There is a term "bad day" as well. Maybe she had some premonition or anything, I don't know.

But the important thing is that she really is not depressed and she looks relieved. So I think it will be all right.

 

[silverlake22]

I just think people have to accept that a lot of things can happen in figure skating. Though some skaters we consider to be consistent (Rachael, Ashley, Yu Na, Miki), there are a lot of really good skaters who aren't consistent? I mean why do skaters like Carolina Kostner and Alissa Czisny, and so many others, alternate between winning and bombing skates so often? We can speculate and blame nerves, height, anxiety, training, injuries etc...but what it comes down to is that you're on the ice for 4 minutes and anything can happen. I mean, some skaters might have to skate the most important program of her life with the flu or a terrible migraine or something even worse. We don't know what Yu Na was feeling like today, or if something bad happened right before she skated

 

[Spun Silver]

ITA. Especially that words "psychological shock".
I think there's no way her LP was overscored. Her PCS was falled and GOE of many elements was also lowered.
I'm actually relieved that she made some unusual mistakes in a GP series.
It's impossible one skater is always doing almost perfect and great games.
If she's going to carry all the burden like "being perfect, keeping 200 point" until Olympics, I'd rather seriously care about the pressure what she cope with.

I agree - better here at the GP than Olympics. She's human, she's going to have to fall short some time or other. I can imagine it being a lot less pressure to do better than SA (since she's already done it many times) than to continue being "perfect." This "failed" (though golden!) performance can motivate her in the future.

And btw, welcome to GS, Diotima. I love your name. Are you a philosopher?

 

[Mathman]

Diotima. I love your name. Are you a philosopher?

See, that's why I love this board. I never know when a post will send me scurrying to Wikipedia to learn something new!

 

[quikrush]

I think it's too much media attention that gets to Yuna Kim. The last time she relatively bombed it was in South Korea, and she was right in the middle of all that crazy limelight. This time it wasn't in her home country, true, but things have changed since then and now the eyes of the whole skating world instead of just a single nation is focused on her skates. At TEB, she had Mao Asada to share the skating fans' expectations. Such was not the case at SA. I don't mean to slight Rachel and I quite enjoyed her perfomances, but nobody really expected her to be in the same class as Yuna.

Yuna seems to be a shy girl by nature (although once she steps onto the ice you wouldn't know it) and obviously does not enjoy all the media attention and crazy fan-love showered upon her. As her devoted fan, I just wish the Korean media wises up and stop raving about the OGM and new world records.

Well, after the rather tentative GPF last year she went onto a decent skate at 4CC and a brilliant one at Worlds so I only hope the cycle repeats itself

 

[bekalc]

I agree - better here at the GP than Olympics. She's human, she's going to have to fall short some time or other. I can imagine it being a lot less pressure to do better than SA (since she's already done it many times) than to continue being "perfect." This "failed" (though golden!) performance can motivate her in the future.

And btw, welcome to GS, Diotima. I love your name. Are you a philosopher?

Yeah. I mean everyone has bad skates once in awhile. Rachael Flatt had a poor skate at Cup of China (and she's supposedly really consistent) Alexei Yagudin had a horrible skate at 2002 European Championships. But he won anyways (many think unfairly!) and responded by saying: The Olympics is my destiny. So its just a matter of her learning from this and figuring out what's wrong. I'm worried about the 3flip though.

 

[jaws12345]

R.D.
Today something strange happened in terms of psychological pressure. Why of all places she was nervous in America? I can understand when it was at GPF last season in Korea, but America... I think it was really that she was going only up in terms of scores and she was afraid of it as she didn't really expected it. I think that now it can become a cure for her like when it's happened, there is no need to fear it again.
By the Olympics everything can happen. Maybe be she will be nervous, but it's possible that she will be much less nervous than she was today. I know, it sounds very strange, but I'm sure she was more nervous at GPF last season than at Worlds. And I think, as she handles her nerves generally well, it will be ok at Olympics.

Not because the competition venue was in the US, but because she broke three world records -short, free, and combined total - at first two competitions that early in the season while she is still learning about her new programs and the changes in the new jumping order. And yes, media playing a big role there as well.

 

[Penny]

Can someone explain why Flatt's last spins were disallowed? Not enough rotations?