Yahoo sports!: The night they killed figure skating

[Blades of Passion]

Maybe that's like comparing a rock with rock with moss on top.

LMAO! This is the perfect description.

The real travesty would've been an Olympic champion who won without level 4 footwork, like Plushenko. If you like jumping so much, go to track and field. This is skating.

It's a joke that Lysacek's footwork was called as Level 4. Plushenko's footwork sequences were shockingly lacking by his standard, and Evan's were better, but Evan hardly displayed excellent skating skills. He does twizzles well...that's about it.

 

[Kinga]

I'm afraid "used the music" is the perfect descriptive phrase for what Lysacek did. (Too bad he didn't listen to it.) He worked the system. One admires his determination and will to improve but that's about all there is to be said. Depressing.

Well, at least Lysacek used the music. Plushenko didnt even bother to do at least that.

 

[silverlake22]

Maybe that's like comparing a rock with rock with moss on top.

Yeah you have a point. Prettiness Compensation Score anyone? Lysacek is tall, dark, and handsome after all

 

[Phoenix347]

While not a surprise, Patrick Chan's take on the Plushenko-Evan gold medal debate:

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13860_3-10456956-56.html

Quote:

"He definitely deserved to have won with two great skates," Chan said, speaking that British Columbia International Media Centre here. "If I had done two greats skates just like he did, I think I would be side by side with him."

Chan said that "anyone can do the quad," insisting the jump gets too much attention and distracts from the true artistry of the sport.

 

[aftertherain]

Maybe that's like comparing a rock with rock with moss on top.

OMG. LOL. Now I'm going to remember that so whenever a situable situation arises, I will use it and it will be EPIC! Ahahahaha.

 

[Alatariel]

While not a surprise, Patrick Chan's take on the Plushenko-Evan gold medal debate:

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13860_3-10456956-56.html

Quote:

How can that be a surprise. Chan has to make sure he's far up the posterior of certain people so that he can repeat Evan's stellar performance and win a gold medal ... somewhere. After all, since anyone can do a quad, why do them at all? Silly, silly people.

 

[MissIzzy]

Mr. Buttleis not impressed either.

 

[nastasi1212]

Chan is simply to laugh at! If anyone can do a quad why didnt he try it?
And who told him he has better artistry or footwork than the quad skaters.
I think he is far too arrogant and silly for his age, even plushenko or yagudin in his age were not so full of themselves
He even awarded himself a hypothetical medal!
Mercy!!!

 

[Mathman]

Still...I can understand the argument that the quad isn't everything. For one thing, it is not a skating skill. (Once you leave the ice, you are not skating any more, no matter how many times you revolve in the air.)

Elvis Stojko and many others lament that figure skating needs to be "more like other sports." I disagree. If it is "other sports" that attract your interest, watch them (as Elvis vows to watch hockey from now on.)

It think figure skating should celebrate instead what makes it different from other sports. The whole point of figure skating, after all, is what you do with your blades on the ice. (JMO.)

 

[Joesitz (RIP)]

Evin did not give himself the scores.

Evgeni did not give himself the scores.

Would you believe, the judges gave them the scores?

Should not the complaints be addressed to the Tech Panel, the judges, and the CoP System?

 

[UM84]

What's going to happen, is younger male skaters are going to be pressured into doing a quad and one of them is going to get seriously hurt trying to do this jump when their body isn't ready. Very similar to teenagers needing Tommy John surgery because they throw pitches they physically weren't ready to throw

 

[Nadine]

Here's a rather interesting article from Yahoo sports:

http://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/vancouver/figure_skating/news?slug=es-thoughts021810&prov=yhoo&type=lgns

Thanks for posting this article, Phoenix, it's good to hear what Elvis thinks of it all.

I just wanted to say that there was a lot of hate & hostility & prejudice toward Evgeni in that building. I felt it, I was there. I even saw it with my own two eyes. The animosity.

It was good to see this one Russian guy from up above, complete with a huge Russian flag & wear, come to the end of the balcony & yell in Russian something encouraging to Evgeni before he started. It made my night!

That said, if it was meant to be for Evgeni to repeat, it would've been so. But, for now, it wasn't. As my 12 yr. old baby niece said "never give up hope, Auntie, never give up hope; if he believes, it will happen". As is oftentime said..."from the mouths of children it shall come"...

 

[ninni]

i can understand that Evan has been higher in components...but my holyness....absolutely not even in elements...84 Evan and 82 Evgeny.....i don't agree...yes plushenko's landing have been not perfect..but his first combo 4t3t deserve a positive g.o.e..

 

[Mathman]

...plushenko's landing have been not perfect..but his first combo 4t3t deserve a positive g.o.e..

Well, four of the five scoring judges (after trimming) agreed with you and gave him +1 GOE for an extraordinary 4T/3T combo, despite the imperfect landing.

One judge thought it was just your basic ordinary 4T/3T and gave it 0 GOE.

 

[1795]

Is that supposed to be a joke. Since when is Evan Lysacek considered a musical, interpretative performer. Evan Lysacek brings zero artistic value to his routines. Zero. Enough of the bruahaha.

Silly Americans.

i'm not american.
laughing and trying to belittle the opposing opinion is such a fallacious method of arguement.
and compared to plushenko, i am still right with that statement.

 

[luv2sk8te]

You need to look at the scoring sheets people. The judges gave Evan more negative GOEs than they did Yevgeny. How can that be favoring Evan. Evans program components had a higher base value because the components were more difficult or appeared later in the program for a bonus.

Agreed! Evan and his coaches were very smart. They knew what needed to be done to win and he did it. He put together too very strong performances and I was happy to see him take the Gold...and I am not an American. Evgeni relied too heavily on the quad and in the end that cost him the gold. He is a one trick pony. Sure, the quad is great, and it's important, but if you are not going to bother to skate in between the jumps, do solid spins, footwork etc, and be artistic, you should not expect to win. This is figure skating, not gymastics on ice. I'm not sure what exactly the big deal is. Figure skaters with only big tricks and no quality to the their skating never finished strongly. It is important to be well rounded and to encompass all aspects of the sport. I found Evgeni boring to watch, his foot work was slow and did not have good edge quality, he did a lot of standing around and girating his hips, his landings were weak, his spins were slow....need I continue? Sure he did the quad, but that was the only thing he did. I think Elvis is bitter because he couldn't win an olympic gold and he had the quad. You think these people would learn that there is more to figure skating than the quad. In his opinion, if you land a quad, you don't have to do anything else and should be handed olympic gold.

 

[kyla2]

Some excellent comments here by gfskater, jcoates, and GOD help me, Desert Road. They are all spot on. I am really appalled by the comments of some of the people on this board about Evan's skate. He did a great job people. The bottom line is this, he was cleaner, his program was better designed, and he skated it better than Plushenko. Sorry, but that's the facts. Elvis Stoyko was a jumper and a pumper. He pumped all over the ice until he did a jump and that's about all he did. He shouldn't be uttering Evan's name, let alone criticizing him. Very poor form on his part.

 

[Fielding]

Well, at least Lysacek used the music. Plushenko didnt even bother to do at least that.

Point taken, but for me the end result is the same - neither man is particularly musical and for me seeing Lysacek go through the motions is no more pleasing than Plushenko's obliviousness. Lysacek tries harder and worked the system better, for which he deserves all due credit. I actually found both of them hard to watch last night, Plushenko because he was off form and Lysacek seemed tense (understandably) and even stiffer than usual.

 

[Sk8n Mama]

I think it's hard to read Elvis' comments about this because I don't think he can be objective. He was a PLushy-style skater: big jumps, lots of crossovers, no transitions, poor spins. I loved the guy in his day but, in the CoP, Elvis could not have been World Champion.

There's a balance. I want to see them push the technical envelope a little more. Truly, he's right that Evan's program was not technically stronger than the Brians in '88. But he's wrong that any Junior skater could do it. There's no Canadian Junior who can do it. If Elvis knows of one I'd like him to trot him out 'cause I'd like to see him. Quads shouldn't win the entire thing. A quad with a program, yes, a quad without it? NO. Then it wouldn't be figure skating, it would be, to quote Frank Carroll "figure jumping". What I'd really like to see is some skating events added to the Olympics. Why not have a jump competition? Give the figure jumpers their gold? At least that way we wouldn't have to hear so many guys whining to the media about not winning with tacky, front-end loaded, transitions-free programs.

 

[ks777]

I agree with Stojiko. Why bother going for a quad when you can win gold without it? Nobody is going to practice on it anymore. Evan never amazes me with his skating skills and artistry. His jump technique reminds me of Reacheal Flatt, a bit awekward. I really liked Takahiko Kozuka too! He is my favorite skater along with Jeremy Abbott. Chan just needs to go away asap. You know Chan won't even try a quad because he think he can win without it. He might even stop doing a triple axel too. He think he is that good. In my opinion, I'd much prefer Kozuka's skating than Chan's.