Kwan Injured - Pulling out of Cambell's & Skate America... Life is NOT Fair | Page 8 | Golden Skate

Kwan Injured - Pulling out of Cambell's & Skate America... Life is NOT Fair

Joined
Jun 21, 2003
Joesitz said:
When sports people in other sports have injuries the news is front page of the Sports Section. Skating injuries are just casually mentioned.
Well, Michelle's story made the New York Times this morning. Three column inches. Right next to a two-page spread with two large pictures of journeyman basketballer Eddie Curry, who is waiting for tests to see if he is healthy enough to play for the Knicks.

So I guess we should be grateful for small favors.

MM :)

PS. Brad, you don't like golf? Potbellied men hitting a little ball quite a long ways and eventually knocking it into a little hole in the ground?
 

hockeyfan228

Record Breaker
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
Mathman said:
PS. Brad, you don't like golf? Potbellied men hitting a little ball quite a long ways and eventually knocking it into a little hole in the ground?
You obviously don't have an eye for Tiger Woods, Ernie Els, Sergio Garcia, et. al :laugh:
 
Joined
Jun 21, 2003
Sergio drives me to distraction, the way he has to adjust his grip 514 times every time he addresses the ball. :laugh:

BTW, just for fun I just googled Michelle Kwan and got 731,000 references.

Then I did Michelle Wie. 2,690,000.
 
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kyla2

Final Flight
Joined
Jan 24, 2004
More Thoughts......

The more I think about this the more worried I am. Michelle isn't going to be able to keep up the pace as far as practicing the triple-triples are concerned. I really think this is why she is currently experiencing pain. I also don't see her going to COC. None of this is good and I wouldn't put it past the judges to hold it against her (not doing the GPS). At this point, I would be thrilled for her if she simply medals at the Olympics. Like many of you, I am really disappointed about tomorrow's competition, but she is doing the only thing she can do to give it a chance to heal. I would love to know how the Japanese women and Irina seem to practice these triple-triples without apparent injury, or do they experience the same problems and just slog on in the hopes that they can still function by the time the season rolls around?
 

R.D.

Record Breaker
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
kyla2 said:
The more I think about this the more worried I am. Michelle isn't going to be able to keep up the pace as far as practicing the triple-triples are concerned. I really think this is why she is currently experiencing pain. I also don't see her going to COC. None of this is good and I wouldn't put it past the judges to hold it against her (not doing the GPS).

This about sums up a big point I made earlier in this thread. (After the injury heals) Kwan will be faced with a really big decision soon. Can she roll on? Will her body allow her to catch up to the younger ones? Or will she just abandon all hope inside of winning and just attend the Olys for a great "experience", or just give up skating altogether? I really don't envy her right now.

At this point, I would be thrilled for her if she simply medals at the Olympics. Like many of you, I am really disappointed about tomorrow's competition

Another medal at the Olympics will be an accomplishment for her nonetheless. 3 Olympic medals? That's pretty impressive if you ask me.

And about tomorrow's competition- Off Topic but will anyone have any reports from this event? Anyone here going?

I'll throw in a last minute prediction just for kicks- I don't do this often- I'll say Arakawa will win the event.
 
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kyla2

Final Flight
Joined
Jan 24, 2004
Red Dog

ITA, to just medal at Torino would be a major victory for her given the current situation. She is wise to do what she is doing and hopefully with the proper rest she will be able to start training again slowly. I sure as h--l don't want her to end up like Tara with hip surgeries at a young age. It just isn't worth it and she has enough medals as it is. There is one thing I am absolutely certain of, if she could have been there, she would have been. She must be really hurting.
 
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R.D.

Record Breaker
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
Yeah, no doubt- judging from articles, she initially tried to deal with it but couldn't after a while. How unfortunate for her.
 

julietvalcouer

Final Flight
Joined
Sep 10, 2005
Mathman said:
.

In the olden days, before triple/triples and quads were de rigueur, skaters fulfilled their Olympic dreams as teenagers, then signed up for the Ice Capades. Maybe what we need is an age limit for the Olympics. No one over 21can go. When you hit 21, you graduate from the “eligible” to the Masters class.

Now organize a bunch of Masters level competitions, with rules that encourage better musical interpretation, choreography, smooth edging, beautiful moves in the field, etc. Gradually, the masters division would be seen as where the real action is (like pro football in contrast with college football. Like college football, there would still be a lot of whoop and hollar about the grand Prix, the Olympics, etc., but without compromising support for the pro game.)

Mathman

Honestly? I think what they need to do is the complete reverse--cut the kids out. Up the age limits higher, and ban the bone-jarring jumps for younger skaters. Make senior level an even higher age absolute. The reason that they're getting injured is not that they're getting old, which is patently absurd when you're talking about athletes in their twenties--it's that at the most formative stages of growth, the skaters, ESPECIALLY the females, were pounding themselves with impacts their skeletons simply aren't ready to handle. Thirteen-year-olds practicing triples jumps for hours a day? When, hello, the epipheses of their long bones aren't even fused?

Figure skating (and gymnastics) need to start being sports for ADULTS, like the majority of other Olympic sports. (The 'young' atheletes in most other sports are college-age!) Make the age limit 17 at least, and send the kids back to the minors until they're physically mature.

I'd also argue to deemphasize the jumps for the women. There's nothing entertaining or artistic about watching some poor girl who's barely pubescent do permanent damage to her joints and back trying to do bigger and bigger jumps more and more often. Right now ice dance (and, sometimes, maybe, pairs, though that's increasingly becoming 'toss the dwarf') and men's have skaters who look like they've gotten past the middle-school stage, while ladies' is becoming increasingly bereft of actual ladies. So what if men are doing quads? I hate to be the one to break this to skating, but "women be different than men." Physically, women are not the same as men and should not be killing themselves trying.

I hope Michelle Kwan recovers and is able to skate in the CoC and that she makes a comeback at the Olympics. I'm not a Kwan uberfan (as I'm not overly interested in women's skating for reasons related to complaints above) but she's one of the ladies I do enjoy watching.
 

Piel

On Edge
Record Breaker
Joined
Jul 27, 2003
julietvalcouer

:rock: :clap: :rock: :clap: :rock: :clap: :rock:

ITA! Why can't jumps be a highlight instead of the main event? You are so right about the age limits. You train for a career in competitive FS and by 18 you're over the hill.
 

show 42

Arm Chair Skate Fan
Record Breaker
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
I have this strange feeling that Michelle may announce her retirement before the Olys...........I hope not, but I have this feeling..............42
 

mzheng

Record Breaker
Joined
Jan 16, 2005
show 42 said:
I have this strange feeling that Michelle may announce her retirement before the Olys...........I hope not, but I have this feeling..............42
I duno. But I doubt it. She has the contract which requires she competes more......The girl does love to compete sometimes even agains the wishes from ppl surrounding her.
 

attyfan

Custom Title
Medalist
Joined
Mar 1, 2004
mzheng said:
I duno. But I doubt it. She has the contract which requires she competes more......The girl does love to compete sometimes even agains the wishes from ppl surrounding her.

What contract? The USFSA shouldn't have too many contracts anymore, since they switched from appearance fees to prize money. Even if she did have a contract with USFSA and/or ABC requiring her to "compete more", she can't do it this year -- if she does the December cheesefest, without doiong CoC, she faces ISU discipline and the USFSA faces sanctions under $peedy's edict. She could, however, go pro -- and the USFSA /ABC could then get the ISU to sanction pro-ams.
 
Joined
Jul 11, 2003
show 42 said:
I have this strange feeling that Michelle may announce her retirement before the Olys...........I hope not, but I have this feeling..............42
:frown: I've had that feeling since SLC, but she came back with a super free skate at DC Worlds and I thought, well, maybe! But since then, the choices of music (Tosca and Bolero), in particular, were not good and were the main reasons for her not keeping with her breathtaking performances,imo. Both those warhorses could have been great exhibition numbers but not for competition.

While we know she plays up the news very quietly in the off season, there were snippets of TT getting involved and practice reports sounded great. The return to Rach was a breath of fresh air, for me. Lyrical skaters should not get involved in 'stop and pose sell it to the audience' routines.

At this point in time it's wait and see and I do have the same feeling you have.

Joe
 

nymkfan51

Medalist
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
Michelle retire before the Olympics?

Dear Lord ... I better take a break from the boards for awhile. I'm depressed enough over the news of the past few days. :cry:
 

cianni

On the Ice
Joined
Jul 28, 2003
Put the stops on here

Arnt we burying the horse before it dies. Never crossed my mind that Michelle would retire before the OLYS. I still want to see her skate even though from the postsIm reading I guess Irina and Sasha have won and the comps are just to satisfy the Media. Give the girl a break and wait to see if the hip is not going to heal then she will retire if she has any sense and I think she does. Their are lots of injuries about to come bet on it.
 

jesslily

Final Flight
Joined
Jan 4, 2004
If Michelle announces retirement before the Olympic, it's a blow to the USFSA and many Mechelle's fans. It also hurts the spirit of USA team. After all she has been portraied as loving competing and staying eligible. If she really retires before, who can be the best third lady? Bebe is great, but she does not have many things that Michelle has.
 

76olympics

On the Ice
Joined
Mar 4, 2004
Juliet, "Toss the dwarf"! :rofl: ! Very funny-but, alas, all too true. I loved some of the small/large pairs (G and G)-but I like to watch Tai and Randy, the Protopopovs, and Shelley and Starbuck too in clips. You don't have to skate with the tiniest girl you can find to have a beautiful, memorable program.

I agree wholeheartedly with your comments regarding the young skaters. Now that figures can't delay the trajectory of these young, young skaters-something should be done to stop this trend of irretrievably injured skaters in their 20s. I don't like the jumps that much. I don't really value programs that are chiefly composed of jumps with tiny connecting sequences between them.

:clap: to your observations!

Is it odd that figure skating is the ONLY sport I follow? (I do like watching the other winter sports during the Olympics, but I don't really follow them)
 
Joined
Jun 21, 2003
julietvalcouer said:
Honestly? I think what they need to do is the complete reverse--cut the kids out....Figure skating (and gymnastics) need to start being sports for ADULTS, like the majority of other Olympic sports. Make the age limit 17 at least, and send the kids back to the minors until they're physically mature.
That's just what I'm saying, Juliet. Let the kids get all that Olympic stuff out of their system when they are the age to really enjoy it. No one was ever happier to win an Olympic medal than Tara. Why? She was 15. If Michelle wins a gold medal this year at 25 her main emotion will be, well, I finally got that monkey off my back.

If we could give the kids the big thrills that kids groove on (winning prizes at the Oympic games, etc.), and then let the cream of the crop advance to the serious sporting level, I think that would allow the sport to take the directions that you support in your post (de-emphasize jumps, bring the artistic element to the fore and viva le difference).

Mathman
 
Joined
Jun 21, 2003
jesslily said:
If Michelle announces retirement before the Olympic, it's a blow to the USFSA and many Michelle's fans. It also hurts the spirit of USA team. After all she has been portraied as loving competing and staying eligible. If she really retires before, who can be the best third lady? Bebe is great, but she does not have many things that Michelle has.
There's only one Michelle. :love:

But nothing is forever. When Michelle retires there will be plenty of youngsters champing at the bit to jump up and try for their day in the sun. They will feel as honored as Michelle has to carry the red, white and blue into the Olympic stadium.

(Not that it will do me any good, having shot myself, but oh well. Go Alssa!)

Mathman
 
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