Ladies SP

soogar said:

There are also reports that Irina's mom had surgery as well. Am I a bad person for wishing Irina would have just withdrawn from this darn thing. The Japanese ladies are competing for guaranteed Olympic spots! I'd like to see Miki and Yukari make the Olympic team. Also 2nd place for a doubled flip :sheesh: . I didn't see her skate but heard that she was very sloppy (and Irina on a good day is sloppy as hell).

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To me anyway, the "Irina was overmarked" comments would have more credibility if made after you see all the skates. Just my 2 cents on it.

As far as wishing Irina would have withdrawn for the reasons you mention, wishes are free as far as I can tell. In my own competitive sport, I personally never wish that my biggest competitors withdraw to help my dog get a particular result. For me, victory is the sweetest when everyone shows up. LOL, I think defeat is easier to take when everyone shows up too. I was very disappointed that we never saw in "year two" of Kimba's showing the ONLY dog that ever beat her in "year one." But I fully realize everyone doesn't feel that way.

I agree with you that the Japanese ladies field is deep, and I'm sure there is a lot of pressure on all the top Japanese ladies given the team selection process. I'm sure that's a lot for them to all stand up to, except for Asada who has nothing to lose. I hope she enjoys herself with wild abandon this season, as I suspect she'll start feeling this same sort of pressure come next season.

DG

Actualy if Slutskaya's only mistake was doubling her triple flip, I was surprised her score was not higher, and a bit dissapointed it was not higher. You add the triple flip and she is only about equal to Asada, and below her other scores this year by a long shot. I did not see the performance so I wont say she was robbed in the scores, but I was surprised with only that as an error she did not have higher scores. I heard the rest of her performance was below standard for her too, even if there were no other mistakes.

I hope she does better in the free

She is the only Russian that I want to win in Torino

Yes, is easier for a healthy 15 year old jumping bean to skate like she has with nothing to lose than to be the world champ favorite for gold in turino dealing with a serious illness. What is really interesting is that some people don't have any problem with her being only a great jumper but can't stand Irina for being more than that. I wonder if the girl is going to get the same amount of criticism Irina's got when she starts kicking their faves butt

curious said:

Yes, is easier for a healthy 15 year old jumping bean to skate like she has with nothing to lose than to be the world champ favorite for gold in turino dealing with a serious illness. What is really interesting is that some people don't have any problem with her being only a great jumper but can't stand Irina for being more than that. I wonder if the girl is going to get the same amount of criticism Irina's got when she starts kicking their faves butt

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ITA! Very well said! :yes:

I did get to watch the video of Irina's SP and it was clearly not at the level of COC or even COR. The flip may have been the only "mistake" but she was slow and behind the music as well. I guess you'd have to say they did take away from her marks though ... she didn't get any 8's this day.

curious said:

Yes, is easier for a healthy 15 year old jumping bean to skate like she has with nothing to lose than to be the world champ favorite for gold in turino dealing with a serious illness. What is really interesting is that some people don't have any problem with her being only a great jumper but can't stand Irina for being more than that. I wonder if the girl is going to get the same amount of criticism Irina's got when she starts kicking their faves butt

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Assuming Asada "makes it" as a long term senior player, then she WILL get the same sort of criticizm that comes the way of MK and IS in fan battles, and to a lesser degree, other top senior competitors. MK, IS, and others have also had the benefit of potential enjoyment as youngsters, before the pressure sets in. At this stage, Mao is showing us possibilities of "The Next One" and I just hope she is enjoying her teenage time!!!!! She has plenty of time in front of her for the next phase of this, IMO. Mean time, YOU GO Mao!

DG

It doesn't matter how good or bad Irina skates, we are constantly reminded of her woes in life. Anyone who hasn't heard about them must be new to figure skating.

Joe

nymkfan51 said:

According to someone at FSU, Irina 2 footed her lutz and doubled her flip.
So explain to me how she still gets PCS scores that high. I went back and looked at her COC and COR PCS ... they were 31.72 and 31.88 respectively ... here they were 30.20. WOW, a whole 1.68 points behind her best yet.
This is why I feel there is almost no way to beat her. Even if she does screw up 2 jumps in the SP, her PCS are still going to be excellent because it has already been established that she is that much better than everyone else to begin with. :scowl:

ETA ... now they are saying she didn't 2 foot the lutz ... no one knows for sure I guess. The CCTV coverage went off just before she skated.

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The mistakes on the jumps would be marked down on the technical marks (doubling or two footing) I don't believe those are a part of the PCS scores. Jeff Buttle FALLS twice in his program and still gets very high PCS scores. Nobody questions that. Whatever Irina does is questioned immediately. She is considered 'overmarked' whether she skates good or bad.

Vash

VINLUVSKWAN said:

Quote: "Reports are coming in that Irina felt dizzy"
Irina attributes yesterday's dizziness and today's "not feeling good" to jet lag. It might be more than that, as China is not that far from Russia, and in the past, including last year, she didn't have any time/biological clock/rhythm adjustment problems. Who knows, she might be overtraining like every one else?

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China is not far from Russia? China is not that far from Eastern Siberia, but it is a long way from Moscow! Ever heard of a Trans siberian train service from Moscow to China??? Takes almost a week.

By the way, the GPF is in Tokyo. Distance from Tokyo to Moscow is 7530 km (same as from NYC to Moscow). Distance from NYC to Tokyo is 10, 830 km.

Yana

I see that the technical specialist is 1980 Olympic gold medalist Anett Poetzsch.

Famous names among the judges are Tatiana Danilenko, Joe Inman, Benoit Lavoie and Paolo Pizzacari.

It would sure be interesting to know which judges' marks are whose.

MM

curious said:

Yes, is easier for a healthy 15 year old jumping bean to skate like she has with nothing to lose than to be the world champ favorite for gold in turino dealing with a serious illness. What is really interesting is that some people don't have any problem with her being only a great jumper but can't stand Irina for being more than that. I wonder if the girl is going to get the same amount of criticism Irina's got when she starts kicking their faves butt

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Irina is (gasp) some people's favorite too

(Right back at ya)

curious said:

Yes, is easier for a healthy 15 year old jumping bean to skate like she has with nothing to lose than to be the world champ favorite for gold in turino dealing with a serious illness. What is really interesting is that some people don't have any problem with her being only a great jumper but can't stand Irina for being more than that. I wonder if the girl is going to get the same amount of criticism Irina's got when she starts kicking their faves butt

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You know it would just be nice if just one time someone would say something like " the world champ favorite for gold in turino" and leave the serious illness stuff off. I know Irina has a serious illness and I hope she continues to have the health she has right now so that she can skate the skate of her life at Turino. No, I'm not a huge fan of Irina's but I am the last person you would find hoping someone's health takes them out of any competition. Does that mean I want to hear how Irina has battled back and come out smelling like a rose every single time she skates? No, it doesn't. I'd rather hear about how wonderful she can skate, powerful, fast with those high jumps. Her skating doesn't do anything for me this year, but last year it did. And it had absolutely nothing to do with my amazement at her coming back from a serious illness, but with the fact that she reverted to that young skater I liked so much in the beginning of her career.

Irina isn't the only one who has had a serious illness and come back to skate. Of course she's the only one who's the top skater so I guess I understand this. But Emily Hughes is skating again after a vicious battle with meningitis and that can be a deadly illness as well. The Russian couple who won the OGM at SLC-she came back from a serious brain injury-but you never heard that every time that won or anything.

I may sound cruel or heartless or whatever to some of you, but I already know more than I want to know about comebacks. So I'd rather just hear how great Irina skates, how well she did. And I truly hope she stays as healthy as she seems to be now. And her being dizzy could be the result of jet lag and tiredness. That's a common side effect.

curious said:

Yes, is easier for a healthy 15 year old jumping bean to skate like she has with nothing to lose than to be the world champ favorite for gold in turino dealing with a serious illness. What is really interesting is that some people don't have any problem with her being only a great jumper but can't stand Irina for being more than that. I wonder if the girl is going to get the same amount of criticism Irina's got when she starts kicking their faves butt

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I don't think so as Mao isn't just a jumping bean as you described. Those who say that is just too scared to admit that how talented this girl is and must be felt threatened that she must beat the hell out of their favorites.

I haven't seen any of the programs, so I'll just throw this query out there....With her big error (and the doubling of her solo triple in the short program is a big error) and general sluggishness, did Slutskaya deserve to be in the silver medal position in the short? How did the others skate in comparison?