- Joined
- Mar 28, 2005
The Good:
This generation of Russian skaters, perhaps the last truly great generation of Russian skaters, ending their careers, for the most part in style with Totmianina/
Marinin, Navka/Kostomarov, Plushenko, garnering Olympic Golds(well Plushy might return but I doubt it); and Petrova/Tikhonov medaling at their final Worlds, Slutskaya medaling at her final Olympics(although dissapointed with that).
The strong showings overall of the Canadian skating team with Rochette doing very well at the Olympics, and leading the qualifying round at Worlds; Buttle adding another GP final silver and an Oly bronze to his resume despite no quad and inconsistent jumps, rewarded for his quality overall skating; Marcoux/buntin rebounding from a tough Olympics to have a wonderful Worlds, and adding a 3rd straight Canadian title; Dube/Davison having a wonderful debut at both Olympics and Worlds, showing great promise; Dubreuil/Lauzon having their best year ever despite the crushing fall and subsequent withdrawal in Turin.
The World title won by Pang/Tong, and their wonderful performances at the Olympics even if the judges shafted them for it and denied them the medal they should have won. Their emergence from out of the longtime shadows of the older Shen/Zhou and the younger Zhang/Zhang and into some of their own spotlight.
The courage and continued emerging greatness of Stephane Lambiel, battling judges hatred of him, massive injuries, fans rooting against him, still winning an Oly silver and his second straight World title after having to nearly withdraw from both events up until the days before due to chronic knee problems.
Citizenship being granted both Belbin/Agosto and Savchenko/Szowkowlsky before Turin, it is never good when any prospective contenders are forced to miss the Olympics leaving the event with a void.
The Bad:
The gross overscoring of both Sasha Cohen and Evan Lysacek, the and the extreme overhype of them from the mass U.S media, which probably explains the extent of overscoring, the USFSA likely had some part in that. Part of the problem with the sport that continues even under the new COP.
The somewhat deflating end to Irina's season and possably her career. An inspiring comeback that had been all a dream up until the GP final and looked headed to a storybook ending with the elusive Oly gold and a 3rd World title hit its first roadblock with the unexpected loss to highly touted upstart Asada at the GP final. Then the crushing bronze in Turin, a second missed attempt at the elusive Oly Gold, ala Kwan, sadly neither of these great Champions get the Oly gold they so coveted.
Asada and Kwan both missing from the womens event in Turin, leaving the field without two of its key players, always you hope to see a full field at global event, especialy the Olympics. Kwan's likely end to her career was a deflating one.
The many withdrawals from Worlds by top skater, none of the Olympic Champions showing up, only 1 defending World Champion returning, dissapointing to see that trend continuing.
Worst of all though the proposterously generous treatement from the judges Zhang/Zhang received towards the end of the year, outrageously high PCS scores, being allowed to take an unreasonably long break to resume their skate in Turin, the outrageously inflated scores, particularly in PCS to hand them the Oly silver medal bumping Pang/Tong's wonderful performance right off the podium, true robbery, their undeserved World silver where a great short was followed by a long that should have dropped them to 3rd place but was again overmarked.
This generation of Russian skaters, perhaps the last truly great generation of Russian skaters, ending their careers, for the most part in style with Totmianina/
Marinin, Navka/Kostomarov, Plushenko, garnering Olympic Golds(well Plushy might return but I doubt it); and Petrova/Tikhonov medaling at their final Worlds, Slutskaya medaling at her final Olympics(although dissapointed with that).
The strong showings overall of the Canadian skating team with Rochette doing very well at the Olympics, and leading the qualifying round at Worlds; Buttle adding another GP final silver and an Oly bronze to his resume despite no quad and inconsistent jumps, rewarded for his quality overall skating; Marcoux/buntin rebounding from a tough Olympics to have a wonderful Worlds, and adding a 3rd straight Canadian title; Dube/Davison having a wonderful debut at both Olympics and Worlds, showing great promise; Dubreuil/Lauzon having their best year ever despite the crushing fall and subsequent withdrawal in Turin.
The World title won by Pang/Tong, and their wonderful performances at the Olympics even if the judges shafted them for it and denied them the medal they should have won. Their emergence from out of the longtime shadows of the older Shen/Zhou and the younger Zhang/Zhang and into some of their own spotlight.
The courage and continued emerging greatness of Stephane Lambiel, battling judges hatred of him, massive injuries, fans rooting against him, still winning an Oly silver and his second straight World title after having to nearly withdraw from both events up until the days before due to chronic knee problems.
Citizenship being granted both Belbin/Agosto and Savchenko/Szowkowlsky before Turin, it is never good when any prospective contenders are forced to miss the Olympics leaving the event with a void.
The Bad:
The gross overscoring of both Sasha Cohen and Evan Lysacek, the and the extreme overhype of them from the mass U.S media, which probably explains the extent of overscoring, the USFSA likely had some part in that. Part of the problem with the sport that continues even under the new COP.
The somewhat deflating end to Irina's season and possably her career. An inspiring comeback that had been all a dream up until the GP final and looked headed to a storybook ending with the elusive Oly gold and a 3rd World title hit its first roadblock with the unexpected loss to highly touted upstart Asada at the GP final. Then the crushing bronze in Turin, a second missed attempt at the elusive Oly Gold, ala Kwan, sadly neither of these great Champions get the Oly gold they so coveted.
Asada and Kwan both missing from the womens event in Turin, leaving the field without two of its key players, always you hope to see a full field at global event, especialy the Olympics. Kwan's likely end to her career was a deflating one.
The many withdrawals from Worlds by top skater, none of the Olympic Champions showing up, only 1 defending World Champion returning, dissapointing to see that trend continuing.
Worst of all though the proposterously generous treatement from the judges Zhang/Zhang received towards the end of the year, outrageously high PCS scores, being allowed to take an unreasonably long break to resume their skate in Turin, the outrageously inflated scores, particularly in PCS to hand them the Oly silver medal bumping Pang/Tong's wonderful performance right off the podium, true robbery, their undeserved World silver where a great short was followed by a long that should have dropped them to 3rd place but was again overmarked.