Thoughts on Vancouver's Figure Skating?

Wow..where to start. I was ticked off with the NBC commentators throughout pretty much...Scott's giggling every time Johnny skated and gushing when one of his favorites skated. Sandra Bezic is clueless. I missed Dick Button..at least he tells it like it is.

It's been a head scratcher for me with some of the scoring being too high or too low. Obviously favoritism was at play in some instances and I thought we had gotten away from that with CoP.

Overall the quality of the skating was outstanding in every discipline. I am disappointed that our U.S. ladies were in a transitional phase and I guess not quite ready to take on giants.

I was amused at some of the costumes and bored with some of the musical selections. I am growing to hate "Carmen".

Otherwise it was all good. Can't wait for Worlds.

ImaginaryPogue said:

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Great great post.

The only sad thing about the sweeping success of the young skaters: are we going to lose them too soon?

Kwanford Wife said:

don't laugh - I've already sent a strongly worded letter to NBC... I can't stand her. Andit wasn't just Miki - in JoRo's short program: what was up with "Another gift she's given us..." you moron - she was skating for her MAMA not you - you nasely, weasily snotty snit. Grrr... She's so awful - she makes me miss Peter C.

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She certainly dedicated her performance to her mother, but I felt blessed to witness one of the most beautiful moments in figure skating. If that's not a gift..

ImaginaryPogue said:

Whole post.

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:thumbsup:

That sounds about right for me, down to being a V/M / Yu Na fan bot due to their 06-07 programmes

My favourites won OGM in 3 out of 4 disciplines! But admittedly, I was the happiest for V/M because like ImaginaryPogue, they're the ones who made me a figure skating uber. Shizuka made me like it, V/M made me LOVE it (Their Valse Triste FD is absolutely ). Also so very thrilled to see P/T NOT robbed and delivering a skate of a lifetime and S/Z finally winning the Gold that has eluded them for so long! The only thing that makes me a little sad about Ladies is Yu Na will most probably retire. She's been an absolute joy to watch. And many of my favourite men bombing ...

Overall, I thought the skating was excellent; the final flight in ladies gave it their all and the performances from D/W and V/M were breathtaking. Dance is finally going in the right direction: Artistry with technical difficulty and DANCING. A bit underwhelmed in Men's and Pairs, especially during the FS, which felt like a splatfest of sorts.

I particularly liked:
1) V/M's FD. I believe this will go down into the history books as one of the best Free Dances the world has ever seen. IMO this is ice dancing at it's best: understated, classy, elegant, subtle and 4 minutes of pure magic. I desperately want them to stay in.
2) D/W's OD. How can anyone NOT like it? It's fun, it's innovative and they sure sold the heck out of it.
3) P/T's FS. They really brought it on a night when so many pairs splatted. Love the choregraphy, love the music choice and love them! I wanted to give them a standing O.
4) Joannie. Another standing O. Not her best skates but girl deserves a hug and my respect for doing so well given the circumstances.
5) YUUUU NAAAA . Girl was billed as the great FS star coming into the Games. She didn't disappoint and laid down two exceptional performances.
6) Seeing all the skaters from the next quad. Men's should be VERY exciting. Mirai was fab and I'll bet that she'll be a force to reckon with in the next quad. Watch out Sochi. Ice Dance needs D/W and V/M to stay in. Pairs ... IDK.
7) The joy on the skaters' faces after a great performance, especially from the OGMs. Scott gets brownie points for managing to pull a prank on Tessa.
8) Skating from the heart. I felt Akiko, D/W, V/M, Joannie and so many others stood out because their expression was genuine. They really skated with heart and soul.
9) FAIR JUDGING! I never thought I'd say this but it's true; I actually agree with all the podiums. (Not necessarily all the placements but it's a start!)

Kwanford Wife said:

don't laugh - I've already sent a strongly worded letter to NBC... I can't stand her. Andit wasn't just Miki - in JoRo's short program: what was up with "Another gift she's given us..." you moron - she was skating for her MAMA not you - you nasely, weasily snotty snit. Grrr... She's so awful - she makes me miss Peter C.

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Um, so since she was skating for her mom, the rest of us can't even think that "Joannie that was so beautiful thanks for doing this?"?? That's harsh.

1) Men: I actually got to see the SP live which was thrilling, but I was disappointed in the free skates. I found the controversy over Plushenko/Lysacek fairly ridiculous, and Plushenko's subsequent behaviour really made me lose some of my respect for him (he's never been a favourite of mine, but I always respected his skills). I thought both had pretty forgettable free skates, in the end, as did most of the other competitors.

2) Pairs: I was never a huge S/Z fan, but I'm happy for them that they won. The most memorable moment, however was P/T's free skate.

3) Ice Dance: This was my favourite, since V/M are my favourite skaters and won gold with spectacular performances. Davis and White were also memorable, and I was pleasantly surprised by the judging, on the whole.

4) Women: Joannie Rochette was inspirational. Yu Na Kim had an incredible free skate.

My favorite Olympics was 1988, closely followed by 1984. This would probably be my third favorite.

Most of my favorites did the best they could but came up short. The good part is that most of the events were well skated, by and large.

I am happiest for Pang & Tong and Shen & Zhao!

The events went kind of downhill from there for me. V&M and D&W skated great, and I love D&W, but they came up short. Worse Delschoes will never get an Olympic medal of any kind, and poor Tanith and Ben also came up short for bronze. If Delschoes couldn't get it, I wanted Tan & Ben to have it.

In men's, I respect Evan's skating, but I love Johnny, and he skated his best and couldn't even qualify for the gala.

I mostly don't care that much about the ladies, but I did want Mao to turn her season around. I've been so sad to see her struggling. And she did sort of turn it around and landed her 3 axels--and came up short. I was saddest for Rachael who skated the best LP I've ever seen her do and she got dropped 2 places.

I dont wanna see the 2A and 3-2-2 in the men's skating.

everyone might agree with me , right?

Kwanford Wife said:

There was one thing though that marred this event for me: Sandra Bezic. She is simply an awful, awful person. The comments she made during Miki's skate were unacceptable. I've never heard such dismissive and even disrespectful commentating in my life and she is on my list.

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I felt the same. I loved Miki performances and every time I watch it Sandra's comments ruin it.
Tried to ignore her super biased comments. Commentators comments influence many people and I really thought her comments about Miki were terrible. I was not satisfied with NBC coverage at all because there were more skaters I wanted to see, but they didn’t show them.

I’m not really satisfied for this Olympics for many reasons .
Mao’s FP, Mirai’s both programs, Miki’s FP, were my favorite ladies performances for this Olympics. Shen& Zhao, Peng & Tong were awesome, too. Yu na’s success is inspiring also. She was so brave with so much pressure and she didn’t seem nervous.

Sandra never had one single positive thing to say about Miki. In Turin, Dick and Sandra absolutely ripped her apart. Especially Dick, I seriously thought he was getting some sick sadistic pleasure out of it. At one point (I think it was when Miki bumped into the board during spiral sequence), they even sounded excited to point it out. Ugh.

yangjie said:

I dont wanna see the 2A and 3-2-2 in the men's skating.

everyone might agree with me , right?

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Isn't the 3-2-2 a pretty big staple right now? Chan, Lysacek, Wier, Oda, Kozuka, Abbott, and Brezina (2A-2-2) in the top ten had it.