Will Olympic Gold skaters pull out of retirement? | Golden Skate

Will Olympic Gold skaters pull out of retirement?

enlight78

Medalist
Joined
Nov 2, 2005
Will Olympic Team Gold pull skaters out of retirement?

I remember in 2008 Summer Olympics how happy Roger Federer-(professional single tennis player) was to win an olympic medal even though it was only in doubles.

Plusenko, Evan, and Weir have already announced plans of comming back. Could Miki Ando, Joannie, Jeffery Buttle comback too?

Team Canada would realy need Joannie for a chance at Gold. Jeffery buttle can give Chan a rest and skate the short program.(based on substitution rules)
 
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romanoff81

Match Penalty
Joined
Nov 20, 2004
Kevin Reynolds is improving i think he could skate a good short program his scores will be higher by then for ladies who knows maybe Kaitlyn Osmond or Joannie she has talked about maybe coming back for team competition.
 

wallylutz

Medalist
Joined
Mar 23, 2010
Joannie Rochette is considering it

http://www.cyberpresse.ca/debats/ch...0-joannie-rochette-est-la-pour-les-petits.php

Joannie Rochette said:
«C'est peut-être faisable. Ma carrière est complète, mais j'aimerais aller aux Jeux olympiques pour m'amuser, vivre des Jeux positifs. La dernière fois, je ne m'étais pas amusée...»

Translation: Maybe it's possible [re: going to Sochi]. I have accomplished everything I want in my career but I would like to go to another Olympic Games to have fun and to enjoy the experience. I wasn't able to enjoy it last time...


http://www.cyberpresse.ca/la-tribun...nnie-rochette-je-change-didee-chaque-jour.php

Joannie Rochette said:
«Je change d'idée chaque jour! Un matin, je me lève et ça me tente de participer aux Jeux de 2014 à Sotchi et le matin suivant, je ne désire plus m'embarquer là-dedans : dans le stress et l'entraînement. Aujourd'hui (samedi), j'ai vu les résultats du championnat du monde et je suis comme en feu! Ça me tente de reprendre l'entraînement! Je dois réfléchir à tout ça et ce ne sera pas une décision prise sur un coup de tête.»

Translation: I change my mind every day! I can wake up one day totally determined to go to Sochi, then the next day, I feel deflated about the idea because of the stress and all the training that is required. Today, I saw the results of the World Championship (Nice 2012) and I felt like I was on fire! (implying that seeing how poorly Canada did in ladies, it makes her mad) It was like I want to re-start training now! However, I want to carefully consider this and this will not be a decision taken during the heat of the moment.


In addition, she also said she will make that decision within a year, leaving the door open for a possible return in either the 2012-13 season or the 2013-14 season. For what it is worth, this time last year, Joannie already ruled out returning for the 2011-12 season. So this represents an "improvement" if you will, to the possibility that she will put on her war cloth again.

I hope she comes back in the 2012-13 season seeing that the Worlds will take place in Canada. Given how miserable Canadian women are without her, there is very little doubt in my mind Skate Canada will beg her to come back to bridge the gap between now and 2014, until some of the younger talents are fully emerged.
 
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chuckm

Record Breaker
Joined
Aug 31, 2003
Country
United-States
If Joannie does not return for the 2012-2013 season, she will put too much stress on herself trying to get back in competitive shape less than a year before the Olympics. She will be 27 in January 2013, and it will be a tough job gearing herself up to do the hard jumps consistently in a long program after having been away from competition for nearly 4 years.

Sasha Cohen tried to do just that at a younger age, and would up injuring herself.

So if Joannie really wants to go to the Olympics, she had better make up her mind in the next month or so.
 
Joined
Aug 16, 2009
http://www.cyberpresse.ca/debats/ch...0-joannie-rochette-est-la-pour-les-petits.php



Translation: Maybe it's possible [re: going to Sochi]. I have accomplished everything I want in my career but I would like to go to another Olympic Games to have fun and to enjoy the experience. I wasn't able to enjoy it last time...


Translation: I change my mind every day! I can wake up one day totally determined to go to Sochi, then the next day, I feel deflated about the idea because of the stress and all the training that is required. Today, I saw the results of the World Championship (Nice 2012) and I felt like I was on fire! (implying that seeing how poorly Canada did in ladies, it makes her mad) It was like I want to re-start training now! However, I want to carefully consider this and this will not be a decision taken during the heat of the moment.




Thanks for the quote and the translation. I decided to try reading the French first, and I got a lot of it on my own, but there were shades of meaning that I missed, and your translation was so beautifully smooth (far more than the one I was thinking) that it conveyed Joannie's "voice" very effectively.
 

dorispulaski

Wicked Yankee Girl
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
Country
United-States
That's probably true.

Unfortunately, I believe that you have to have qualified as a non team skater to skate for the team gold, similar to the Gymnastics competition at Olympics. However, unlike gymnastics, the team event is not used as a qualifier for the individual medals. If it were, it would be a good thing, but fewer countries would be able to compete, which would be bad.

Some thought should be taken now at exactly how they are going to run this event at Olympics.
 

mmcdermott

On the Ice
Joined
Dec 3, 2011
Unfortunately, I believe that you have to have qualified as a non team skater to skate for the team gold, similar to the Gymnastics competition at Olympics. However, unlike gymnastics, the team event is not used as a qualifier for the individual medals. If it were, it would be a good thing, but fewer countries would be able to compete, which would be bad.

Sorry for veering off topic, but have they changed the gymnastics qualifying procedures for this year? In the past the teams always had to qualify but the individuals on those teams did not have to qualify to the Olympics (only to their respective teams).. Also, the team finals (medal round) haven't been used as a a qualifier for individual events since compulsories were dropped after 1996. Team preliminaries were used as qualifiers to individual events and team finals. Did they change this? Maybe I need to look it up ... haven't been paying attention. Maybe I should just look it up ;)

I think it would be nice if qualified teams were able to use different skaters in the team event if they wanted to. Or to enter an extra skater or team if only one qualified in their individual disciplines. This would give it a bit more of a level playing field, although I can't think of many situations where teams might actually take advantage of that other than Joannie.

What do they do in sports with relays, like speed skating? Do all of the participants need to qualify individually or can teams bring athletes just for the relay? Just curious.
 

dorispulaski

Wicked Yankee Girl
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
Country
United-States
I think the team qualifies, and then the federation selects its team members, just as before.

Then the team event qualifies a gymnast for the final, but there are a couple of new twists that were used at Worlds, and I presume will be used at Olympics?????

However, these days, at least at Worlds, some outstanding individuals from weak teams do qualify to World allaround or individual events without being part of the team event. I'm not sure how this qualification works, because I don't follow gymnastics as closely as I once did.
 

blue_idealist

Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 25, 2006
If Joannie comes back, hopefully she is as good as she was before, but on the other hand it probably won't take much to be better than Lacoste or Phaneuf. I am crossing my fingers that Lacoste has some improvement in the next two years though, as she has shown SOME improvement since the last Olympic cycle.

I think the idea that Jeff Buttle might come back is kind of like a when-pigs-can-fly thing, lol. I'm hoping for a return of Shawn Sawyer, but I'm pretty sure he's done (plus I know he'd have to take on Kevin to get the spot).
 

dorispulaski

Wicked Yankee Girl
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
Country
United-States
I think the Canadians should have Megan Duhamel skate the WTT if Joannie doesn't come back. She's a better singles skater than Phaneuf is these days.
 

blue_idealist

Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 25, 2006
I think the Canadians should have Megan Duhamel skate the WTT if Joannie doesn't come back. She's a better singles skater than Phaneuf is these days.

Is that allowed, with her already (probably - barring a meltdown at the 2014 Nats) competing in pairs?
 

blue_idealist

Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 25, 2006
If Joannie comes back, hopefully she is as good as she was before, but on the other hand it probably won't take much to be better than Lacoste or Phaneuf. I am crossing my fingers that Lacoste has some improvement in the next two years though, as she has shown SOME improvement since the last Olympic cycle.

I think the idea that Jeff Buttle might come back is kind of like a when-pigs-can-fly thing, lol. I'm hoping for a return of Shawn Sawyer, but I'm pretty sure he's done (plus I know he'd have to take on Kevin to get the spot).

Actually, I forgot, Canada MAY have three mens spots for the Olympics if we do as well as we did at Worlds this year. :)
 

ImaginaryPogue

Record Breaker
Joined
Jun 3, 2009
1. Heh - Duhamel could compete, but she'd have to qualify - get the minimum score etc.

2. Sawyer had to take down Reynolds for a spot before - and did so, with Alice in Wonderland. Reynolds is certainly no lock for the Olympics.

3. After Plushenko (no longer speculation, imo), I think Rochette, Ando and Lysacek are the most likely to return. Granted, most likely means "slim chance of" in this case, but Wier, Buttle... even slimmer.
 

blue_idealist

Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 25, 2006
I think if Buttle was gonna come back he would have came back in 2010 when the Olympics were actually in Canada.
 

blue_idealist

Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 25, 2006
1. Heh - Duhamel could compete, but she'd have to qualify - get the minimum score etc.

2. Sawyer had to take down Reynolds for a spot before - and did so, with Alice in Wonderland. Reynolds is certainly no lock for the Olympics.

3. After Plushenko (no longer speculation, imo), I think Rochette, Ando and Lysacek are the most likely to return. Granted, most likely means "slim chance of" in this case, but Wier, Buttle... even slimmer.

yeah, Sawyer was amazing at 2011 Nats, too bad he didn't get to use his Worlds spot because of the postponement! (although I know it was his choice to skate the CSOI tour instead).
 

ILoveFigures

On the Ice
Joined
Feb 3, 2011
Am I the only one who dislikes this event? I mean, there is absolutely no tradition of a team competition in figure skating, and it is nothing like gymnastics.

I'd rather have, say the top 10 from the previous synchro worlds compete for Olympic medals. Include all figure skating disciplines! :thumbsup:
 

drivingmissdaisy

Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 17, 2010
Am I the only one who dislikes this event? I mean, there is absolutely no tradition of a team competition in figure skating, and it is nothing like gymnastics.

I'm with you. The selection process doesn't seem strategically compelling at all. It would just be your top 2 skaters in each discipline. If I come in 2nd at Nationals and get to do singles but not team, I'd be pretty mad... especially if my team is likely to medal and I am not. I also don't know if I would want to watch the same programs again over a 2 week span.
 
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