Unusually good or bad performances, and reasons given | Page 4 | Golden Skate

Unusually good or bad performances, and reasons given

Kitt

Final Flight
Joined
Feb 1, 2007
Country
United-States
you mean the one where he fell and basically ripped his legs from his body on a botched landing of the 3A(?)? I think he had a real reason to skate off... he was obviously in pain. that whole men's LP was a mess.

yes, and he came back the next year to show everyone he could, and the year after that, and the year after that! :)
 

coppertop1

On the Ice
Joined
Sep 19, 2006
Hubert was a 17 year old skating in the final group at her home Olympics. It seems rather obvious that the pressure got to her. The 1991 collision with Ito was clearly an accident and to even suggest that she deserved some kind of karmic retribution for it is disgusting.

Skaters don't need your pity. But unless they purposely engage in unsportsmanlike or reckless behavior, they deserve respect and compassion. Nobody deserves to be hurt in a practice collision, nobody deserves to have the sort of LP Hubert did in 1992, and skaters don't deserve misfortune because you have decreed that they are fault for something. That's not being a fan, that's being a jerk.

Exactly. Accidents happen. Ito had some rough luck but the tone of CarneAsada is implying Laetitia Hubert was responsible, and she wasn't. Accidents happen. Midori was injured after her fall into the boards. And you can't compare the Harding skatelace fiasco with the collision. Harding had problems all the time, to the point where people got tired of it. Laetitia collided into Ito by accident.


Joubert has always attributed his disappointing showing in Torino to skating an LP that did not suit him (Lord of the Dance), and has said that one of his biggest regrets was not changing it to The Matrix earlier than he did; he skated very well at 2006 Worlds after going back to that program.

I'm not sure which coach said that, but I seriously doubt it was true.

That makes sense. I don't remember what coach said that but the press was really rough on Joubert after Torino. Going back to Matrix was a good idea.

I think it's interesting to compare Josee with Joannie. Joannie struggled with her confidence at first, but she always did have that fighter's instinct.
 

karne

in Emergency Backup Mode
Record Breaker
Joined
Jan 1, 2013
Country
Australia
you mean the one where he fell and basically ripped his legs from his body on a botched landing of the 3A(?)? I think he had a real reason to skate off... he was obviously in pain. that whole men's LP was a mess.

Wasn't that the one where he faked the injury, got a restart, and then actually injured himself on the restart?

That's karma for you.
 

Tonichelle

Idita-Rock-n-Roll
Record Breaker
Joined
Jun 27, 2003
Wasn't that the one where he faked the injury, got a restart, and then actually injured himself on the restart?

That's karma for you.

I don't know about faking an injury. I just remember him going up and coming down and his legs going ways that God never intended a man's legs to go. :no:

I'm not a Weir fan - and I rolled my eyes in later seasons when he used any excuse possible to reason why he would make mistakes, but his 2003 LP I don't think was in anyway fake.
 

blue dog

Trixie Schuba's biggest fan!
Record Breaker
Joined
Dec 16, 2006
Complaining about hotel ghosts is not unprecedented in sports. There's a hotel in Milwaukee that's supposedly haunted and lots of MLB players have complained about it. Some refuse to stay there or sleep with their bats. But a skater would be defenseless ;)

That's when we bring Jeff Gillooly (now Stone) with us for the sleepover ;-)
 

karne

in Emergency Backup Mode
Record Breaker
Joined
Jan 1, 2013
Country
Australia
I don't know about faking an injury. I just remember him going up and coming down and his legs going ways that God never intended a man's legs to go. :no:

I'm not a Weir fan - and I rolled my eyes in later seasons when he used any excuse possible to reason why he would make mistakes, but his 2003 LP I don't think was in anyway fake.

He fell into the boards and hurt his back but he didn't restart, he picked up where he left off. You don't get restarts any more, not since 2000-01. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YmQGm51ygmwJohnny Weir 2003 US nationals LP

Here is the relevant excerpt from Weir's own book, Welcome To My World, which unfortunately I purchased a copy of (and took great self-restraint not to tear the thing apart by halfway through).

Chapter: Enfant Terrible, Page: 61

I went tumbling to the ice in a tangle of confusion and embarrassment. It was so crazy I didn't know what to do with myself. I got up very quickly, and then, even though I wasn't injured, put my hand on my back, pretending that there was something wrong. Lying seemed to have become my default.

Now what should I do? Out of instinct, I had pretended to be hurt. There was nothing to do but go through with it.

After that, he fell on the triple Axel and busted up his knee, which was his genuine withdrawal, and, as I say, karma.

He confesses to lying about his injuries and illnesses a number of times during that book. I think in the same season at Cup of Russia he pretended to be sick simply because he and the federation were having a snafu about his costume. Of course, it was so last-minute that there was no replacement. I wonder who missed out on an opportunity because Weir threw a diva fit?
 

coppertop1

On the Ice
Joined
Sep 19, 2006
Reading an article about Susan Humphreys, a Canadian lady skater who had endless potential but no mental toughness. The article is harsh, truthfully Susan was a scapegeat after 1997, her failing was more a symptom of the weak field of Canadian women skaters we had at the time, not the cause of the problem. At the 1997 Worlds, Susan had a nasty abscessed blister and ha to withdraw. Her coach didn't allow her to use the injury as a total excuse because she knew in order for Susan to realize her potential she needed to develop that mental toughness.

It makes me think of Sandhu and McLeod. I wonder if they had that conversation, did McLeod agree with Sandhu that 1998 is to blame for Sandhu's frequent disasters? Same with Weir's coach. I remember after the 2003 nationals, the USFSA told Weir to retire.

I think it's a fine line when a skater implodes but patting them on the hand all the time won't do them any good. A coach does need to be honest, but how many times can she say "Get it together" before she decides she's had it and the skater needs to shape up or ship out.
 

Tonichelle

Idita-Rock-n-Roll
Record Breaker
Joined
Jun 27, 2003
I remember after the 2003 nationals, the USFSA told Weir to retire.

03 was the second year he was touted as the next big thing in mens skating, did they really tell him to retire that far back (he was 18)... seems a little far fetched. I can see them telling him to retire after 2006, though.
 

caitie

Medalist
Joined
Sep 14, 2013
Charlie White 's 3 falls in the OD at CoR 2008. There was no explanation given at the time.

That performance was excruciating to watch Charlie try to get through, including in the K&C afterwards. Afterwards I think he said he was overly excited to go out there and prove they could skate against the top Russian teams.
 

coppertop1

On the Ice
Joined
Sep 19, 2006
03 was the second year he was touted as the next big thing in mens skating, did they really tell him to retire that far back (he was 18)... seems a little far fetched. I can see them telling him to retire after 2006, though.

I thinks so I remember the commentators saying that in 2004. Maybe I'm remembering wrong.

Watching someone you know has potential repeatedly fail can be so frustrating. With Sandhu, I really lost patience at times, especially after Torino and when he said he blames the COA. I just thought "OK, I felt for you then, and yes the third berth was wasted, but that was eight years ago. Get over it and prove yourself!"
 
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