Who Will Be The Ladies " Underdog" at the Olympics? | Golden Skate

Who Will Be The Ladies " Underdog" at the Olympics?

Ladskater

~ Figure Skating Is My Passion ~
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Jul 28, 2003
We all know who the ladies fighting for the Gold at the Olympics will be, but sometimes a skater comes in as "the underdog" and winds up taking the Gold or Silver or Bronze. I remember Elizabeth Manley at the 1988 Olympics. No one expected Elizabeth to make it to the podium let alone with the Silver medal. The big rivalry was between Katarina Witt and Debbie Thomas. However, Liz rose to the occasion and had the best skater of her life. So who do you think will be the "underdog" at Sochi?
 

Frenchie

I'm gonna customize the CRAP out of this title!
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May 4, 2013
Well, since she just became Japanese Champion, she can't really be called an underdog, but my gut feeling tells me that Akiko will have another skate of her life at Sochi - plus this time, no UR call on her SP combo :)

I can't picture anyone but the "big names" on the podium: Kim, Suzuki, Asada, Lipnitskaya, Kostner, Wagner(unlikely?).
 

Victura

On the Ice
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Apr 8, 2012
I see Suzuki as a medal threat too, and even if she's not technically an underdog, she's not usually cited as one of the main contenders for the podium either.

I think there might be more possibilities on the men's side of a dark horse winning the race or getting a medal. Machida is a definitely possibility, and there are quite a few veterans on the men's side that could, on a good day or the skate of their life, contend for the podium, especially if one of the top men falter. We haven't seen much of Ten this season due to injuries, Verner has had a great season outside the GP circuit, Joubert on a good day could still contend, and Abbott if he can get the jumps together, and even Rippon. (A few of those might be wishful thinking, but on the other hand, stranger things have happened, and any one of them could potentially have a Paul Wylie moment.)
 

blue_idealist

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Feb 25, 2006
Lipnitskaya could sneak in for a silver or bronze. Mao isn't a lock.. she might have looked like one before, but we just saw Akiko (and Kanako) dethrone her at Japanese Nats of all places.
 

lavender

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Jul 26, 2003
Well I'm not exactly rooting for the underdog unless it's someone like Akiko who's been doing this skating forever.
 

Frenchie

I'm gonna customize the CRAP out of this title!
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May 4, 2013
What is Zijun Li's injury, and what's the status on it?

I read a post here a while ago:
Chinese skaters are always unwilling to say much about their injury so we don't know the details.
Zijun seems to be out of training for months but now her injury is not that seriousis.
Everything is in recovery. Just best wishes to her.

and last week:
I have read, that Li Zijun is ill for a long time. She wrote on weibo that she cann-'t sleep because of severe cough.
Poor girl!

I think I remember the German Eurosport commentator saying she was recovering from an ankle injury during CoC where she didn't do well (10th). Since then, she retired from the NHK Trophy.
Her wiki page refers to an article that only addresses her growth issues and therefore loss of confidence, so I'm not sure what the actual situation is...

Fact of the matter is, she's not participating in the Chinese National championships which are this weekend.

It's a pity she's having problems in this Olympic season. But since she's the one who earned China 2 spots in Sochi, let's hope she can recover in time and get one of those spots.
 

ahy

Final Flight
Joined
Jul 29, 2013
A month ago, she posted on weibo writing, she suffered from cold, fever, drug allergies, conjunctivitis, bronchial pneumonia.
I really hope that she will recover soon, she is the one who earned those 2 spots... she is still in her hometown but not sure is she training right now.
 

sky_fly20

Match Penalty
Joined
Nov 20, 2011
Julia and Gracie are the underdogs

Suzuki beeing boosted at Japanese nationals

Sotnikova is now the reigning National Champion will add more pressure for her
now with the majority now thinking Julia's chances are now lower than Sotnikova at the Olympics might not be that bad after all ;)
 

MidnightSkater

On the Ice
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Dec 20, 2013

She is a judges favourite so I would not think of her as an underdog. If she makes errors she tends to get the benefit of the doubt while the likes of Akiko get punished more.
An underdog (For me) is a skater who is inconsistent & is not often rewarded by the judges. Kinda like a Gusmeroli or Jennifer Robinson in past years.
 

mskater93

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Oct 22, 2005
But Gold has been inconsistent, so no one has expectations for her AT ALL - that to me makes her an underdog.
 

MidnightSkater

On the Ice
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Dec 20, 2013
But Gold has been inconsistent, so no one has expectations for her AT ALL - that to me makes her an underdog.

But when she gets it right she gets massive marks. An underdog for me is not like that.
Sarah meier was an underdog, she skated great through 2006 but never got the marks.
I think everybody has a different image of an underdog.
 

MidnightSkater

On the Ice
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Dec 20, 2013
So you dont think Gold is an underdog if she were to win an Olympic medal, especialy the gold at this point. I would have to totally disagree there, she would be a huge underdog. Nobody is even talking about her as a second tier contender right now. Her only noteable achievement is her 6th place at Worlds, 2 straight years not even making the GPF now. As for when she gets it right she gets massive marks, that isnt even established. Her clean LP at her own Nationals last year barely getting over 130. Big deal, Suzuki, Murakami, Sotnikova, and Lipnitskaia all did way better than that at their Nationals just recently, and Kim, Kostner, and Asada can score bigger than that internationaly not even skating that well. So from every angle she would be a huge underdog, and yes she does have the potential if somehow she got it all together to surprise people (especialy with Olympic ice being slippery) and that what makes her exciting and a good topic for this thread. Any color medal from Gold would qualify as that.
If that's the case then every other skater is an underdog. Such as Glebova, Gedvanishvili, Helgesson & Marchei.
The truth is outside 5 or 6 skaters all of the others are underdogs. Any outside these winning a medal in Sochi would be a huge shock.
It's even worse in Ice Dance.
If you think Gold is an underdog, fine. I don't.
 

Icey

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 28, 2012
She is a judges favourite so I would not think of her as an underdog. If she makes errors she tends to get the benefit of the doubt while the likes of Akiko get punished more.
An underdog (For me) is a skater who is inconsistent & is not often rewarded by the judges. Kinda like a Gusmeroli or Jennifer Robinson in past years.


I was using the definition long shot, dark horse. And I think Gold is a long shot for a medal.
 

MidnightSkater

On the Ice
Joined
Dec 20, 2013
Glebova, Gedvanishvili, Helgesson, Marchei, arent even good enough to realistically be underdogs for this thread topic. Gold is. If she didnt have any potential to score big as you referred to she wouldnt even be that.

There are 7 or 8 skaters who have a better chance than Gold going into the Games now. Maybe even more. How that doesnt qualify her as an underdog I have no idea. An underdog with potential yes, but if she wasnt she wouldnt even come up in this topic.

A skater outside the top 5 or 6 will almost always be a big underdog to break through with the gold or even silver, like OP specified. If they arent it is one of the deepest, most open, and evenly matched fields in Olympic skating history.

Let's face it, we will never agree on this.
US Nationals will tell us a lot about Gracie.
 
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