Why were so many skaters having emotional breakdowns at US Nationals?

Not only in sports, but school or your job as well. Finalizing a goal you have worked for is a big relief, I hope everyone of us had the pleasure before and will have it again multiple times.

While I didn't see the US "Trials" yet, I fully understand that those skaters go emotional there.

To show human emotions can never be wrong, of course you need to keep a clear head so you don't influence other skaters. (that's why you should not sit on the ice for 10 minutes crying)

At tennis we have players that cheer after every point they do, that I find bad sportsmanship - yet again, others see it as ok. Or the constant "now I pick my towel and let my opponent wait" - its not fun.

Imagine this at FS.

You skate and whenever you make a mistake, the skater currently leading screams "yes" "cmon" to him or herself

It's pretty simple. The Olympics only come around every 4 years and for most of these athletes this is their peak time and they probably won't even be around in 4 years so it's now or never. Anything can happen in four years whether it's injuries a slump or just plain age.

It is interesting how it can affect other skaters, though. We saw two prime examples during the men at Nationals.

In the short program, Jeremy Abbott blew the roof off the building. Joshua Farris had to wait on the ice while they cleared it, while the crowd was still cheering Jeremy, while they announced his scores; he had nowhere to hide from the scores or the crowd's reaction and had to stand there and hear it all. Even I, his ardent fan, thought he couldn't handle it. But he applauded Jeremy and then turned around and skated his best SP of the season.

By contrast, in the long program, Jason Brown blew the roof off the building. Richard Dornbush had to wait on the ice while they cleared it, while the crowd was still cheering Jason, while they announced his scores; he had nowhere to hide from the scores or the crowd's reaction and had to stand there and hear it all...and he turned around and promptly popped his opening three jumping passes. He also had problems having to skate his long program after Max Aaron's last year too. So some skaters handle it differently.

OK, so it's human to show some emotion after you've done a good job, but it becomes a distraction (and super hokey) when you have every other skater producing a flood on the ice after finishing their programs (many of which were not even perfect). It just makes the whole sport look absurd when you have skaters (many of whom are SUPER PRIVILEGED to begin with) acting like crazy clowns after they skate a mostly decent performance. You'd think skating a good program was like their ticket out of abject poverty or something. Come on, folks!!! Even if you bomb your programs you'll most likely be fine since you were able to fork over in excess of 80 grand a year to finance your participation in this sport. Unless you're Tonya Harding or Agnes Zawadski, please try to take your skating in stride and not blow your accomplishments out of proportion.

Rant over.

@Wootie - Your posts have me literally lol-ing. Whilst I understand why some of these skaters get emotional, I do agree with you that sometimes I feel like they're performing the skating equivalent of a tearful Oscar speech.

Wow - you people are harsh!

wootie said:

OK, so it's human to show some emotion after you've done a good job, but it becomes a distraction (and super hokey) when you have every other skater producing a flood on the ice after finishing their programs (many of which were not even perfect). It just makes the whole sport look absurd when you have skaters (many of whom are SUPER PRIVILEGED to begin with) acting like crazy clowns after they skate a mostly decent performance. You'd think skating a good program was like their ticket out of abject poverty or something. Come on, folks!!! Even if you bomb your programs you'll most likely be fine since you were able to fork over in excess of 80 grand a year to finance your participation in this sport. Unless you're Tonya Harding or Agnes Zawadski, please try to take your skating in stride and not blow your accomplishments out of proportion.

Rant over.

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YMMV, I suppose. As I said, I was in the arena and I don't think people were particularly bothered by it. I wasn't really.

Hey, people react at in different ways to a good performance. You have people calling Richard Sherman a thug because of what was basically a emotion-driven, adrenaline rush response after making the winning play in the Seahawks/49ers game. Was he a bit cocky? Sure...did he deserve the racist tweets he got afterward? Nope.

Likewise I don't think the skaters deserve a penalty for what was likely a reaction driven by adrenaline, etc.

I think the emotional aspect of this sport is something that makes skating great! Some of these skaters could just simply be highly emotional people. I am a highly emotional person, it doesn't take much to get my tears flowing. I can (and do) cry when I'm happy, sad, mad, frustrated. It's a way that I express myself and my feelings and even relieve stress. I don't think anyone should ever penalized for that.

It wouldn't be much fun if everyone went out and skated and acted like robots on the ice. There are some performances I can't watch without getting emotional; just to name a few:

-- Katia's tribute to Sergei
-- Rudy Galindo at the 1996 Nationals
-- Michelle Kwan's "Fields of Gold" exhibition at Salt Lake City
-- Michelle Kwan's SP and LP at the 1998 Nationals
-- Torvill and Dean's Bolero

The skaters have poured nearly their entire lives into this sport and sacrificed a lot for it. A lot of times, even their parents have made unimaginable sacrifices to support their children's skating careers. Tara Lipinski's parents lived ~1000+ miles apart and saw each other about once a month for four years, just so Tara could train at an elite facility with an elite coach. Nancy Kerrigan's father, at one point, was working three jobs to support her skating. Rudy Galindo's sister Laura gave up her own skating career so Rudy could skate.

The point is, when you see a skater having an "emotional breakdown" it's not all about them. Yes, they are happy that they skated well or disappointed that they skated poorly; but they may also be remembering all the sacrifices their families have made on their behalf so they could get the chance to skate at Nationals in the first place.

noskates said:

Wow - you people are harsh!

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I agree. Sheesh, Jeremy was all but written off, and though he was arguably the best US male skater for six years he always found a way to not reach his goals. I wasn't bothered by his emotions in the least, because they were 'real'. There is releasing unpent emotions after a winning performance and then there is grandstanding. The worst example of the latter in recent memory was that awful John Baldwin JR, kissing and overly honoring Rena and did he actually propose to her then? It was gross IMO. Many skaters are artists and have given their lives to this art of skating, so they have a sensitive temperament usually. I say let the tears flow if they come. But don't force them. Usually an audience can tell the difference. I always thought Scott Hamilton was an attention ***** who would overstay his welcome after a performance with an "Aww shucks... Was I really that good?" attitude. Blech.

noskates said:

In my experience.....when a skater is showing alot of emotion after a good skate there are also people throwing a bunch of stuff on the ice which delays the next skater..... Those stupid annoying Smucker's strawberries, for example, should have been outlawed.

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The audience cannot be denied. The skaters bow to the audience, the audience does not bow to the skaters. Those Smuckers strawberries are what pays for the whole show. :yes:

What makes me smile, though, is those choreographed fist pumps that skaters use to try to convince the judges that they just saw something good. Alexei Yagudin was great at that. Akex Shibutani was no slouch at U.S. Nationals.:yes:

Well I know Smuckers was the main company for Nationals but those strawberries are horrible. Maybe make them a little bigger or something. The fist pumps don't bother me and neither does the crying. We saw skaters at the Intermediate and Novice level thoroughly pleased with their performances, jumping up and down on the ice, covering their faces, fist-pumping - maybe because they only fell twice or they landed a jump that had been bothering them. As we all keep saying - people handle things differently. Adrenaline affects people differently. A skater's own expectations may not be what the crowd expects them to be. Maybe he/she was nauseated throughout the program and managed not to barf. I just don't see why any of this is a problem.

As for Rickie Dornbush having to skater after Jason - he isn't the most consistent person in the world anyway and I do not imagine it takes much for him to lose focus (altho he did skate a beautiful SP and I believe he WAS emotional after.....just saying!) I think anytime someone lays down an incredible skate, gets a standing O, gets good scores, etc. it takes the energy out of the building. I was afraid that was going to happen when Gracie skated as the final skater in the LP but she just went out and laid it down. Again - different people react differently!!