2014 Olympics Team Event Ladies Short Program

Every single judge gave Julia positive GOEs for her combo and 2A, and it was quite consistent across the board. Unless people think the Russians bribed every single judge, or that every single judge at the event was incompetent, maybe they should calm their horses

I am looking through the protocols now and I am a little 'disappointed.' ;-) I expected to be OUTRAGED at the judging but it wasn't *that* bad.

I was expecting Kostner to receive lower PCS than Lipnitskaia, given it's Sochi and all, but fortunately there is some justice left in the world.

All left for me to moan about is the usual stuff, which is quite innocuous really:
- low quality on some of the elements not really being reflected with the GOE
- some skaters getting away with cheats because unless it's < or <<, the judges won't see it
- Lipnitskaia again got +3s for the combination spin despite the last position being clearly off-centred
- considering Wagner's 3toe was both cheated over 1/4 and two-footed, you could say she got off lightly

I guess most people would say the above things aren't really worth getting your blood pressure raised about. But then, it's me.

But what really really pissed me off was Osmond skating a program where every single element was preceded by transitions. There was constant upper body movement or connecting footwork/non-listed jumps or both. No empty spots whatsoever. It was quite remarkable and I don't remember seeing another Ladies' program like this. And what does she get for that? TR was her lowest mark and it was less than 7.00. I mean why even bother...

On a different note, Popova's technique just makes me weep. All her jumps were executed through brute force and her skating is just so heavy. Overscored.

Panini said:

Every single judge gave Julia positive GOEs for her combo and 2A, and it was quite consistent across the board. Unless people think the Russians bribed every single judge, or that every single judge at the event was incompetent, maybe they should calm their horses

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The axel was great. Very solid landing with a lot of speed out. It even seemed bigger than she usually does it.

But the lutz in the lutz-toe combo was done barely off an outside edge (it was almost flat), didn't get a lot of height or flow out.

It's not about 'the Russians bribing every single judge' but the judges going 'WOW 3lutz/3toe!!!' and then giving it +2s, regardless of the quality of execution, unless there's some major mistake on it. In Men, the same principles applies on quads. 'WOW QUAD!!!' +2 all round. Who cares the skater took the whole length of the rink to set it up, the landing is scratchy and comes to a standstill.

Osmond getting 28.64 points PCS was pretty ridiculous given how packed with choreo and transitions her program was, and considering how well she projects with the audience. It's clear she was low balled to create room for skaters like Mao and Wagner between her and Lipnitskaia. Osmond should have been 4th (arguably 3rd if she got correct PCS and Mao was called on her 2L<) and Julia with proper PCS should have been 2nd. But I'm not surprised that it ended up being 1st and 5th.

I'm confused by people criticizing Julia's 2A :think: Someone even called it a "hot mess"? I see a jump that had next to no preparation, clean rotation, smooth landing with good speed coming out. Where's the "mess"? I didn't realize height was the be all and end all of jump quality.

I have to agree with Osmond and transitions. And, I think Julia's lutz was on a flat if not a tiny bit flutzed, but, the protocols overall seem fair. Like I said earlier, I'm not feeling the wuzrobbed vibe in general.

And earlier, I failed to mention how happy I was for Meite - great Olympic debut!

CanadianSkaterGuy said:

Osmond getting 28 points PCS was pretty awful. It's clear she was low balled to create room for skaters like Mao and Wagner between her and Lipnitskaia. Osmond should have been 4th (arguably 3rd if she got correct PCS and Mao was called on her 2L<) and Julia with proper PCS should have been 2nd. But I'm not surprised that it ended up being 1st and 5th.

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Yeah, I think Osmond was really low-balled on the PCS. Her basics aren't great but her program was very good and she skated it with a lot of energy.

And yeah Asada got away with cheats as usual. Her 2loop was almost 1/4 and her 3flip was slightly cheated as well. Plus, there was a clear break between her steps and the 3flip. I don't have any complaints to the technical panel but the judges should have noticed the landings being hooked and lacking flow and considered that in the GOE. I guess the flip had a well balanced landing and it would be very hard to notice the cheat without the slo-mo (which the judges don't have). But the 2loop landing was slightly hooked and lacked flow which was a tell-tale sign.

Panini said:

I'm confused by people criticizing Julia's 2A :think: Someone even called it a "hot mess"? I see a jump that had next to no preparation, clean rotation, smooth landing with good speed coming. Where's the "mess"? I didn't realize height was the be all and end all of jump quality.

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I agree but other skaters have a much stronger 2A but aren't receiving the GoE.

emma said:

I have to agree with Osmond and transitions. And, I think Julia's lutz was on a flat if not a tiny bit flutzed, but, the protocols overall seem fair. Like I said earlier, I'm not feeling the wuzrobbed vibe in general.

And earlier, I failed to mention how happy I was for Meite - great Olympic debut!

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I have a special spot for Meite after seeing her at Skate America last year. Her jumps are so lovely in person! Though I couldn't help but think "That's Jason Brown's music" while she was skating. She did a great job though.

Ziggy said:

The axel was great. Very solid landing with a lot of speed out. It even seemed bigger than she usually does it.

But the lutz in the lutz-toe combo was done barely off an outside edge (it was almost flat), didn't get a lot of height or flow out.

It's not about 'the Russians bribing every single judge' but the judges going 'WOW 3lutz/3toe!!!' and then giving it +2s, regardless of the quality of execution, unless there's some major mistake on it. In Men, the same principles applies on quads. 'WOW QUAD!!!' +2 all round. Who cares the skater took the whole length of the rink to set it up, the landing is scratchy and comes to a standstill.

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This makes a lot more sense than the big Russian conspiracy some posters seem to be insinuating. I can understand how "incorrect" judging can be frustrating for fans, but how is this any different from judges not marking PCS correctly? When someone like Kevin Reynolds gets higher marks for skating skills than Han Yan, people are slightly annoyed but not outraged.

Way too much overreaction in this thread and I doubt people are overreacting because they fear for the future of the sport (Julia is a hit with casual viewers). They just don't like the fact that Julia seems to be a bigger threat in the individual event than previously anticipated.

Meite was great! Confident and sultry, and fairly powerful jumps too. Kevin Zhang also deserves kudos for a clean SP as well and representing the Chinese ladies in lieu of Li.

Panini - I just don't like shoddy judging whether it's GOE or PCS.

I think Lip gave her best SP performance to date and I am happy for her.

Mrs. P said:

I have a special spot for Meite after seeing her at Skate America last year. Her jumps are so lovely in person! Though I couldn't help but think "That's Jason Brown's music" while she was skating. She did a great job though.

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I know! I said to myself, good thing they are in separate disciplines, because I would hate to have to compare them one to the other. This way, I just got to enjoy her .... and of course, when it's Jason's turn, I'll just enjoy him!

I could not be any happier for Carolina!

She skated a perfect short program! The version of 'Ave Maria' she choose for her short program is beautiful, especially when the chorus starts. I loved how the crowd started applauding her a couple seconds into her program once they recognized the music- the Russian crowds really appreciate her. Her dress was beautiful and sparkled like a diamond- I hoped she would perform the program with her hair down (like in exhibitions) but I do not think it is allowed and it might have distracted her. Anyway, the choreography was great- I saw a little error in the beginning of the footwork but apart from that everything was great. Her jumps looked big, effortless and covered a lot of ice- great projection. I am so happy she had this moment and will have this moment for the rest of her life. She skated a perfect program at the Olympics earning her highest score ever in the short program (two 10.0's for PC's) and helped send her country into the team finals*. Congratulations Carolina!

Looking towards the team long program, I am sad to hear she will not be participating in it. She said she will return to Oberstdorf to continue training** and come back when the ladies even starts which is her priority- she also said she wanted to give Valentina a chance to participate in the team event. I am filled with mixed emotions. On one side I don't think it is wise to leave Sochi and the Olympic experience to train back in Oberstdorf while on the other hand it might be better so she does not have any distractions and is able to concentrate. On one side, I wish she participated in the team long program because she is skating great and a good performance there could really help her chances in the ladies event while on the other side if she does not skate well or does not feel ready it could hurt her chances in the ladies event. On one side, if she skated well in the team long program it could also give her confidence heading into the ladies event or she could have peak early and not skate as well. So many options to consider, haha. I think it came down to her knowing the team bronze was a long shot even if she skated perfectly- I think all she wanted to do was help Italy get into the top 5.

Deciding not to participate in the team long program can go either way. I just love Bolero and wish I could see it skated clean at the Olympics and if she skated in the team long program she would have 2 chances to skated clean.

*I hope Carolina knows the only reason she did not win the team short program was because Julia was held up. Julia's program components were completely inflated as was her technical score (she got a +2 for that small and tiny double axel she does and her taking off the wrong edge of her single jump was not called). Very dissapointed in the judging. I wish someone would step in and address the judges and tell them they can not do such blatant and obvious cheating.
**One word of advise for Carolina. I think she should pick one triple/triple combination, preferably the triple flip/triple toe, and make sure she gets it down so that she could use it for both the ladies short program and long program. I think training 2 different triple/triples, the ttriple toe/triple toe for the short and the triple flip/triple toe is too risky and too much can go wrong. I think she should just pick one (triple flip/triple toe) and train it to death until she has it down like Yu Na Kim who always starts both her short program and long program with the 2 jump combinations and almost always hits them.

Wow. Julia was unbelievable! Caro was stunning! Posters here are unbelievable! With the exception of Julia smiling at times during her performance this was exactly what I expected when I woke up today.

What I learned today- Snowboarders and their fans root for each other and their sport even though most approach with different technique and style while figure skaters root for their own interpretation of skating and tear apart a 15yr old phenomenal athlete on top of her game. I LOVED Caro's skate but I watched with +30 people today and all +30 loved Caro but dropped their jaws for Julia.

I love what this kid brings to the table. I suspect this is the future of Ladies skating.

Ziggy said:

But what really really pissed me off was Osmond skating a program where every single element was preceded by transitions. There was constant upper body movement or connecting footwork/non-listed jumps or both. No empty spots whatsoever. It was quite remarkable and I don't remember seeing another Ladies' program like this. And what does she get for that? TR was her lowest mark and it was less than 7.00. I mean why even bother...

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Yeah, the fact that transitions was her lowest mark really had me scratching my head too. Ultimately, I think the fact that she was the first to skate and that she hadn't really competed in front of international judges (aside from the SC short when she wasn't quite 100%) really worked against her in the PCS department. Hopefully, that will sort itself out a bit as the Olympics goes on, given that she's skating both her programs twice.

amateur said:

I thought Ashley's performance quality of this program was quite good and that it came off well.
I don't really bother analyzing the fine details of PCS judging criteria, but by basic impression I feel that PCS-wise it should have been more like:

1. Caro
(gap)
2. Mao
3. Ashley (perhaps not very far off second at all)
(gap)
4. Lipnitskaya
5. Osmond

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I agree!!! Mao And Ashleigh were underscored, one evil judge gave Mao 7s and only +1 in all the other elements beside theobvious -3 for the axel!! Cheating judge!!!!

After watching the ladies I am perplexed...Osmond has a dream program where every single element was preceded by transitions. With constant upper body movement or connecting footwork/non-listed jumps or both and connections to the audience. Every movement thought out with connections to the audience. A born entertainer! Yet TR was her lowest mark less than 7.00. ...get real!! Def a high sixties near 70 performance here.

Oh and by the way, ...so much for her not being able to perform outside of 'home soil'. I guess that blows that poor misguided poster's theory.

Commentators from NBC prime time to live we're night and day stateside. Scott tried everything to belittle Julia. Tara and Johnny gave her nothing but respect. Scott tried to call out her lutz and then saw it on reply and had to sigh when he saw she was on the outside edge. America is at war with Oceania and has always been at war with Oceania!

CanadianSkaterGuy said:

Meite was great! Confident and sultry, and fairly powerful jumps too. Kevin Zhang also deserves kudos for a clean SP as well and representing the Chinese ladies in lieu of Li.

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Sam-Skwantch said:

Commentators from NBC prime time to live we're night and day stateside. Scott tried everything to belittle Julia. Tara and Johnny gave her nothing but respect. Scott tried to call out her lutz and then saw it on reply and had to sigh when he saw she was on the outside edge. America is at war with Oceania and has always been at war with Oceania!

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To be fair, it was a flutz. Check the gif in the thread about it. But that being said Julia delivered a strong performance and Scott should have kept it classy.

Sam-Skwantch said:

Scott tried to call out her lutz and then saw it on reply and had to sigh when he saw she was on the outside edge.

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Only just.