What did Sotnikova do wrong?

Poodlepal · Feb 21, 2014

I had to watch the tape delay with Scott and Sandra because it stopped snowing and I had to go to work, finally

. By the time I got to see it, I knew who won and how it was a travesty, apparently. I lost the "shock" value that I would have gotten if I had seen it live, so I am asking:

So what did she do wrong? She made a small mistake which couldn't be a big deduction (if a fall on a major jump in a 140 point program is minus 1 point, a step out on the third of a jump series shouldn't be more than .000001, seriously). She landed big jumps, spun well, and if she wasn't as musical as Carolina or Yuna, she wasn't like, I don't know, Tonya or Surya, either. She had some musicality at least. She was more flexible than Carolina and did one more jump than Yuna.

I agree she was overscored, and I understand why people are upset, but why is this particular decision the one that will destroy figure skating, instead of just another "could've gone either way" that didn't go the way some people wanted it to?

CanadianSkaterGuy · Feb 21, 2014

She did nothing wrong other than the small error. The judges on the other hand, did a lot of wrong by giving her marks equivalent to Kim's and higher than Kostner's and much higher than Asada's (along with Julia getting higher PCS than Asada).

People are jumping down Adelina's throat and saying that she'll forever have her achievements tainted, when the reality is, she skated as well as she could and the Russians did the rest.

Some are acting as though she didn't land a 3Z+3T and 2A+3T. The judges and Russian federation didn't land that for her, SHE did. Give her SOME credit.

figurejennah · Feb 21, 2014

Poodlepal said:
I had to watch the tape delay with Scott and Sandra because it stopped snowing and I had to go to work, finally . By the time I got to see it, I knew who won and how it was a travesty, apparently. I lost the "shock" value that I would have gotten if I had seen it live, so I am asking:

So what did she do wrong? She made a small mistake which couldn't be a big deduction (if a fall on a major jump in a 140 point program is minus 1 point, a step out on the third of a jump series shouldn't be more than .000001, seriously). She landed big jumps, spun well, and if she wasn't as musical as Carolina or Yuna, she wasn't like, I don't know, Tonya or Surya, either. She had some musicality at least. She was more flexible than Carolina and did one more jump than Yuna.

I agree she was overscored, and I understand why people are upset, but why is this particular decision the one that will destroy figure skating, instead of just another "could've gone either way" that didn't go the way some people wanted it to?

Because it is not one of those "could've gone either way" incidents. Now, it's clear to everyone that this sport can be rigged and that's why everyone who loves figure skating should be furious. If you are not going to catch that little Russian girl's UR, then don't catch other people's either.
If you are gonna give that Adelia 9+, then why are you giving Kim 7+ for her amazing skating?

chuckm · Feb 21, 2014

Adelina didn't do anything wrong. She is a good skater and a lovely person, but at this point in her career, her skating skills just aren't in the same league as Carolina Kostner and YuNa Kim. It is not Adelina's fault that the judges grossly overscored her in PCS and GOE.

I have read that Adelina's facebook page has been overrun with horrible messages, similar to what Ashley Wagner got after US Nationals.
That has got to stop.

noskates · Feb 21, 2014

Apparently nothing!

ks777 · Feb 21, 2014

Nothing she did the best she could do. I am impressed with her. She didn't crumble like she always does. The judges however, didn't give her an edge call on her lutz. and her 3flutz-3toe, the toe jump looked little underrotated.. if they are going to give her credit, Mao should have gotten both of her 3lutz-3loop and 2axel-3toe should have been ratified as fully rotated.

Sam-Skwantch · Feb 21, 2014

CanadianSkaterGuy said:
Some are acting as though she didn't land a 3Z+3T and 2A+3T. The judges and Russian federation didn't land that for her, SHE did. Give her SOME credit.

THIS!!!

I'm not sure Yuna won or Adelina. For that matter I could see Caro being the winner. I wonder if Yuna went before Adelina what would have happened? Sad thing is if a little thing like that can change the scores than what is actually being judged?

demarinis5 · Feb 21, 2014

chuckm said:
Adelina didn't do anything wrong. She is a good skater and a lovely person, but at this point in her career, her skating skills just aren't in the same league as Carolina Kostner and YuNa Kim. It is not Adelina's fault that the judges grossly overscored her in PCS and GOE.

I have read that Adelina's facebook page has been overrun with horrible messages, similar to what Ashley Wagner got after US Nationals.
That has got to stop.

This.

(Bolded by me.)

UnChosen · Feb 21, 2014

CanadianSkaterGuy said:
She did nothing wrong other than the small error. The judges on the other hand, did a lot of wrong by giving her marks equivalent to Kim's and higher than Kostner's and much higher than Asada's (along with Julia getting higher PCS than Asada).

People are jumping down Adelina's throat and saying that she'll forever have her achievements tainted, when the reality is, she skated as well as she could and the Russians did the rest.

Some are acting as though she didn't land a 3Z+3T and 2A+3T. The judges and Russian federation didn't land that for her, SHE did. Give her SOME credit.

3Z + 3T< (e) is more like it...but it is still not the skater's fault.

Manitou · Feb 21, 2014

chuckm said:
Adelina didn't do anything wrong. She is a good skater and a lovely person, but at this point in her career, her skating skills just aren't in the same league as Carolina Kostner and YuNa Kim. It is not Adelina's fault that the judges grossly overscored her in PCS and GOE.
.

It's Carolina who is not in the same league as the new teens. She is mature and artistic, but that's not sports. Maybe she can perform at skate shows, but it's not the same as winning Olympics, which is defined by athleticism, speed and technical difficulty. Art should never be part of Olympic requirements.
And it's the same now with Yuna. Her program was technically easier, slower and lacked energy. She had grace and beauty, but it's not what is or should be required at Olympics.

Nobody gives rat's *** about Mikaela's grace and beauty when she won slalom today. Yes, she was graceful and is very beautiful, but it's not why she won. She was just faster. And that's all.

CanadianSkaterGuy · Feb 21, 2014

Sam-Skwantch said:
THIS!!!

I'm not sure Yuna won or Adelina. For that matter I could see Caro being the winner. I wonder if Yuna went before Adelina what would have happened? Sad thing is if a little thing like that can change the scores than what is actually being judged?

The same thing that happened with Kostner going before Adelina.

CarneAsada · Feb 21, 2014

CanadianSkaterGuy said:
Some are acting as though she didn't land a 3Z+3T and 2A+3T. The judges and Russian federation didn't land that for her, SHE did. Give her SOME credit.

Her 2A+3T was excellent but her 3Z+3T was both underrotated and flutzed, neither one being called despite their hammering of Asada's 3F-3Lo and of course the obvious and deserved edge call on her solo Lutz.

elif · Feb 21, 2014

She didn't, judges did and they should got the blame not a 17 year old skater. Calling names or bullying her is just :no:

chuckm said:
I have read that Adelina's facebook page has been overrun with horrible messages, similar to what Ashley Wagner got after US Nationals.
That has got to stop.

Poodlepal · Feb 21, 2014

Thanks for answering my question. What I meant was, "How was her skating not gold-medal worthy?" Obviously, she is not be blamed for any judging problems.

So, to summarize, from what I've read:
1. They nitpicked Mao's (and other peoples?) underrotations and edges, but not hers
2. She got similar PCS scores to the veterans Carolina, Mao and Yuna, despite skating sort of "juniorish"
3. Her PCS scores mysteriously jumped up more than anyone else's. (The PCS scores in general seemed to jump up quite a bit, as Gracie earned 7 more points in a fall program than a clean program less than a week earlier).

I feel bad for her. She seems like a nice kid and if her technical content was truly the highest, I am satisfied with the judges' decision, even if others "danced" better.

Demandred · Feb 21, 2014

CezarMart said:
It's Carolina who is not in the same league as the new teens. She is mature and artistic, but that's not sports. Maybe she can perform at skate shows, but it's not the same as winning Olympics, which is defined by athleticism, speed and technical difficulty. Art should never be part of Olympic requirements.
And it's the same now with Yuna. Her program was technically easier, slower and lacked energy. She had grace and beauty, but it's not what is or should be required at Olympics.

It's figure skating, not track and field. Artistry has always been a major part of it and still is. The rules are quite clear on this.

It's not "ice jumping".

Nobody gives rat's *** about Mikaela's grace and beauty when she won slalom today. Yes, she was graceful and is very beautiful, but it's not why she won. She was just faster. And that's all.

Well, sure, because it's a different sport where speed is everything. Apples and oranges.

Manitou · Feb 21, 2014

Demandred said:
Well, sure, because it's a different sport where speed is everything. Apples and oranges.

No, it's not. It's the same Olympics.
And I absolutely support rules that put more and more focus on the athletics and technicality rather than the artistry. The points vs 6.0 system was the step in that direction and I hope the evolution continues.

tulosai · Feb 21, 2014

CezarMart said:
It's Carolina who is not in the same league as the new teens. She is mature and artistic, but that's not sports. Maybe she can perform at skate shows, but it's not the same as winning Olympics, which is defined by athleticism, speed and technical difficulty. Art should never be part of Olympic requirements.
And it's the same now with Yuna. Her program was technically easier, slower and lacked energy. She had grace and beauty, but it's not what is or should be required at Olympics.

Without ANY doubt, Kostner had the best skating skills and speed of any lady out there. She is literally the fastest skater I have EVER seen live, and I have been lucky enough to see many skaters.

MK's Winter · Feb 21, 2014

She just did the best she could. I just re watched the free skate and I could tell of the 3Z/3T was under rotated but her lutz looked to be on a outside edge from the angle I saw. I will say this has to be the first time she attacked a competition.

Ven · Feb 21, 2014

Adelina is just a 17 year old girl whose dream was to win the Olympics. Nobody should say anything bad against her.

However, we adults should be able to see the injustice that was done, and take action to remedy the situation.

1. U.S. media keeps trying to spread propaganda about 7 triples vs. 6 triples, but they aren't mentioning Yuna's jump layout was harder in the SP than Adelina.

2. They don't mention that Adelina's PCS were only 0.09 behind Yuna, essentially a tie, and higher than Caro and Mao. Which is absurd.

3. They don't discuss GOEs.

4. They don't mention that Adelina consistently scored in the low 60s components over and over and over again, then suddenly she gets named to the home olympic team, and her score goes to 69 and almost 75 in the next two events.

5. There were already rumors of U.S. - Russia fixing the results before the games. Gracie Gold's inflation only adds more fuel to the fire. 136 with a fall for her, those marks were also very suspicious.

Poodlepal · Feb 21, 2014

Here's a question:

Do you think that the judges were planning to boost up Julia (if they were indeed crooked/fixing something, which is of course just conjecture), but when she fell, they just threw the points onto Adelina? I find it hard to believe that this girl was the "chosen" one when they didn't even want her to skate in the team program.

Agree she should have been scored lower in the short, with her easier combo, but since that was after Julia fell, maybe that was part of the "conspiracy?"

What did Sotnikova do wrong?

Poodlepal

CanadianSkaterGuy

figurejennah

chuckm

noskates

ks777

Sam-Skwantch

“I solemnly swear I’m up to no good”

demarinis5

Gold for the Winter Prince!

UnChosen

Manitou

CanadianSkaterGuy

CarneAsada

elif

Poodlepal

Demandred

Manitou

tulosai

MK's Winter

Ven

Match Penalty

Poodlepal

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