Nathan Chen has created a backlash

Taan · Feb 14, 2018

Nathan Chen has brought the power to men’s figure skating, and that has created a backlash from the sport’s purists
https://www.sltrib.com/sports/2018/...s-created-a-backlash-from-the-sports-purists/

“I have gotten a lot of criticism over the past couple years for what I’m doing in sport,” Chen told The Salt Lake Tribune this week. “However, I still feel this is the best approach to medals and securing podium spots. Maybe in the future things will change, but this is the way that I’ve approached it, this is the way a lot of other skaters have approached it, and whoever comes out the cleanest is going to win right now.” .....
“This kid is going to get hurt,” Chen recounts hearing, “he’s just trying to kill himself on the ice.”

He’s been called robotic, machinelike in his ability to skate cleanly and execute these quad jumps. Many fans and figure skating analysts want more from the component side of things, to see Chen lose himself in the music and execution of his programs. Skating, Chen agrees, is much more than quads.

Ophelia · Feb 14, 2018

If it all comes together for Chen this weekend, it will mean gold. That’s the level he’s at. His Olympic debut was a dud, a short program in the team event that saw two falls and no rhythm whatsoever. NBC analyst Johnny Weir, who was part of this hype train entering the Games, called it the “worst short program I’ve ever seen from Nathan Chen.”

That hype machine is real. At this point. the American media is trying to write Nathan Chen into a gold medal.

yyyskate · Feb 15, 2018

Please leave Nathan alone.
He is a great BOI, a great person and a great athlete! Most importantly a great figure skater!

Nathan is not the tool that everyone can use for some Olympic bucks.
Nathan deserves some true love.

NaVi · Feb 15, 2018

lilahozi said:
That hype machine is real. At this point. the American media is trying to write Nathan Chen into a gold medal.

There was a weird commercial about tomorrow being his "first step to gold"... which jarred me with it's overconfidence.

russianfan · Feb 15, 2018

Jumping bean :biggrin:

GGFan · Feb 15, 2018

I actually don't think Nathan has borne the brunt of this criticism. Guys like Boyang or even Samarin this season have rightfully been criticized for their lack of artistry. Nathan has been asked to improve which should be expected of every young skater.

Anyway, this is just Olympic craziness. Hopefully Nathan does well tomorrow :pray:

Putina · Feb 15, 2018

Slightly off-topic but why is men's competition so early in the schedule? I thought there would be at least a week between the individual events and the team events.

Mussique · Feb 15, 2018

I'm the first one to prefer artistry over "just jumping", but I'll never blame an athlete for pushing the sport. It's the way things are, that's how it evolves. The problem right now it's with the rules, not with Nathan Chen taking advantage of them.
Two more points come to mind: one, he's also got incredible well coreographed programs this season (specially the SP), two, this younger vs older generation thing has been there forever. It'd be good I'd it could wait till Olympic for pressuring the skaters. And I wouldn't put him at the very top of the "wanting to get himself killed on ice", while I support that the quad race is hurting their bodies too much.

da96103 · Feb 15, 2018

But Chen isn't the only one. As mentioned Boyang and Samarin and even Vincent are in the same situation.

But articles must be written I guess.

CanadianSkaterGuy · Feb 15, 2018

The backlash against him is ridiculous. He can do less technical elements, increase his PCS a max of 5-6 points (which is what one quad gets him more than a triple) and continue to trail Hanyu/Uno/Fernandez.

Or he can get a bunch of quads and garner the points he needs to surpass them.

Hmmm.... dumbing down content for purists or doing harder content (which he's capable of) for gold medals. Must be a hard choice! :laugh:

You go, Nathan!!! :rock:

KwanIsALegend · Feb 15, 2018

NaVi said:
There was a weird commercial about tomorrow being his "first step to gold"... which jarred me with it's overconfidence.

I don't find it jarring. Nathan is a contender for an OGM. He is completely capable of it.

rollerblade · Feb 15, 2018

Putina said:
Slightly off-topic but why is men's competition so early in the schedule? I thought there would be at least a week between the individual events and the team events.

It's not early though. The Olympics discipline order has been Pairs --> Mens --> Dance --> Ladies. The only difference is, before the existence of Team Event, they always get a day off in between Short and Long programs.

Mathman · Feb 15, 2018

There is no backlash. This is just a headline-writer doing his thing. It's OK -- no harm, no foul. When it comes to figure skating, all publicity is good publicity. :yes:

I am glad that Mirai's triple Axel took the intense glare of the spotlight off Nathan for a couple of days. He'll be fine. If he wins a medal the Salt Lake Tribune will be the first in line to congratulate him. Home town boy makes good. :clap:

da96103 · Feb 15, 2018

Mathman said:
There is no backlash. This is just a headline-writer doing his thing. It's OK -- no harm, no foul. When it comers to figure skating, all publicity is good publicity. :yes:

I am glad that Mirai's triple Axel took the intense glare of the spotlight off Nathan for a couple of days. He'll be fine. If he wins a medal the Salt Lake Tribune will be the first in line to congratulate him. Home town boy makes good.

And a parade with Mickey Mouse.

crazydreamer · Feb 15, 2018

I'm one of those people who is always complaining that skating is becoming too much about jumps and not enough about story and grace, but I think Nathan has a great balance of athleticism and artistry. His programs have style, great choreography, he has good lines and pretty good expression on the ice. I think he is a terrific competitor.

Spiralgraph · Feb 15, 2018

Putina said:
Slightly off-topic but why is men's competition so early in the schedule? I thought there would be at least a week between the individual events and the team events.

I know a previous poster explained this I just want to add that the Olympics is only two weeks long, if all the individual events were squeezed into that final week, the schedule would be undoable and splat fest inducing.

Lester · Feb 15, 2018

yyyskate said:
Please leave Nathan alone.
He is a great BOI, a great person and a great athlete! Most importantly a great figure skater!

Nathan is not the tool that everyone can use for some Olympic bucks.
Nathan deserves some true love.

What's BOI?

Skater Boy · Feb 15, 2018

CanadianSkaterGuy said:
The backlash against him is ridiculous. He can do less technical elements, increase his PCS a max of 5-6 points (which is what one quad gets him more than a triple) and continue to trail Hanyu/Uno/Fernandez.

Or he can get a bunch of quads and garner the points he needs to surpass them.

Hmmm.... dumbing down content for purists or doing harder content (which he's capable of) for gold medals. Must be a hard choice!

You go, Nathan!!!

That might be the inherent problem with quads - they are perhaps worth too much compared to pcs which has its problems because they tend to rise with tes.

CanadianSkaterGuy · Feb 15, 2018

Skater Boy said:
That might be the inherent problem with quads - they are perhaps worth too much compared to pcs which has its problems because they tend to rise with tes.

I disagree. PCS has become so convoluted these days. No matter how you skate a program, you're guaranteed a set amount of PCS, and usually it's a buffer over skaters who are forced to learn and execute harder elements. Quads even the playing field.

To me the risk of doing 5 quads should be rewarded moreso than the bump in PCS you get -- which is subjective and subject to judging/national bias anyways. Some skaters can vastly improve their skating and never get PCS credit -- some skaters can keep going clean and someone boost their PCS progressively for the same program, without significant improvements to the choreo/their overall skating.

I'm not saying skaters shouldn't improve their overall skating (obviously they should), but we shouldn't be trying to balance out PCS with TES from amazing elements just because all of a sudden the PCS favourites are actually at risk of losing to technically superior skaters with less artistry. It's just going to create a greater points spread between the faves and everyone else... and is just be a means of holding back strong technicians, many of whom have no hope of getting top-tier PCS no matter how much they try to improve.

silverfoxes · Feb 15, 2018

da96103 said:
But Chen isn't the only one. As mentioned Boyang and Samarin and even Vincent are in the same situation.

But articles must be written I guess.

I don't think Boyang deserves to be included in the same sentence as Samarin or Vincent. He may not be the most artistic but at least he is entertaining. I don't think his programs are nearly as empty. Nathan is somewhere in between for me...his SP is ok, but his FS looks awful when he doesn't hit the jumps.

Nathan Chen has created a backlash

Taan

Ophelia

yyyskate

NaVi

russianfan

Match Penalty

GGFan

Putina

Mussique

da96103

CanadianSkaterGuy

KwanIsALegend

Fly On

rollerblade

Mathman

da96103

crazydreamer

Spiralgraph

Lester

Piper and Paul are made of magic dust and unicorns

Skater Boy

CanadianSkaterGuy

silverfoxes

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