2014 Olympics Mens Free Skate

[CarneAsada]

What's really frustrating about Hanyu is that he's capable of so much more, as evidenced in the short, but he remained stubbornly committed to the 4S--more committed to that than interpreting the music and moving the audience with his performance.

He seemed to be fine at landing the 4S everywhere but in the actual competition, and even in he had no problems with the rotation. I think both he and Orser knew that falling down on his fully rotated 4S would be more than worth it.

RE the PCS, I would say the inflation was because his PCS was too low to start with, but again I won't disagree that his PCS here was too high.

 

[cheerio2]

I was moved by Hanyu's performance/interpretation and I doubt I'm the only one. The program he did two years ago was better interpretively speaking, but when you have a 4S, 4T, and 8 other jumps in the program, it's hard to have enough room for other things. Yet he had to put 10 jumps in including the 4S to have any chance of beating Chan with 9 jumps, so he's damned if he does, damned if he doesn't.

Just because someone like Chan has huge PCS doesn't mean he is always entitled to a substantial PCS cushion over others forever. At the Olympics, Hanyu had superior technical content. He had insanely difficult entries into the 3As. He fell on a rotated 4S that Chan didn't even attempt. He had more backloaded jumps and more jumps. I don't think someone who did not have a reliable 3A at the Olympics should be put over the top because of PCS.

 

[mskater93]

I believe when you do a 1/2 loop, the combo ends up being called as a sequence. i.e. you can only do a 1/2 loop as part of a sequence combination.

that is incorrect. A correctly executed 1/2Lo is called as a single loop and is one of the 3 jumps in that pass. Yuzu's wasn't called because his free foot hit the ice

 

[princess116]

QUOTE]I strongly disagree that Hanyu deserves this as much as Chan. How so? Because he's a former junior world champion that people predicted big things for? There's a huge gap in their records over what they accomplished this quad. Yes, Hanyu performed year after year, day after day--but he didn't even make it to Worlds in 2011. He's a one-time world bronze medalist. He was terrible at 2013 Worlds. How did he deserve this as much as Chan? You can argue over 1, maybe 2 of Chan's World wins (people seem to conveniently forget that even if Daisuke had won the free in 2012 Worlds, he had fallen in the SP and killed his chances there), but he'd still be a 3-time world medalist.

It'd be a different argument if Hanyu actually had decent programs over this quad, but his last two free programs have been complete and utter crap and Hanyu unfortunately performed them in a completely forgettable way. It's not that Hanyu can't interpret the music or project to the audience, as seen in his SP, but he really turns it off in the FS when he turns all his focus to his jumps. His stamina was previously an issue, the way they seemed to have resolved it is to have him just not worry about the performance aspect in the FS.

Hanyu had two great programs, his Parisienne Walkways SP and original Romeo & Juliet FS. Overall, I'd take Patrick Chan's programs from this quad.

So in terms of record over the past four years, in terms of ability, and in terms of what they did at the Olympics, I'd say Patrick Chan is far more deserving than Yuzuru Hanyu. Hanyu gave one of the worst Olympic gold medal-winning performances I've seen in the men's. I didn't think the bar was going to get lower than Evan Lysacek in 2010, but it just did. The falls were bad, but even worse, the program was pure junk. Patrick had errors, but the program was great and I think the performance was better. [/QUOTE]
I totally agree with.

 

[hurrah]

I just saw an interview Yuzuru gave on Japanese media, and he said that he was happy that he had won the gold medal, but that he didn't feel his performance was OGM-worthy.
He said that when he finished the program, he thought that he had lost the OGM, and was rooting for Patrick to skate flawlessly, because he didn't think it would be good for him to win OGM given the form that he had shown.
The interviewer asked him if he had had the opportunity to celebrate the win with his family, and Yuzuru said that he had spoken to his mother a couple of times briefly, but they had only discussed the causes for why he had done so badly.
The interviewer asked what he wanted to do to celebrate or relax once he got home, and he said 'nothing in particular', and that what he was really eager to do was practice the salchow.
He said that his aim is to skate perfectly at World, because as of now, he didn't feel like he had earned the OGM.

If only Patrick had adopted a similar mindset after Vancouver, I really think Patrick would be the OGM now, and not Yuzuru. I think Patrick should have won, but he lost it of his own accord.

 

[drivingmissdaisy]

What's really frustrating about Hanyu is that he's capable of so much more, as evidenced in the short, but he remained stubbornly committed to the 4S--more committed to that than interpreting the music and moving the audience with his performance.

I don't understand why he doesn't do 2x 4T and pull a triple out of his program elsewhere.

 

[hurrah]

I don't understand why he doesn't do 2x 4T and pull a triple out of his program elsewhere.

I guess Brian Orser thought that it was a somewhat safer option to do two 3-axels and 3-lutzs in the second-half of the program. As it happens, the strategy worked this time.

 

[WeakAnkles]

Well I just got off the phone with my Mom, who is not a fan of any sport. She's Irish, so I thought she'd enjoy Jason's Riverdance (which she did). But she asked me, if they all fall like that, why don't they do something a bit easier and not fall? And why did the one who fell twice win? And I spent about 20 minutes explaining that rotations are actually worth more than the deductions on falls, they want to encourage men to take bigger risks, yaddayaddayadda. Her response? "Well that's just daft."

I love my Mom.

 

[yuki]

I strongly disagree that Patrick should have won based on a bigger PCS gap after being beaten handily in TES in both portions of the competition (even with Yuzuru's mistake-riddled free skate) and after turning in an uninspired and lackluster FS performance. A case might be made for him winning the FS regardless, but I don't feel that the program he did last night was enough to also close the gap with Yuzuru's short and give him the win overall.
However, I do feel bad for both him and Yuzuru (and for men's figure skating in general ).

 

[Silvia451]

The interviewer asked what he wanted to do to celebrate or relax once he got home, and he said 'nothing in particular', and that what he was really eager to do was practice the salchow.
He said that his aim is to skate perfectly at World, because as of now, he didn't feel like he had earned the OGM.

Thumbs up for his attitude.
This title will help him improve a lot. Now, he is known as the kid who won the OGM with major mistakes. The only way to change this is to prove everyone in the next years that he is the best and that he deserved the gold medal. Not for the performance that night, but for his all career. No doubt we'll see a better Yuzuru at the WC.

 

[Srin Odessa]

I don't understand why he doesn't do 2x 4T and pull a triple out of his program elsewhere.

The 4S allows Hanyu to backload his combinations jumps and repeat the 3Lz. Being able to rotate two different types of quads does a lot for your jumping pass layout.

 

[MaiKatze]

Peter Liebers has to work on his arm movements. He had the same position, all through the program. Totally stiff and if you're comparing to Jason Brown who skated next it was glaringly obvious - he may have the jumps, but really needs to work on the rest if he wants move up. Him being 25 already, I just don't see it happening.

 

[Panpie]

I was moved by Hanyu's performance/interpretation and I doubt I'm the only one.

My mother (who is a casual fan) and I watched the final group of men. She had not watched the short programs at all. She said of Yuzuru Hanyu: "The way he moves across the ice is so natural. It's as if he were meant to be a skater. He is smooth, like butter." We loved his program, despite the falls and other mistakes. Before Patrick started, I told her I was not a fan, etc., etc., but he would probably win. We both liked Patrick's overall program, too, despite the mistakes, which is something hard for me to admit, as I have always found something cold about his skating. Before Patrick's scores came up, I thought there was a chance he could still win, even with Hanyu's lead after the short program. I was happy for Hanyu, but actually felt bad for Patrick. I really found myself feeling sympathy for him, especially in the instant-reaction-via-Twitter world we live in now. I felt bad for Hanyu, also.

I have lurked here for several years, and I have to say was expecting to read posts expressing disappointment, but generally understanding of the outcome, especially with the many defenses of Chan (from some) I've read over the last few years. I realize people are probably exhausted, so maybe I need to shut up myself.

 

[Rikku]

Don't know about any non geoblocked streams, but the medal ceremonies are taking place now.
Everyone who can get German streams: http://ard.br.de/olympia-sotschi-2014/live/live-100.html#channel-event_1
or http://www.zdf.de/ZDFmediathek#/beitrag/livevideo/2081742/Die-Siegerehrung-am-8-Wettkampftag

 

[MaiKatze]

^I just started watching this, FS didn't happen yet, did it?

 

[Rikku]

^I just started watching this, FS didn't happen yet, did it?

AFAIK it didn't come up yet, and I've had the stream open from the moment it went on

 

[FlattFan]

I strongly disagree that Hanyu deserves this as much as Chan. Yes, Hanyu performed year after year, day after day--but he didn't even make it to Worlds in 2011. He's a one-time world bronze medalist. He was terrible at 2013 Worlds. How did he deserve this as much as Chan?

Little known fact: Hanyu's TES was the highest at 2013 World.
Stop talking crazy.

 

[MaiKatze]

AFAIK it didn't come up yet, and I've had the stream open from the moment it went on

Thanks! Can't wait for the medalists!

Mmmh, will they show it? They are talking about ice hockey now?

 

[jaylee]

Little known fact: Hanyu's TES was the highest at 2013 World.
Stop talking crazy.

Actually I do know that fact. And guess what? I agree wholeheartedly with him getting lower PCS than other men who had lower TES than him. Hanyu stayed upright in the FS at 2013 Worlds, but the performance sucked. The program stunk (just like his current one), and there was very little projection, very little connection with the audience, not enough attention paid to the music. It was like Hanyu just wanted to get his jumps done and over with. So he got high TES, and lower PCS, which is as he deserved. Hanyu left the audience, including me, cold. Hanyu's lack of projection was even more apparent in comparison to Javier Fernandez, who has inferior skating skills to Hanyu, but WAY better projection, better interpretation, better program. So that's why the judges gave Javier higher PCS than Hanyu and I don't blame them.

 

[FlattFan]

Javier's posture is terrible. Programs are always a bit childish. His SS is significantly weaker. It's ridiculous that Javier's PCS rose to the point where he made 2 mistakes and placed 3rd in the SP. Javier is the one that benefited greatly here and would be crazy if he actually won bronze.