2014 Olympics Mens Free Skate

[UnChosen]

Obviously you didnt watch the mens shorts. Everyone else was a mess. Judges pets though they are, Chan and Hanyu did deserve to be 10 plus points ahead of the rest. And even if they werent nobody else tonight was good enough to catch them.

Truth is sadly this is probably the weakest era of mens skaters ever, which is how Chan, discounting that he is the most held up skater in history probably, is able to win so many events with so many big falls. I guess you can now say the same about Hanyu to a degree, obviously a judges pet (the 2nd most held up and overscored skater today behind Chan probably), but also like Chan benefits from the very weak field to win Olympic Gold with such a performance. Before Chan and Hanyu winning big titles with many falls you had a mediocre skater like Lysacek winning them without quads decades after they were frequent. The 2009-2014 era will forever be the black hole in the history of mens skating. Bad skating, bad judging, bad everything.

I wasn't saying that Hanyu and Chan shouldn't be first and second. I'm just saying that you will have continuously have a skater that is "held up" or get huge scores with mistake because of the judging system. So in a few years if Chan is gone you would have people screaming about Hanyu being the most held up skater ever.

That is, unless we go back 4+ years where judges are extremely stingy with giving +GOE (good jumps get +1, everything else gets 0) and high PCS...or the 6.0 system where no skater can ever get an insurmountable lead in the short program ever.

Otherwise, prepare for figure skating to lose more popularity due to many anticlimactic wins with falls.

 

[Violet Bliss]

Chan does not deserve unfair criticism. However, he HAS problems, specifically in the triple axel, and just in general performing under pressure, that finally caught up with him here. He doesn't owe us anything, but then again, he has no one to blame but himself. He has been repeatedly arrogant about his previous wins in statements that he has made, so I have no problem criticizing him for some of his decisions of the past quad. He is a supremely beautiful skater with a supremely inconsistent triple axel, and who has a history of buckling under pressure. So this was nothing new.

Good you agree he does not deserve unfair criticism. Criticism based on non facts are unfair. Making bad decisions and having a history of buckling under pressure do not lead to 5 consecutive World medals, including three consecutive World Champion titles, and two Olympic medals by age 23. Clearly his making bad decisions and having a history of buckling under pressure are not facts. Personal opinions with or without agenda and contradicted by facts are not facts even if you state them as facts.

 

[will74lsn]

I was just scrolling down the page and only read 'I really need Brian'... I thought of Brian Joubert and his see through shirt

his see through shirt was definitely one of the highlights of this free skate!!!!

 

[CanadianSkaterGuy]

Just speaking from a logical point. Patrick Chan was actually quite consistent technically leading up to the Olympics. His quad was 10/12 this season and his 3A was also at least 60 percent with + GOE.

I really think the mental game did him in. I think there was a lot of pressure for him to break the "Canadian curse" as a multiple-world champion and while his coach, I will give her credit for, has improved his fluidity and style and overall program, I'm not sure how great she was at dealing with his mental game.

This might sound weird, but I think it might not be such a bad idea for him to go back to Colorado Springs and maybe get coached by someone like Kori Ade. She seems to be really good at helping her students deal with the mental game (Yes Jason did not skate his best; but the BBC commentators noted that he never gave up on the performance). And could you imagine how awesome it would be for Jason to train alongside Patrick? Anyway that's just one of my fantasies that definitely won't happen. (He does seem to have a nice community at DSC).

I thoroughly agree with this. I honestly think Patrick has another Olympics in him, but it might be hard for him to find the motivation. He will be looking to redeem himself at Worlds, as will Hanyu so I'm hoping they can both do that.

This was very disappointing, but it just goes to show how difficult men's skating has become and how the pressure can really get to just about anyone even champions like Hanyu and Chan.

We should try to draw positives like Hanyu's perfect SPs this week, and Chan bouncing back from the team SP to do pretty much a perfect SP. Also some other great successes like Ten getting back on the podium when many thought his Worlds silver was a fluke, as well as the emergence of skaters like Liebers and Brown. Machida and Han are also great future prospects.

Hot mess of a men's competition, but let's try to be optimistic here.

 

[Mrs. P]

Well bummer:

cbrennansports 12:39pm via TweetDeck
Jason Brown and Jeremy Abbott finish 9th and 12th, the worst U.S. men's showing at the Olympics since 1936. Really.

Poor Jason, now he will have to deal with the fact that he was part of the team that had the worst showing in 58 years.

That said, I'm not sure if it's a fair comparison. The competition internationally has gotten a lot more intense/deeper in the last 25 years or so. Japan wasn't even a factor a decade ago.

 

[qwertyskates]

I think we all, Well i can't speak for everybody, But most of us agree with you on that,
I hate seeing people on sportsnews talk stupid stuff about athletes i like, And evil comments on Youtube
But the specific comments that was made here was not a comment of the sort

And i think we're all pretty sad and pissed right now seeing most of us are either Chanfans ot Javierfans,
So let us all cry together tonight and not turn on each other, Shall we ?

True, true. Let's not turn on our skaters too. No matter, I always see some qualities I like in each skater, they're human and fallible, too fallible, as we've witnessed at this dramatic Olympics. I'd forgive them and move on to the Ladies, hope they do not succumb to the same drama!

It's also the last Olympics for so many of them, it's a bit heartbreaking, what with Plushenko, Joubert, Verner, Dai, probably Chan, P/T, S/S all skating their last..

 

[phaeljones]

Chan was very inconsistent in jumps under Krall. He actually has made many less mistakes this year than is typical for him.

Regarding this issue, I really liked his skating much more after Krall. I would not say it nor do I perceive it the way you have though, PTF.

I perceive and say, "He skated even better after Krall than he did with her."

 

[IcyEdges]

Why people all of a sudden think this is a vindication of that quadless champion Lysacek. Despite the messiness of the FS, Lysacek's 2010 program would not even be top 5 here.

You have GOT to be kidding me here. Quad or no quad, Evan skates circles around Hanyu. He has the whole package. Hanyu can jump, well other than the two times he wiped out and STILL got handed the OGM. That's such an embarrassment to this sport.
Does Hanyu have choreography? No. He has messy movement on ice with a ton of holes in it where styled choreography SHOULD be.

I'm so tired of people ripping on Evan. He would have kicked *** even without a quad. If Jason Brown could end up top 6 after the SP and still isn't developed as a skater yet, Evan would have been doing quite well.

You're delusional and showing your jealousy. STOP RIPPING ON EVAN!:scowl:

 

[camcna]

How quickly you forget that Jeremy won a bronze medal in the Team event just a few days ago. And he finished this event one place higher than at his last Olympics.

He reminds me a lot of Sasha Cohen. the same eyes before the skate, but at least Sasha managed to win multiple world and olympic silver. Sad to see Jeremy didn't has a single world/olympic medal =( and end his career with another dissapointment. At this point doubt he will stick for another season...

 

[treeloving]

2axel would do. What do you mean by 'polished?'

Change it to be a bit less complicate that athlete performing can think in time and avoid it, not end up losing medal like Javier. As I'm quite sure he didn't aware that his last Sal will be counted as combo.

Anyhow, I think in Fernandez case , his team took too much risk in content planning. He plan like four Salcow in total, if he triple his quad then so much chance that he will not think in time and Zayak.

 

[Ziggy]

It will only make his bond with Kurt that much stronger. If anyone knows how he feels, it's Kurt.
Joannie needs to type her tweet out, and then take a pause and think about it before actually tweeting it out. It's uncalled for. I'm a fan of hers, but I can't imagine the BS she would have had to put up with in 2010 if Twitter was bigger (not saying it wasn't around then, but social media is just so huge now and everyone feels that their opinion is just so right....RIGHT AWAY and nobody thinks about the consequences of their actions.......kind of like typing on a forum LOL).

What was wrong about what Rochette said? Hanyu opened the door and Chan didn't take it. That's what happened. She simply said it how it is and I don't think that she did it in some particularly mean way.

I wasn't saying that Hanyu and Chan shouldn't be first and second. I'm just saying that you will have continuously have a skater that is "held up" or get huge scores with mistake because of the judging system. So in a few years if Chan is gone you would have people screaming about Hanyu being the most held up skater ever.

That is, unless we go back 4+ years where judges are extremely stingy with giving +GOE and high PCS...or the 6.0 system where no skater can ever get an insurmountable lead in the short program ever.

Otherwise, prepare for figure skating to lose more popularity due to many anticlimactic wins with falls.

But they aren't getting those scores totally out of thin air. There are things that Hanyu and Chan are extremely good at and far better than anybody else. So I'm not sure they in particular are the best example to use.

I guess the problem is that whoever is currently seen as best gets very high scores all across the board, both for things they do and don't deserve and I agree with you on that point.

 

[Mrs. P]

I thoroughly agree with this. I honestly think Patrick has another Olympics in him, but it might be hard for him to find the motivation. He will be looking to redeem himself at Worlds, as will Hanyu so I'm hoping they can both do that.

This was very disappointing, but it just goes to show how difficult men's skating has become and how the pressure can really get to just about anyone even champions like Hanyu and Chan.

We should try to draw positives like Hanyu's perfect SPs this week, and Chan bouncing back from the team SP to do pretty much a perfect SP. Also some other great successes like Ten getting back on the podium when many thought his Worlds silver was a fluke, as well as the emergence of skaters like Liebers and Brown. Machida and Han are also great future prospects.

Hot mess of a men's competition, but let's try to be optimistic here.

And I agree with this. Personally, I don't think this is worth getting angsty over. The only people who should express angst are the skaters and their team.

For me, even though Jason Brown did not have his best skate today, it is amazing how far he's come. A year ago, he finished second at junior worlds behind Joshua Farris. Everyone thought he wouldn't be a factor until 2018. Now he has a bronze GP medal, a silver nationals medal, a bronze Olympic medal in the team event, a continued streak of beautiful and clean short programs (5/5, that's pretty awesome) and the experience of skating in the final group (the first of many, I hope!). I'm still hoping he'll get to do it one more time at Worlds.....but that's up to Jeremy.

And Peter Liebers! Just a few years ago, he couldn't get out of the short program. This year he breaks into the top 10! Not bad. He definitely had his Stefan Lindemann moment.

 

[chairmanmao]

Big congratulations to the real World Champion Denis Ten for winning bronze. I think he was too nervous to really perform his program. To those who doubt go see his Ice Challenge FS. That was a glorious skate. I was hoping he was gonna replicate that here but the occasion was just too much for him. It would have been more awesome if he'd gotten silver over PCChan.

 

[Figure 8's]

Never have been wild about Patrick but I truly feel for him as he looked so devastated. Patrick needs to learn to let his skating do the talking for him.

 

[will74lsn]

I get it Javi repeated the 3S. The other should have been in a combination. Oh Javi you should have had a 2A for the final jump.

I find it hard to believe that these top skaters don't have plans B, C, and D to avoid loosing points (and medals) so stupidly!!!!

 

[KwanIsALegend]

9th. I've never seen anybody so happy for 9th. Well, this is something for Jason to build on. Have we confirmed he'll go instead of Abbott to Worlds? (RE: Abbott today: Hate to say it, but if he'd been in contention he probably wouldn't have skated as well.)

Yes, that is the thing. Jeremy knew he didn't stand a chance so he went out and did an easy program, no pressure and no quad.
He is done now and maybe our next National champion can go to worlds and medal and maybe even win. As good as Jeremy can be, he was like a road block for the US.
He is not a competitor and seeing him on Olympic ice- he looked out of place and I knew he would not break out and medal. He just didn't seem confident, more overwhelmed than anything else.

 

[WeakAnkles]

Got to hand it to Adam Rippon for his sense of (dark) humor:

Adam Rippon
@Adaripp
2 falls wins Olympics and three pops at nationals wins you checking the twitter feed for results at coffee bean

Aw...Adam needs a hug.

I guess if you're that bitter, coffee bean is the place to be. Ouch.

 

[tjskate]

The Zayak rule and all its COP complications is F-ing stupid. Skaters have lost countless medals the last decade from it, yet casual fans who dont study protocals and rules dont have a clue when watching. It only alienates and drives more fans from the sport, which is struggling to even stay afloat in North America these days as it is.

PangTongfan (BTW, I love them too); in the old 6.0 system, judging was criticized for being too subjective. IJS is trying to answer that by being more specific in how a skater is scored. Now the system is being criticized for having too many rules. I agree that it still needs more work, is very complicated, and tends to make programs loaded with points-gaining moves (I miss a beautiful, held-out layback spin), but my take on this is that if I'm a "casual fan" who doesn't take the time to try to understand the system, I have no right to say "'xx was robbed!". ( I'm totally that way with snowboarding, etc; I certainly don't understand what makes a move higher in points!) For those who care enough, the judging page of the USFSA (or other skating federation) website has lots of information.

That being said, I do think the tv/network commentators need to do a better job of helping viewers understand the general idea of IJS.

 

[CanadianSkaterGuy]

And I agree with this. Personally, I don't think this is worth getting angsty over. The only people who should express angst are the skaters and their team.

For me, even though Jason Brown did not have his best skate today, it is amazing how far he's come. A year ago, he finished second at junior worlds behind Joshua Farris. Everyone thought he wouldn't be a factor until 2018. Now he has a bronze GP medal, a silver nationals medal, a bronze Olympic medal in the team event, a continued streak of beautiful and clean short programs (5/5, that's pretty awesome) and the experience of skating in the final group (the first of many, I hope!). I'm still hoping he'll get to do it one more time at Worlds.....but that's up to Jeremy.

And Peter Liebers! Just a few years ago, he couldn't get out of the short program. This year he breaks into the top 10! Not bad. He definitely had his Stefan Lindemann moment.

Not to sound like Abbott after the Team SP, but I still feel men's skating could be going in the right direction. Let's be honest, if the men don't attempt quads, they STILL can't compete with Hanyu and Chan, so I don't doubt that they will continue to push for higher technical content.

We can look forward to Brown hopefully getting his quad....

I feel bad for Reynolds... so promising, and unfortunately the UR's. But he still has a silver! Which isn't bad considering he contemplated quitting. I feel worse for Firus though, who worked so hard for an Olympics spot only to have a bad SP.

Trying to find positives here. These Olympics are over, Hanyu has Japan's first gold men's medal and it's deserved at least based on his brilliant SPs this week. Chan unfortunately fell prey to the Canadian curse, but he's still been amazing for Canada in this past quadrennial and I'm still proud of him.

Fernandez was oh so close for Spain, but whether it was Ten for Kazakhstan or Fernandez for Spain, I'm glad a new country has an Olympic medalist.

 

[Mrs. P]

http://sochi2014.nytimes.com/photos...40214-OLYPOD?slide=20140214-OLYPOD-slide-5FXB

Photo (really lovely photos) of Misha Ge and Jeremy Abbott were part of the New York Times photo of the day gallery.

Actually Misha Ge was another highlight. Sure he wasn't a contender, but he turned in a personal best performance with his usual flair. I'd suggest going back and watching that one.