2014 Olympics Mens Free Skate

[s_parks]

I am having so much trouble explaining to a lady friend why Hanyu should win over Chan, why Fernandez does not have the gold medal ("But he did a 4 spin jump and didn't fall!"), why Han Yan is placed lower than skaters who "are horrible"...along with having to explain why S/S didn't rob P/T in pairs.

It's like teaching calculus to a grade schooler.

There's a lot of people like that on the forum. *runs away*

 

[Mrs. P]

What a disastrous long program in men. It was like a curse. Nobody got clean. I hoped at least Jason could relax, but how could he as he knew that medal was in his grasp if he nailed all his jumps. He sure had some butterflies flying around...so he was not clean either. I hoped Chan would be calm enough and skate that program as clean as possible. He was not relaxed, so he failed the stupid 2A in the end. And the sort of miss Jason had is understandable, but not landing softly a 2A??? He must have been frozen thinking about winning or loosing that GOM. I did not like Hanyu's long program at all. The short is brilliant, but the long is boooring.
I am happy for Jeremy and Kevin. The both had problems in the short and managed to regroup in the long. Especially Jeremy was sublime.
Weird competition! Even the TV went nuts. I pay hundreds of $ for the stupid cable, and they showed the whole LP on TSN, but used advertising instead of many skaters. I had to switch to online CBC. Off, what a mad world!

Actually the situation for Jason played out very similar to Skate America. He comes in as an unexpected entry (he was an alternate for Lysacek at SA; he was a dark horse for the Olympic spot), focuses on skating a clean program, gets a personal best in the SP (he beat his SP PB at Skate America by 14 points) ends up in the final group unexpectedly, then gets hopped up and makes mistakes.

I don't think he was thinking about the medal, but rather that he just felt some extra nerves being at the Olympics. Honestly the performance wasn't his best and he made quite a few errors, but I've seen worse meltdowns from the final group (see Laëtitia Hubert from 1992) at the Olympics. He didn't give up and I hope he will learn how from the experience.

I think he's still getting used to the fact that HE can be a contender in the international scene. In juniors he was a shadow behind Yan Han, Joshua Farris and Maxim Kovtun due to his lack of a 3A, so I think it's a bit hard to shift that thinking that you could be a contender at the SENIOR level when you're used to playing that dark horse role.


ETA: To the person who praised me for a correct prediction (I did say 9th at one point) I actually predicted he would be 10th in the predictions game... Speaking of which I need to score that tonight! The scores are going to be interesting to say the leaset...

 

[coolboogie22]

Like a hot potato.
It's like they were both afraid of winning so they just decided to let the other one take it. This event should've had 2 silvers and no gold.

Ahaha I agree, No one really deserve the Gold medal here, they should have get both silver medal, maybe Hanyu and Chan wanted that the Gold medal goes for Evgeni Plushenko but since that he didn't show off, so they get embarrassed to get the title Just kidding!

 

[Mike_R]

The Olympic-year Worlds shouldn't be a valedictory, it should be for development. Max Aaron, Richard Dornbush or Joshua Farris should get to go with Jason Brown.

 

[text_skate]

I am having so much trouble explaining to a lady friend why Hanyu should win over Chan, why Fernandez does not have the gold medal ("But he did a 4 spin jump and didn't fall!"), why Han Yan is placed lower than skaters who "are horrible"...along with having to explain why S/S didn't rob P/T in pairs.

Sometimes it helps to mention the Short program , although not in every case

 

[Mathman]

Welcome, Mikk R. Thanks for joining us.

Max Aaron will be going to worlds, but Jason will go (as the first alternate) only if Jeremy decides not to.

 

[jcsamex]

lol damn did anyone see joannie rochette's tweet? it was in french, but she basically said: he had the gold on a silver platter and he took the platter

kinda rude...his silver platter is still better than your pity bronze

Uhh! Yeah, but as a fan I understand her frustration. I've never been very fond of Chan's but tonight after Yazuru's perfomance I was on Chan's wagon to get the gold. Too bad he couldn't deliver.

Ten's PCS were lower than Jason Browns. I thought Ten was robbed in PCS

Brown's program had a lot more content than Ten's.

I am revalueing Plu more than Evan.
He has medals from four different Olympics.
What a strong mind he has

And that's why he's a big of a living legend as he is. He might not be as beautiful of a skater as let's say John Curry, but he's definitely without a doubt the fiercest competitor of all time. Gonna miss Plushy so much! hehehehe.

 

[aftertherain]

Daisuke Takahashi deserved higher PCS than everyone else competing at this event and no one can tell me otherwise.

(Lol, he got a better score in "execution" than Yuzuru or Patrick did. I totally agree.)

 

[BlackPack]

Aw, I love Misha Ge:

Sk8Prince 12:31pm via Twitter for iPhone
What an great victory for my neighbor @Tenis_Den ! Great Job Denis ! Congratulation with Bronze !!!

Sk8Prince 12:29pm via Twitter for iPhone
Its was very intense battle between for Yuzu and Patrick . Well done guys ! Congratulation to all of you !

Sk8Prince 12:29pm via Twitter for iPhone
Yuzu !!!!!!!! Olympic Champion !!!!!!!! Big Congratulation !!!!! Yay !!!


Sk8Prince 12:28pm via Twitter for iPhone
Maybe @jasonbskates wasn't perfect today but boy you did a such a great job on this Olympic ! #Congrats

I look forward to Misha Ge. Such a fun guy.

 

[AnneC]

I am having so much trouble explaining to a lady friend why Hanyu should win over Chan, why Fernandez does not have the gold medal ("But he did a 4 spin jump and didn't fall!"), why Han Yan is placed lower than skaters who "are horrible"...along with having to explain why S/S didn't rob P/T in pairs.

It's like teaching calculus to a grade schooler.

Keep up the good work!

We may rip on Plushenko, but he KNOWS how to skate under pressure.

Yep, and he will probably remain an invalid for the rest of his life because of his making such an inflated use of this ability...
I saw him at the warming-up of the SP, and I am absolutely sure that his pain was real. Plushenko never was a great actor - we would have noticed that before - he could not pull off what would have been a Grammy-deserving performance. Plushenko never gave in under pressure and forced his tortured, pained and broken body to deliver until it collapsed. If he is not made to pay for this dearly in later life, he will be very lucky indeed. (And please do not take me wrong: I wish he´d get to be so lucky, I just strongly doubt it.)

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.

I absolutely agree. Besides, Lysacek was such a bore (sorry, you Lysacek-fans, that is, of course, just my personal impression), something you cannot say about any of this year´s medalists, whatever it may be you are criticizing them for (again imo). For example, it may be unfortunate for Patrick that he tends to buckle under pressure. But this characteristic serves to render him even more interesting as a person. I admit that, given his previous history, it would have been just great if he had succeeded in controlling his nerves this time, even more so just because, in the past, he has sometimes had such a hard time with that. But, reasonably, it was not to be expected that he would. He certainly can work on this but he will probably never excel in this field, unlike others who seem to be born to have stronger nerves. It would imo be as unfair to blame Patrick for that as it would be unfair to blame a skater for never being able to do a quad. Of course, it is hard work, but it is also a gift, and if you do not have that, you can work all you like, it will always get you only so far, and no further.

 

[MaiKatze]

It seems Yuzuru said after his skate that he was sorry and the performance was regretable. He even said he wasn't happy when Patrick didn't beat him, so it's not as if he liked winning like this. But I think SP and FS considered, he deserved to win and at least be 2nd, but of course, he's already the 2nd most help-up skater

I'm honestly sorry for Patrick. After Yuzu skate, I really wanted him to skate great and take it... hopefully both of them will redeem themselves at worlds and the media leaves them alone. They don't own anyone else to skate well besides themselves and aren't happy with this either. Hold your heads high, guys!

This a hundred times. I am sure that Yuzuru, while certainly happy, will always feel a bit bitter about this win! The thing is everyone is critizising now and even saying "Well, if Plushy/Skater X would have showed up he could have won this!" I just say, no! All the skaters who didn't skate tonight would've faltered, too. Look at Machida and Fernandez. Everyone underperformed. Peter Liebers said on TV that it was incredibly hard to skate tonight. The pressure was too much, there was not a day where they could've rested, so that showed, imho. And all that talk about quads being too important. We know it is possible to land quads we've seen it all before, what these skaters can do. It just wasn't meant to be tonight. Let Worlds come and everyone show what they can do!

 

[Matilda]

Kinda sucks how instead of showing the medal ceremony, they show Johnny and Tara yapping about the competition...

Typical NBC: no US athlete on the podium, so we won't show it I was so pissed off about this!
And you could tell Johnny wanted watch the medals ceremony too--the gold medalist is wearing a costume he designed and NBC wants to have an inane conversation with him instead of letting him witness the moment! You go NBC...

 

[jcsamex]

On another note, can someone explain to me why did both Chan and Yuzuru get 9+ average PCS if the had that many mistakes? IMHO no skater with several faults in his program should be awarded 9+ marks on the PCS, except for maybe, choreography which not entirely depends on the actual performance of the program.

As a figure skating fan for about twelve years now, I think the only skater awarded the pcs he deserved was Daisuke Takahashi. In spite of the mistakes he made, he kept the flowing of the program until the end.

 

[RoundedBackCamel]

Re. Jeremy going to Worlds: I don't think that's for anyone to say but him. I'm not done watching his beautiful skating and hope he *does* give the Worlds a go. Jason has many years ahead of him. Plus he needs to work on 3axel and quad.

 

[CanadianSkaterGuy]

As a figure skating fan for about twelve years now, I think the only skater awarded the pcs he deserved was Daisuke Takahashi. In spite of the mistakes he made, he kept the flowing of the program until the end.

I agree with this. The mistakes, though costly, didn't affect the overall mood of the program, whereas Chan and Hanyu were laboured and tentative throughout.

 

[gmyers]

I think the competiton was fine. Good for everyone. Bad for my predicting. But i really thought brown bailed out on his 2a in time. The a in the protocol was a surprise. Then 3 loop didn't count. But top 10 no quad jumps not counting? So it was fine

 

[Becki]

This a hundred times. I am sure that Yuzuru, while certainly happy, will always feel a bit bitter about this win! The thing is everyone is critizising now and even saying "Well, if Plushy/Skater X would have showed up he could have won this!" I just say, no! All the skaters who didn't skate tonight would've faltered, too. Look at Machida and Fernandez. Everyone underperformed. Peter Liebers said on TV that it was incredibly hard to skate tonight. The pressure was too much, there was not a day where they could've rested, so that showed, imho. And all that talk about quads being too important. We know it is possible to land quads we've seen it all before, what these skaters can do. It just wasn't meant to be tonight. Let Worlds come and everyone show what they can do!

Do they usually have the LP skated one night after the SP? It seems like the skaters didn't have enough time to rest. The last man skated at 11pm on Thursday night, and if you're in the top 3, the press conference and all the media talks must occupy a bit of your rest.

I think the scheduling wasn't that good.

 

[gmyers]

Typical NBC: no US athlete on the podium, so we won't show it I was so pissed off about this!
And you could tell Johnny wanted watch the medals ceremony too--the gold medalist is wearing a costume he designed and NBC wants to have an inane conversation with him instead of letting him witness the moment! You go NBC...

It's just a flower ceremony anyway. Unless I'm wrong.

 

[MaiKatze]

Highlight for me: Dai's smiling face in the K&C and his fans cheering for him! Priceless!

Right on demarinis5. YES. Instead of Brian Jouberts nipple shirt, seeing Daisuke Takahashi cuddle the Polar Bear mascot in the kiss and cry made my ovaries explode.....a little.

 

[aftertherain]

on another note, can someone explain to me why did both chan and yuzuru get 9+ average pcs if the had that many mistakes? Imho no skater with several faults in his program should be awarded 9+ marks on the pcs, except for maybe, choreography which not entirely depends on the actual performance of the program.

As a figure skating fan for about twelve years now, i think the only skater awarded the pcs he deserved was daisuke takahashi. In spite of the mistakes he made, he kept the flowing of the program until the end.

YES. ITA. Thank you for saying it!