2018 Olympic Figure Skating Ladies FS

[Proxy]

Is it more important for you that Eteri plays happy momma or that she trains her students well, gives them the best layouts according to their abilities and makes champions?

I think it's important for a coach to help their student succeed in competition and in life. Look at our USA Gymnastics program. The coach that won the gold medal in 2012 and had a long history of producing champions is now accused of breaking girls' bones and throwing them into walls and laughing and making jokes when he walked in on them being abused by the doctor. Obviously, that is much more serious than Eteri favoring one skater over another. But look what they did to poor Yulia. Skating should give life to a young person, not take it from them so middle aged coaches and suits can cash checks and bask in the glow.

Maybe she's great with her girls, I don't know. But I think it's bad she favors Evgenia so openly. And seeing Alina alone and not even happy with the result was just really weird.

 

[chairmanmao]

I think it's funny so many Russians weren't in favor of this argument 4 years ago.

What's funny is you implying Sotnikova didn't deserve her PCS. She is still a much better skater than the narrative fans of the losing skater have been saying this past quad. You would have thought they were talking about Ashley Wagner.

 

[EricRohmer]

https://s5o.ru/storage/simple/ru/edt/98/9f/15/01/rue8766dd929d.jpg made my heart cry :sad4:

The shot matches with Korean text on background wall. 'United Passions'.
Mature girls!


http://pds.joins.com/news/component/ilgan_isplus/201802/23/2018022314240729000.jpeg
Pretty podium!

 

[anonymoose_au]

Dang, I missed the medal ceremony! I wanted to see what happened with the Olympic Anthem and everything.

On the plus side, everyone looked happy with their medals!

 

[kevinVchicago]

Eteri and Med were the two that turned ladies FS that way. Now they've just lost control of the monster they unleashed.

And please, people have been whining about Med's lack of artistry and her programs being too "technical" and crammed with stupid mime movements for the last 3 years. Now that she's lost, everyone's trying to rewrite the narrative into Med being an amazing artist who wuzrobbed.

Med got beaten at her own game, that's what happened.

Except that the people who've been whining about it are wrong. Med is and always has been an amazing artist. She's working on a totally different plane than anyone else in the game today, fully realizing emotionally evocative, conceptual figure skating performances.

 

[chairmanmao]

Sunk in. Not buying it.

Obviously the fact has not "sunk in" yet because they are still complaining about it after all this time. And yes the expression is sink in.

 

[combinationspin]

If it was really "accurate" then Kaetlyn should be first. Everyone feels sympathetic for Med tonight but really Med shouldn't even be getting half of her GOEs she gets on her jumps (esp combos).

True, but Alina shouldn’t be getting half of her GOEs, either, IMO...

 

[Haikush]

I don't mind if she takes the gold. That 3Lz+3Lo was savage. Even though this programs is not interesting at all.

Having watched it now I think the program is interesting and all the talk of Zagitova not being artistic is very overblown. While she needs to improve certain aspects she already does so much well (aside from the jumps). It was close...Med had the emotion tonight and I would have gone with her

 

[jkun]

Evgenia didn't get her lutz called. Clearly the technical panel was trying to help her out.

I swear they were so lenient on edge calls for the entire night just so they could justify not giving attention or calling an edge call for Evgenia.

 

[Haikush]

Osmond is AMAZING tonight. Can we award dual bronzes to Satoko and Osmond?

Osmond was mostly clean...still not a fan of swan lake for her. Her sp suits her better. Satoko should have gotten the bronze

 

[GrandmaCC]

:dev2: Not only did she annoy the Canadians, she annoyed ME!

Incredible job? Yes, maybe to novices who don't know the first thing about skating. I just THANKS TO GOD I could press the button on my remote to shut her off just as each skater took to the ice. She would NOT stop rabbiting during the skating which is a no-no, unless you are making the odd observation but NOT mentioning just about every element, which she did.

The guys on Eurosport do a far better job. They keep mostly quiet during the performances and give a really expert summary afterwards, picking out things I often don't notice. That woman kept stating the obvious. Also, those guys injected the commentary with a bit of humour now and then. Noonan obviously has a sense of humour bypass. Whenever her cohort made a small joke, she just ignored it! Rude, or what? And there's nothing wrong with a little 'constructive criticism' - usually when Chris or Nicky didn't like a programme, they would say something like 'It wasn't my cup of tea, because ....' and they would give reasons. Remember that it's all subjective. Noonan was probably worried she'd get sued or something!

I never want to hear that woman commentate ever again.

And by the way, it's LOSE, not 'loose' your voice.

End.

Oooh, someone took their grumpy pills today! (was so tempted to write “there”, not gonna lie )

I’m all for constructive criticism, and I too think the Euro fellows do the best commentary work.
But if I gotta pick between a) overt bias and flat out lies or b), dull, but accurate and not vicious, imma pick b) anyday.

She did rabble on, I’m fairly sure this was covered in depth in an earlier forum re streaming. As annoying as it is to fans, she did succeed in her quite obvious brief of informing the four-year-fan. I had people actually acknowledge, with glee at their new-found knowledge, that what so-and-so just did was good/bad/not allowed because THE LADY ON TV TOLD THEM.
The Audience here in Australia has legit no idea about skating, so honestly, I’m in favour of anything that sees the audience be able to figure out what is happening & why.

I do think she needed a better “dumb cop” to go with her “smart cop” - instead of the usual back & forth, we got Jim getting a lecture/monologue.

 

[viennaskater]

Oooh, someone took their grumpy pills today! (was so tempted to write “there”, not gonna lie )

Well, I was made grumpy by insufficient sleep - because I GOT UP AT 2:00 AM TO WATCH THE LADIES!

And I have to work today. :sad21:

Anyway, sorry for the rant.

I can forgive Noonan all if it wasn't for the incessant TALKING during the performances. It is a NO-GO, like the etiquette which should be observed when you are at an event and you DON'T go back to your seat until the skater(s) finish their programme. I HATE it when some fool squeezes past to get to their rotten seat while you are trying to concentrate. At the major events the staff usually stop people from doing this but not at the more relaxed atmosphere of the Challenger events.

Protocol should be observed.

 

[Spirals for Miles]

So...
If Miyahara's getting 71 PCS, Osmond should not be getting 75 PCS...
Also: this was probably the worst I've seen Alina do this free all season. She missed a couple of musical cues and looked really tentative, which is understandable, but still. Her layback was a bit slow and her last spin kinda got wonked out. if Osmond got -1.5 GOE for her little stepout, then Alina should have gotten -0.5 for the solo lutz. However, the strength and determination to do the combo at the end! and this really is a brilliant free and Alina is absolutely breathtaking to watch. But, I prefer her SP, especially the StSq. Did this StSq change? it looked different, and little odd... I don't know, I would have given her 72 PCS because of the musical cues and the nerves showing through. but Alina did so well in her first Olympics!

Medvedeva, on the other hand, performed the best I've ever seen her do. It was simply thrilling. I would have given her 78-79 PCS and a bit more in her spin GOEs. She's really improved that first spin.
I wrote more in her fanfest, but I'm too emotional to write it here.

Miyahara really was lowballed here, as was Kaori. I guess JSF put all their politicking into the men, which is sad, because these girls were great. Kaori was not 3pts worse than Kostner and at least she had 7 triples as opposed to Kostner. Kostner's PCS is also overwarranted and overscored and Kaori and Satoko don't get enough.

A real shame about Mirai's axel Bradie redeemed herself but it was interesting to see URs when she's only URed once all season before. Still, a bit underscored in PCS. Karen.... that was a hot mess. She's lucky to be 11th, in my opinion. And Maria did well, but not well enough

also loved: Lil Bet, Hanul Kim, Loena Hendrickx, Kailani Craine

I would have had:
Evgenia
Alina
Miyahara
Osmond
Sakamoto
Choi
Kostner
Sotskova
Tennell

 

[GrandmaCC]

Australian commentary is always good, no shade throwing etc. Just basic details on technique and performance. I know some Sochi performances with Australian commentary is still on youtube, I have seen a few international comments on channel 7's

Yeah, I was amazed at how much people were able to pick up during the FS!
I was also amazed that we put almost the whole thing on tv lol, I think we have the weather-induced schedule changes to thank for that!
I’ve spent the entire GP series trying to talk people through my favourite routines, never got much further than “...and that’s the story of why their skates are not as shiny looking as you’d like”, “....no, there are different types of jumps, that’s why they called it a - NO they didn’t GUESS the commentator knows wh”

“....she jumped in the first half? Are you sure? Um....that’s...yes, I KNOW her foot left the ice, but that’s actually a spin..”

Now, these same people were comparing Kaetlyn to the rest of the field, appreciating the height of her jumps.
(I didn’t tell them that they’d actually watched that routine before and noticed nothing but the “pretty eyeshadow” )

The Sochi videos are cool, hey! I wonder if our highlights will stay up on YouTube too. Obviously we’re the only country to not geo block!

 

[Blades of Passion]

The handwringing over Medvedeva losing and claims of her not getting enough PCS are the real Gold of this event - comedy gold.

Neither of the programs were great and there wasn't any LP in this event that I would label as such (don't even try to sell me Osmond's half-baked grey swan). Zagitova compared to Medvedeva at least made some sense with the music, rather than highly contrived movement being placed on a jumbled music cut, especially that footwork sequence which was very grating. And it was exciting to see Zagitova nail the 3Lutz+3Loop so late on the program, getting more lift on the second part of the combo than I think she ever has before! A commanding statement, her technical advantage deserved to win, because who cares about these mechanical programs. Nothing here comes close to the elegance and luminosity of what skating provided in previous eras.

I will take Shizuka Arakawa's spiral, ina bauer, strong edges and flow, and controlled regal quality over the flailing and meaningless movement seen here. I will take the grace and beautiful positions and genuine surprise exuded by Sarah Hughes. The jubilation of Tara Lipinski. The introspective genius of Mao Asada. The soul-baring radiance of Lu Chen. The body fluidity of Oksana Baiul. The extension and vividness of Sasha Cohen. The sheer starpower of Katarina Witt. The detailed class of Kristi Yamaguchi. The unbelievable raw strength of Midori Ito and Tonya Harding. The total mastery of Michelle Kwan!!

 

[GrandmaCC]

Well, I was made grumpy by insufficient sleep - because I GOT UP AT 2:00 AM TO WATCH THE LADIES!

And I have to work today. :sad21:

Anyway, sorry for the rant.

I can forgive Noonan all if it wasn't for the incessant TALKING during the performances. It is a NO-GO, like the etiquette which should be observed when you are at an event and you DON'T go back to your seat until the skater(s) finish their programme. I HATE it when some fool squeezes past to get to their rotten seat while you are trying to concentrate. At the major events the staff usually stop people from doing this but not at the more relaxed atmosphere of the Challenger events.

Protocol should be observed.

Whaaat?
Ok, firstly, you are not only forgiven, but you have my deepest sympathies .

I realise this is possibly a truly evil question to ask after what you’ve been through (I did an all nighter for Sochi, it was a struggle!), but...didn’t this whole competition get scheduled so you guys could watch in prime time?

I would send a virtual hug, but I think a virtual coffee is more appropriate!

 

[skatesofgold]

Glad I don't have NBC - and I did not like that performance at Nagano 1998, it was like seeing a little girl skating out there. It's supposed to be LADIES, not juniors.

You could say that about any sport. Even hockey has had 17 year olds make Olympic teams. Amanda Beard was 14 when she won her first Olympic medal in swimming. Michelle Kwan mathematically qualified for the Olympics at 13. I'm not sure why the attitude on this board is that you should have to be a fully grown adult to compete at the senior level. Senior =/= adult.

 

[anonymoose_au]

Whaaat?
Ok, firstly, you are not only forgiven, but you have my deepest sympathies .

I realise this is possibly a truly evil question to ask after what you’ve been through (I did an all nighter for Sochi, it was a struggle!), but...didn’t this whole competition get scheduled so you guys could watch in prime time?

No that was the USA, it looks like Viennaskater is from Great Britain, who along with Western Europe had a truly terrible time of skating events!

In other news, Ch 7 just showed a bit of the Ladies Medal Cermony, poor Alina was all ready to start singing the Russian national anthem when the Olympic one came on! She looked thoroughly confused, guess she must have forgot about the ban, or maybe hoped it wouldn't happen.

 

[viennaskater]

Whaaat?
Ok, firstly, you are not only forgiven, but you have my deepest sympathies .

I realise this is possibly a truly evil question to ask after what you’ve been through (I did an all nighter for Sochi, it was a struggle!), but...didn’t this whole competition get scheduled so you guys could watch in prime time?

I would send a virtual hug, but I think a virtual coffee is more appropriate!

Thanks for that - I'm from Great Britain but live in Vienna. It's the US and Canada who had it on at prime time.

Actually, overall I've been feeling ok, considering - it's just this morning there were a few incidents at work which really got my blood boiling :dev3:and brought the fatigue up front. Hence the short fuse!

Have to say - the nocturnal viewings have been well worth it Some truly great skating and great results!

 

[Proxy]

I would have had:
Evgenia
Alina
Miyahara
Osmond
Sakamoto
Choi
Kostner
Sotskova
Tennell

I don't think it's possible to even judge the competition fairly. The PCS and GOE inflation is so out of whack. Medvedeva has crushed everyone the last couple years on wildly undeserved components inflation. She finally met her technical match who received...wildly inflated components scores. Touche.

Medvedeva did give the best performance I've seen from her but that's probably because she was forced to go that route to have any chance to win. I'd like to see her develop that side of her skating. Of course she is a better overall package than Zagitova, but you live by the sword and you die by the sword. Playing that game this quad means Zagitova deserved to win. If the scores were accurate maybe neither of them would have won, maybe it would have been Osmond or Miyahara.

The only one I'm really mad about is Sakamoto below Kostner. Carolina was awful in this competition with no technical content. Kaori was brilliant with one minor mistake at the very end. Totally agree with 5-6-7.