Replay Lounge 2026 Olympics | Women

[Mathman]

Were they... not allowed to change the card? This is a serious question btw, this is such strange news to me.

There were, and are in every sport, strict rules about under what circumstances and time limits an official is allowed to "correct" a ruling.

In Tim's case (I didn't go into details above) the issue was that they ISU had just changed some of the scoring details and the system in place at the Olympics used a slightly different scale than had been used in internation competition up to that point. The errant judge marked on the old scale instead of the new, and the discrepency was not caught in time.

(By the way, the real shocker at those Olympics was that the odds-on favorite for gold, Emmerich Danser, completely fell out of one of his figures and finished 4th, putting the contest up for grabs.)

 

[Mathman]

Here is Tim's explanation in an interview with Skateguard years later. (scroll down to the middle).

Interview With Tim Wood

Interview with World Figure Skating Champion Tim Wood

www.skateguardblog.com

Aso worthy of note , when Woods was asked what was his most exhilarating skating moment, he had no hesitation in waxing rhapsodic about going into a zone while doing his left backward change loop and his left backward paragraph loop figures at those Olympics."It was a once in a lifetime experience. When I was finished the audience was clapping and then I turned to the judges and all nine judges were clapping."

I guess that's technique and artistry all in one.

 

[SmileHappy34]

Here is Tim's explanation in an interview with Skateguard years later. (scroll down to the middle).

Interview With Tim Wood

Interview with World Figure Skating Champion Tim Wood

www.skateguardblog.com

Aso worthy of note , when Woods was asked what was his most exhilarating skating moment, he had no hesitation in waxing rhapsodic about going into a zone while doing his left backward change loop and his left backward paragraph loop figures at those Olympics."It was a once in a lifetime experience. When I was finished the audience was clapping and then I turned to the judges and all nine judges were clapping."

I guess that's technique and artistry all in one.

I am glad that I reread your post.
When you mentioned Wood I thought you were talking about Tiger Woods.
Not Tim Wood the wonderful skater.
Thank for the reminder and nostalgia.

 

[skatedreamer]

I always got stuck on the line about the cake. What happened to the recipe? Did you just forget which cookbook it was in? Was it a recipe cut out of the newspaper and got lost? Were you just improvising and it turned out surprisingly well? I don't think I've ever noticed any other lyrics in the whole song.

Well, shoot.

In addition to a MacArthur Park earworm, I now feel compelled to reorganize my cookbooks and recipes to make sure I haven't lost any of my favorites. That goes double for the ones inherited from my mom...she'd come back to haunt me if I lost any of those.

And that takes me back to the 1996 Worlds (yikes, 30 years ago!). Mom wasn't much of a skating fan, but for some reason she watched the women's free skate that year and called me to say how much she loved Chen Lu. Lu skated to the Rachmaninov 2nd Piano Concerto and wore an elegant, simple burgundy velvet dress.

Lu's performance was gorgeous but all Mom talked about was the music and the dress. She didn't know much about skating but she always did have great taste.

memories pop up in the strangest ways...

 

[Perkie1968]

It's been 3 days and I'm still gutted over Kaori not getting the gold and not being the Olympic champion. 2022 Olympic bronze medalist, 3 time world champion, retiring after this performance. Always classy, everytime you see her. Always with a smile, always happy. I so wanted her to be brilliant and stand at center ice and drink in the applause but instead she looked defeated. And then to see her burst into tears as soon as she came off the ice, bawling with a kleenex to her face while waiting for the medal ceremony, crying as she's announced and crying while she's taking the lap around the ice after. Just. Hearbreaking. It was right there and she couldn't grab it. And what's worse, is that Alyssa would have been just as happy with silver. Why couldn't the stars have alighned themselves so that both Gold and Silver medalists were happy and Kaori could retire as the Champion she is and Alyssa could get her Gold in 2030. GUH. I'm sad again!

edited to add that I also felt badly for Mone, who skated two good programs but it wasn't enough.

 

[CanadianSkaterGuy]

I'm not so sure the best skaters always get the highest marks. IMO the recent ice dance results are a case in point.

Would adjust that… the best skaters always get the highest marks. The best skates (as in the best skates put out there on the day), not so often. FB/C are IMO two of the best skaters in the field so the judges give them the best marks regardless of how the skate or what mistakes they make.

 

[skatedreamer]

Would adjust that… the best skaters always get the highest marks. The best skates (as in the best skates put out there on the day), not so often. FB/C are IMO two of the best skaters in the field so the judges give them the best marks regardless of how the skate or what mistakes they make.

Yes...that's a much better way to put it.

 

[Sjs5572]

Well, shoot.

In addition to a MacArthur Park earworm, I now feel compelled to reorganize my cookbooks and recipes to make sure I haven't lost any of my favorites. That goes double for the ones inherited from my mom...she'd come back to haunt me if I lost any of those.

And that takes me back to the 1996 Worlds (yikes, 30 years ago!). Mom wasn't much of a skating fan, but for some reason she watched the women's free skate that year and called me to say how much she loved Chen Lu. Lu skated to the Rachmaninov 2nd Piano Concerto and wore an elegant, simple burgundy velvet dress.

Lu's performance was gorgeous but all Mom talked about was the music and the dress. She didn't know much about skating but she always did have great taste.

memories pop up in the strangest ways...

I was at that worlds. I had never experienced that level of cold in my whole life. The snow was heavy, but the atmosphere so dry that none of it stuck. I had to learn about plugging in the rental car overnight so the engine would start. It was all worth it to see Michelle win gold and Rudy win bronze!

 

[4everchan]

it's all my fault guys...

My two favourite skaters Patrick and Kaori just needed to do one jump or so better and couldn't grab it.

 

[dlarry1]

It's been 3 days and I'm still gutted over Kaori not getting the gold and not being the Olympic champion. 2022 Olympic bronze medalist, 3 time world champion, retiring after this performance. Always classy, everytime you see her. Always with a smile, always happy. I so wanted her to be brilliant and stand at center ice and drink in the applause but instead she looked defeated. And then to see her burst into tears as soon as she came off the ice, bawling with a kleenex to her face while waiting for the medal ceremony, crying as she's announced and crying while she's taking the lap around the ice after. Just. Hearbreaking. It was right there and she couldn't grab it. And what's worse, is that Alyssa would have been just as happy with silver. Why couldn't the stars have alighned themselves so that both Gold and Silver medalists were happy and Kaori could retire as the Champion she is and Alyssa could get her Gold in 2030. GUH. I'm sad again!

edited to add that I also felt badly for Mone, who skated two good programs but it wasn't enough.

Welcome to being a Michelle Kwan fan. We have support groups...

 

[boo69]

Congratulations to Team Japan for winning 6 figure skating medals, the most won by any country. I don't know if they prefer to trade their medals with the US who won 3 medals, but 2 are gold.

 

[moonvine]

Interesting thing for me: is Amber pushing for another quad? I would love that, I would love to see her in 2030. It is not impossible. Corect me if I'm wrong, but Carolina Costner finished her career at 31, right? And she was still competitive. So it wouldn't be unprecedented.

Amber is definitely going to worlds next month and thinking about one more season.

 

[Diana Delafield]

I was at that worlds. I had never experienced that level of cold in my whole life. The snow was heavy, but the atmosphere so dry that none of it stuck. I had to learn about plugging in the rental car overnight so the engine would start. It was all worth it to see Michelle win gold and Rudy win bronze!

Edmonton, for anyone who wondered where it could be that cold. Plug-ins to overnight block heaters for cars are unknown in Vancouver, but we had to use them when we lived in other cities across the country.

 

[Sjs5572]

Or the times when a judge would accidentally get the cards reversed and hold up 3.5 instead of 5.3. For figures it was the judges themselves, which was a more serious error than when they used "card girls" standing out on the ice, each representing a specific judge who had told their girl what numbers to hold up. Then it was just embarrassing if she got the numbers reversed and her judge called out a correction from their seats behind the boards.

I don't remember the card girls, but I do remember the compulsory figures specialists being held up in the short program and free skate. May she rest in peace, but I recall Kira Ivanova getting tech scores from 4.5 to 5.4 for her 1988 olympics long program. She fell out of all of her triples and would have probably gotten 3.8s if she was in an earlier group.
Of course, she followed in the footsteps of Trixi Schuba and Anette Poetsch.

 

[Greengemmonster]

edited to add that I also felt badly for Mone, who skated two good programs but it wasn't enough.

I’m super proud of Mone’s two beautiful programs but it was so sad to see her crying on Amber’s shoulder (as a side note, Amber was wonderful at the event, soothing many people around her).

I worry about Mone because Shimada is coming up next year and some of the other Japanese skaters have 3As. She does have impeccable skating skills though.

 

[Anna K.]

I worry about Mone because Shimada is coming up next year and some of the other Japanese skaters have 3As. She does have impeccable skating skills though.

As for the next season, Mone should be fine.
There will be 3As (Shimada, Nakai, Kawabe, Watanabe, Miyake... is it all? ) and quads (Shimada, Sumiyoshi, possibly Watanabe) but I don't see who could do them consistently and qualitatively enough to blow Mone out of the water. Shimada and Nakai are in the age when big jump consistency & quality starts going downwards. Kawabe's 3A and Sumiyoshi's quad are not fully there yet. Watanabe is improving but, if she wants to add a quad, her programs will be a mess at least for one season. Actually, Miyake might be consistent with her 3A; she's just entering the age when senior jumps start getting better (24 y.o.), but I'm not convinced that everything else in her programs will be good enough to beat Mone.
Rather, Mone should beware of Yuna Aoki who already outscored her in the 4CC. But we don't know what Aoki's plans for the next season are.

 

[Blades of Passion]

I hope Mone can skate more effervescently at Worlds. Her Olympic long program was nervously performed. They should probably take out the edge pull from the end of her 3F+3T. Trying to purposefully slow down the landing like that is an invitation for tech panels to wrongly call it as being short.

 

[yfan1]

Rather, Mone should beware of Yuna Aoki who already outscored her in the 4CC. But we don't know what Aoki's plans for the next season are.

TBH, I think Mone's skating is ahead of Aoki's. I just hope that she puts in the amount of effort that went into her LP here in all her programs in the future.

 

[sissy7]

https://www.olympics.com/en/milano-cortina-2026/videos/figure-skating-press-conference-women-s-free-skate-milano-cortina-2026

The last official press conference for the medalist in Milano Cortina!
Haven't yet watched it myself, but will soon be remedied

 

[sissy7]

And Kaori joins the elite club of women figure skaters without an Olympic gold medal who will inevitably be invoked at least once per season for their brilliance (other members include Midori and Michele) #slow amazed clapping

Congrats Alysa! And Ami! and Mone, and Amber, and Niina, and Loena, and Haein, and....

Julia!!! The woman who was screwed by 2 Federations, but still overcame it all, with a PB of over 190 in the Olympics! As the oldest competitor(......FS is such a demanding sport, where beeing over 25 means you are the expected mature person automatically...) so good to see her joy!