Any interest for past Olympic rewatches?

[yfan1]

Group 3:
Johnny Weir: I think this is probably not good music for the Olympics, because you'd be so nervous... But still I think the positioning and the way the steps follow the music are so good. The 3A is fantastic too.

Zhang Min: I appreciate the energy, but this was just bad choreo. Excellent lift on the 4T though.

Sergei Davydov: Just not good.

Tomas Verner: Nope.

Jamal Othman: Technically weak no doubt, but enjoyed it more as a performance than so many men before him. Finished well behind the music.

Kevin van der Perren: Nope.

Group 4:
Stefan Lindemann: It's a pity about the failed jumps, because I kind of like him as a skater. Program is another mystery. enjoyed the straight line steps.

Vakhtang Murvanidze: I liked that in parts. Gave up on the performance because of the failed jumps, and I wish he hadn't.
Anton Kovalevski: I liked that in parts, too.
Matt Savoie: Yeah, that was excellent. Probably the best basic skating so far. Program not as interesting as Lambiel's and the mistake detracts, but deserves extremely high PCS.
Brian Joubert: well. He's hot and has nice jumps. The rest was always suspect to me. committed performance though.
Han Jon In: Well, very unfortunate errors.

Group 5:
Karel Zelemka: Nah.
Lysacek: Robotic and soulless, but choreo fit the music in many parts.
Ilia Klimkin: I actually like him, but performance was very off. One of the few (only?) serpentine steps we saw here.
Gregor Urbas: Eh.
Zoltan Toth: Nah.

Emmanuel Sandhu: I don't like the program and am mostly meh on him, but he committed to it and it was like a breath of fresh air in this final group.

I think what I learned is that this era had better basics and spinners. Choreo wasn't necessarily better in terms of interesting movement and interpretation, but significantly less cluttered. I do think we have good performers now, and even if none of them reach the highs of a Lambiel or a Savoie, they in general perform better than the average performer here... So I wish the modern skaters had less cluttered programs, because I think the impression would be much better.

 

[yfan1]

This thread has the Pairs and the ID

Thread '2006 Olympic Winter Games - Torino, Italy videos'

Apr 24, 2020

2006 Olympic Winter Games
Torino, ITA
Palavela
10.02.2006 - 26.02.2006

ISU results http://www.isuresults.com/results/owg2006/

Note – All skates are listed in competition order

Surprisingly well documented, this was an event with an amazing pairs field, a men's field of Plushenko vs. the world, a dance event expected to be extremely competitive, but marred by the infamous original dance where a record number of teams had mistakes, and a hard fought ladies event that ended with a leading challenger withdrawing and a surprise winner.

For Tolstoj who mentioned the event as the...

• labgoat

• 

I'll be skipping ID because I find the discipline unpleasant, but will now also be doing Pairs! Just keep watching, just keep watching...

 

[ladyjane]

Nice to watch the pairs OG 2006. Will do after work.

 

[yfan1]

LPs, Men (only going to do skaters I want to talk about with the LPs, unike the SPs)

Group 1
Lindemann: The jumps were failing, and I think the music is a bad choice, but I appreciate some of the transitions. And while I don't feel his whole body movement impressive here, I liked what he tried to do with the circular step sequence.

Group 2
Klimkin: Not a fully cooked program, but I think it's very good he tried to express the music through interesting shapes and arm movements. That change foot camel that does the camel in both directions and COE on both feet/directions must be so hard.
Kovalevski: I think he's musically sensitive, but just way too many mistakes for it to matter.

Group 3:
Lysacek: Horrible 3A technique. Nice energy and body movement, but I feel he's incapable of drawing any emotion out of the music. This is basically the type of music he's any good at expressing, because the music's own drama can make up for your lack of it...

Savoie: Gorgeous. I looooooove the way he does his transitions, and this program is filled with them - like the split leap into the forward spiral into the 3S, barely losing any speed, or the hydroblade as a connecting move before the 3A pass. That circular step is bound to be one of the very best ever. Astounding that this placed lower than Lysacek on PCS. Rep judging, nothing else. That 3Lz being marked a 2Lz isn't deserved either.

Sawyer: Lots of transitions here too! I don't feel he was able to bring an overall package like Savoie did, but appreciate the effort.

Group 4:
Plushenko: Eh. I don't like this program or much of his skating. Can't fault much of his jumps here, but I don't like this version of this program. Think he did it better in a different competition.

Lambiel: I'm crying at how I'm supposed to pretend this was 15 points worse than Plushenko (and apparently also worse than Lysacek). Yeah he had mistakes, but PCS wise he deserves to make up lots of ground. Definitely shouldn't be behind Plushy on that score, or only two points ahead of Lysacek. And, lol, Savoie deserves to lead that score so far, not even close. Deservedly into second, at least, Plushy took it on tech.

Weir: I loooooove his musical sensitivity, but he did this better at Nationals. Ahead of Lysacek on PCS at least, thank god.

Buttle: Much better program than the SP, but still a little too bland for me. Still, deserves credit for trying to go for a complete package and some excellent basic skating.

Joubert: Well. he's hot and has nice jumps. Let's leave it there.

Takahashi: Much better than the SP. Appreciated it.

Savoie would end up with the highest PCS for me.

I appreciated quite a few of these LPs more than our latest Olympics, that's for sure. One thing I think I need to point out is that present day music editing and cuts are better than 20 years ago. Also, CoP has done a good job with requiring skaters to practice flexibility and whole body movement, because some of these skaters really lack a range of movement. I think the current CoP overshoots it no doubt, but I think that's why the next couple of seasons were good - fuller programs than in 6.0, more variety of transitions and spin positions, step sequences that saw the skaters actually attempt full body movement.

@ladyjane I'll do Pairs with you, if you want to.

 

[4everchan]

LPs, Men (only going to do skaters I want to talk about with the LPs, unike the SPs)

Group 1
Lindemann: The jumps were failing, and I think the music is a bad choice, but I appreciate some of the transitions. And while I don't feel his whole body movement impressive here, I liked what he tried to do with the circular step sequence.

Group 2
Klimkin: Not a fully cooked program, but I think it's very good he tried to express the music through interesting shapes and arm movements. That change foot camel that does the camel in both directions and COE on both feet/directions must be so hard.
Kovalevski: I think he's musically sensitive, but just way too many mistakes for it to matter.

Group 3:
Lysacek: Horrible 3A technique. Nice energy and body movement, but I feel he's incapable of drawing any emotion out of the music. This is basically the type of music he's any good at expressing, because the music's own drama can make up for your lack of it...

Savoie: Gorgeous. I looooooove the way he does his transitions, and this program is filled with them - like the split leap into the forward spiral into the 3S, barely losing any speed, or the hydroblade as a connecting move before the 3A pass. That circular step is bound to be one of the very best ever. Astounding that this placed lower than Lysacek on PCS. Rep judging, nothing else. That 3Lz being marked a 2Lz isn't deserved either.

Sawyer: Lots of transitions here too! I don't feel he was able to bring an overall package like Savoie did, but appreciate the effort.

Group 4:
Plushenko: Eh. I don't like this program or much of his skating. Can't fault much of his jumps here, but I don't like this version of this program. Think he did it better in a different competition.

Lambiel: I'm crying at how I'm supposed to pretend this was 15 points worse than Plushenko (and apparently also worse than Lysacek). Yeah he had mistakes, but PCS wise he deserves to make up lots of ground. Definitely shouldn't be behind Plushy on that score, or only two points ahead of Lysacek. And, lol, Savoie deserves to lead that score so far, not even close. Deservedly into second, at least, Plushy took it on tech.

Weir: I loooooove his musical sensitivity, but he did this better at Nationals. Ahead of Lysacek on PCS at least, thank god.

Buttle: Much better program than the SP, but still a little too bland for me. Still, deserves credit for trying to go for a complete package and some excellent basic skating.

Joubert: Well. he's hot and has nice jumps. Let's leave it there.

Takahashi: Much better than the SP. Appreciated it.

Savoie would end up with the highest PCS for me.

I appreciated quite a few of these LPs more than our latest Olympics, that's for sure. One thing I think I need to point out is that present day music editing and cuts are better than 20 years ago. Also, CoP has done a good job with requiring skaters to practice flexibility and whole body movement, because some of these skaters really lack a range of movement. I think the current CoP overshoots it no doubt, but I think that's why the next couple of seasons were good - fuller programs than in 6.0, more variety of transitions and spin positions, step sequences that saw the skaters actually attempt full body movement.

@ladyjane I'll do Pairs with you, if you want to.

Well, except for Weir which I really didn't like that much, I agree with everything you said. Yes. Joubert is hot HAHA

I may do pairs too with you both. Nobody is going to force me to do dance. I cannot watch Marie-France fall like this. NO.

Women, I am undecided.

 

[ladyjane]

Well @4everchan and @yfan1. I love Ice Dance, don't want to see that horrible fall either.

Here comes the SP (FS will come thursday or something, regrettably too tired and busy to do both in one go).

Group1:
Seeing Tatiana Voloushar with Stanislav Morozov (ex pair partner of both her and Aljona Savchenko) is a bit of a surprise. I know it, certainly at the time I was used to them. Never the best, never the worst either. Stanislav is not very elegant.
I had forgotten that this was the OG where Rena Inoue and John Baldwin landed the Thr-3A. Such a milestone! I hadn't remembered any of the rest though I am sorry to say.

Group 2:
I've always been a fan of Pang Quin and Tong Jian, and this was beautiful. Nice twizzles, if not as sophisticated as with dansers. A pity the SBS spins were out of sync.
That entree into the death spiral by Shen Xue and Hong Bo Zhao was really something. Level 4 I would say, whether there's enough features or not. Good for them after coming back from injury. It made me a little sniffy hearing Joan Hannappel doing the commentary, as she sadly passed in 2024.
I had totally forgotten there was a PRK team. How a team who has only been skating together for 8 weeks can actually participate at the OG is a mystery to me. They could have used a bit more development, the potential was there.

Group 3:
Julia Belaglazova and Andrei Bekh were a bit bland. Lucky in not falling, not very memorable I am sorry to say.
I liked Marcy Hinzmann and Aaron Parchem. Not to complicated, yeah a fall, but altogether really nice.
Dan Zhang and Hao Zhang were very athletic. Very high twist. Not sure if it was a triple though. This programme wasn't really my thing. But that could also be because I am already dreading their FS (talking about falls).
I had totally forgotten there was an Estonian pair. Lots of single skaters from the Baltic States, sometimes in ID, but a pair? Not a very high level though. But good to see a couple from Estonia at the OG.

Okay guys. That's the first three groups done. Next two in the next half hour.

 

[ladyjane]

And here we go again....

Group 4:
I always have a soft spot for Maria Petrova and Alexei Tikhonov (the provided link no longer worked for me, but there was another). They are always fun to watch, as they were here. Always in the shadows of others, be it their own countrymen or from elsewhere. But they did get some nice titles anyway.
I watched the link from the WC in 2006 for Dorota Zakorska and Mariusz Zudek, as this link didn't work, and I am always a big fan of these two. I didn't want to miss them.That lift entry. No wonder they were famous for their lifts.
Lovely to see Jessica Dube and Bryce Davidson again. such a lovely couple. Great death spiral entrance. Lovely lift. Skating young, but not immature in any way.

Group 5
Valerie Marcoux and Craig Buntin were really fun. It was the WC in Calgary, as it was another link which sadly didn't work for me. So nicely skated to the music. I guess that after all these double twists that was the standard 20 years ago?
Nice to see Julia Obertas and Sergei Slavnov again. A big contrast with Valerie and Craig. Very classical pair. A pity about the SBS spins which were a bit out of sync.
Tatianna Totmianina and Maximim Marinin were really very good. No mistakes, good lines. I am very sorry that their programme just has no appeal to me. Sorry. That's all I can say
Aliona Savchenko and Robin Solkowy really stand out for me. Very different from everyone else. Not perfect, but great fun to watch.

On the whole it was nice to see these SP's again, 20 years later. I really had forgotten that they did double twist lifts in the SP's then, Nice steps though.