Ashley Wagner

[skylark]

I'm glad to see Ashley posting on social media again, and hopefully she's feeling better. It sounds like she'll still be involved with the Olympics in some way, and I'm very curious to find out specifically what!

So am I! I hope it's something .... juicy. She has such personality; it should be good. And I agree with you that she's sounding like her resilient self. No one can keep our Ashley down for long.

 

[apgold]

Sadly, Ashley's cat Dexter went to the rainbow bridge today. So sorry for her loss. Hope her February is better than her January.

 

[beki]

Oh no! That’s heartbreaking

 

[sakurano]

oh she lost her cat, I know how she feels four years ago I lost my cat from a heart disease, they are like our children and when we are not well they are of a comfort, I hope Ashley will overcome that not only she has not been selected for the olympics team now that. Is it true that she will comment on the Olympics?

 

[tulosai]

Oh gosh this must be a really hard blow for her

 

[charmblade]

Oh this is heartbreaking for Ashley. She's had such a rough go the last couple years, both in the skating world and in her real life. My cats are like my children, I feel so sad for her loss.

 

[Heleng]

My heart goes out to Ashley. Why did this have to happen now? It has been such an emotionally trying period for her.

I will really miss seeing Dex on her Instagram posts. Maybe only cat lovers will appreciate this, but judging from her Instagram he was one special and intelligent cat, not to mention strikingly handsome, and it was evident how much Ashley adored him and vice-versa. I hope the rest of the year has nothing but good things in store for her.

 

[temadd]

^^^ oh dear. I'm so sorry to hear this. Heartache on top of heartbreak. I hope Dexter recovers. Pets can be such a comfort. I've never thought of this till now, but I wonder who takes care of Dexter when Ashley and Adam are both gone for days or weeks for competitions, altitude training, etc.

I miss seeing Ashley skate and/or looking forward to her next competition. So much. I watched the ladies fs at 4CC today. It was a thrilling event. I recommend it. If you haven't seen it, you may be interested in watching the last 10 or 12 skaters. You can watch it in the Videos No Spoilers thread in the 4CC competition category.

But it's going to be a long time before I can watch ladies' skating without being angry at how Ashley was treated by the US judges. Watching 4CC today, I kept thinking during each skate what scores Ashley could have gotten from the international judges, who appreciate her skating more than US judges, it seems. With PCS scores like she got in 2016 and even 2017, she'd be competitive with the scores of the top ladies at 4CC who will also be skating at the Olympics. What could have been, and should have been.:curse:

I'm glad to hear that I'm not alone. I want to watch the women at the Olympics but I will be feeling that anger heartache for Ashley. I might have to wait until it's over and pick and chose which skaters I watch. I don't think I could stomach watching every skater and witnessing their scores being posted. There are a few I will have to skip.

 

[skylark]

I'm glad to hear that I'm not alone. I want to watch the women at the Olympics but I will be feeling that anger heartache for Ashley. I might have to wait until it's over and pick and chose which skaters I watch. I don't think I could stomach watching every skater and witnessing their scores being posted. There are a few I will have to skip.

It means a lot to know that I'm not alone in feeling this way.

Just to share my experience. I watched just the last 10 or 12 ladies at 4CC on the "Videos No Spoilers" thread. I had to sleep during it live, but actually I think watching it at a few hours' remove helped me. So I may try the same trick for watching olympics. I still really enjoyed the build-up of suspense/excitement, and that helped me realize that I can still get excited about women's skating. I love Mai Mihara and newly, since SA, love Kaori, so I was truly thrilled for them.

When poster bobbob was writing in the US pairs comp thread, he/she said what is troubling about US judges is that they don't hold up our skaters who have had better international success in the same way that the rest of the world does. (they) were talking about the Knierims. But also mentioned Ashley, said something like, it's probably too late now, but if the US judges had recognized and rewarded her through her PCS scores in a way that recognized what the international judges could see in her skating, she would have enjoyed the stature that goes with being the US #1, most consistent lady for years. At least 5 or 6 years, I would add!

And that could have made a lot of difference. Not just to Ashley, but to US Figure skating. It would have helped US skating in general, so it's really short-sighted. And when you look at "certain skaters," as you said, from countries who ARE holding up their ladies' skaters and helping them in this way, it's just rather incomprehensible why US fed (or judges?) treated Ashley that way. Especially when they held up Bradie, Mirai and Karen, in the same competition. They awarded all three an extra 2 point something PCS scores over what any international judges had awarded them, at least this season. And at the same time they docked Ashley 2 point something PCS scores UNDER what international judges had awarded her THIS season, for LESS well skated technically programs. So those 4 points would have made all the difference. It's just incomprehensible ... except for something poster Frida said sometime in the past year: Ashley has never been given anything. She's always had to earn whatever she gets.

And as I watched 4CC ladies, I thought that Ashley would have been there with the medalists, even if reversed. Her TEC might have been less ... although not necessarily, since she really DID improve her jumps and less URs this season. But her PCS would have made her competitive at 4CC and also, I believe, at the Olympics.

With the magic that Ashley is known to be able to create, medalling at this Olympics was not out of the question at all. Nor was creating an unforgettable moment even if she didn't medal.

SORRY for being so long-winded. I hope someone made it all through this long post and can offer a response to something or other in it. I've really wanted to write these things somewhere. But just bringing Ashley's name up causes the nay-sayers to spike. So I haven't.
to whoever might have been able to stick with me through this monster post and so much for listening and especially for being kindred Love Ashley Spirits!!

 

[Lamente Ariane]

With the magic that Ashley is known to be able to create, medalling at this Olympics was not out of the question at all. Nor was creating an unforgettable moment even if she didn't medal.

This absolutely.

Yesterday I was trying to prepare myself for the Olympics by imagining all the possible podiums that would make me most excited down to the ones that would leave me most disappointed, and when I got to Ladies I realized that even my "best" case scenario for Ladies didn't make me all that excited. Which was a sad thing to realize, because Ladies is what made me a fan of figure skating in the first place and if nothing else I've always cared.

But it's painful knowing many of my favorites won't have the chance to compete, and especially painful thinking of Ashley, because at least with most of the others they chose retirement or there were clear reasons to leave them at home (field was too deep in their country, not enough spots for the Olympics) but with Ashley... her Grand Prix results weren't notably worse than all the women named to the team, and she gave strong performances with a few technical hiccups at Nationals, just like most of the others. If they wanted to send her, they could have easily put her on that podium and sent her. But instead it felt like she could do no right. That unlike the other American women Ashley had to be flawless to merit consideration, despite all she's accomplished in her career. And to pour salt on the wound media outlets covered her like she was some spoiled brat for speaking up about it, magnifying her mistakes and ignoring the fact that no one on that podium delivered a perfect free skate.

There are ladies I'll be rooting for at the Olympics still, and maybe how I feel now is not how I'll feel after the free skate in Pyeongchang. I certainly hope so. But it's hard not to be bitter.

 

[skylark]

But it's painful knowing many of my favorites won't have the chance to compete, and especially painful thinking of Ashley, because at least with most of the others they chose retirement or there were clear reasons to leave them at home (field was too deep in their country, not enough spots for the Olympics) but with Ashley... her Grand Prix results weren't notably worse than all the women named to the team, and she gave strong performances with a few technical hiccups at Nationals, just like most of the others. If they wanted to send her, they could have easily put her on that podium and sent her. But instead it felt like she could do no right. That unlike the other American women Ashley had to be flawless to merit consideration, despite all she's accomplished in her career.

Exactly. It is very discouraging. After all she's done for US figure skating ... even while still being the ONLY US ladies' world medalist in a decade, somehow it was thought she merited less generosity than all the others. Just wrong, wrong, wrong.

There are ladies I'll be rooting for at the Olympics still, and maybe how I feel now is not how I'll feel after the free skate in Pyeongchang. I certainly hope so. But it's hard not to be bitter.

I feel like I finally understand how a certain GS'er can still be bitter about her favorite. Also, I hated how Sandra Bezic and Scott Hamilton piled it on against Ashley, via twitter. Well, Ashley did say after Worlds 2016 that she's always been the step-child in US skating. But it should have changed. That world silver medal was, and still is, a big deal.

 

[Lamente Ariane]

Vogue video and short article, "Ashley Wagner's Olympic Heartbreak Won't Keep Her From Her Greatest Love"

https://www.vogue.com/article/ashley-wagner-ice-breaker-olympics-pyeongchang?mbid=social_twitter

 

[anyanka]

It's been a rough season for Ashley, what with the injury pulling out of SA, then the revelation of the stalker (at least publicly), changing her program, finishing off the podium at nationals. That is a LOT to go through in the last three months.

She's a personality though and I wonder if she will (1) go to Pyeongchang as a correspondent for NBC, and maybe even (2) get a contract with DWTS on ABC. I wonder if she could do both if she's signed to one network, but I'd be happy to see her everywhere even if she's not competing. It's about time US figure skating has a familiar face and someone known to the general public (even if it's only through her meme from 2014). I know people who still ask, whenever I bring up figure skating, if Michelle Kwan was still competing, and she retired a dozen years ago. Shows you how low figure skating has dropped in terms of public visibility in the US. Heck, the most famous skater right now, 24 years later, is still Tonya Harding (and Nancy Kerrigan, by extension), thanks to the movie.

 

[evasorange]

Skylark, Lamente Ariana, and Temadd I
Feel the exact same way as you! In fact I am going to the Olympics and now don't feel nearly as excited about the ladies event as I did. Ashley was my number one and without her it's just not as compelling for me. I'm still so sad about what happened at nationals. I think all of us, Ashley included, could take this easier if it would have been fair. Anyone who took ten seconds to study the pcs would see how rigged it was against Ashley from the start. SIGH. Well at any rate I'm
Glad to see her being interviewed by vogue and being her honest self. I truly truly hope she comes back for one more season, not just because I think la la land deserves more but also because I don't want the number one US lady of the past eight years go out like that. Rise diva Wagner!!!

 

[skylark]

Skylark, Lamente Ariana, and Temadd I
Feel the exact same way as you! In fact I am going to the Olympics and now don't feel nearly as excited about the ladies event as I did. Ashley was my number one and without her it's just not as compelling for me. I'm still so sad about what happened at nationals. I think all of us, Ashley included, could take this easier if it would have been fair. Anyone who took ten seconds to study the pcs would see how rigged it was against Ashley from the start. SIGH. Well at any rate I'm
Glad to see her being interviewed by vogue and being her honest self. I truly truly hope she comes back for one more season, not just because I think la la land deserves more but also because I don't want the number one US lady of the past eight years go out like that. Rise diva Wagner!!!

 

[pearly]

Not that there was any doubt, but TSL tweeted something in lines of "with so much going on in sports these days, who cares about her Vogue article". You can literally make a bet by which minute of every youtube video they will mention Ashley with a snarky comment. Any topic, every time. Russian Nationals, Europeans - it's there. Someone is holding a serious grudge.

 

[badknees]

So, has there been discussion or even an investigation as to why the judges all seemed to band together to give Ashley lower scores?
I really dont get why the USFSA would not want her on the team.
It's like I'm missing something here. I just don't get it.
And aren't high level coaches supposed to get political and go fight for their skater?
Surely Raf knew something was up after the SP.

 

[skylark]

https://www.instagram.com/p/BetQNpegwHB/?hl=en&taken-by=ashwagner2010

Ashley: "When in doubt, call Shae."

 

[skylark]

So, hope everyone has a chance to view the short clip ^^ on Ashley's IG. She's awesome. So cool that she's being proactive in dealing with all this, I-hate-to-say-it, stupid horse you-know-what-I'm-talkin'-about.

She's skating to a bit of the song "I Am Here" by Pink. At least that's what someone said in response on IG.

there's nothing to fear
Know that I'll be ready​

I'm not good at understanding lyrics, but I looked them up, and I think part of it is the above.

More of the same stanza goes:

All of this wrong, but I'm still right here​

Which is even better. I can't wait to see the reaction and hear the cheering of an audience when she skates this in SOI, or ... even better ... in competition next year.

Go Ashley.

 

[sakurano]

I would love to see her on Dance with the stars I think it will be a good opportunity, especially since her SP on Hip Hip chin chin showed that she knows how to move on Latin music anyway do I will support it waiting for the season 2018 -2019.

Alouette I exactly the same feeling that you even if I like Satoko, the fact that Ashley and Wakaba does not participate in Jo and stays at home makes me a bit bitter compared to the women's competition.