chuckm said:
In the 2001-2002 GPF Kwan should have won the final FS, with Sarah 2nd, and Irina 3rd. The GPF results would have been:
3.4 3 2 1 (1) Michelle KWAN USA
4.0 1 1 3 (2) Irina SLUTSKAYA RUS
5.4 4 3 2 (3) Sarah HUGHES USA
7.2 2 4 4 (4) Maria BUTYRSKAYA RUS
11.0 6 6 5 (5) Yoshie ONDA JPN
11.0 5 5 6 (6) Tatiana MALININA UZB
But there IS a way for Sarah to have finished 2nd overall in the GPF, and that would have been for her to win the final FS, Kwan finish 2nd, and Irina 3rd---but in that would have given Irina the championship!
4.0 1 1 3 (1) Irina SLUTSKAYA RUS
4.4 4 3 1 (2) Sarah HUGHES USA
4.4 3 2 2 (3) Michelle KWAN USA
7.2 2 4 4 (4) Maria BUTYRSKAYA RUS
11.0 6 6 5 (5) Yoshie ONDA JPN
11.0 5 5 6 (6) Tatiana MALININA UZB
Yeah that is amazing that a situation could have played out of Irina being 3rd in the final free skate, and still winning overall. I also recall a situation like at the 97 Worlds when Tara had been 1st in the short, Michelle 4th in the short due to stepping out of her triple lutz before her double toe in the combination, and Irina 6th in the short due to falling on her triple lutz to start the combo and not even trying the 2nd jump. Then in the free skate Tara was sitting 2nd in the free skate but 1st overall, while Michelle was sitting 1st in the free skate and 2nd overall. Since Irina had had a dissapointing year, and had injured her back in practice it looked like Tara being the overall winner despite losing the free skate, and Michelle winning the silver despite winning the free skate, was safe. Irina though surprised with one of her gutiest performances, landing 6 clean triples including the triple sal-triple loop in her performance. There were 3 scenarios, one of which was Tara being 3rd only in the free skate and still winning the gold.
If Irina had won the free skate the final results would have been:
3.5 1 3 (1) Tara Lipinski
4.0 6 1 (2) Irina Slutskaya
4.0 4 2 (3) Michelle Kwan
If Irina had placed 2nd in the free, behind Michelle, but over Tara, the final results would have been:
3.0 4 1 (1) Michelle Kwan
3.5 1 3 (2) Tara Lipinski
5.0 6 2 (3) Irina Slutskaya
5.0 2 4 (4) Vanesse Gusmeroli
Since as it turned out Irina placed 3rd in the free skate, behind both Tara and Michelle, the final results ended up:
2.5 1 2 (1) Tara Lipinski
3.0 1 4 (2) MIchelle Kwan
5.0 2 4 (3) Vanessa Gusmeroli
6.0 6 3 (4) Irina Slutskaya
It was extremely close to all 3 scenarios, with Irina having 3 1st place votes, Michelle having 3 first place votes, and Tara having 3 1st place votes. The difference was Michelle had 3 first place votes, and 6 second place votes; Tara had 3 1st place votes, 3 second place votes, and 3 third place votes; while Irina had 3 1st place votes, and 6 3rd place votes, in the long program. I remember Tara looking in panic-mode backstage first after Michelle's skate, then after Irina's skate, but then grinning quickly when she realized the camera was on her.