I hope Michelle Wins

[Kwanford Wife]

:sheesh: geees you needed to drag Sasha into this...

I think you're missing the point... Sandee was being ironic & amused. The comments in this thread are just plain stupid. One person said they were "ashamed" of MKs skating. Stupid. Another said "I hope the US doesn't send her to Turin" Stupid. Being ashamed of her skating & not sending her to Turnin makes about as much sense as NOT sending Sasha. See the difference? No bashing. Just a funny little comment in a silly thread.

Come on people! Its figure skating!!!

Kwanford Wife

 

[Skate Sandee]

Thank you, Kwanford, that was my point. Hikaru, I am thrilled that Sasha and Michelle skated as well as they did and continued the fine tradition of securing 3 spots for next year.

But for someone to suggest that the US shouldn't send Michelle to Turin based on this performance is as illogical as suggesting that Sasha is undeserving of going as well. That was my point in bringing up Sasha.

Besides, who else is realistically more deserving than Michelle (and Sasha) to go to Turin? OK - maybe Meissner if she can sustain her momentum. But after that? Kirk? No. Hughes? No. Nikodinov? No.

The idea is to send the team that has the best chance of medaling. Sasha and Michelle are known variables in high pressure senior events. And the depth beyond Sasha and Michelle is not steep enough to ever consider Michelle not being sent to Turin.

 

[Kwanford Wife]

The idea is to send the team that has the best chance of medaling. Sasha and Michelle are known variables in high pressure senior events. And the depth beyond Sasha and Michelle is not steep enough to ever consider Michelle not being sent to Turin.

Sandee, just like on other boards I've seen you posting on today, I am in total agreement with you...

Just like the Japaneese federation wasn't going to send Fumie... Hmmm, where did she finish in comparison to her team mates?

Whatever. I'm just waiting to see the performances tonight.

KW

 

[Eeyora]

Trust me I will have a lot to of questions to ask everyone theeven the non-spoiled fans after the LP airs. However here is a preview What makes Kwan tick and continue? If she didn't want it she wouldn't be out there. Her motive couldn't possibly be: to have fun.

 

[Grgranny]

Sounds as if there are a lot of immature teens on this board now.

 

[Justafan]

I never would have guessed that I would be ashamed for Michelle Kwan's skating. I have never seen a program from her that was so lacking in choreography. She needs to stop saying that the "Bolero" she brought to Worlds (and Nationals) was Chris Dean's creation., because it's not! There is no content in this latest version, compared to the program that we saw at the beginning of the season. She can not blame this disaster on Chris Dean. Even if she skates cleanly in the free, it still would be nothing but stroking, crossovers and jumps and spins. It was actually painful to watch. I kept yelling "Where is the choreography!", while I was watching. I wasn't a fan of the program that she debuted at Nationals, but it was a much better program than this. At least it had SOME choreography! The scary thing is, she could actually WIN with that awful program! [/QUOTE

She had an off program. Compared against her entire body of work over her career..it is trivial. I also highly doubt that she would ever blame the choreographer for a less that perfect performance. In my opinion, it was a bad choice of music..too monotonous and at times overwhelming. It is really music better suited for dance, as per Torvill and Dean's performance, rather than skating with jumps, spins, etc.

 

[brad640]

She needs to stop saying that the "Bolero" she brought to Worlds (and Nationals) was Chris Dean's creation., because it's not! There is no content in this latest version, compared to the program that we saw at the beginning of the season. She can not blame this disaster on Chris Dean.

While most of the blame should rightfully fall on Michelle, Christopher Dean is partly responsible. If she had kept the choreography she had at Campbells, she would have had lower PCS because that program did not lend itself to CoP. It had interesting movements that could have helped with her transitions score, but she had to go back and add jumps and spins to get the points up. Dean left her with a program she could not use at worlds, and she has been reworking it to try to salvage something. He should have been reading the CoP rules when he choreographed the program last summer rather than creating what was essentially a singles show tribute to his own dance program from 84.

Secondly, the USFSA is also to blame for dragging its feet in instituting CoP and allowing the 6.0 Kwan lovefest. Many of the glitches could have been worked out sooner if Michelle had been required to meet CoP at nationals, where the worlds results indicate she would have finished about 14 points below Sasha. However, simply judging under CoP at the national level is not enough on its own. Look at what happened at Canadians with the Rochette lovefest that sent her the wrong signals going into worlds. USFSA should consider assembling an international judging panel for Olympic trials to avoid score inflation and give the skaters information they can actually use in their preparation.

Third, I don't know what Rafael had to do with Michelle's skate. He deserves credit for improving the quality of her jumps, and the spins were better than usual. Rafael helped her rework the program so that she could actually be competitive at worlds, but he could not do everything by himself, and Dean let him down. I think he should help Michelle find a better CoP choreographer for next season.

Lastly, Michelle herself is responsible. For me, it was satisfying to see her pushing the limits after coasting since 2002. How many times have we seen the exact same jumps in the exact same order? Many times I just wanted to see her do anything different just to break the monotony. I was glad to see the 3-2-2 combo, but I have regretted all season that she has stopped attempting the triple loop. I think 4th place should be very encouraging to her, because the judges obviously received her programs well, considering her errors. They could have easily buried her in the standings, but rewarded her basic skating and the jump content she attempted. As for the lack of choreography, I think the message for her is that she needs to improve her conditioning so that she can skate the free program with all the elements intact. I do not think she was in the best shape this season and had to make strategic choices about what to include. Hopefully we have heard the last of her laziness philosophy, and she will commit to training hard, to get back in the condition she was from 99-01, when she had great speed and landed 3-3s.

 

[mzheng]

I would wish she would skate what the choreographer creates. Her Bolero has so few content - what we see is definitely not what Christopher Dean would create. And if I understood only half what she said since autumn she tried always a part of the final routine. One part now, one part then and so on. Afaik she never skated the complete routine. This strategy is bs.

Are you sure? Not even the Marshall one? From you signature you are obviouse a Dean fan. Must very familiar with Dean's work. Just curiouse since I was told the Marshall's one was the original work.

That's what struck me the most when I finally got to see it last night. Where did the choreography go?? That saddened me WAY more than the problems she had with the jumps and just seeming sluggish. I went back and watched her Bolero debut from Cambell's, and the only thing recognizable about the two programs is the music.

Did you see the final LP? When I watched the Qual last night heard what Peter coments sounded like she was taking out some choreography on site.

 

[mzheng]

The idea is to send the team that has the best chance of medaling. Sasha and Michelle are known variables in high pressure senior events. And the depth beyond Sasha and Michelle is not steep enough to ever consider Michelle not being sent to Turin.

Is it sad after 10 years that USFSA still rely on a old horse? What if Michelle consider retiring next season? Or what if she chose to skip 2006 worlds after the Olympics (that's assuming she makes to the team), will Sasha and Kimmie secure 3 spots for US at 2007?

 

[rain]

Secondly, the USFSA is also to blame for dragging its feet in instituting CoP and allowing the 6.0 Kwan lovefest. Many of the glitches could have been worked out sooner if Michelle had been required to meet CoP at nationals, where the worlds results indicate she would have finished about 14 points below Sasha. However, simply judging under CoP at the national level is not enough on its own. Look at what happened at Canadians with the Rochette lovefest that sent her the wrong signals going into worlds. USFSA should consider assembling an international judging panel for Olympic trials to avoid score inflation and give the skaters information they can actually use in their preparation.

.

I agree with most of what you said, but must take exception to your comments re: Joannie and the Canadian judging panel. Rochette's short program was horribly undermarked here at worlds. All season long, under international judging panels as well as at home, she's scored extremely well, hence her grand prix medals and her bronze at the GPF. Worlds was the anomoly. Which should tell you something, but not that the Canadian panel for nationals was off-base. As for her fabulous free skate score at nationals, she deserved every single point. It was perfect. From her triple/triple combination to her triple/triple sequence and all the other triples in between. Not so for her performance at worlds, hence the difference (warranted) in score. When you fall three times, you're not going to get the same score you did when you skated clean. I'd just like to point out that Rochette also has two of the best-choreographed programs in the world this year. It was not unreasonable to expect her to be a podium threat in Moscow. I think she should have been, in fact, after the SP, though obviously her LP would not have earned her that medal.