John and Rena | Golden Skate

John and Rena

sfgirl

On the Ice
Joined
Mar 25, 2008
Will John and Rena compete in the 2010 Olympic Games? I am curious what people think.
 
Well, they have come this far, I think they will try and make the team, but there are no garentees there.
 
It's an interesting question. They are definitely continuing on through next year, as Worlds is in Los Angeles. Of course, they have to make the US team, which will be harder with M&B now being eligible for Worlds.

http://www.inoueandbaldwin.com/2008worlds.html

Inoue and Baldwin, who became engaged on the ice after their free skate at the U.S. championships, now plan another round of shows in Japan before returning to their home in Los Angeles to begin training for the 2009 Grand Prix season. They have other plans too: Baldwin revealed they are planning a summer wedding and hope to become parents in the not-so-distant future. They also do not rule out competing for a spot at the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver.

The link is to their account of their experience at Worlds. Do check out the pictures at the end of the story. Some of them are very funny, and they are of the whole US world team, not just John and Rena.

I can see why they are encouraged about their Nationals and Worlds, despite finishing tenth, especially considering their ages and the very short training time they had for both competitions.

John landed his triple toe in the long in both competitions, and they landed all their jumps at Worlds. They dusted off their triple twist, never very good, and at least got credit for the rotation in the short, although it was badly performed. Rena landed her throw triple loop both at Nationals and Worlds, and landed one of 3 triple axel throws (at Nationals) fully rotated but with a very shaky landing. They did fall afoul of some changes in COP for death spirals, footwork and pair spins, but I doubt that they see fixing those as a major difficulty, given the Grand Prix season to get input on them.

It sounds like they are taking things very much one event at a time, so Olympics is a stretch, but you know, I'd love to see them there. I always root for the oldest people in whatever competition.
 
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I wouldn't be surprised of John pushed the team on for the next two seasons...

It just wouldn't be US skating without him in the mix :laugh:
 
However, the bit about being parents in the not so distant future would certainly have an effect, depending on how distant a future.
 
I think they skated better than ever in long program at worlds.Considering their very limited training time, it's pretty amazing to see John starting to land 3toe consistently for the first time in their career.

They were way undermarked in PCS at worlds perhaps as a result of disappearing from international judges for most of the season. They are a stronger team than 2007 season. Maybe doing shows is not necessary a bad thing to keep conditioning.

If it's a forgone conclusion M&B will be #1 American pair, John & Rena still have a decent shot at making American team as #2. C&O are better pair skaters, but they simply can't land any sbs jumps, which is a non-starter at interntional competitions.
 
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Yes, and usually they are close to all level 4s. This year there were significant changes in levels on many of the skills. They left at least 4 points on the table right there in step sequences, pair spins and death spirals.
 
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