Finally I found some time to add my 2 cents. The discussion already went into other things, but what a heck.
Where two people fight (Joubert and Chan), the third one (Lysacek) always wins
. I find it ironic that Joubert pointed out that Lysacek is his biggest rival (because he had a quad), and then, he won without a quad. I cannot help but think that Joubert woke up a beast in Evan
.
I do not like Evan's skating too much, but he deserved to win. Basically I agree with this poster:
Lysacek simply isn't an artist and that goes for both his musicality and his skating skills. He isn't one of the best jumpers out there either. Basically was just in the right place at the right time. But good for him, I guess.
It is true that Evan's arm where a not flailing as much this time, but I still found his second step sequence much over the top. Actually, I liked his SP more (but this costume, OMG, no!).
If Chan hadn't double that loop, I would give him gold. Verner, even with doubling two triples was still better than Joubert IMO, and, also taking into account that his SP was scored too low, he should have been third. These two double jumps did not disturb the flow of the program as much as Brian's faceplant on the final 2A. Also Brian looked quite tenative and less energetic than usual. And being powerful is his main power, which he lost in the LP. Therefore it should have been reflected in PCS.
Normally, when a skater skates not up to his level, people (and judges) pick on it right away (Kozuka, Chan's SP). Somehow it is not like this with Brian's PCS. Altogether much has been said about his PCS, I also have to add that his PCS is very inflated. Ok, the guy has a charisma. But charisma does not equal PCS. Get over it people!
Also, it is not like he is the only one out there having charisma. Verner has it, Contesti has it, Lysacek has it, even Denis Ten has it. People find Joubert entertaining. It is their preference. I find Contesti much more entertaining. He is entertaining in a way that no one is annoyed. How come Joubert annoy so many people? I never could answer that question, I guess it is something we cannot define. Some people are just liked by absolutely everyone by default (for example my boyfriend), some other don't, others are often considered annoying.
Ok, back on topic: I agree with you Mafke (damn, I doubt I have ever disagreed with you
):
That's not artistry, that's charisma (which joubert does have in spades). He can fill the arena with his personality (especially when he hits the big tricks)
But in terms of most of the traditional metrics of 'artistry': matching his elements (and inbetweens) to the music in interesting ways, attention to detail in terms of body position and posture, being able to create interesting programs full of interesting technique ..... No, I've never detected anything like artistry from him at all. (Not that Lysacek is much, if any, better).
Few words about Denis Ten. It is not so easy to be 15 and skate to Rachmaninov. But he is so musical and mature!! Amazing! And with a strong personality already.
He's saving it for Vancouver. Actually, to me, if Patrick doesn't win in Vancouver (I know, I'm in the minority), I want Tomas to win. He completely won me over this year. I wouldn't mind a tie for gold. With Nobu getting the bronze.
Are you me??
No one wins by default ever. Unless every single person is perfect and the best skater wins you cannot win by default. Part of skating is hitting when it matters. Evan hit when it mattered.
ITA! And it is even not that Buttle won because Joubert made mistakes, otherwise Joubert is head and shoulders above Buttle. No way. Buttle outskated Brian simply beause he was better in every single aspect of the skating. Even with the second quad, Joubert wouldn't make it in 2008.
Are we facing a real danger of having a quad-less Olympic Champion next year?
Again, as many other posters I do not see it as a danger. First, I think many youngsters will get a quad next year (Kozuka, Chan, Ten). Many will master it (Abbott). And even if an olympic champion is quadless, I dont care. I loved mens competition this year. Some had a quad, some did not, but it was still exciting.
Funny, I was pretty sure that ladies thread will become a discussion about URed tripels being punished too much and mens thread about quad being an essence of figures skating. I was right
Few final details:
I was watching mens LP on Eurosport. At some point of their broadcast, they had sound quite much delayed against the picture. You can imagine that it was very annoying, but actually it helped me to spot one thing: good and bad step sequences (not that normally I cannot estimate them, but...). Examples: Voronov - even with delayed sound, his moves did not create the impression that they do not go with the music.
Ponsero - with delayed music you could really see that something was not right. It became obvious that his step sequence was actually DESIGNED for the music, and sound delay really proved it. Voronov's step sequence, even if was meant to go with the music it did not. With sound delay it just looked - arm here, turn there, whatever. It would match anything. Maybe this should be the best way to estimate properly step sequences
And quads - those from Ponsero and Oda were beauties!! to die for. Even if few quads are performed cleanly, one can still appreciate some more than others. In that perspective, Joubert's quad looks almost laboured (gee, and it happened again, I am picking on Joubert
).
Ok, enough
everything about his skating except his notorious inconsistency. I think Yannick now has to surprise everyone in the world by skating cleanly in all of his GP events and hope that he can somehow advance to the Grand Prix Final as the only Frenchman other than Joubert. Then, I think he has to hope that he can either win or place 2nd to Brian at French Nationals and then have a clean SP and another outstanding LP at 2010 Europeans as he did this year. I don't think the French federation is going to do him any favors again unless he showcases a totally remarkable turnaround and gives them complete trust that he can consistently get the job done under pressure. I'll be hoping that Yannick can achieve this level of trust and stability. 
I don't know how to explain it. But if you watch Patrick Chan and Johnny Weir, they used their hands very well. If those were too hard to imitate, watch Brian Joubert. Joubert used his hands more lately and I think his hands are much better than before.
