Now that it's official, can Michelle win the OGM?

[Joesitz (RIP)]

You don't resent plushy for not being american do you? lol! I'm still trying to figure out who do you really like and root for ?: biggrin:

Oh, dear, dear, curious. I will answer you curious question, but first I am not that kind of skating fan where I root for only one country as you do.

What follows is a rundown on my bets for win if and only if they skate their best:

In Ladies: Slutskaya for the win. She is perfectly competitive for that as more beautiful skaters are not. Kwan is preferred.

Men: Plushenko by far will win this. Despite his overly marked spins, he has enough of the CoP to be a shoo in. Lambiel is preferred (Swiss)

Pairs: T&M will win even if they don't skate their best. S&S are preferred. (German)

Dance: N&K will win even if they don't deserve it. D&V are preferred.(Lithuanian)

There you have it, curious. 4 disciplines and I pick 4 Russian winners over my preferred skaters who are not American except for La Kwan.

Is there any skater you like that is not Russian? I'm curious.

Joe

 

[antmanb]

Oh, dear, dear, curious. I will answer you curious question, but first I am not that kind of skating fan where I root for only one country as you do.

What follows is a rundown on my bets for win if and only if they skate their best:

In Ladies: Slutskaya for the win. She is perfectly competitive for that as more beautiful skaters are not. Kwan is preferred.

Men: Plushenko by far will win this. Despite his overly marked spins, he has enough of the CoP to be a shoo in. Lambiel is preferred (Swiss)

Pairs: T&M will win even if they don't skate their best. S&S are preferred. (German)

Dance: N&K will win even if they don't deserve it. D&V are preferred.(Lithuanian)

There you have it, curious. 4 disciplines and I pick 4 Russian winners over my preferred skaters who are not American except for La Kwan.

Is there any skater you like that is not Russian? I'm curious.

Joe

Joe you forgot - you should have ended your post with !!!

 

[Oceanguy]

Oceanguy, that's so cool that you get to go to the Games! I hope you'll have the time to give us a first hand report. Go Michelle!

MM

I'll do my best to post info probably mostly related to MK, but I'm going to be traveling between Milano and Turin. Also, when I'm not attending Olympic events I'll be sightseeing. But, I'm sure I'll have a bit of time; I'll find a cybercafe and have some espresso and type some info......I'm going to be stuck in Turin after the Ladies LP b/c the last train leaves at 1050pm with the next train leaving at 450am so maybe then. Don't know, but I'll try........:thumbsup:

 

[LegalGirl82]

Did moskvina teach K&D?
Ant

Ant and mzheng~

To answer your question, yes, Tamara Moskvina did coach both K&D and B&S.

 

[curious]

Oh, dear, dear, curious. I will answer you curious question, but first I am not that kind of skating fan where I root for only one country as you do.

What follows is a rundown on my bets for win if and only if they skate their best:

In Ladies: Slutskaya for the win. She is perfectly competitive for that as more beautiful skaters are not. Kwan is preferred.

Men: Plushenko by far will win this. Despite his overly marked spins, he has enough of the CoP to be a shoo in. Lambiel is preferred (Swiss)

Pairs: T&M will win even if they don't skate their best. S&S are preferred. (German)

Dance: N&K will win even if they don't deserve it. D&V are preferred.(Lithuanian)

There you have it, curious. 4 disciplines and I pick 4 Russian winners over my preferred skaters who are not American except for La Kwan.

Is there any skater you like that is not Russian? I'm curious.

Joe

Of course I do,Shizuka,Ando,Fumie,Carolina also johnny and Sasha lol! Some people will never think the Russians deserve to win gold even if they OUTSKATE their FAVES cause they have the judges in the pocket right ? lol! Now tell me again what russian skater do you like Joe

 

[R.D.]

You don't resent plushy for not being american do you? lol! I'm still trying to figure out who do you really like and root for ?: biggrin:

finally, a curious post with no !

 

[Mathman]

finally, a curious post with no !

Curious beat you to it, Red Dog. She already went back and put in that extra colon, LOL.

 

[R.D.]

Curious beat you to it, Red Dog. She already went back and put in that extra colon, LOL.

ha. just too good to be true.

 

[mzheng]

I'll do my best to post info probably mostly related to MK, but I'm going to be traveling between Milano and Turin. Also, when I'm not attending Olympic events I'll be sightseeing. But, I'm sure I'll have a bit of time; I'll find a cybercafe and have some espresso and type some info......I'm going to be stuck in Turin after the Ladies LP b/c the last train leaves at 1050pm with the next train leaving at 450am so maybe then. Don't know, but I'll try........:thumbsup:

Thank you in advance. You enjoy yourself first. Absorb in the experience first.
I don't know you, I sure can't multi tasking when I watching and making notes.

 

[Joesitz (RIP)]

Of course I do,Shizuka,Ando,Fumie,Carolina also johnny and Sasha lol! Some people will never think the Russians deserve to win gold even if they OUTSKATE their FAVES cause they have the judges in the pocket right ? lol! Now tell me again what russian skater do you like Joe

Trust me Curious, you would not be happy if Johnny and Sasha won the gold medals in Torino even though you like them.

Joe

 

[Mehdi]

He is lucky Todd missed that second triple axel at the 97 Worlds and the 97 GP final was in Canada, it definitely improved his short program placing at the 98 Olympics.

I thought Elvis was a very close 2nd to Kulik in the short. He skated with such speed, power and presence. I'm not particularly a Stojko fan but that performance is one on my all time favourites for a men's short program.

 

[CantSpin]

MK - she actually DOES know how to skate!!!

This is crazy. From the attitude of so many of these posts, one would think MK has been in a wheelchair for the past 3 years, had both legs amputated and only learned to skate last month in a local ice rink's group class!!! :scowl: The woman is a 5 time world champion, 9 time U.S. champion! Last year she had the worst season of her career, which was mainly her own fault for not buckling down and getting serious about learning COP. Her poor finish at Worlds was not due to injury or whatever, it can probably be put down to complacency (her remarks about Qualifying 'it's just Qualifying') and not learning the new system. She seemed to be completely horrified and embarrassed by her poor finish, with only herself to blame, and quite probably was determined to put all that to rights this year. She hired Tarasova, who is a strict taskmaster (and who was also hugely impressed with MK and said "she is going to make some noise"). Then she got injured, no doubt because of the hard work she was putting in to getting her skills up to the required level. According to a coach I know who is a past Olympian and somewhat familiar with the Kwan camp over the years, it's not that she can't do it, she just hasn't wanted to do it or didn't think she needed it in the past, and that 2005 was a huge wake-up call for her. Okay, she hasn't competed much internationally over past few years, but it sounds as though she's really put some work in this year, then got sidelined. However, her injury supposedly has healed. Fumie also had a really bad groin injury, but came back with a fabulous performance! Who's to say MK won't do the same? She has the ability.

So many people are acting as though Kwan can barely lace her skates anymore.:sheesh: She also finished five places above Arakawa last year, who was the prior's year's champion! And Arakawa's program was designed for COP and Michelle's wasn't....go figure.

 

[kyla2]

Irina/Michelle

You know I want Michelle to win very much but if Irina skates like she has been, I expect her to win and I will be very happy for her. If Sasha wins, I will be happy for her too. Same for Shiz or Fumie. I hope the best performance wins. They are all deserving. I will not feel the same for Carolina or Kimmie. They are still not at the level of these other ladies. I don't care how many triples they do.

 

[demarinis5]

This is crazy. From the attitude of so many of these posts, one would think MK has been in a wheelchair for the past 3 years, had both legs amputated and only learned to skate last month in a local ice rink's group class!!! :scowl: The woman is a 5 time world champion, 9 time U.S. champion! Last year she had the worst season of her career, which was mainly her own fault for not buckling down and getting serious about learning COP. Her poor finish at Worlds was not due to injury or whatever, it can probably be put down to complacency (her remarks about Qualifying 'it's just Qualifying') and not learning the new system. She seemed to be completely horrified and embarrassed by her poor finish, with only herself to blame, and quite probably was determined to put all that to rights this year. She hired Tarasova, who is a strict taskmaster (and who was also hugely impressed with MK and said "she is going to make some noise"). Then she got injured, no doubt because of the hard work she was putting in to getting her skills up to the required level. According to a coach I know who is a past Olympian and somewhat familiar with the Kwan camp over the years, it's not that she can't do it, she just hasn't wanted to do it or didn't think she needed it in the past, and that 2005 was a huge wake-up call for her. Okay, she hasn't competed much internationally over past few years, but it sounds as though she's really put some work in this year, then got sidelined. However, her injury supposedly has healed. Fumie also had a really bad groin injury, but came back with a fabulous performance! Who's to say MK won't do the same? She has the ability.

So many people are acting as though Kwan can barely lace her skates anymore.:sheesh: She also finished five places above Arakawa last year, who was the prior's year's champion! And Arakawa's program was designed for COP and Michelle's wasn't....go figure.

Amen to that!!!!. Great post.

 

[Mathman]

Me, too, CantSpin. Thanks for posting (at last! LOL -- I see you have been a member for almost a year ), and welcome to the forum!

Mathman

 

[CantSpin]

Thank you!

Thank you so much for your kind words! I like to get the feel of a forum before I post, and I generally don't like to think I'm offending anyone. But I've seen so much negativity towards one of our greatest champions and I've just had enough! I've seen Michelle described as a "basic skater" and that's just one of the kinder descriptions! For an American skater to stay at the top so long is an amazing feat, for the sad fact is that international (read European) judges do not usually award Americans any favors. I've been shaking my head in disbelief at some of the comments. I was actually looking for evidence that Michelle has a pair of artificial legs that she's learning to walk on!

 

[rob43]

Responding to a quesstion 2 pages ago- B/S had an Sp fall in 98 but where placed really highly & then had some problems in the long.

I thought K/D deserved it even if I liked M/D much more.

Moskvina also coached 2 top 5 pairs in '02 (I/Z being the second- at both 98 and 02 I thought Ina and partner (D then Z) should have placed 1 spot higher. I think B/S basics must have really held them up in 98. In 02 I thought I/Z definitely had T/M and should have been closer to S/Z on that night.

As far as Michelle- I really think she has a shot if she can stay clean in the short and 6 triples in the long. She'll probably need help but every gold medal winner after '80 has been helped by mistakes to a large degree and the OGM is still the OGM no matter who 'should' have won. Oddly the last 3 Olympics could very well have been decided by 3 flips in the long (Nancy doubled, Michelle had a bad landing, Irina fell out and Michelle fell- changing any of those could have bought any of those the extra .1 to sway the vote.)

 

[havanamesa1]

Well history proved otherwise since they eliminated figures:

1992 -- they were supposed to annoint Midori Ito but gave it to Kristi Yamaguchi
1994 -- they were supposed to annoint Kurt Browning but gave it to Alexei Urmanov
1998 -- they were supposed to annoint Michelle Kwan but gave it to Tara Lipinski
1998 -- they were supposed to annoint Elvis Stojko but gave it to Illia Kulik
2002 -- they were supposed to annoint Michelle Kwan but gave it to Sarah Hughes.

Actual annointments:

1992 -- Viktor Petrenko
1994 -- Oksana Baiul
2002 -- Alexei Yagudin

So how's that for award ceremonies?

This is CoP. All the judges need to do is inflate Irina's SP scores and NO ONE will be able to catch up, regardless of how bad Irina does in her LP.

Irina can collapse on the ice and still win the OGM. It doesn't matter if Michelle or Sasha or any other skater skates the skate of their lives; it doesn't matter even if Irina falls three times -- Irina's scores will be so high that any deductions won't make a dent on her total score. Irina WILL win!

 

[antmanb]

Ant and mzheng~

To answer your question, yes, Tamara Moskvina did coach both K&D and B&S.

Thanks Legal Girl!

Ant

 

[antmanb]

Responding to a quesstion 2 pages ago- B/S had an Sp fall in 98 but where placed really highly & then had some problems in the long.

I thought K/D deserved it even if I liked M/D much more.

Moskvina also coached 2 top 5 pairs in '02 (I/Z being the second- at both 98 and 02 I thought Ina and partner (D then Z) should have placed 1 spot higher. I think B/S basics must have really held them up in 98. In 02 I thought I/Z definitely had T/M and should have been closer to S/Z on that night.

As far as Michelle- I really think she has a shot if she can stay clean in the short and 6 triples in the long. She'll probably need help but every gold medal winner after '80 has been helped by mistakes to a large degree and the OGM is still the OGM no matter who 'should' have won. Oddly the last 3 Olympics could very well have been decided by 3 flips in the long (Nancy doubled, Michelle had a bad landing, Irina fell out and Michelle fell- changing any of those could have bought any of those the extra .1 to sway the vote.)

Sorry this is my new pet peeve and i've already been arguing it in another forum - what bad landing did Michelle have on her triple flip in Nagano....i've watched it and rewatched it and i can't see what is "bad" about the landing...

Ant