Polemic moments in FS

[lulu]

N@d&A,

Please don't feel bad, your English is wonderful. To tell you the truth, it is a lot better than that of same native English speakers.

And judging from all of the responses to your thread, you brought up a very interesting topic.
Thanks!

 

[thisthingcalledlove]

N@d&A:

Good for you!!! Writing is a challenge in any language and certainly English is no acception! I hope you did well on your assignment. There are certainly many good topics in figure skating you could continue with. When I read your topic of disussion, it caught my interest. It's good to keep the creative juices flowing!

Although I wasn't alive yet during the time, I know many people consider Trixie Schuba's win a polemic moment in skating.

 

[BronzeisGolden]

JonnyCoop & IceNut are right, the "top tapping" incident did occur at the 1999 World Championships in Helsinki. I recently read an article about it in one of my older magazines. Sadly, I've never seen the competition. What do you guys think? Did B&S deserve the Gold?

 

[JonnyCoop]

JonnyCoop & IceNut are right, the "top tapping" incident did occur at the 1999 World Championships in Helsinki. I recently read an article about it in one of my older magazines. Sadly, I've never seen the competition. What do you guys think? Did B&S deserve the Gold?

I would say -- and this is from someone who at the time was not a huge B & S fan -- that the correct winners were declared. Both were terrific in their own ways, and it was a fascinating style contrast. Shen & Zhao did win the audience over with a lot of spectacular technical stuff and their program was clean; Jelena B. fell on the throw double axel but the rest of the program was flawless. Despite the error, tho, I too would have given the gold to B & S -- Shen & Zhao at that time were still ironing out some of their technique, and there were some spots here and there in their program that looked downright junior level ragged. Small spots, but enough IMO to make a difference.

 

[RIskatingfan]

I agree, I too thought the gold was well awarded that night. B/S had a mistake, but they were (and today still are IMO) better in a lot of other aspects and details and overall, just simply much better skaters. Basics, spins, presentation was a no-brainer... all this needs to be taken in consideration IMO.

ETA: although I preferred B/S at the time, this is coming from someone who really doesn't care all that much about pairs.

 

[icenut84]

I haven't watched that competition for ages, but I remember thinking when I did that I thought Shen & Zhao deserved the gold, largely because of B&S's mistake (Elena had a horrible fall on the 2axel [jump, not throw], and because of that they didn't do the second part of the combo). However, that was ages ago and I probably have better skating knowledge now, so I don't know if my opinion would be the same now. I'll have to watch it again. IIRC, Shen & Zhao were great though.

 

[Jaana]

I haven't watched that competition for ages, but I remember thinking when I did that I thought Shen & Zhao deserved the gold, largely because of B&S's mistake (Elena had a horrible fall on the 2axel [jump, not throw], and because of that they didn't do the second part of the combo). However, that was ages ago and I probably have better skating knowledge now, so I don't know if my opinion would be the same now. I'll have to watch it again. IIRC, Shen & Zhao were great though.

I saw the 1999 Worlds live and although I was a huge B&S fan (but also a fan of S& Z), I definetely felt that S&Z should have won.

 

[icenut84]

I watched the two programmes again. Although it was close - I would have given the gold to Shen & Zhao. They were great.