Rachael Flatt: Complete Profile

[Mathman]

I don't know what the big deal is with Rachael finishing behind Mirai at the Olympics.

The controversy is not about Mirai. it is about Rachael finishing behind Ando and Lepisto.

But no, it is not even about that. It is about Rachael being charged incorrectly for downgrades on her two flip jumps.

 

[ManyCairns]

Just in general it seems very likely to me that judges and tech specialists can lean one way or the other on being strict or not strict with a skater based on desired outcomes, whether from personal wishes or federation wishes or overall climate of a venue or whatever. For me it seems a stretch to have to say we can't count what we see with our own eyes because maybe the video is bad or the angle is wrong or whatever when it seems so iffy the UR was appropriate, in looking at these particular jumps of Flatt's. From the same comp, didn't Asada have what could have been called as an aborted jump attempt, but wasn't, so that her jumping pass was credited when to some it could easily have not received credit? When she setup for the jump but aborted and it could have been considered a jump attempt but wasn't?? Only a few posters on the board mentioned that at the time, but I think with Asada's momentum and popularity and frankly the overall quality of her programs that invoking that rule would have been suicidal for skating's popularity and the Olys and on and on.

Not that that particular technical issue has anything to do with UR's, just bringing up the notion of varying degrees of strictness with both judges and tech specialists for different skaters and different circumstances. And those results that leave us scratching our heads. Which franky for me just leads to the conclusion of going back to giving the judges freedom to judge in a judged (i.e., inherently subjective) endeavor without having to justify their judgment against a supposedly objective system -- that is to say, the judges could just have put Flatt 7th overall cause that's where they thought she belonged rather than having a system that must resort to [what seem to many to be] phantom UR's. And in case it wasn't obvious I was repeating "judge" and its variants deliberately to emphasize the inherent subjectivity in skating.

 

[FlattFan]

Can’t afford it. But I have been to Skate America twice. Emily Hughes did a huge triple Lutz at Atlantic City and almost landed in my lap in the front row.

Can't believe I found this scene on youtube

 

[Olympia]

^
The sense in which I am pc, I hope, is that I like all skaters uncritically. Anyone who laces up their boots and goes out there sink or swim in front of nine grim-faced judges and thousands of nit-picky fans who don’t like their costume -- that person is all right by me. :yes:

I think the main problem is this. A spectator sport has failed if the audience leaves the arena abuzz about the referee’s call instead of about he performances of the athletes. We cannot see, even two years later and equipped with all the resources of youtube, why Rachael’s performance did not score higher. In the best of all possible worlds we ought to be able to design a scoring system in which the game is decided on the ice, not by post hoc divine intervention by some sort of protractor-ex-machina. The present scoring system makes me feel like I am too dumb to deserve an opinion about whether I liked a performance or not.

Yes, yes, yes!

If I don't qualify to be a skating fan, I have to give up sports, because there's not another one I care about the way I love skating.

 

[skateluvr]

That speaks to many of us Olympia, especially those of us who have been watching a long time when 6.0 reigned. For me it is skating or really nothing much. Gymnastics would come a distant second.

It will remain for the numbers crunchers to explain the results, but as to what we like/love and the placement it earns, well, the ship sails on and the thing is to not get to upset while they continue to toy with the rules and the direction of figure skating. Past, present we can enjoy and hope for a better future for FS, though it seems unlikely in this economy.