Relaxed Abbott enters worlds with new confidence

[SailorGalaxia518]

http://web.icenetwork.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20090317&content_id=62582&vkey=ice_news

When Jeremy Abbott traveled to the world championships in Gothenburg, Sweden, a year ago, it was as a last-minute replacement for the injured Evan Lysacek.

This time around, when he arrives at the 2009 ISU World Figure Skating Championships in Los Angeles, it'll be as the reigning Grand Prix Final and U.S. champion.

 

[Medusa]

Okay, this is really not against Jeremy, I love his skating - it's also not against the other skaters I'll mention here.

But (there is always a but ) the way everyone is talking this season, you could start to think that they are all the best skaters in the world - and if they don't bring it, it's not because they weren't good enough, but because they were sick.

Abbott: sketchy in the LP at Nationals and in both programs at 4CC - he was sick (see the article)
Mroz: bad LP at 4CC - he was sick, (see the article)
Weir: lackluster at NHK and GPF, horrific skates at Nationals - he was sick right before NHK, at the GPF he was still recuperating and at Nationals he was still weak from another illness
Kim: screws up at the GPF - she was sick
Zhang: screws up at Junior Worlds in the SP - she was sick
Trankov: horrible LP at GPF, mistakes at Nationals - sick at GPF (well, he was really really sick), still recuperating at Nationals

I don't know, perhaps all of them were really sick - but everytime I read the "I wasn't at my best, I was sick", I get the feeling that they are telling the World: "Well, the guy/gal who won wasn't really the best, I could have been the best if I hadn't been sick". So maybe we should start to have a third category - TES, PCS and MBS. MBS for "Medical Bonus Score", everytime a skater is sick he / she has to prove that with a medical certificate and the skater gets a point bonus, because in theory he / she can skate so much better. That way Abbott could have won the silver at 4CC that he deserves "in theory" and Trankov wouldn't keep losing to K/S, whom he considers as inferior to M/T.

 

[Fashionista]

Bravo! that's what I was always thinking about. I'm sick and tired of all these sicknesses which appear right after skater's bad performance.

 

[skatingbc]

And I thought I was the only one who finds it annoying to constantly hear about sick skaters.

 

[Snowgirl]

And if they were? In many cases you can tell the skater isn't well seeing him/her right on the ice (if he/she sneezes or coughs badly, looks pale, has red eyes etc), or is taken to the hospital right after the performance (like in Trankov's case). I never get the feeling that skaters speak about their ilnesses to diminish the victory of others. It's more like, I can do better than I did today, for me. I think it's the matter of interpretation.

 

[museksk8r]

I hope if Jeremy does try the quad at Worlds, it will only be in the LP, and only IF he has a stellar SP (80+ points). It would be insane to put it in the SP when he hasn't even attempted it in that program a single time this season in major events.

 

[psycho]

Weir's and Trankov's illnesses are as legitimate as they come, I don't know why you are putting them on this list. Trankov was in a hospital, and Weir talked about illnesses (a lot, and there were pictures of him in a hospital) before he had any bad performances, so he wasn't magically sick after he messed up.

I don't know enough about others' illnesses to judge, but I think it's tacky to question the legitimacy of someone's sickness claim, if they haven't given you reason to doubt them.

 

[Hsuhs]

it's not because they weren't good enough, but because they were sick.

Prob b/c sickness is an external, uncontrollable, ego-protective excuse. Everything being not good enough isn't.

 

[LeCygne]

I agree that Johnny's sickness was completely legitimate. There were pictures of him in the hospital in Korea with an IV and everything.

I think it depends on each competition and who the actual winner was, if the projected winner did not win. For example, is it really so absurd that Mao Asada beat Yu-Na at GPF? Even if Yu-Na had been healthy (when did she say she wasn't? I thought it was the Korean audience that unnerved her), it's no guarantee that Mao couldn't have beaten her.

Caroline Zhang and Leonova at Junior Worlds is a different story. It may not have sickness that plagued her (though she was visibly coughing), but can you honestly say Leonova is better than Caroline?

 

[demarinis5]

I does seem like quite a few skaters were ill this season and some had to withdraw. There was a lot of crap going around. The food poisoning bug, the flu, the stomach flu, bronchial flu, etc. When a skater says that the reason they skated poorly was because they were sick I usually believe them. I know when I am sick with a fever, chills and aches and pains I can't get out of bed never mind perform a 7 tor 8 triple program with a quad thrown in. Skaters get sick like everyone else. JMO

 

[Joesitz (RIP)]

Well, if they are All not sick, it should be a hundinger of a competition, and skating their best. To predict of winner would have to be a personal favorite, or a countryman. Since Lambiel is not skating and to give a country man a break, i go for Evan. However, for my taste it would be Yannik but he is oh so careless at times.

Pick your choice. Chances are we will all be wrong.

 

[Michelle'sFan]

I can understand being sick, but I do wish they would quit talking about it.

Even if everyone was well and everyone had the performance of their lives only one person would win.

Michelle'sFan

 

[Tinymavy15]

I think that Abbott is a very lucky guy. He got to go to worlds last year and get the experience, so this year when he comes in as national champion and GPF champion he knows what to expect a little more. He already was sick, he is not injured, I can't wait for worlds.

 

[demarinis5]

(snip)
Pick your choice. Chances are we will all be wrong.

I predict the USA will have one Gold medal not sure if it will be Dance
or Men's.

 

[Nigel]

I agree that Johnny's sickness was completely legitimate. There were pictures of him in the hospital in Korea with an IV and everything.

I think it depends on each competition and who the actual winner was, if the projected winner did not win. For example, is it really so absurd that Mao Asada beat Yu-Na at GPF? Even if Yu-Na had been healthy (when did she say she wasn't? I thought it was the Korean audience that unnerved her), it's no guarantee that Mao couldn't have beaten her.

Caroline Zhang and Leonova at Junior Worlds is a different story. It may not have sickness that plagued her (though she was visibly coughing), but can you honestly say Leonova is better than Caroline?

the coughing in Sofia...more likely due to all the cigarette smoke! hwell:

 

[Alicja]

This thread is sort of weird... Some skaters illnesses are legitimate, others not? I don't understand that. Why do you need to be in the hospital in order to be recognized as being veritably sick? I can really only shake my head about some of those statements...


Btw, shouldn't this thread be about Jeremy and his preparation for worlds?