Both skaters were praised....
Not really, Fumie's achievement was acknowledged on one hand, then kind of taken down a notch OTOH in that article. Acknowlegement of her bronze medal was not praising, just a neutral report on the competition result
Re: Fumie did not fire the management company, therefore Fumie endorsed the content of that article . That is assuming Fumie knew about the article. She probably did not know about that article, she did not post the article in her own official website. That article certainly did not appear on Fumie's little rental space of the management company's website
Mathman said:
Sokolova was at the peak of her most successful season ever. In the LP she skated a clean seven triple program, includng a triple-triple, and she skated with speed, power and expression. If the championship had been in Moscow that year instead of Washington, Sokolova would have won gold. Indeed, the only thing her performance lacked, if it lacked anything at all, was that last tiny centimeter of artistic/athletic perfection that distinguishes Michelle among her peers.
I was there, and saw all 3 phases of the competition. I remember Sokolova was SLOW, probably the slowest skater among the top 6. I am not sure if Fumie and Cup Cake were skating in the same QR, Cup Cake was able to beat Fumie. I thought Fumie's speed and stroking efficiency was the best, with Kostner being a close second. I had a long discussion with some people at the arena about why Fumie was not rewarded more for her basic skating skills compared to Kwan. People there pointed out Fumie had stroking efficiency, she sailed through the ice with tremendous speed, but her edges were not as quiet as Kwan. Kostner's speed, flow and edges were amazing. So everyone I talked to at the arena agreed that Kostner, Kwan and Fumie's basic skating were better than the other top skaters. Kostner and Cup Cake both landed 3z/3t in their sp, and Kostner's Taco Bell, I mean Parkabell cannon sp was nicely choreographed, so maybe the judges placed CupCake ahead of Kostner b/c her solo triple jump was a triple flip, and Kostner's was a loop. CupCake landed the 3/3 in the lp, her speed was not that impressive. I have no argument for her second place finish, but it was not really that close. In fact post competition, some reporters were trying to make CupCake said she WUZ robbed b/c she landed the 3/3, and Sokolova repeated "I made mistakes, I made mistakes"
She could have whined about the QR, or being placed 2nd even though she landed more jumps, but she did not. She gave Kwan the proper due respect by not complaining
Fumie, on the other hand, had a cakewalk in her qualifying round. So the point that Sasha's supporters can make is this. Switch the two groups around. Then Sasha gets first in qualifying, fourth in Short and third in Long. Fumie gets third in qualifying, third in short, fourth in long. Sasha wins!......Already folks are complaining that, because of the ISU rating system, Michelle is in the harder qualifying group this year
I haven'tg seen anyone here complaining about Michelle's qualiying group, where is this latest information? By folks complaining you mean her fans? Sure fans do that all the time, but unless Kwan herself complains about that through her PR people it should not matter at all

about cakewalk in qualifying. I am sure often nfc afc teams are not exactly evenly matched, and sometimes fans (ahem I mean the new term is supporters?) whine about if their favorite team is competing in the easier conference their favorite team would be conference champion, but bad luck in the tougher conference, their favorite team can't even make it to the play offs. These are things for fans to whine about. The athletes themselves do not talk about that in their interviews or their own official websites. Even nfl players have enough sportgsmanship to pay due respect to the other teams who are supposed to be in the easier conference, by not whining, or letting their PR team to whine. Even the nfl players know that if they win the championship in the so call tougher conference, then super bowl will be a cakewalk.
World 2003 was the first time Fumie made the world podium, she deserved the bronze medal, I am surprise that you think she had a cakewalk at qualifying rounds

Really what is your proof that Cohen will win the so call cakewalk qualifying round. Actually Dan Fang stole the show at QR even though she did not place too well overall. Audience responded to Fang very well