Senior Ladies FS

[SGrand]

Mirai isn't the skater she was 4 years ago. Herr body has changed and she just isn't as fast and her spin aren't what they once were. It's going to be hard for her to hold off the younger girls coming up.

She needs training, training and more training, both on and off ice. Does she do much off ice training? A lot of skaters do now, especially at her level, but for some reason, she really doesn't strike me as someone who would work hard at that. I get the impression that she has always had a lot of natural talent and and people have loved her and she was cute so she got away without training as hard. I don't mean to say she is lazy, and like I said, I'm just speculating, but.....does anyone know how she trains?

 

[Zamboni]

In most all advertisements, Gracie was the golden Girl of figure skating. It seems that Gracie was the one that they wanted to win, she was Ashley's rival. Deep down, this may have affected Ashley. Gracie is not a likable girl....in my opinion...even in her preambles, she said that she was the one of the best skaters and deserved to win. In the long run, with this type of personality, wii not go very far. Just sayin
O

So I'm both Gracie and Polina are both mean girls?

Well, at least they have backed up their words with good performances

 

[breathesgelatin]

Johnny's hair and Tara's face, what has she done to it? She is too young to start with this Frankenstein stuff already, it looked crazy.

And I realize this is petty, but in watching T & J talking before the Ladies FS (on NBC's broadcast) I'm totally curious. Has Tara had surgery? Or her wisdom teeth just out (though that seems possible given all the talking she was going and how many days she's been in Boston!) Or maybe it's just me...but her cheeks looked totally huge and swollen to me. Am I seeing things? Or did I miss something? And yes, as I said, I realize it's petty I just was so shocked when I looked up and saw her!

Yes, that was my first reaction, that she may be on a steroid medication. They cause swelling, bloating and weight gain. I hope she is okay.

THIS was the true big controversy of Boston Nationals. Tara's face. j/k

In all seriousness, I'm pretty sure she's had work done. I agree her cheeks look puffy, but her nose looked like it's been slimmed down too. Hope I'm wrong and when we see her at Sochi she's looking better. But dang. She and I are almost the same age - she's 5 months older than me. Can't believe she would do that to herself - she's never been a favorite skater of mine, but it makes me feel sad that she would think she needs work.

 

[seniorita]

Thank you for the link of Mirai without commentary, cause really the commentary was all wrong from the beginning, as much as I respect Hamilton and his history, I can really not stand the same old expressions they use with every skater, and on Mirai's program I already thought she ll get screwed on Olympic Team because they were preparing for it from their comments.

 

[tampro1]

Sport is not suppose to be played on paper. The favorite isn't suppose to always win (or make the team). Otherwise Michelle Kwan would have two Olympic golds. No disrespect to Ashley but she crumbled under the pressure four years ago and at last year's Nationals as well and was gifted the title. She didn't have one bad skate in Boston, she had two bad skates. Her GPF freeskate was terrible as well and she somehow ended up on the podium. http://www.goldenskate.com/forum/images/smilies/dozey.gif The USFSA is correct in saying that she has been our best ladies skater in three years. But she's no Michelle or Nancy (who were Olympic medalist when they were named to the Olympic Team). That's why they're so desperate for a star, any star. Gold certainly checks all the boxes and proved that she's the #1 US lady. She will likely finish the highest among our ladies in Sochi and is more marketable anyway.
I'm not sold on Polina. She's obviously technically talented, but she has an awkwardness about her. She needs more time to develop. The USFSA seems hell bent on putting her on the fast track as a back up star in case Gold fades. We've seen many with more grace and style about their skating at 15. For example Michelle, Sasha, Mao, Yuna, Oksana and Adelina skated with more maturity and grace. She's not yet in the same league as Julia L or Rodionova. Even Mirai had more fluidity at 15. But she does have Lipinski's confidence. But then again, this might be her only shot at the Olympics as she may not be able to jump once her body changes.
Keeping Mirai off the Olympic and World team makes Nationals and the sport less important in the long run. It's suppose to be a sport, it's not suppose to be played on paper!

 

[FSGMT]

(Didn't read the whole thread, so I don't know if someone else has already made this comparison)
At GPF, Ashley had three major mistakes in her FS and received 64.41 for PCS; Polina skated clean in Juniors and received 50.56. A 13.85 difference in favor of Ashley
At Nationals, Ashley had three major mistakes in her FS and received 61.55 for PCS; Polina had one major mistake and received 61.67. A 0.12 difference in favor of Polina
:sarcasm:

 

[CoyoteChris]

I will add these thoughts without personal comment. One . Follow the money. Who supports USFSA and Ashley? Two. Every serious fan I know and coach, famous or obscure, thought that scores should determin the team, ynless there are injuries or very esoteric circumstances. Three . Everything you need to know about the USFSA and its current president can be found in Jon Jaskson's book, On Edge . BTW, is it true Rudy Galindo was rewarded for his US Championship win with zero GP assignments? Old man typing on pad with stylus

 

[Blondie12]

I'll keep my own opinion quiet on this subject, but my friend who doesn't usually watch figure skating said the same thing--not the "in the long run" part, just the attitude part.

(She had a lot to say about it.)

gabbie douglas who won all around gold in gymnastics had this sort of attitude which might have been due just to immaturity or lack of media training. But we have seen her in how many commercials since her London win? Uh.not that many...and she did not get DWTS over another gymnast who did.

 

[coolboogie22]

Petition for Mirai : http://www.change.org/petitions/u-s...-patricia-st-peter-send-mirai-nagasu-to-sochi

 

[smarts1]

Petition for Mirai : http://www.change.org/petitions/u-s...-patricia-st-peter-send-mirai-nagasu-to-sochi

I heard there's another one that would replace Mirai for Polina.

 

[brightphoton]

BTW, is it true Rudy Galindo was rewarded for his US Championship win with zero GP assignments? Old man typing on pad with stylus

I don't remember if it was zero GP assignments, someone will have to check up on that, but I do know that he was not given Skate America following his US championships win. Blatant discrimination.

 

[kwanatic]

Haven't read through the thread (didn't bother trying to login during the competition; someone on Twitter said the site went down anyway ) and I've posted all of my thoughts on my blog (I'd post a link but the admins may fuss at me ) but my quick thoughts:

Gracie: I thought she was really good. She held up under the immense pressure and delivered. I think she looked poised and polished and she deserved the win. I hope she's able to keep it up and skate like this in Sochi.

Polina: She was fearless and really went for it. I thought she deserved a medal but I do think her inflated PCS are what made the difference b/w silver and bronze here. I can't argue her being named to the team but I don't necessarily agree with it either.

Mirai: So proud of her. She delivered better than anyone that night and the crowd responded to her the same way they responded to Jason Brown (ie. they lost their freakin' minds and were on their feet before the ending). I feel so terrible for her. She did her job on the night it's supposed to count but, unfortunately, this sport is nearly equal parts "what you've done in the past" as it is "what you do in the present." That's the reason skaters can have a bad skate and the commentators will say, "But the judges know what he/she can do..."; they receive scores based on reputation. This is nothing new. It's just sad Mirai is the odd person out this year...

Ashley: Really disappointed in her. I truly thought she'd put up a much better fight than that. I do think she deserved a spot on the team but I'm not happy that it came at the expense of Mirai. Then again it'd be hard to bump Polina off seeing as she came in 2nd...but then again, if the judges hadn't inflated her PCS, Mirai may have beaten her...

It's a crappy situation either way you look at it. Unfortunately, controversy is already swirling around figure skating and the Olympics haven't even started yet. :disapp:

 

[meem]

I don't remember if it was zero GP assignments, someone will have to check up on that, but I do know that he was not given Skate America following his US championships win. Blatant discrimination.

Rudy went on to Worlds after his fantastic '96 championship win and won the bronze. He then went pro and toured. That's why you didn't see him on the GP circuit the following season.

 

[Frenchie]

Sandra and Scott had valid criticisms on Mirai's free, but I wonder if these two were also in-the-know considering they were harping so much on the program last nite even as Mirai was putting out the best performance she's had in a looong time.

Mirai's free skate without the commentary:
http://youtu.be/uN3mDZTOFHg

Wow, thanks a lot for the link!
Indeed, watching her performance with the crowd reaction replacing Scott and Sandra's "oops! little stumble here", "oh, she missed that" and "look at that hole in her choreo" was a completely different experience.
The crowd went crazy and was giving her a standing ovation already 20 seconds before the end of her program!
The 3rd commentator also set the mood before the program even started: "in vancouver, she had a sub-par performance in her SP (really?); at times she's had meltdowns, like last year. Which Mirai shows up tonight?" I don't challenge the legitimacy of 2out of those 3, but they do make you look at her in a more scrutinous way.
I can't be sure how prepped the commentators were to "push a certain way", but 1 thing I know for sure:
Had the USFSA known that Mirai would be a threat for Ashley to finish on that podium, they would have gotten their technical specialists to mark her SP combo as 3T<3T<. For sure.

 

[Frenchie]

BTW, is it true Rudy Galindo was rewarded for his US Championship win with zero GP assignments? Old man typing on pad with stylus

Nope, it's not: Galindo became US Champion in 1996 after that season's GP events had already taken place, then became 3rd at Worlds, then announced his retirement. He'd have gotten GP assignments for his next season if he'd stayed.

 

[Frenchie]

I don't remember if it was zero GP assignments, someone will have to check up on that, but I do know that he was not given Skate America following his US championships win. Blatant discrimination.

I'm sure Galindo has had to face a lot of discrimination over the course of his career, but you're not helping by calling something "blatant discrimination" that wasn't - see my post from above.
Check his wikipedia entry to see why he didn't get any GP entries before:
his US Men's Nationals results from 1986 to 1995 were: 8th; 10th; 11th; 8th; 5th; 7th; 8th.

 

[CoyoteChris]

Rudy went on to Worlds after his fantastic '96 championship win and won the bronze. He then went pro and toured. That's why you didn't see him on the GP circuit the following season.

Thanks. So the question now becomes, Did he go pro because of no assignments or before the assignments were made? Under the rules of the day, is it not true that the USFSA had to send him to worlds?

 

[brightphoton]

Nationals always happens after that year's GP series. That's why national champion gets next year's Skate America GP. You don't need Wikipedia for that.

My question would be why did he turn pro right afterwards? We'll never know but it's suspicious. It's unheard of for a champ to retire like that. Probably some anonymous spokesman tipped him off that he wouldn't do Skate America if he did stick around, so why even bother.

 

[TontoK]

Wow, thanks a lot for the link!
Indeed, watching her performance with the crowd reaction replacing Scott and Sandra's "oops! little stumble here", "oh, she missed that" and "look at that hole in her choreo" was a completely different experience.
The crowd went crazy and was giving her a standing ovation already 20 seconds before the end of her program!
The 3rd commentator also set the mood before the program even started: "in vancouver, she had a sub-par performance in her SP (really?); at times she's had meltdowns, like last year. Which Mirai shows up tonight?" I don't challenge the legitimacy of 2out of those 3, but they do make you look at her in a more scrutinous way.
I can't be sure how prepped the commentators were to "push a certain way", but 1 thing I know for sure:
Had the USFSA known that Mirai would be a threat for Ashley to finish on that podium, they would have gotten their technical specialists to mark her SP combo as 3T<3T<. For sure.

Too much conspiracy theory here. There was no judge or tech specialist in the grassy knoll.

Sometimes, the simplest explanations are the most likely. The judges and tech specialist called 'em as they saw 'em. The total points came out. The end.

As far the commentators... remember that one of their agendas is to create drama and suspense to capture and keep the audience throughout the event.

Although I don't mind saying that this is not one of my favorite commentating panels. I miss Mr. Button.

 

[mskater93]

Nationals always happens after that year's GP series. That's why national champion gets next year's Skate America GP. You don't need Wikipedia for that.

My question would be why did he turn pro right afterwards? We'll never know but it's suspicious. It's unheard of for a champ to retire like that. Probably some anonymous spokesman tipped him off that he wouldn't do Skate America if he did stick around, so why even bother.

Maybe he got an offer he couldn't refuse monetarily and retired to take it. The end...