- Joined
- Aug 14, 2003
SHIZUKA RULES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
She could and the rest couldn't. It wasn't even close.
She could and the rest couldn't. It wasn't even close.
Shizuka Rules!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
- Thread starter tripleflutz
- Start date
yes...remember people on the West Coast still haven't seen the performances.
I'm just glad I was successful in getting to enjoy the Olympic competition unspoiled. Y'all should try it some time. It made the competition so much more fun! If someone spoiled it for me, I honestly don't think I could have sat through the broadcast.
I'm just glad I was successful in getting to enjoy the Olympic competition unspoiled. Y'all should try it some time. It made the competition so much more fun! If someone spoiled it for me, I honestly don't think I could have sat through the broadcast.
- Joined
- Apr 1, 2004
Well done shiz. Im sad for sasha, but she will be happy with silver I think. I knew it was going to be a long and stressful night when I was crying after the FIRST performance. That turnadot is such gorgeous music, I loved watching silvia fontana be so emotional for her last performance, and it was just as great watching Shizuka skat so well.
- Joined
- Jan 15, 2006
I think everyone did well, but I'm sorry for those who wanted the gold, were close, and didn't get it.
- Joined
- Sep 20, 2003
HOOORAY FOR SHIZUKA! HOORAY!!!!!!!!!!
I wanted a Russian sweep but this is great too!
I wanted a Russian sweep but this is great too!
this is very good! I absolutely DID NOT want a Russian sweep. And who better to stop that than Arakawa? (No slight to Cohen intended.)
I must admit, though, that the Games as a whole were quite a bit underwhelming. No performances REALLY stood out. The winning performance was cautious and conservative, but in this Olys it seemed to be the right strategy after all. I think this Olympics is quite forgettable, actually (at least for team USA).
I must admit, though, that the Games as a whole were quite a bit underwhelming. No performances REALLY stood out. The winning performance was cautious and conservative, but in this Olys it seemed to be the right strategy after all. I think this Olympics is quite forgettable, actually (at least for team USA).
- Joined
- Mar 28, 2005
Shizuka knew she would need to far outskate Sasha to win in front of the pro-American judging panel. She succeeded with an elegant, mature, and technicaly proficient program. She definitely earned the gold medal, forced the Sasha squad(eg-judging panel)to give it to her and she should be very proud. She now has a World and Olympic title, after dealing with such an up and down career, including being left off Japan`s World team four straight years from 99-2002.
- Joined
- Feb 24, 2006
She deserved to win, but I don't really think anyone had the "Olympic skate". Like the whole amazing, clean, in the moment deal.
- Joined
- Jul 26, 2003
Yes, she does 
I remeber Shizuka skated at 98 Olympic. She had all the great technique, but lacking of artistry. Scott Hamilton commented that Shizuka was about US Novice level skater. I think she was a lot better than that. Over the eight years, Shizuka travling between US and Japan to get better training. Injury, coaching changes, her own confidence problems, but she determined to stay. I really respect her determination and hard working. She is not much younger than Michelle Kwan. After watching all three top ladies' long programs, I believe she deserves the gold.
Shizuka definetely deserved the gold medal! She was awesome in her sureness and the flow on the ice. Also she was tecnically best of the medallists. I also had to admire Sasha that after the early mistakes she pulled herself together and gave us a strong and enjoyable performance. For Irina I felt very sad, because she was seen as the favourite to win the gold.
- Joined
- Dec 12, 2005
Throw me into the got tears pile... then and at 2004 worlds.... not to mention some serious chills during the ina bauer.
I didn't get teary, I was feeling "finally, the world got it right," which produced a deep, happy smile for Shizuka. I remember Shizuka from her first Olys and Worlds in '98, IIRC when she was only 16 and really did]/i] skate like a US novice (i.e., Scott Hamilton's comment at '98 Olys). I remember that she didn't skate at Worlds for five years after that because either she wasn't chosen for Japan's World team and/or didn't win the Japanese Nationals. I remember, as I'm sure others do, the INCREDIBLE improvement in her skating in just a few weeks after she left Richard Callaghan for Tatiana Tarasova. And I remember Shizza's '04 World gold, which surprised so many that all a lot talked about was "the wedgie" rather than her skating. I thought, "Poor thing! Even in her moment of triumph, some people are still laughing at her."
Then it was Shizza's heartbreaking drop to 9th at '05 Worlds, which made her '04 gold seem like a fluke to many; Shizza making a few mistakes in one of her '05 GPS event and sitting in the K&C with Tarasova, whose only words to Shizuka, in a dead chilly voice, were "Must skate clean," and how Shizza just sat there, not openly expressing any emotion, but looking as if her spirit had finally been broken.
All autumn that time, I was co-rooting for Irina and Shizuka because I love them both and I knew it would be the last Olympics for each. I couldn't decide on a favorite--I had Sasha picked for the bronze--but I knew I'd be happy with either Shizza or Irina. I was thrilled with Shizuka's win, especially considering her skate and, with the exception of her '04 World gold, her eight years of senior level frustration.
Around November, I also received two posts in reply to my posts about how Shizza and Irina were my co-favorites saying, "How can you expect Japan to name Arakawa to the Olympic team when she couldn't even make the GPF?" My reply was that Shizza just had the bad luck to get two bad draws in her GPS assignments, and that for me it wasn't about who made the GPF--of the three Oly ladies singles medalists, only Irina made the GPF--it was about the skating.
But as time went on and I thought about how absolutely spiritless Shizuka looked sitting in the K&C with Tarasova, I wondered if TAT had once again started out great with a female skater but by the second year had coached her into oblivion. That was when I felt things were not looking good for Shizuka and wondered if TAT would help crown her or crush her.
It wasn't until that Olympics aired that I read anything about Shizuka leaving Tarasova in November, after she had called Nikolai Morosov saying she needed a new coach, a new attitude, a new look, new everything in order to win gold. The Quiet Beauty was also The Quiet Killer Competitor.
Shizuka's tenacity, her perseverence in the face of years of failure, her intelligence in choosing the right coaches once she had pulled herself back up onto Japan's World team, her classy demeanor while being overlooked as a contender when other Japanese skaters were being touted as the next "it" skater, and her increasingly stunningly beautiful skating--all these things had been gradually affecting me since 2003. Thus I didn't feel choked up with joy over Shizuka's win. I felt so proud of someone who must have had her times of wanting to give up but didn't, who was both lucky enough to be healthy and smart enough to train right so she would peak at the right time (maybe those five years when she was off the World team helped her avoid injury, who knows?), and mesmerized by her beauty.
Although Shizuka is certainly her own unique skater, there are things about her style that reming me of another one of my favorite skaters, Chen Lu. That calm, even performance quality that I once compared to the beauty of the Japanese Tea Ceremony. When you could see on Shizza's face that her name had appeared on the monitor next to "gold," of course I let out a "YES!" and my sweetie applauded, but soon after that, I just felt deeply and quietly happy for Shizza. As I said on another post, they may have to alter her nickname from "Cool Beauty" to "Cool Beauty/Killer Competitor," and I mean that as a total compliment.
Of course I felt bad for Irina and bittersweet for Sasha, the latter of whom had an awful beginning but pulled herself up to the best three and a half minutes of skating of the night, IMO, which is another thread. But about Shizza, I was as proud as I could be and deep down, not surprised. She'd had the best basic skating skills of all the Japanese ladies for years, IMO, and I felt all she needed to do was clean up her spin and spiral positions and skate great choreography to great music. I loved TAT's Chopin, but in Italy, "Turandot" was magic.
I got teary-eyed at Shizuka's '04 World gold, but at her OGM, perhaps I was expecting it too much to get choked up--AFTER I realized she'd changed coaches from TAT to Morosov, lol. Ironically, none of the experts on "Olympic Ice," not even David Pelletier, who said a number of times that Shizuka was his favorite and how much he loved her skating, predicted her to win the gold. But it doesn't matter, because they're eating gold donuts in Japan!
Rgirl
Then it was Shizza's heartbreaking drop to 9th at '05 Worlds, which made her '04 gold seem like a fluke to many; Shizza making a few mistakes in one of her '05 GPS event and sitting in the K&C with Tarasova, whose only words to Shizuka, in a dead chilly voice, were "Must skate clean," and how Shizza just sat there, not openly expressing any emotion, but looking as if her spirit had finally been broken.
All autumn that time, I was co-rooting for Irina and Shizuka because I love them both and I knew it would be the last Olympics for each. I couldn't decide on a favorite--I had Sasha picked for the bronze--but I knew I'd be happy with either Shizza or Irina. I was thrilled with Shizuka's win, especially considering her skate and, with the exception of her '04 World gold, her eight years of senior level frustration.
Around November, I also received two posts in reply to my posts about how Shizza and Irina were my co-favorites saying, "How can you expect Japan to name Arakawa to the Olympic team when she couldn't even make the GPF?" My reply was that Shizza just had the bad luck to get two bad draws in her GPS assignments, and that for me it wasn't about who made the GPF--of the three Oly ladies singles medalists, only Irina made the GPF--it was about the skating.
But as time went on and I thought about how absolutely spiritless Shizuka looked sitting in the K&C with Tarasova, I wondered if TAT had once again started out great with a female skater but by the second year had coached her into oblivion. That was when I felt things were not looking good for Shizuka and wondered if TAT would help crown her or crush her.
It wasn't until that Olympics aired that I read anything about Shizuka leaving Tarasova in November, after she had called Nikolai Morosov saying she needed a new coach, a new attitude, a new look, new everything in order to win gold. The Quiet Beauty was also The Quiet Killer Competitor.
Shizuka's tenacity, her perseverence in the face of years of failure, her intelligence in choosing the right coaches once she had pulled herself back up onto Japan's World team, her classy demeanor while being overlooked as a contender when other Japanese skaters were being touted as the next "it" skater, and her increasingly stunningly beautiful skating--all these things had been gradually affecting me since 2003. Thus I didn't feel choked up with joy over Shizuka's win. I felt so proud of someone who must have had her times of wanting to give up but didn't, who was both lucky enough to be healthy and smart enough to train right so she would peak at the right time (maybe those five years when she was off the World team helped her avoid injury, who knows?), and mesmerized by her beauty.
Although Shizuka is certainly her own unique skater, there are things about her style that reming me of another one of my favorite skaters, Chen Lu. That calm, even performance quality that I once compared to the beauty of the Japanese Tea Ceremony. When you could see on Shizza's face that her name had appeared on the monitor next to "gold," of course I let out a "YES!" and my sweetie applauded, but soon after that, I just felt deeply and quietly happy for Shizza. As I said on another post, they may have to alter her nickname from "Cool Beauty" to "Cool Beauty/Killer Competitor," and I mean that as a total compliment.
Of course I felt bad for Irina and bittersweet for Sasha, the latter of whom had an awful beginning but pulled herself up to the best three and a half minutes of skating of the night, IMO, which is another thread. But about Shizza, I was as proud as I could be and deep down, not surprised. She'd had the best basic skating skills of all the Japanese ladies for years, IMO, and I felt all she needed to do was clean up her spin and spiral positions and skate great choreography to great music. I loved TAT's Chopin, but in Italy, "Turandot" was magic.
I got teary-eyed at Shizuka's '04 World gold, but at her OGM, perhaps I was expecting it too much to get choked up--AFTER I realized she'd changed coaches from TAT to Morosov, lol. Ironically, none of the experts on "Olympic Ice," not even David Pelletier, who said a number of times that Shizuka was his favorite and how much he loved her skating, predicted her to win the gold. But it doesn't matter, because they're eating gold donuts in Japan!
Rgirl
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