Gipson said:Still, she had her best GP season even before switching to Tarasova so it can't just be all Tarasova's doing, can it?
I agree with you except for one thing: she was as strong at the end of her Worlds quali and LP skates as she was at the beginning. I don't think that that was true last year, when she tended to falter at the end, and even earlier this year, when she tended to run out of conviction a bit. Not a lot, but just a bit.mzheng said:I said in another thread. Here I say it again. I don't see any dramatic improving in presentation department from Arakawa after she switched to TT like many ppl like to claim or the huge difference in presentation marks shown after she swich to TT.
In my book her presentation has always been good. She has been undermarked since last season, more so at the GP series this season. For presentation, artistry wise is a matter of taste; expression she always show an elegant reserved typical Japanese lady on ice; as far as basic skills her smooth edges, speed, flow and ice coverage has always been there. The improvement of presentation came from she switch to TT, now she just collect her due from judges or maybe pluss some interest on the due. Instead of 'TT brought out the best from Arakawa' I'd rather to say 'TT brought out the best result from Judges for Arakawa'.
Not sure about the clout at all. I think she has clout with the Russian Federations, and it's the Federations that have clout with judges.curious said:I'm sure Tarasova's clout with the judges helped Shizuka a great deal but it was her great skate at worlds that gave her the gold. She would have won the olys over Sarah with that skate,it was excellent.