Was Mirai Nagasu underscored at the 2010 Olympics?

[christinaskater]

SP: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=19I1HKAG_9o&feature=related

LP: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ekjreo9CH-I

 

[christinaskater]

I think she could have gotten a higher score- but you know this was her first major competition and the judges did not really know her that much prior to the Olympics.

I think she could have been close to Joannie's score because all the elements were of high quality especially the spirals and spins and she was flawless. But, i think her presentation could have been more mature- had she portrayed "Carmen" more maturely she surely would challenge for an Olympic medal.

I think Mirai is mature beautifully now and hopefully she keeps getting stronger and stronger. I am praying that she would remain very healthy, regain a really great competitive mindset during competitions and really pull everything together!

I think with Frank and Lori on her side she is surely going to be one of the ones to watch out for in SOICHI!

She should work more on the height of her jumps, making her artistry more glorious and beautiful and strengthening her psychological mindset!

I suggest that she would get a sports psychologist to further aid her.

Expose her to more ice shows and competitions. Give her really glorious music! I think she could skate numbers like Tosca, Turandot, The Mission, Carmina Burana and the other staple music that we have.


She should also work on those triple-triple jumps!

She is truly one of the best skaters in the world! I do hope she and Alissa would continue to do really well because these 2 are the best American ladies in my opinion and are both capable of taking it to the highest level in the world stage!

 

[christinaskater]

I wish she was given the chance to skate during the past worlds. As much as i love Rachael- I do believe she was robbed a spot on the world team. That reminded mme of how Michelle graciously stepped out of the Olympic spotlight during the 2006 Olympics because she believed she was not healthy enough. I do hope she would have a great season ahead of her and who knows what?

 

[christinaskater]

I also would love it if she skates to the music of "Meditation of the Thais", "Malaguena", "Adagio" and other great piano concertos.

 

[brightphoton]

Rewatching Mirai and Joannie's SP, I don't think Mirai was underscored. Maybe Joannie's jump elements were better, maybe Mirai's were, they looked comparable to me. What really struck me was how well Joannie conveyed the longing, seductiveness, and emotion of her Argentinian tango SP. On the other hand, Mirai seemed completely disconnected to her Pirates of the Caribbean song. The only thing I could feel was a teeheeheehee I'm a little girl skating feeling. It didn't make sense, even when the music was very dramatic and swelling, Mirai didn't do anything other than have an unnaturally gigantic smile on her face. I think it's from Frank telling Mirai to smile too much.

 

[Olympia]

In addition to the points you make, I also think that as long as Joannie did well, no power on earth would have been able to slip ahead of her for the bronze. She was skating on home ice and was in a state of bereavement. And she was the best ladies' skater Canada had had for years. In fact, she did skate very well, and very expressively. Unless Mirai was miraculous, there simply wasn't room at the top for her.

 

[christinaskater]

Rewatching Mirai and Joannie's SP, I don't think Mirai was underscored. Maybe Joannie's jump elements were better, maybe Mirai's were, they looked comparable to me. What really struck me was how well Joannie conveyed the longing, seductiveness, and emotion of her Argentinian tango SP. On the other hand, Mirai seemed completely disconnected to her Pirates of the Caribbean song. The only thing I could feel was a teeheeheehee I'm a little girl skating feeling. It didn't make sense, even when the music was very dramatic and swelling, Mirai didn't do anything other than have an unnaturally gigantic smile on her face. I think it's from Frank telling Mirai to smile too much.

I agree on you on this- she did amazingly well but she looked immature. She was smiling throughout Carmen which is a very dramatic role.

-----------------------------------------------

I think the exuberance and childish joy= immature presentation during that time.

I think Mirai did amazingly well during the 4CC this year- she was in character!

 

[christinaskater]

A lot of my friends complained because she was flawless and she had more energy- BTW this is not a partisan American crowd-and deserved to have at least a medal over Mao and Joannie. That was what my friends were saying- they said had this been on the 6.0 system then it would have been a very different outcome.

How would the SP and LP programs be marked if it was in the 6.0 system.

Yu-Na would get 5.9 6.0 from me
Mao: 5.8 and 5.8
Joannie: 5.7, 5.8
Mirai: 5.8, 5.7
Miki: 5.7, 5.7

 

[pangtongfan]

Marai's final placement was definitely correct. Mirai could have been closer or even beat Joannie slightly in the LP, but Joannie deserved to be well ahead after the short and would have beaten her overall anyway.

 

[pangtongfan]

In addition to the points you make, I also think that as long as Joannie did well, no power on earth would have been able to slip ahead of her for the bronze. She was skating on home ice and was in a state of bereavement. And she was the best ladies' skater Canada had had for years. In fact, she did skate very well, and very expressively. Unless Mirai was miraculous, there simply wasn't room at the top for her.

This is very true. Joannie even could have won silver over Mao if she had skated a bit better. The medals in Vancouver were pretty much a foregone conclusion though. Even Miki Ando skating her best wouldnt have medalled I dont think, and she is a former World Champion who would eventually become a 2 time World Champion. So Nagasu definitely didnt have a chance, the field was just too strong and others had too much experience, momentum, and were too strong at the time to be displaced by the U.S silver medalist.

 

[Poodlepal]

I always thought that if Mirai had skated this well BEFORE YuNa, Mao or Joannie, they would have found a way to keep her down. It was interesting that she didn't get any underrotation calls in the Olympics, but did almost every other time she skated. I bet they would have found something (edge, ur) if there was a chance that Y, M or J could skate poorly and Mirai could've gotten ahead of them. But since they all did very well, by the time Mirai got up, they didn't feel the need to scrutinize her edges, and gave her the score she probably really deserved. Too bad she couldn't carry the momentum into the next season, though.

 

[dlgpffps]

How would the SP and LP programs be marked if it was in the 6.0 system.

Yu-Na would get 5.9 6.0 from me
Mao: 5.8 and 5.8
Joannie: 5.7, 5.8
Mirai: 5.8, 5.7
Miki: 5.7, 5.7

Mirai skated her SP way, way before any of the other skaters, so there's no way she could have received a 5.8 in 6.0 I also disagree with putting her right on par with Mao for the short, who landed the first 3A in an Olympic short, and one in combination at that. I believe Mirai had, what, a 3Lz-2t? Performance-wise, Mao was on and scintillating that night. The program and choreography was horrid, but she came alive and actually made that program look decent. I'd be in more agreement if you had her on equal plane or even higher for the LP. It's a shame Mirai's LP scored less than Mao's and Joannie's.

I'll look over the Olympic protocols before returning to this topic! Thanks for all the great threads. They're making off-season a little more interesting.

 

[jcoates]

Not to be harsh, but this is a bit ridiculous. Mirai's placement and scores were entirely correct and appropriate. She was very good, but she was still very much a little girl trying to be a woman in the delivery of her presentation. (I also think that's her biggest choreographic problem. All of her programs seem stuck in a weird undefined limbo between adolescence and adulthood. Just when you think she's made the transition, the perky little kid inside peeks back out again. She's never one or the other. That inconsistency bothers me and, I suspect, the judges a little as well. I hope she can overcome that this year.) In that context, she was technically very strong, but overall she was no more remarkable than any of the other very strong baby ballerinas who came before her. It's not like any of the skaters ahead of her totally bombed and were placed ahead anyway. Also, fans can dissect the protocols and completed rotations of the jumps and positions of the spins until the cows come home. Some things can not be reduced to numerical calculations. What Joannie achieved in Vancouver is one of the greatest sporting moments in my lifetime. I was not even a big fan of hers going into that event, but the maturity, focus and raw strength it took for her to hold herself together was beyond remarkable. For anyone who has lost a loved one, what she did was awe inspiring. The judges would have to be dead inside to not acknowledge that.

 

[kwanatic]

I think had the factors been different, ie. Joannie's mother's death not being an over-hanging issue and a more neutral skating venue (not Canada), the results may have been different or at least slightly closer.

I don't dispute the placements but I'm not naive enough to think that Joannie's tragic situation and being at home in Canada didn't factor into her scores somewhat. She was magnificent in the SP, true, but her LP was off; she had several missteps during the program and wasn't 100% clean. Mirai sold her program, her jumps were flawless, and her spins and spirals were better than Joannie's. Mirai beat Joannie in TES by about 3 points. However, Joannie's mature presentation is where she made up her ground; she outscored Mirai in PCS by nearly 8 points (way above her usual PCS but that applies to everyone, so...*shrugs*).

Like I said, I was fine with the placements. I was very happy for Joannie to receive bronze and thrilled that Mirai came in 4th. But did Joannie outskate Mirai in the LP? In my opinion, no, she did not...but that's just my opinion.

 

[Tinymavy15]

I agree that Mirai probably would have gotten the Bronze over Joannie who did not skate the best LP (but skated amazing under the circumstances).
I don't have a problem with the results as they stand, and I don't think Mirai or Frank do either. Where Mirai could have really stepped up her game was the next month at worlds where Yu-na bombed and Joannie didn't compete. With her 1st place SP she should have medaled. The judges supported her and she let them down.

 

[silverpond]

In addition to the points you make, I also think that as long as Joannie did well, no power on earth would have been able to slip ahead of her for the bronze. She was skating on home ice and was in a state of bereavement. And she was the best ladies' skater Canada had had for years. In fact, she did skate very well, and very expressively. Unless Mirai was miraculous, there simply wasn't room at the top for her.

I agree with you completely, Olympia. Joanne Rochette skated beautifully and with great passion, and it was a testament to her courage and maturity that she managed - for the time being - to put aside her grief at the loss of her mother and skate so well at the Olympics. She was skating on home ice, too, and the crowd absolutely wrapped their arms around her. She absolutely deserved her bronze medal, and it was a 'golden' moment, in my opinion.

Mirai Nagasu skated well, yet seemed disconnected with her music and did not make the "impact" that Joanne made.

 

[christinaskater]

I think all the energy and the focus was for the Olympics- I think Mirai's relative inexperience in the world scene was beneficial for her during the Olympics because she was definitely under the radar.

She suddenly felt the huge pressure on her shoulders during the Worlds- being the sudden leader in the SP! Had she been 2nd or 3rd in the short I guess things may have turned out differently like a silver or even gold medal during the 2010 Worlds!

 

[R.D.]

In addition to the points you make, I also think that as long as Joannie did well, no power on earth would have been able to slip ahead of her for the bronze. She was skating on home ice and was in a state of bereavement. And she was the best ladies' skater Canada had had for years. In fact, she did skate very well, and very expressively. Unless Mirai was miraculous, there simply wasn't room at the top for her.

Same here.

IMHO Nagasu was the one that truly deserved the bronze medal, but no way that was going to happen for reasons already listed above.

 

[fairly4]

personally, i think she was overscored. However i thought all skaters was overscored at the olympics. Mirai wasn't overscored since all was overscored.

she was scored correctly compared to all lady skaters. she wasn't overscored more than others . compared to the womens group she was scored correctly, but for me a tad high.

 

[doug_log]

Great thread. I always felt like she gave two medal worthy performances, but the other three girls were too good and there was no room on the podium. I feel the same way about Sasha Cohen at the 2002 Olympics. (Personally, I would have had Hughes, Cohen, Slutskaya, Kwan in that order.)

I think an equally interesting question is: Was Mirai underscored at 2010 worlds? I really really think she was. There is NO WAY that Lepisto was better than her in the LP. Absolutely no way. I really question the judging there. Anyone else agree?