Figure Skating Chat!- Page 29

[pattifan2]

Posted: 2/23/06 at 5:20pm

I'll bet it was Chris Dean. The programme was terrific to watch.

[pndmnd]

Posted: 2/23/06 at 5:50pm

Darn AOL!!! For the past two weeks I've known the scores when I started watching the events in the evening, but tonight I was trying not to find out (and doing quite well at it). Then I opened up AOL, and on their front page they have, not the scores, but a spoiler. It's like when Bode Miller was DQ'd, and they announced it on the NBC news. Then they said, we're now going to show you the results from today's events, so turn away if you don't want to see. Well, you could turn away from the results, but you already knew Bode didn't win! Oooh, I'm so mad at AOL!

[robbiej]

Posted: 2/23/06 at 6:03pm

It's on the NY Times homepage as well.

I, however, need to know the results, otherwise I might hemorrhage from the excitement.

[JLSatUD]

Posted: 2/23/06 at 6:41pm

Our local news in Baltimore at least gave warning to turn away before they gave the results in case we didn't want to know!

[MTVMANN]

Posted: 2/24/06 at 12:27am

Well it's official!

Let me first say, I felt Irina Slutskaya's tears! All she had to do was stay on her feet and she could have won gold. She didn't need the 3-3 combinations. I REALLY REALLY wanted it for her! She should have atleast gotten the silver. However, ironic situation that compares her to Michelle Kwan. Both finished 2nd at the WC and then went on to finish 2nd at the Olympics. Then they finish 1st at the WC and go on to finish 3rd at the Olympics.

Poor Sasha! That was not a good warm-up at all and you could just tell going in to the program that it just wasn't to be. Very Sad. However, IMO she fell twice and was only deducted for 1 fall......Do they not consider the fall on the flip a "fall"? Honestly, I think would have given her bronze and Slutskaya silver. Sad that the United States will not welcome the 8th woman to their gold medal family, but atleast she has something to show for it.

Shizuka! I remember at the 2002 Four Continents Championships and watching her and knowing that she wasn't on the Olympic team and wondering why. This program won her the 2004 WC and the 2006 Olympics! She had the best warm-up too. She didn't do all that she could have done, that is for sure, but I guess it didn't matter. She looked great in that dress!

Fumie! Too bad for her, but she did move up one spot! I think if you just took her scores from the LP she should have been in the top 3. At least she did move up a spot from the last Olympics.

This makes you think what it takes to be the Olympic Champion and how many good skaters are not them and other skaters who are Olympic Champions are not as good as others.

Indeed, when it was all said and done, none of those top ladies did 3-3 and it makes you wonder what Michelle Kwan would have done. Her programs were now ready for the new COP and she even had some jumps after the halfway point. She can also deal with nerves better than any other skater out there. With how things went down, I must say that THIS WAS KWANS TITLE! She WOULD HAVE WON! All she really had to do was one of the, almost stock for her, clean performances at Nationals. She wouldn't need any 3-3's. What could have been?

[DottieD'Luscia]

Posted: 2/24/06 at 12:33am

MTVMANN, I totally agree with you about Michelle. I said the exact same thing, that she would have done well with the scoring system here (and she didn't fall twice in her long programs). I'm happy with the results.

[VIETgrlTerifa]

Posted: 2/24/06 at 1:52am

I'm really happy with the results, but I felt the choreography in the LP was really mechanical and blah for the most part, thanks to COP. It wasn't too great in SLC either though, so Torino was an improvement there.

I love that Shizuka Arakawa won. She's a mix of Irina's athleticism and Cohen's flexibility. She also has killer basic skating skills. However, her OGM winning performance wasn't that great in terms of OGM performances go.

Sasha...well, I knew it was going to happen after the warmup. However, at least she fought back at the end rather than melting down.

Irina was bad all around I thought. Her jumps weren't there and she couldnt' have been more disconnected to her music, and she was still overmarked in the PCS.

Fumie Suguri, technically I could see her placement if you go by COP, but she was so robbed in that LP. Her choreography is sorta a mess though despite her SP choreography being great. She opened the door and you can't do that when the judges don't mind robbing you.

I'm too tired to talk about the rest, but THANK YOU Shizuka for skating cleanly and beautifully.

Makes me wish Kwan was healthy though because she so could've won this.

I love Miki Ando's programs, but she got so bad in terms of performance. She regressed a lot since Japanese Nationals in December and seemed to not even care about her movement or choreography despite having great choroegraphy. Somewhere in Japan, Yukari Nakano and Yoshie Onda are laughing at the Japanese Federation for choosing Ando over them despite Ando placing below them at Japanaese Nats.

[cturtle]

Posted: 2/24/06 at 1:52am

ARAKAWA was gorgeous SLUTSKAYA has nothing to hang her head about. and SASHA did not give up and kept beautiful composure. quite an evening of figure skating! and DAVID PELTIER was the ONLY commentator to call the winner :o

btw, figure skating fans ... i'm working on a VIDEO SALUTE to the olympic figure skating. hopefully i will have it done in a few days for all to see. you BROADWAY people are going to love it

Updated On: 2/24/06 at 01:52 AM

[cserannie]

Posted: 2/24/06 at 1:55am

I wathced the women figure skating yesterday and I was pleased with the result. Finally won someone who deserved it...didn't fall it was just perfect..

oh, and one more thing I especially liked the performance of the little Hughes sister (sorry I forgot her firstname). It was a pure joy to watch her skating...that face all the time...she just loved being there and give a wonderful performance to the audience and to the judges. She was great.

[touchmeinthemorning]

Posted: 2/24/06 at 8:19am

What will happen to this thread now that the Olympics are over?!

Oh wait, worlds are in a few short weeks!!

[NYadgal]

Posted: 2/24/06 at 8:26am

cturtle - that video sounds wonderful!

[miss pennywise]

Posted: 2/24/06 at 9:03am

Cturtle, I want one! I want one!


Miss Pennywise

Updated On: 2/24/06 at 09:03 AM

[Kitzarina]

Posted: 2/24/06 at 9:19am

Just promise me you won't make it to the tune of "For Good," cturtle. That's All I Ask of You.

[DottieD'Luscia]

Posted: 2/24/06 at 9:52am

Some thoughts:

If Irina thought she should have won the gold in Salt Lake City, I'm just wondering what's going through her head now?

Who selects the music some of the skater's are skating to? A lot of the choices were uninspiring. How I loved Paul Wylie's music to his LP in '92. Michelle's music to both her short and long programs in '98.

When Sasha fell last night, you could feel the air being sucked out of the arena.

Irina gave a very nice interview this morning on the Today show, but I would have preferred that Katie interview her instead of Matt. Sometimes he comes off a little harsh.

The American's have a lot of depth with our ladies and I look forward to see how both Kimmie and Emily develope these next couple of years.

One final thought (at least for now): I really hope Michelle returns for one last season since she didn't get to compete this year.

[cturtle]

Posted: 2/24/06 at 10:14am

i would also LOVE to see MICHELLE continue to compete.

KITZ, i'm going to use as many WICKED tunes as are appropriate. so FOR GOOD will prolly be in there too. but you can just turn the volume down on that part

[touchmeinthemorning]

Posted: 2/24/06 at 10:49am

What is the possibility of Michelle competing at world's this season?

[robbiej]

Posted: 2/24/06 at 10:57am

I have to agree that had Kwan been in competing shape, she would have won the medal. The pressure as the 'favorite' was off her this year and she didn't need a 3-3. And let's face it...NO ONE'S artistry begins to compare, save Cohen.

I have to say, Cohen pulled that program out in the end. After the two falls, she dug in and pulled out an emotionally invigorating performance. Stunning...Dick Button called it right. He'd accept the price of the two falls for the artistry of the rest of the program.

Because I think Slutskaya lacks any sort of cohesion in her programs, she simply had to hit every jump. When she didn't, the cracks in the rest of her program were glaring.

[DottieD'Luscia]

Posted: 2/24/06 at 10:57am

Michelle wasn't named to the world team, just the Olympics, which means that Emily will be going to World's as well.

[Kitzarina]

Posted: 2/24/06 at 11:03am

I'll just watch on my computer at work so I don't have to suffer the pain of bleeding ears. Any Wicked is too much

[sanda]

Posted: 2/24/06 at 11:24am

When I saw Sasha on ice, I knew that she would fall again. This always happened in her past competetions. No one can beat her but herself. I felt kind of sad because I always root for her even though she let me down again and again.

Congradulations to Arakawa. She deserved the gold.




Updated On: 2/24/06 at 11:24 AM

[DottieD'Luscia]

Posted: 2/24/06 at 12:01pm

A journalist from the NY Times wrote an excellent recap of last nights women's competition. He really hit the nail on the head with that article.

[sanda]

Posted: 2/24/06 at 12:09pm

could you post it? I cannot read their column.

[DottieD'Luscia]

Posted: 2/24/06 at 12:12pm

I will try to post a link.

[DottieD'Luscia]

Posted: 2/24/06 at 12:17pm

Here goes. My apologies if we're not allowed to post articles in their entirety. I'll delete if necessary.

A Night of Nerves Is Settled on a Turn of Elegance
By LYNN ZINSER (NY Times)

TURIN, Italy, Feb. 23 — The biggest prize of the Olympics went to the figure skater who carried her burden lightest of all. The American Sasha Cohen could not manage her demons, fell on her first jump and ended up stunned to take home even a silver medal. Irina Slutskaya of Russia, crushed to have fallen and ruined her opportunity, threw her bronze medal in a locker.
It was only Japan's Shizuka Arakawa who did not struggle, despite being counted on to win her country's first medal at these Olympics, and she gently plucked the gold from their grasp Thursday night.

Although Arakawa skated an elegant program, one filled with spectacular spirals, to Puccini's "Violin Fantasy of Turandot," it was not the transcendent gold medal performance the Olympics often produces. So, ultimately, this competition will be remembered as much for who did not grab the gold medal as for who did.

Cohen, the 21-year-old top American hope, had her confidence escape her at the moment she needed it most. Having fallen twice in her warm-up, she took the ice slowly and with a petrified look. She fell on her first jump, the gold medal slipping away as her skates sailed out from under her.

"I was kind of in shock," she said. "It was difficult. I was in a good place and I didn't feel nervous, but physically I just couldn't execute when I needed to."

Cohen, who had skated magnificently to win the short program by three-hundredths of a point over Slutskaya on Tuesday night, smiled bravely at the end. When she left the ice, she took off her red velvet skating dress, not expecting to be summoned back for a medal ceremony. But as the skaters following her faltered, Cohen was told she had salvaged a silver.

"I'm really excited," Cohen said after she found out. "I think it was a gift."

Slutskaya did not take her fate quite so well. The Russians had already won the first three figure skating gold medals at these games — the pairs, men's and dance — and Slutskaya could have completed the sweep.

Slutskaya had lost narrowly to the American Sarah Hughes at the 2002 Games in Salt Lake City, a contentious result that was protested by the Russian federation, which cited "unobjective judging." On Thursday, Slutskaya had the added burden of skating last and was breathing hard as she took the ice.
At 27, she knew this was her last Olympic chance. She started cautiously, wobbled on some moves and then fell on a triple loop, a jump she said she can do almost automatically.
"Of course I am disappointed," she said. "That jump, it is exhibition. It is no problem for me. But it is competition. It is life."

But while Slutskaya said at her news conference that she was happy with a bronze, she was not wearing it. After the medal ceremony, she stalked into the dressing room and threw her medal aside. Mikhail Kusnirovich, a close friend, said she was sobbing. Kusnirovich, the deputy chef de mission of the Russian Olympic delegation, put the medal in his pocket.

Later, Slutskaya left the Palavela arena crying, surrounded by family and friends.

The only uncomplicated happiness found here was from Arakawa, a 24-year-old former world champion who had retired from the sport after her world title in 2004.

"I can't find the words for this," she said through an interpreter.

As each skater after Arakawa failed to top her score, cameras showed her smiling and laughing with her coaches backstage.
"There was no unbelievable performance," said Hughes, who was here watching her sister Emily. "No one skated the performance of their life. It was a more subdued final. But every Olympics can't have that one amazing night."

But that is what figure skating fans have come to expect. Sarah Hughes's spectacular, seven-triple-jump performance lifted her from fourth to first. In 1998, Tara Lipinski dazzled the crowd with a near-perfect skate that snatched a gold from the favorite Michelle Kwan.

Arakawa did skate cleanly but downgraded two planned triple-triple jump combinations to triple-doubles. She also doubled another solo triple later in her program. But she did not fall — which nearly all of her pursuers did — and she won over the judges with seemingly effortless spins and spirals that were clearly ahead of the field.

And she did not seem nervous, which may have been her biggest accomplishment. "She expected to win the first medal for Japan," Arakawa's interpreter said, paraphrasing her answer. "She didn't feel any pressure."

Arakawa also did not have to battle perhaps her toughest competitor, Mao Asada, who is Japan's top skater but, at 15, was a few months too young to compete in the Olympics.

Cohen, however, has battled the pressure of the big moment her whole career, and her nerves have had a terrible habit of failing her. In her first Olympics, in 2002, she had also skated beautifully in the short program but was visibly nervous to start the long and fell early. She fought through her disappointment to finish fourth.

This time, with Kwan having withdrawn from what would have been her final Olympics, Cohen had a chance to skate out from her shadow and grab the spotlight for herself. Still, she seemed relatively at peace with what had happened.

"I have learned it's not about the medal," Cohen said, holding up her silver. "All my other medals, I don't even know where they are. They are in shoeboxes somewhere. This is very nice. I'm sure my friends and family will want to see it back home, but to me, it's just another medal."

Cohen said she savors the performance, enjoys enchanting a crowd, and her feelings about these Olympics will always be bittersweet. She fought through her disappointment and performed as best as she could. But she also fell, just like at the last Olympics.

Slutskaya could also be having flashbacks to Salt Lake City, when she also skated last and had a chance to upstage Sarah Hughes. Instead, she lost her nerve, bobbled her jumps and rushed through her program.

"I am happy I got a medal," Slutskaya insisted. "Other girls, they come here and finish 18th or 20th and they have nothing."
But those skaters also do not face the pressure of a gold medal that dangles just out of reach.

Juliet Macur contributed reporting for this article.

[sanda]

Posted: 2/24/06 at 12:23pm

Oh, I can read this. Thank you still.

To me, Lulu's "Butterfly Lover" is more memorable than Lipinski's. So it's all subjective.

Before the competetion, I really had the feeling that Japanese might win. And I am surprised that people talked about her winning as a "surprise". If last year's world champion's an underdog, I don't think I can understand this word anymore. Anyway, Sasha's still my favorite after Kwan. But maybe she will only be a short program Champion.