Figure Skating Chat!- Page 7

[JLSatUD]

Posted: 1/15/06 at 12:18am

ahhh...I didn't THINK of that. It's so hard ... I can't understand how Michelle would be ready for TOrino since she's barely skated at all this year and has been injured for awhile. THey said as they signed off on ABC that they'd make the announcement on ESPN live as soon as they knew. DOes that mean the announcement is coming tonight for sure?

[CaTheatreGirl]

Posted: 1/15/06 at 2:32am

As a former figure skating judge, I knew it was a given that Michelle would be selected to be on the Olympic team given her status and long list of accomplishments. The U.S. wants to send their best and Michelle is one of them. Don't count her out. She's a tough competitor and is already back skating. It's very likely Michelle will not skate Worlds and Emily will get that nod. Good luck to her and the entire Olympic team.

[NYadgal]

Posted: 1/15/06 at 9:02am

They have made the announcement that Michelle Kwan will have a place on the Olympic team going to Torino.

[cturtle]

Posted: 1/15/06 at 10:27am

of course putting MICHELLE on the team was the right decision. her 4th place at 2005 worlds (although HER lowest placement in years) was the highest accomplishment in the last year of any of the US ladies, next to cohen. and her petition states that she will withdraw if the committee watches her skate at the end of january and decides that 1) she is not healthy enough, or 2) she does not have the content in her program necessary to be competitive.

and, of course, i'm absolutely thrilled that MATT is going to the olympics. SAVOIE! SAVOIE! HE'S OUR BOY!

[Glebb]

Posted: 1/15/06 at 10:33am

I adore Johnny but Savoie is the one who did it for me yesterday.

Yay Michelle!

[MTVMANN]

Posted: 1/15/06 at 12:23pm

Isn't this an Ironic turn of events.

At the 2002 Nationals, Michelle Kwan won the Gold and Sarah Hughes won the Bronze. At the 2002 Olympics, Sarah Ultimately won the Gold(and the free skate) and Michelle Won the Bronze. There is NO DOUBT(if not at first then at least before the 2006 Olympics)that Michelle would have retired if she won the gold.

At the 2006 National's Emily Hughes, Sarah's Sister, wins the Bronze Medal(the same medal her sister won 4 years earlier) and that would have normally qualified to the 2006 Olympic Team. However, she is bumped off the team in favor of the injured Michelle Kwan, who would not have been there had Emily's Sister Sarah not won the Olympic Gold 4 Years Earlier.

Bizarre!!!!!!

[cturtle]

Posted: 1/15/06 at 1:26pm

you make an interesting point, mtvmann. but i don't think michelle would have left eligible competition even if she had won gold her first (or perhaps even second) time around. she LOVES to compete and has never been very interested in skating as a professional.

it's also ironic that michelle knows exactly how emily feels ... michelle (bronze medalist at nationals) would have skated at the 94 olympics if nancy kerrigan had not been given a bye due to injury. the world of figure skating can be very ironic indeed!

[MTVMANN]

Posted: 1/15/06 at 2:01pm

Very True, and there also the point that Sarah would still be around had she won, say the bronze medal(which is all she was really hoping for after being 4th in the short program).

Michelle says she loves to compete and she does, but in Salt Lake there was the whole thing about not having a coach and that being a VERY difficult season for her, and with how little she competed at all these four years, I really think she would have retired after those Olympics(probably not even have gone to the World Championships).

And it is ironic that Michelle was the last skater to be bumped off the Olympic team by an injured competitor. There are some differences as Nancy Kerrigan was in her prime and Michelle isn't and that Nancy was attacked at Nationals but was forced to withdraw, whereas Michelle is injured and withdrew prior to the event. That's really besides the point, but Michelle must have been think that she probably couldn't qualify for the team unless she petioned.

Still she has invited official to watch her at the end of January, so I hope she gets better in time and has her program up-to-date. The last program I saw from her was at the 2005 WC and I don't that that program scored in the highest ratings.

[erikaamato]

Posted: 1/15/06 at 2:21pm

Michelle Kwan fully deserves to be on the Olympic team, and I am thrilled the committee made the right decision! =) And MTVMANN, I'm sure 99% of the top competitive sksters out there right now would give their eye teeth to ever be able to skate as well as Michelle does now ("not in her prime").

[MTVMANN]

Posted: 1/15/06 at 4:03pm

You are very right :)

[SweetQintheLights]

Posted: 1/15/06 at 4:46pm

I am watching figure skating now. I love how the audience claps when they do their flips and all those other cool things. I know from acting that when the audience claps and laughs, it gives so much more energy to the actor/skater.

[Garland Grrrl]

Posted: 1/15/06 at 4:55pm

i love sasha and have been waiting for her to win for YEARS. YEARS. however, skating folk always tell me scary stories about her and that is unsettling to me. maybe her strange/ aggressive behaviour was part of her lack of focus/confidence problem. lets hope she has grown out of it now.
and i just knew kimmie would do well. so happy for her. can't wait for the olympics.
did you see the article in the ny times sports section today about michelle's petition and how it's all about a graceful way out for her? i would like some reaction to this editorial from people with a better eye on the circumstances than mine.

[Glebb]

Posted: 1/15/06 at 5:03pm

Let's hope Sasha has grown out of that behavior.
She's got beautiful line, such potential.

Now what about this Caroline Zheng?
Can't wait to see her progress over the next few years.
Good stretch on that one.

[Jane2]

Posted: 1/15/06 at 5:05pm

I'd like to hear some opinions on Nancy Kerrigan (when she was competing). I never could get her. Please don't anyone take offense, I'm just wondering if I'm in a small minority. I never thought she was much of an interesting skater. She had very few skills. She always had to hold on to her leg in her "camel" is it? I forgot the name of that move. Everyone else can raise that leg withoug holding it.and seemed to simply skate around between jumps, yet everyone considered her to be great. anyone agree?

[touchmeinthemorning]

Posted: 1/15/06 at 5:05pm

While I'm happy Savioe is on the team...how did he not win? He is roughly 100 times more impressive to me in every way than any of the other guys.

I adore him. He needs to be my baby mama.

[Glebb]

Posted: 1/15/06 at 5:11pm

Savoie did not impress me today as he did last night.
Is he only an adagio skater?

I don't think Kerrigan was a major technician.
I'm sure others here can expound on this.
However I do remember that Nancy's competition was a monster named Tonya Harding. She was foul in every way.

[Garland Grrrl]

Posted: 1/15/06 at 5:15pm

i LOVED that tanya skated to that monster music from Jurassic Park without a hint of irony anywhere.

[Glebb]

Posted: 1/15/06 at 5:16pm

LOL.

[Broadway_Baby]

Posted: 1/15/06 at 5:19pm

*peeks head in*

Hello, darlings. Just here to let you fanatics know that "Hilton's Gymnastics and Skating Spectacular" is currently on TV.

Enjoy!

[MTVMANN]

Posted: 1/15/06 at 6:25pm

Jane2, The moves that your talking about are called spirals. There are some skaters like Sasha Cohen and Michelle Kwan who can do an impressive spiral w/o using their hands.

But at that time, Nancy's Spiral was the most impressive in the skating business and she really held it for a long time and place her hand over her heart:) So it was a special move to her program and the best spiral ever at that time and still ranks amoung the highest, IMO.

As for what made her so great, we she was capable of triple-triples and showed some creative expression on the ice.

This is another debate, but I believe that she should have won the 1994 Olympics over Oksana Bauil.

[MTVMANN]

Posted: 1/15/06 at 6:31pm

Did anyone see Tanith and Ben's exhibition? How fitting was that :)

[Jane2]

Posted: 1/15/06 at 6:36pm

thanks, MTVMANN. I agree, it's another debate over those olympics. Of course I was with Oksana. At that time, I had never seen such a graceful skater who could also do every jump flawlessly.

[MTVMANN]

Posted: 1/15/06 at 6:45pm

That's just the thing Oksana hardly did any jump flawlessly. Several of them were two-footed and shaky. In the end I think she ended up only 3 clean triples, while Nancy landed 5, including a triple toe-triple toe combination.

[Glebb]

Posted: 1/15/06 at 6:52pm

So what is your take on what happened MTVMANN?
Was it that Oksana was impossibly cute? I never fell for her act. I found her tacky, but she was an orphan and she was very balletic and charismatic.

Why did she win over Kerrigan?

[DottieD'Luscia]

Posted: 1/15/06 at 7:05pm

I never liked Oksana. I'll leave it at that.