Olympic pairs free skate (WARNING - SPOILERS)

[Sandy22]

OMG - was anyone else watching the pairs free skate?


I can't believe the Chinese skater who managed to pull herself together and complete her program. I was holding my breath through the entire program!

Now THAT'S Olympic spirit! Or a big fear of whatever repercussion Chinese athletes face when they don't perform up to par.

I hope she's not permanently injured from this.

 

[damo]

I was watching, Sandy. Wasn't that absolutely incredible? I can't believe that she could continue on, let alone continue on to skate a silver medal performance. I will certainly never forget that fall.

 

[DisneyStar006]

I was watching too, I felt for her so much, it would have been SO painful

She's such a trooper to go on though! And to get the silver medal, what an achievement

Or a big fear of whatever repercussion Chinese athletes face when they don't perform up to par.

I was thinking the same thing, but even if there were no repercussions, she probably wasn't ready to pour 4 years of work down the drain

Our commentator was saying that the olympic pairs competition never seems to be without drama....certainly seems to be true!!

 

[Deb in IA]

Haven't seen it yet, but read a description of her fall on the Internet.


I'm not surprised.


It's the concept of "saving face". To have quit, given up, gone home, would have been the ultimate in losing face.

The Chinese skater had no choice but to go back and give the performance of her life. It was the only way she could have "saved face".

 

[damo]

Haven't seen it yet, but read a description of her fall on the Internet.


I'm not surprised.


It's the concept of "saving face". To have quit, given up, gone home, would have been the ultimate in losing face.

The Chinese skater had no choice but to go back and give the performance of her life. It was the only way she could have "saved face".

Well, she saved face like no one has ever saved face before! Her partner must be so proud of her.

 

[missypie]

I agree that she showed remarkable courage. But a silver medal? The event exposed a big flaw in the new scoring system. Their only deduction for a spectacular fall and a 5 minute delay was a one point deduction...the same as if she had just fallen on her bottom and hopped up quickly. Is that really right?

Also, the rules allow only a 2 minute delay for technical problems. (Remember the Tanya Harding boot issue? She was only given 2 minutes to fix it). There apparently isn't a rule for injury issues. They had a 5 minute delay.

Just think about it. Let's say I'm skating beautifully but I get tired. Would I be allowed to stop and catch my breath for two minutes and not have any deductions?

 

[palmtreegirl]

It was amazing! But then again she's given up so much for skating, they said she hasn't been home for more then 1-2 weeks at a time since she was 13 years old. After all that she wasn't leaving without completely her program and they skated beautifully!

 

[SunshineOR]

I love the Olympic spirit and admire her for getting back out there and completing her performance, but I thought they did look a little shaky and I wasn't WOWed by the performance. Somehow it seems the new scoring system hasn't really solved the problems from previously. It seemed still like it's very subjective and it doesn't matter if you skate the best performance, someone for some other reason can still medal. It still seems a little unfair and much as she has sacrificed, I'm sure many of the other skaters have similar stories and they didn't fall and performed better and are going home without a medal. Other skaters had big moves that they knew weren't ready so they played it safer so they wouldn't fall and put on the most polished program they could. Also, what does this mean for the future? We'll constantly have skaters attempting big moves they're not ready for and we'll have these waits in the middle of programs after they don't make it? They took a risk and they weren't successful--imo they shouldn't have received a medal and I agree that there should be a different deduction for someone who barely falls and hops back up as opposed to this. I feel for her and her big opportunity, but it's not fair to the others who make it successfully or just fall and keep going.

I don't know much about figure skating, but I'm finding I probably liked the old system better. I don't like all the emphasis on constantly raising the bar on jumps, lifts and throws. I like those fine, but what really impresses me in a program is when it's beautiful musicality and artistry. Some of these programs they weren't with the music or anything, just going from move to move trying to beef up their score with "tricks".

 

[swea_pea1]

I thought she did a spectacular job after that fall. A well-deserved medal!

 

[theSurlyMermaid]

I agree that she showed remarkable courage. But a silver medal? The event exposed a big flaw in the new scoring system. Their only deduction for a spectacular fall and a 5 minute delay was a one point deduction...the same as if she had just fallen on her bottom and hopped up quickly. Is that really right?

Also, the rules allow only a 2 minute delay for technical problems. (Remember the Tanya Harding boot issue? She was only given 2 minutes to fix it). There apparently isn't a rule for injury issues. They had a 5 minute delay.

Just think about it. Let's say I'm skating beautifully but I get tired. Would I be allowed to stop and catch my breath for two minutes and not have any deductions?

100% agree. She was gutsy and courageous and all that, but the SILVER medal? Really? They didn't even skate cleanly after the fall. This new scoring system is absolutely terrible. Besides the things you pointed out, I notice some serious inflating going on. But now it can be done anonymously! Imagine that!

 

[Stacerita]

100% agree. She was gutsy and courageous and all that, but the SILVER medal? Really? They didn't even skate cleanly after the fall. This new scoring system is absolutely terrible. Besides the things you pointed out, I notice some serious inflating going on. But now it can be done anonymously! Imagine that!

In an effort to fix the system they made it worst. They didn't fix anything, they just changed it. Same probs still exist.

And no way did they deserve the silver.

 

[declansdad]

100% agree. She was gutsy and courageous and all that, but the SILVER medal? Really? They didn't even skate cleanly after the fall. This new scoring system is absolutely terrible. Besides the things you pointed out, I notice some serious inflating going on. But now it can be done anonymously! Imagine that!

It is my understanding the judges can no longer inflate their scores and the judges are constantly being judges themselves.

I think their performance before and after the fall was great. As for the delay, she didn't even leave the ice and it didn't seem like 5 minutes to me. I'm certainly no expert but I didn't see any major flaws thoughout the rest of their program.

 

[theSurlyMermaid]

It is my understanding the judges can no longer inflate their scores and the judges are constantly being judges themselves.

I think their performance before and after the fall was great. As for the delay, she didn't even leave the ice and it didn't seem like 5 minutes to me. I'm certainly no expert but I didn't see any major flaws thoughout the rest of their program.

And I disagree. With the score they gave the Russians yesterday, it would have been almost impossible for anyone to catch them. Were they really THAT much better than anyone else? I don't think so....in fact, they had to be the worst, most bland Russian pair I've ever seen in all my years of watching skating. Not to mention their lifts are NOT great. But to look at their scores...well, there was no suspense. No one was gonna catch them.

Same with tonight's men's short program. Plushenko's score was a 90. People thought that would be unheard of...but now it is impossible for anyone else to win unless Plushenko falls about three times and someone else skates his head off. And while he is a great jumper, he got inflated scores for this fancy footwork which was not that fancy...all he does is spazz out and wave his arms around to make it LOOK like he's doing more difficult footwork than he is.

But then, he's Russian. It's all about pedigree. You watch, Irina Slutskaya will receive ridiculous scores for leaping around the ice like a mack truck in sequins. Skating has never been in worse trouble, as far as I'm concerned.

 

[declansdad]

And I disagree. With the score they gave the Russians yesterday, it would have been almost impossible for anyone to catch them. Were they really THAT much better than anyone else? I don't think so....in fact, they had to be the worst, most bland Russian pair I've ever seen in all my years of watching skating. Not to mention their lifts are NOT great. But to look at their scores...well, there was no suspense. No one was gonna catch them.

Same with tonight's men's short program. Plushenko's score was a 90. People thought that would be unheard of...but now it is impossible for anyone else to win unless Plushenko falls about three times and someone else skates his head off. And while he is a great jumper, he got inflated scores for this fancy footwork which was not that fancy...all he does is spazz out and wave his arms around to make it LOOK like he's doing more difficult footwork than he is.

But then, he's Russian. It's all about pedigree. You watch, Irina Slutskaya will receive ridiculous scores for leaping around the ice like a mack truck in sequins. Skating has never been in worse trouble, as far as I'm concerned.

You may be right but the way the new system was explained on CBC it seems much more difficult to automatically give higher scores to the better known skaters. The way I understood it was that each element has a maximum amount of points the can be awarded and that messing up one element or falling wouldn't necessarily mean you still won't score well.

As to the Chinese couple, the CBC announcers stated that with the program they planned, they would win the gold if they were error free. Sorry I try not to watch the broadcast on NBC so I'm not sure what they said.

 

[minkydog]

I agree that she showed remarkable courage. But a silver medal? The event exposed a big flaw in the new scoring system. Their only deduction for a spectacular fall and a 5 minute delay was a one point deduction...the same as if she had just fallen on her bottom and hopped up quickly. Is that really right?

Also, the rules allow only a 2 minute delay for technical problems. (Remember the Tanya Harding boot issue? She was only given 2 minutes to fix it). There apparently isn't a rule for injury issues. They had a 5 minute delay.

Just think about it. Let's say I'm skating beautifully but I get tired. Would I be allowed to stop and catch my breath for two minutes and not have any deductions?

Well, I was impressed with her. I took a bad fall to both knees last summer and nearly drowned because I fell in water and was hurt so bad I couldn't stand up right away. Yowsa! I couldn't believe this skater could not only get up, but after only a 5minute delay was able to finish her routine and crowned second best skater in that competition! My knees applaud this girl

 

[SunshineOR]

I am with you, Surleymermaid. I thought Plushenko looked crazy and out of control and I wasn't impressed with his choreography other than the nice jumps. With each stage of figure skating I watch, I am more convinced that the new scoring program hasn't improved anything at all. I see skaters who do ho-hum routines winning medals, and skaters who skate their hearts out and have beautiful programs being left behind. I was hoping for something better this Olympics!

 

[theSurlyMermaid]

You may be right but the way the new system was explained on CBC it seems much more difficult to automatically give higher scores to the better known skaters. The way I understood it was that each element has a maximum amount of points the can be awarded and that messing up one element or falling wouldn't necessarily mean you still won't score well.

As to the Chinese couple, the CBC announcers stated that with the program they planned, they would win the gold if they were error free. Sorry I try not to watch the broadcast on NBC so I'm not sure what they said.

Well, you are totally right because in theory this new system sounds very good. But in practice, I'm already seeing major problems. Let's take one element in the mens' short program....the triple Axel...both Weir and Plushenko performed them cleanly, but Johnny's was, in the opinion of many, the best performed Axel of night, style-wise. But Plushenko's Axel received higher scores despite the fact that when he lands his jumps he sort of pitches forward. I can't figure out how on earth his Axel was rated higher than Weir's other than the fact that his last name is Plushenko.

However, in the men's competition, my griping is sort of moot. Plushenko is the best skater, easily the most proficient jumper and deserves to win. I'm just not sure he deserves to do so by such a suspense-killing, ridiculous margin. There's hardly any point in watching anymore.

As for the CHinese couple, I just don't agree that such a long disruption in the program basically cost them nothing (it is HIGHLY unlikely they would have landed that crazy jump anyway). I'm sure a perfectly skated program would have had to get them gold only because of the historic quad salchow. But are they basically saying that teams need to make history to have a chance to dethrone a bland Russian team? They (the russians) were not that much better than everyone else...they just weren't. They skated mechanically and received extremely high scores. I just think this new system has many kinks that need to be worked out.

 

[declansdad]

Well, you are totally right because in theory this new system sounds very good. But in practice, I'm already seeing major problems. Let's take one element in the mens' short program....the triple Axel...both Weir and Plushenko performed them cleanly, but Johnny's was, in the opinion of many, the best performed Axel of night, style-wise. But Plushenko's Axel received higher scores despite the fact that when he lands his jumps he sort of pitches forward. I can't figure out how on earth his Axel was rated higher than Weir's other than the fact that his last name is Plushenko.

However, in the men's competition, my griping is sort of moot. Plushenko is the best skater, easily the most proficient jumper and deserves to win. I'm just not sure he deserves to do so by such a suspense-killing, ridiculous margin. There's hardly any point in watching anymore.

As for the CHinese couple, I just don't agree that such a long disruption in the program basically cost them nothing (it is HIGHLY unlikely they would have landed that crazy jump anyway). I'm sure a perfectly skated program would have had to get them gold only because of the historic quad salchow. But are they basically saying that teams need to make history to have a chance to dethrone a bland Russian team? They (the russians) were not that much better than everyone else...they just weren't. They skated mechanically and received extremely high scores. I just think this new system has many kinks that need to be worked out.

I'll take your word on the men's program as I didn't see it but I have read reports that said Weir two-footed his landing on the triple. If it is true, that could have made some of the difference.

I don't agree with you that it was highly unlikely that the Chinese couple would have landed the jump. It was a planned element and why would they have put it in if they couldn't land it.

 

[theSurlyMermaid]

I'll take your word on the men's program as I didn't see it but I have read reports that said Weir two-footed his landing on the triple. If it is true, that could have made some of the difference.

I don't agree with you that it was highly unlikely that the Chinese couple would have landed the jump. It was a planned element and why would they have put it in if they couldn't land it.

Wow...really? It sure didn't look that way to me, but two-foots can sometimes be hard to see. If that's the case, then it makes sense that he would be scored lower.

I had not heard that however!

As for the quad, well, there is a reason it has never ever been done in competition before. They may land it in practice, but the fact is, it's a totally different ball of wax in competition, especially the Olympics. I admire them for going for it, but it would have been insane if they had managed to land it.

I mean, Brian Boitano could do a quad well before Kurt Browning, but never managed to pull it off in competition. With the crazy pressure of the Olympics, plus the obvious ambition of the Chinese with pairs skating, I'm not surprised they put it in. I would have been shocked had they landed it however.

 

[declansdad]

I mean, Brian Boitano could do a quad well before Kurt Browning, but never managed to pull it off in competition. With the crazy pressure of the Olympics, plus the obvious ambition of the Chinese with pairs skating, I'm not surprised they put it in. I would have been shocked had they landed it however.

It was fun to watch them try but I was amazed she even skated off the ice. From the original angle it looked liked she came down in a complete splits position. I was thinking that she would have done major damage to her groin (can ladies tear a groin muscle, I don't think I have ever heard of it hapening).