XXI Olympic Winter Olympics Games Thread

[Jennasis]

Still makes NO sense that Johnny came in behind the canadian who fell and basically stunk up the ice and the guy with the busted skate.

 

[Belle Ella]

Why aren't they?

They want viewers, I guess. Anything on NBC is pretty much shown primetime except qualifying stuff in the afternoon.

I hate being west coast and having to wait hours to see the results I already know.

 

[shellabell]

Why aren't they?

Wish I knew. They won't get to the end of the figure skating for almost 3 hours (they haven't even started showing it yet). They pack everything in to prime time. I miss when they showed olympic events as they were happening.

 

[1957]

Plaid is the fashion-forward fabric. Snowboarders need room to maneuver, hence the baggy duds. I thought their uniforms were cool!

Another GOLD for the USA! Way to go, Evan! A 22-year curse broken!

 

[Ariel Wanna-be]

I'm really happy that Evan won, because I think he deserved it, he totally gave it his all...but I sorta feel bad for Pleshenko...he did really well too. Silver is nothing to sneeze at though.

I feel so bad for Johnny Wier!!! I can't see how he didn't get the bronze, but I guess I'm no skating judge.

And speaking of Johnny, I MUCH prefer his Pussycat Dolls costume from Tuesday over that stupid snake-around-the-neck thing that Evan was wearing tonight.

I'm sure all that gold will cover up those snakes though.

 

[Bay Hill]

Congrats to Frank, after coaching Michelle Kwan and others to see Evan get the gold.

Sounded like Scott and Sandra did not like Pleshenko's program.

Nice for Japan...DiceK to get the bronze.

The Russian Federation misses another gold medal...total of 4 medals into day 8.

 

[suejai]

Still makes NO sense that Johnny came in behind the canadian who fell and basically stunk up the ice and the guy with the busted skate.

Well I wouldn't say he stunk up the ice precisely. According to our announcers his performance scores or something made up for the falls. I did think Weir should have gotten higher marks though. The judges still seem to hold grudges against competitors that are a little different.

 

[DeluxePrincess]

Wow. I'm surprised to hear that west coast isn't watching the skating live. I didn't know you were all forced to stay up past midnight too.

Was so happy Evan won the gold. I'm glad I stayed up to see it. Johnny Weir should have finished at least 4th, but I guess the announcers were saying his routine was "easier" than the others. I just don't think that guy gets much love from the skating community.

 

[declansdad]

Still makes NO sense that Johnny came in behind the canadian who fell and basically stunk up the ice and the guy with the busted skate.

Patrick Chan didn't stink up the joint. He made one mistake, otherwise he had a fantastic skate.

 

[declansdad]

I hate that they aren't showing it live on the West Coast!

I don't get that. Last time I checked, the West Coast was all in the same time zone.

 

[wdwgirl03]

Woo hoo, go Evan!! I felt so bad for Johnny Weir though, I wanted him to get a medal.

And boy, what a difference between the men's and women's halfpipe! Watching the women was almost boring.

 

[agnes!]

The performance sports rankings seem to me to be based mostly on reputation, so yeah, if the judges just don't like Weir's style/personality/outfits then they will be very frugal with their points.

agnes!

 

[Jennasis]

Patrick Chan didn't stink up the joint. He made one mistake, otherwise he had a fantastic skate.

One mistake that should have cost him more. I HATE the new scoring system. I also felt it took him a long time to get his "mojo" back after the fall. His performance (in my uneducated opinion) was leaps and bounds above the 3rd and 4th place finishers.

Don't take it personally. I'm no figure skating expert. Just my opinion.

 

[joviroxx]

I'm really happy that Evan won, because I think he deserved it, he totally gave it his all...but I sorta feel bad for Pleshenko...he did really well too. Silver is nothing to sneeze at though.

I didn't feel bad for him.. He's a bit arrogant for me.. Especially after these two comments:

"An Olympic champion who doesn't know how to jump a quad, well I don't know.... it's not men's figure skating," he told reporters. "It's dancing."

and

“I was positive that I won,” Plushenko said after his performance. “But I guess Evan needed a medal more than I do.”

Evan does and has landed a quad, he just had a broken bone last year and decided not to risk anything, or that's what I understand. Congrats to him, it was a great program!

 

[jen0610]

While I agree that Weir got a lot lower score then he should have, I have to disagree that Evan's was worthy of gold. I tend to agree with Elvis Stojko in his article.

http://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/va...ws?slug=es-thoughts021810&prov=yhoo&type=lgns

I want to see the guys out there doing the big jumps. I like the big wow factor. But I do also like clean lines. I still dislike that the skaters don't have to do the figures of the old days. You may not have been great at them, but you had to be able to do them with a fair amount of skill. There are so many times you hear about skaters and their sloppy footwork and good footwork comes from hours of working on the figures.

I don't want artsy-fartsy from the guys, leave all the softness to the women. Guys, give me a routine that knocks my socks off. Someone needs to thrust out their chest and give us another D'Artagnan, because that was a knock your socks off routine.

 

[MUFFYCAT]

Is their a clip of Evban's video anywhere?

I thought he was better then Plushenko the other night, so I'm very happy to see he won the Gold!!

 

[MUFFYCAT]

And boy, what a difference between the men's and women's halfpipe! Watching the women was almost boring.

I was thinking the same. The men, especially Shawn jump and fly so high it's exciting to watch!

 

[DisneyBamaFan]

I didn't feel bad for him.. He's a bit arrogant for me.. Especially after these two comments:

"An Olympic champion who doesn't know how to jump a quad, well I don't know.... it's not men's figure skating," he told reporters. "It's dancing."

and

“I was positive that I won,” Plushenko said after his performance. “But I guess Evan needed a medal more than I do.”

Evan does and has landed a quad, he just had a broken bone last year and decided not to risk anything, or that's what I understand. Congrats to him, it was a great program!

I thought that Plushenko deserved the Gold, but his comments afterward make me indifferent to it. I can understand feeling disappointed, but those comments reek of arrogance, not disappointment...

 

[LJC1861]

As a former skater, I feel that the right man won last night. If it were "figure jumping" then Plushenko would have won. It is "figure skating" and the new scoring system takes all the moves in to account when the scoring is done. In the past, under the old system if you out jumped your competition you generally won. Under the new system ( which, by the way is FAR from perfect) the footwork sequences and spins are now looked with more scrutiny.

Plushenko's jumps WERE harder than Evan's, but if you look closely at the landings and the "run out" following each jump, Evan's were done cleaner and with more finesse. Plushenko does a lot of standing around, preening, and blowing kisses to the judges....almost 20 seconds worth if you time it all. In those 20 seconds Evan was SKATING and doing footwork.

If you look at arm movements, Plushenko flaps his arms a lot...which makes you look at his arms and not his feet during footwork sequences. Evan's arms were less distracting which makes his feet look better.

Evan's spins were much more centered than Plushenko's and he seemed to spin faster, all of which is now taken into consideration.

Although figures are no longer done in competition, the skaters who are moving up in the ranks now do something called "moves in the field" which combine footwork elements and pieces of the former figures. These were implemented to get up and coming skaters to focus more on footwork. Many of the footwork sequences used by the skaters incorporate these moves.

Now, the new scoring system is flawed in that it DOES put too much emphasis on packing a program full of stuff to get points. In a way the system designed to bring more artistry that can be measured and scored has taken it away. But, a well choreographed and constructed program like the ones we saw last night, that put emphasis on both the high scoring jumps the beautiful footwork and spins is beautiful to watch.

There has been much criticism of Evan not attempting a quad. A well done triple-triple combination scores more points than a poorly attempted and possibly not landed quad. If there is gold on the line, I just might play it on the safer side and go for what I know I can do well rather than risk not getting any points at all.

All in all, it was an amazing competition. Now on to Ice Dancing!!!

Linda

 

[declansdad]

I thought that Plushenko deserved the Gold, but his comments afterward make me indifferent to it. I can understand feeling disappointed, but those comments reek of arrogance, not disappointment...

He had bigger jumps but he struggled to land them. It certainly wasn't his best performance. The gold was won by the skater who performed the best last night.