Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:^^ DP, but I thought they were still allowed two changes, but optional. Was it actually required in the past? Hopefully ROC’s decision to use Valeiva in both doesn’t backfire- I remember Lipitnitskya just not being the same in the ladies competition after rocking it in the team event in Sochi. Although Valeiva is obviously a much better skater and there’s a decent break before the ladies comp begins.

Well, the Russian weapon is that they have a stable of talent. If Valieva falters, her two teammates can step into her shoes (although I would honestly hate it if Trusova wins; sweet kid but not a complete skater). TeamTutberidze brought their A-listers. If you think about it, it's pretty fantastic that they are ALL coached by the same woman.

I know, but Valieva is just So Good and I want to see her win individual gold.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Michelle Kwan - her skating was so gorgeous it made me cry. It makes me so sad that she never got her olympic gold. But even she could be beaten on any given night.

She is one of the greatest (and a new mom, congratulations!)

Yes, even with her famous mental toughness, she said Olympics were just a completely different ballgame in terms of the level of stress and tension.

Yes, like discussed above about the Russians these days, Kwan had the bad luck to run into 15-year-olds suddenly eligible for the Olympics who out-jumped her in 1998 and 2002. I always think that, if she hadn’t pulled out of the 2006 Olympics at the last minute with an injury, THAT was the Olympics Kwan could have won. No young phenom to jump over her to the top. Young Mao Asada, technically brilliant at the time, was a tad too young to be eligible for those Olympics.

+1 ITA When I saw the number and type of clean jumps Arakawa (5 triples and no triple-triple) made to win gold, I knew it. Oh well. It was another time.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:^^ DP, but I thought they were still allowed two changes, but optional. Was it actually required in the past? Hopefully ROC’s decision to use Valeiva in both doesn’t backfire- I remember Lipitnitskya just not being the same in the ladies competition after rocking it in the team event in Sochi. Although Valeiva is obviously a much better skater and there’s a decent break before the ladies comp begins.

Well, the Russian weapon is that they have a stable of talent. If Valieva falters, her two teammates can step into her shoes (although I would honestly hate it if Trusova wins; sweet kid but not a complete skater). TeamTutberidze brought their A-listers. If you think about it, it's pretty fantastic that they are ALL coached by the same woman.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Who’s excited for Nathan Chen tonight? I’ve gotta say - I’m nervous FOR him.

I'm more nervous about him clearing COVID tests at this point.

+1 I was just thinking the same thing. Fingers crossed.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Who’s excited for Nathan Chen tonight? I’ve gotta say - I’m nervous FOR him.

I'm more nervous about him clearing COVID tests at this point.

Anonymous wrote:Who’s excited for Nathan Chen tonight? I’ve gotta say - I’m nervous FOR him.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:^^ DP, but I thought they were still allowed two changes, but optional. Was it actually required in the past? Hopefully ROC’s decision to use Valeiva in both doesn’t backfire- I remember Lipitnitskya just not being the same in the ladies competition after rocking it in the team event in Sochi. Although Valeiva is obviously a much better skater and there’s a decent break before the ladies comp begins.

I think they wanted to let her be the first woman to land a quad at the Olympics, but they could have just kept her quad in the short and let one of the other ladies to the long. Strategically, it didn't make sense to play her twice, since all three Russian skaters are expected to sweep the podium, and all could have taken the free skate. Plus, they had more than enough margin to lose the FS and still win gold. I also think it was a mistake not to sub for Ice Dance, since the male is recovering from a back injury, and now podium favorites are going into the individual competition after being beaten by both American teams. Russia will still dominate all of the events, but I find their team strategy to be curious, since they had plenty of talent to distribute the competition load.

Quad jumps are not allowed in the ladies short program.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Michelle Kwan - her skating was so gorgeous it made me cry. It makes me so sad that she never got her olympic gold. But even she could be beaten on any given night.

She is one of the greatest (and a new mom, congratulations!)

Yes, even with her famous mental toughness, she said Olympics were just a completely different ballgame in terms of the level of stress and tension.

Yes, like discussed above about the Russians these days, Kwan had the bad luck to run into 15-year-olds suddenly eligible for the Olympics who out-jumped her in 1998 and 2002. I always think that, if she hadn’t pulled out of the 2006 Olympics at the last minute with an injury, THAT was the Olympics Kwan could have won. No young phenom to jump over her to the top. Young Mao Asada, technically brilliant at the time, was a tad too young to be eligible for those Olympics.

+1 ITA When I saw the number and type of clean jumps Arakawa (5 triples and no triple-triple) made to win gold, I knew it. Oh well. It was another time.

I often think that it wasn’t just the pairs scandal that brought about the new judging system after 2002. Sarah Hughes, who really was on fire in the free skate would never have won if there wasn’t the old ranking system.

I think this is silly because if Sarah Hughes (and anyone else) was training under the new system, she would have trained completely differently.

Funny enough, under the new system the Russian pair in SLC would have won hands down. The difference in the degree of sophistication and choreography in both programs was just too stunning.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:^^ DP, but I thought they were still allowed two changes, but optional. Was it actually required in the past? Hopefully ROC’s decision to use Valeiva in both doesn’t backfire- I remember Lipitnitskya just not being the same in the ladies competition after rocking it in the team event in Sochi. Although Valeiva is obviously a much better skater and there’s a decent break before the ladies comp begins.

I think they wanted to let her be the first woman to land a quad at the Olympics, but they could have just kept her quad in the short and let one of the other ladies to the long. Strategically, it didn't make sense to play her twice, since all three Russian skaters are expected to sweep the podium, and all could have taken the free skate. Plus, they had more than enough margin to lose the FS and still win gold. I also think it was a mistake not to sub for Ice Dance, since the male is recovering from a back injury, and now podium favorites are going into the individual competition after being beaten by both American teams. Russia will still dominate all of the events, but I find their team strategy to be curious, since they had plenty of talent to distribute the competition load.

Anonymous wrote:I remember her announcement - I think I saw it live because I was hugely pregnant at the time and not really sleeping well. I cried with her.

To be fair, though, Sarah Hughes absolutely positively KILLED it in her 2002 free skate. It still gives me chills to think about it. It was crushing what it meant for Kwan (because we were still doing that weird ordinal system), but there was no doubt that Sarah won the night.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Michelle Kwan - her skating was so gorgeous it made me cry. It makes me so sad that she never got her olympic gold. But even she could be beaten on any given night.

She is one of the greatest (and a new mom, congratulations!)

Yes, even with her famous mental toughness, she said Olympics were just a completely different ballgame in terms of the level of stress and tension.

Yes, like discussed above about the Russians these days, Kwan had the bad luck to run into 15-year-olds suddenly eligible for the Olympics who out-jumped her in 1998 and 2002. I always think that, if she hadn’t pulled out of the 2006 Olympics at the last minute with an injury, THAT was the Olympics Kwan could have won. No young phenom to jump over her to the top. Young Mao Asada, technically brilliant at the time, was a tad too young to be eligible for those Olympics.

+1 ITA When I saw the number and type of clean jumps Arakawa (5 triples and no triple-triple) made to win gold, I knew it. Oh well. It was another time.

I often think that it wasn’t just the pairs scandal that brought about the new judging system after 2002. Sarah Hughes, who really was on fire in the free skate would never have won if there wasn’t the old ranking system.

Anonymous wrote:I remember her announcement - I think I saw it live because I was hugely pregnant at the time and not really sleeping well. I cried with her.

To be fair, though, Sarah Hughes absolutely positively KILLED it in her 2002 free skate. It still gives me chills to think about it. It was crushing what it meant for Kwan (because we were still doing that weird ordinal system), but there was no doubt that Sarah won the night.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Michelle Kwan - her skating was so gorgeous it made me cry. It makes me so sad that she never got her olympic gold. But even she could be beaten on any given night.

She is one of the greatest (and a new mom, congratulations!)

Yes, even with her famous mental toughness, she said Olympics were just a completely different ballgame in terms of the level of stress and tension.

Yes, like discussed above about the Russians these days, Kwan had the bad luck to run into 15-year-olds suddenly eligible for the Olympics who out-jumped her in 1998 and 2002. I always think that, if she hadn’t pulled out of the 2006 Olympics at the last minute with an injury, THAT was the Olympics Kwan could have won. No young phenom to jump over her to the top. Young Mao Asada, technically brilliant at the time, was a tad too young to be eligible for those Olympics.

+1 ITA When I saw the number and type of clean jumps Arakawa (5 triples and no triple-triple) made to win gold, I knew it. Oh well. It was another time.