I think it’s a sham that the silver medal went to the pair with the incredible wipe-out. Sure, she’s a tough little bird but the medals should be given to those that actually complete their routines properly and who don’t need a break in the middle to regroup.
The men’s costumes all looked like Michael Jackson’s hand-me-downs. And some of the women’s color choices would have made Helen Keller gag. But I am not at all convinced that this new scoring system is working as it should. You fall on your tush and take a three minute break. That’s a ONE POINT deduction? Thats < 1% of the total. The message is, go ahead and do all the risky moves you want. If you fall, no big deal.
How would you have actually made this happen though; they faulted on one element of their routine and did the rest well; the scoring system doesn’t permit anything other than the result they achieved. Are you saying it should be revised? (again).
I agree with others that the couple that fell did not deserve silver. Their teammates did much better. I don’t think its right that a skater who falls (no matter how difficult the element) should be ranked higher than one who doesn’t. Besides, I don’t think their routine was all that good anyway. They made a lot of mistakes after the fall.
What got me was the woman commentator (can’t remember her name) blaming the poor skating on the scoring system. Rubbish! I would think that the scoring system would make it more important to be perfect on all elements. A well executed death spriral, for instance, could get you more points than a mediocre one.
I hope the men’s competition is better. And the outfits, too.
Count me as another one disappointed with the sympathy silver for Zhang and Zhang. Even setting aside the horrendous wipeout, they weren’t that great. She didn’t land the other throw cleanly, and their spins were horribly out of synch. Choreography was blah. But hey, I guess if there were no complaining about the judging, the sport wouldn’t even exist, right?
IMO, if you have to stop your program, you should be done. Out of the competition.
If they continue to allow people to restart programs, a major failure like a minutes-long break in the program ought to count as a much, much larger deduction. Also IMO, such an event should send the second mark (program component) into the dumpster.
I’d just like to say that Johnny Weir is one of the coolest people ever. I love that he doesn’t give a flying f*ck what anyone thinks of him. For one, he wasn’t afraid to smack down those members of his family who are all supportive now that he’s doing very well, but who didn’t support him in his early days. His parents had to continually fight against grandparental disapproval (both maternal and paternal) but they stood behind him 100%. Now it seems as if his grandparents want to get in on the acclaim and he’s basically told them to fuck off, where were they when he really needed them? It sounds like it’s not just his skating they’ve been against, but his orientation. That’s just a guess though. It’ll probably all blow over in the future if they come around and he forgives, but I like that he’s not letting them off the hook right now, just to be all nicey-nice in front of the world.
And he’s a beautiful skater. I hope he gets on the medal stand, with maybe a silver.
He comes across as a pretentious, self-absorbed little brat. It’s clear that he does care what people think of him. He seems very determined to make sure people think of him as a rebel. That kind of disingenuous bullshit really grates on me.
Excellent skater though, and I hope he skates well and gets his due.
Yeah, I’m with Q.N. Jones on this one – “I don’t care what people think about me” is one of those inherently false statements. People who really don’t care what people think about them don’t generally feel compelled to announce that fact.
He skates like a dream, though – and since he’s a local boy (Lancaster County; had been training in Delaware, thought I think he’s based in NYC now), I’ve been following him for years. I think this might be his year.
And, on reflection, I withdraw my “the Chinese deserve the silver for being gutsy” remark – y’all are right about that. Heat of the moment and all that.
Did anybody else think Joubert’s James Bond routine was the most embarrassing, cringe-inducing thing they had ever seen on ice? That “007” on his back just made me wince.
Commentator Sandra Bezic called the program trite. I think that’s being kind. Joubert’s program was barely watchable. Skating is not supposed to be ugly.
Weir may be pretentious and immature but if he medals tomorrow that’s water under the bridge. His short program was wonderful.
I agree. He’s young and brash and has plenty of time to grow up. In the meantime, I love that he speaks his mind. Who else is out there to shake up the staid and conservative world of figure skating? Of course, he’s got the skating chops to back it all up. If/hopefully when he wins the silver medal tomorrow night I’ll be dancing around. Even a bronze would be oh so fine. But hell, I’ll love him even if he doesn’t medal.
the third place Chinese were even worse in their spins. Zhang & Zhang had some moments in synch but the others had none. Thiers were they first pairs I have seen in a couple of years and I commented during their spins that I thought they wwere supposed to be in synch. As I recall they also had several bad jumps and just generally a blah performance.
I don’t see a problem with after a bad fall allowing a skater to be checked out for an injury and then allowed to continue from where the fall took place. Tonya Harding was allowed to start over her program when she didn’t tie her skate right. I thougth she should have been eliminated but then I thought she should have been eliminated before the Olympics for her part in hurting Nancy Kerrigan (she admitted she knew about it).
Shen and Zhao (the bronze medal pair) have improved a lot in their ability to skate in sync with each other. They were slightly off during a spin in their free skate, but not too badly, IIRC. They are by far the most polished of the Chinese pairs.
I must’ve missed Joubert’s short program.
One of the things that strikes me as funny about Weir’s “I’m a renegade!” posturing is that his short program strongly reminded me of Ilya Kulik’s and Aleksei Urmanov’s skating. Modeling yourself after two of the last three gold medal winners is the exact opposite of rebellion, but it is definitely a smart move, medals-wise.
I’m another Weir fan. I like that he acts all princess-y and goofy. And wears spangly costumes (called “frightening” by Sandra) named “Camille”. His skating is a dream–it’s everything mens’ skating should be–a perfect balance of graceful and athletic. He doesn’t do quads but who cares? I hope he medals. Embarassing is the perfect word for Joubert’s routine last night. There was nothing pleasing about it. I’m happy he’s given up doing “The Matrix” routine, which was even uglier.
And Matt Savoie is cool. He’s the anti-Weir. I like them both.
Of the early skaters, it was interesting to see the Bulgarian’s coach. I’m a fan of Angela Nicodemov; glad she’s staying active in skating, even if she can’t skate herself. Too bad he so totally fell apart at the end there.
I really don’t understand the new scoring system. How much does your placement in the short program affect your final score? It seems like they were just looking at long program scores to see who would win, but that can’t be right. Also is it better to fall doing a quadruple as long as you make 4 revolutions than it is to make a clean triple axle? I guess I could look all this up, but I don’t care that much.
Weir choked. Nice to see the Canadian kid win a medal, though. He dressed like a mountie, what’s not to like? Or at least that’s what I think he was dressed as. Better than Lambiel’s Tony the Tiger at the Ice Capades thing anyway. There should be a website that chronicles the terrible outfits of figure skating.
In the new system, points from the short program are added to points from the long program. Highest three totals get the medals. That’s actually one of the real improvements from the old system, where your placing in the short was what counted. In the old system, if you were in fourth after the short, and won the long program, you had to count on the winner of the short program placing third or worse in the long program in order to win the gold medal. Now, if you amass enough points, where the short program leader lands doesn’t affect a skater’s ability to win.
It’s really too bad that Johnny Weir doesn’t have a quad (consistently, anyway). I thought he and the Japanese skater were really the best overall skaters (tricks, choreography, artistry put together) but without the big jumps, he’s handicapped.
Plushenko is so disappointing to me. He’s got amazing jumps, but he doesn’t try to do anything else. To my mind, if there’s no footwork, the skating just isn’t worth watching. The Japanese skater (can’t remember his name) had great footwork and was a pleasure to watch.