How do the skaters control the speed of their spin? It would seem natural for the spin to lose momentum and slow down but some of them increase to incredible rates. Or are the forces of momentum acting to accelerate the spin? What's going on?
I don't understand the ski and shoot event. Why must they stop to shoot targets? It interrupts what could have been a good ski run. It's like posting red lights along the turnpike. Watching this event is frustrating for me.
I want Evan Lysacek to win the mens skater's gold.
I was reading the news this morning and it was talking about the Russian ice dancers and how everyone was upset about their aboriginese dance routine. They said that the pair had toned down the makeup and costume since the performed it at the Worlds in January, but that the dance was unchanged.
So my question is... what is the point of the same skaters skating the same routines against the same competitors over and over and over again??? If everyone is just going to do the exact same thing that they did a month ago, heck, let's just give the medals out based on last month's results. What's the point of the Olympics then?!?!
Seems to me that when you come to the Olympics, it should be a completely separate competition with completely original routines. Not... "same s***, different competition".
Maybe it's just me....
And Ruff, you should read what Elvis Stoyjko wrote about the Men's skating results. I have to agree with him. Plus... I LOVE Evgeni Plushenko. I was rooting for him.. sorry
I have not seen more than 10 seconds of the Olympics, and probably won't. So, I'm reading your threads and smiling and nodding. Glad y'all are enjoying it, though!
I am rooting for whoever is the hottest. That's gotta be Brazil, yes?
Do you have a link for the Stojko comments? I found his website but it uses a black font on a very deep charcoal gray background which makes for impossible reading.
I heard the Stoiko comments and didn't agree with him at all. His comment was basically that without the quad, you shouldn't win, and that it was turning skating from a sport into art. Let's not forget that Stoiko didn't compete under the new scoring system, and he was a jumper with very little artistic ability. He could do the quad but it always looked like he had a terrible time getting up off the ice to do it. He wasn't a very good spinner or good at a lot of the other aspects of figure skating.
I love Plusenko and have been a fan for years, but IMO, Evan won the Men's Free Skate. He didn't do the quad but he did everything else perfectly, and much of it towards the end of the program where the points are weighted. I'm guessing that since Plusenko came back to competitive skating only in Nov, he wasn't in good enough condition to back load the program. Many of Plushenko's elements were sloppy and not perfect. There are such fine points to skating that we don't see as spectators that the judges count--edge quality, quality of spins, jump height--stuff like that.
Karen, I think they start with a basic routine early in the year, like Skate Canada and use it as a testing ground for the routine, changing and improving it with each competition in order to peak at the Olympics or the Worlds. Every night is a whole new skate depending on how they do that particular skate. That's why the personal best is so important.
I agree with some of Stojko's comments but not all. I do have a problem with the guys wimping out and not even doing the triple axel in combination with a triple toe loop. Most of them are doing a double toe loop at the end.
Plushenko is a jerk, he acted like one before, during and after his routine. Now he's awarded himself the platinum medal. The guy needs to get over himself. He should stop worrying so much about the quad and start working on the other components of his programs, work on the footwork and edges instead of moving his arms. He skates like he's in an exhibition, not a competition.
