Enero

To be fair, neither Debi, Kristi, Nancy nor Michelle did 3/3s for more than one season. The former 3 only added a 3/3 in their Olympic year. I don’t think Nancy had a 3/3 in 1992, but I believe she had one in 94. Kwan never completed a 3/3 in an Olympic event and dropped her 3/3 early in her career. And the only one who was consistent nearly 100% of the time was Michelle. Skating was different back then as a lot of these ladies rivals were very talented but had their own issues with consistency and artistry, which at times, helped some to land on or at the top of the podium. Now we’re on a points system where big jumps (ie quads, 3axels) gets big numbers, sometimes whether you fall on your ass or not. And numbers and politics are the name of the game. I do wonder if the issue is the lack of strong coaches though for many of the U.S. ladies. All of the famous coaches who consistently coached successful female skaters back in the 90s and much of the early 2000s have retired. Moreover, the U.S. field has lacked phenomenal talent for a while. Even in the junior ranks, from what I can see, there’s no one in the pipeline who could be the next Cohen, Kwan or Lipinski. Why is this? After having a medal contender or more, since the 40s, in International events, has the well run dry for U.S. ladies? And if so, is this not only due to the lack of good coaches but the lack of funding? As we all know, Russia’s skating program is state funded, and I believe both Japan and Korea sink quite a bit of funds into their programs too, if they’re not fully funded all together. There could be many incredibly talented skaters out there, but they have to give up the sport before they can cultivate that talent due to lack of funding.

I seem to recall she went to RAF to improve her jump technique. I don’t believe he ever coached her as in going with her to competitions etc. Michelle had pretty solid jump technique but she knew she needed a consistent 3/3 and perhaps one that was more difficult than the 3T/3T she did early in her career, to stay competitive. Speaking of technique, I saw some footage of Anna’s skate…Yikes! Her jump technique is pretty bad. My back was hurting just watching her twist herself into those quads. SMH. This is what I was going to say, Plushenko has to live in Russia and work in those FS circles after commenting. So he’s not going to say anything that could potentially get him ostracized from the community .

Don’t know how true but apparently someone posted on Twitter that Trusova was so angry about losing gold that she refused to get on the bus which took the team back to where ever they are staying. Was nasty to the volunteers at the arena. It was said Eteri eventually had to drag her from the arena and force her on the bus. SMH

I doubt NBC’s ratings will improve for tonight ladies FS by much if anything. People already don’t care and thus aren’t watching these Games. As I understand the ratings have been abysmal. Throw in Russians cheating and the U.S. having no dog in this fight and people will be even more disinterested. The reason why Nancy/Tonya drew so many viewers was because both were Americans. Moreover TV was much different back then, not as many, or any, sports channels and the Olympics were a big deal to American viewers. Now, not so much. MSNBC was reporting that when Eteri finally went to Anna after her win, the first thing she asked her was why she didn’t do the Quad Lutz. SMH. Not congratulations you did great, but a criticism. I guess we can all dream, but let’s be real, Kamila isn’t going anywhere. Unlike Medvadeva, she’s only 15 years old and likely has zero control over where her career will go from here. She’ll likely retire within the next year. Or struggle on under Eteri for the next two years ala Alina before being pushed out by the next generation of quadsters.

I haven't watched any of this, but I may have to watch the replay on the NBC app just to see all of the drama on full display. I think Kamila could've very well threw her skate per direction by Eteri and the ROC. This would not negate the devastation she showed after her skate. She could be devastated because of what she was asked to do, and had to do. And of course knowing that this is likely the end of her career and her last Olympics. So happy for Kaori!!! Very sorry that her joy is being overshadowed by the mess going on with the Russians. SMH.

Just finished the Gilda Radner episode. Very sad and infuriating. She went to numerous doctors over and over again about her illnesses and was repeatedly blown off. When she went to the last doctor, he just did blood work, didn’t bother to do an ultrasound, didn't bother to take her family history of ovarian and breast cancer into consideration. Argh. Though considering her family history she was likely going to develop ovarian cancer at some point in her life, I believe she could have fought it and lived had the doctors been diligent about determining the source of her sicknesses. Very sad.

What would be great is if Kamila took responsibility for her part in this mess, no matter how minor, acknowledging that her problem is resulting in all in the competition to be punished and withdraw from competing. If Eteri and team won’t allow her to do that because it’d be essentially admitting guilt, then she should get out there and skate. And what I mean by that is skate around the ice to her music without doing any jumps or spins. I bet Eteri’s head would explode, along with the heads of those who are members of the ROC. Kamila would then have to face the harsh backlash from not only her coach but fellow countrymen and ladies. So of course she won’t do either of these things for the reasons previously mentioned. Or probably because she really doesn’t think she did anything wrong. SMH. Tara, Brian Botiano and Scott Hamilton interviewed Phil Hersh today about this whole mess and he stated what we’ve all been saying that this should be the end of the road for Russia and the IOC should ban them from competing at the Olympics for a period of time. It was strange that Johnny wasn’t apart of this interview. Wonder if he was somewhere crying in his cornflakes. After coming out against this decision and essentially Eteri, I doubt he’ll be invited into their inner circle of Russian figure skating again.

Not surprised by the decision. But this is where I’m at. They should throw out the doping rules of the IOC, ISU and WADA and approve doping for all athletes., with the caveat that only drugs A, B and C can be used to dope, provided the doping methods are safe <sarcasm>. I’m out as well. I won’t be watching the remaining FS competitions. I’ll be rooting for SUI/Wei from a distance. Hopefully they’ll take gold in pairs.

She looks tired but absolutely amazing only having given birth 6 weeks ago. The baby has so much hair and of course looks to be sound asleep. Very sweet.

I don’t think Russia cares. Apparently the Russian media is very supportive of Eteri (as is the ROC, RSU). And anytime there is a doping scandal their stance is “we against the world” type mentality. Granted there could be reporters who do want to call out the bad behavior but are unable to do so, due to the environment in which they live that doesn’t allow such freedoms from the press. I think if the Russian press raised a stink about the doping and dangerous training methods, it could influence public opinion which could in turn result in real investigations into the questionable behaviors and real consequences. But again, I don’t think the Russian media has that type of freedom like here in the west. As much as anything, this issue starts at home, in Russia. If they are not willing to seriously address the doping and the adults who are precipitating it, then nothing will change, and the cycle will continue.

I completely agree with this. I knew Russia had been “banned” from competing due to doping at the Soichi Games, but didn’t know the details. However, upon learning the details I was appalled! I cannot believe they simply got a slap on the wrist for the level of deceit that went on to produce clean drug results. It was absolutely outrageous. And honestly Kamila’s hot drug screening is nothing compared to the unethical behavior that went on at the Games in Soichi. At the very least, Russia should’ve been banned from participating in an Olympics for a cycle or two, but they essentially got no punishment at all. Because allowing them to compete but under ROC is nothing. They still get to compete and take home medals. To ban or not to ban is obviously very political and I’m sure money is involved too. The IOC may not can afford to lose the financial support that’s provided by Russia. Hence the slaps on the wrist when they violate the rules so egregiously. The fact that Kamila’s case had to be sent to arbitration because Russia refused to do the right thing tells me all I need to know. The punishment, if any, will be minimal. And any “investigation” into the adults that precipitated this whole situation will be window dressing at best. By next season, heck maybe even by Worlds, it will be back to business as usual ie doping and dangerous training methods, for Eteri and the Russian federation.

This! She’s truly a talent. She started with in-line skating then moved to the ice 5 years ago. She’s very lucky to be at the games as well being that she made an error at trials and likely would not have made the team, but her close friend Brittany Bowe gave her spot to Erin. Note Brittany will be competing in the 1000 and 1500 meter races which is likely another reason, besides their friendship, that she gave up her 500m spot to Erin. Anyway, I don’t think we’ve seen a top AA speed skater since Shani Davis, but that too was probably about 15 years ago. Congratulations to Erin on her win!

From Kristi Yamaguchi To Sasha Cohen: Here's What 21 Of The Most Famous USA Figure Skaters Look Like Today Many of these skaters like Cohen, Flatt, Abbott, Hughes, Kimmie etc. are married, engaged or have kids or are on to good careers outside of skating. I knew that Cohen had one child but didn’t know she had two. Can’t believe Tara has been married for 6 years. It doesn’t seem like it’s been that long. Kristi has a beautiful family and Nancy’s son is very handsome. Didn’t know Abbott had a kid. Cool update.

God this was boring. The actress playing Anna is not charismatic at all, which she should be being that she’s playing a con artist who conned some of the most affluent people in New York. And don’t even get me started on her horrible accent. I watched this episode, but won’t be continuing the series due to boredom.

I think it’s moreso not wanting to be drawn into this complete clustef****. I mean if I was an athlete in Beijing I wouldn’t be saying a darn thing even if I have a strong opinion about it or had heard rumors of the skater doping. The minute Nathan or whomever gives a sound bite about this, whether negative or positive, they will get drawn into this drama. And NOBODY wants that. So they’re doing the smart thing by staying mum.

I agree. Kwan was an anomaly as was Witt. If you look at the history of women OGMs most of them only competed until they won gold then they retired. I think what the women’s discipline lacks is skating top talent and rivalries that remain for at least 4 or more years. For years we had Yuna Kim and Mao Asada, then Skutskaya/Kwan/Cohen, and for a while there Miki Ando/Caroline Kostner/Fumie Siguri we’re all in the mix. No they weren’t all consistently making it to the podium, but these were careers which we could follow and enjoy their struggles and triumphs. Now even the “top” ladies are changing out every year or two either due to injury or aging out of the system. It makes it difficult to invest in the discipline. Women’s figure skating used to be my favorite, but now I’d say men’s is my favorite, followed by pairs. With the men we’ve seen Yuzu, Nathan, Jason, Javi (now retired), Chan (now retired), Shoma , even Boyang and others compete for years going from young phenoms with so much potential to world and Olympic medalists etc, We’ve seen them falter and fly. It’s been a great experience and keeps me as a viewer invested and watching. The same can’t really be said about the women’s discipline in recent years.

Alina’s “problem” sadly was that she’d gotten too “old” and “fat” to be competitive. I remember reading something where she said she tried to learn quads but wasn’t thin enough to do them. SMH. Perhaps there are no delusions about where they stand in the pecking order once they reach 17/18 years old. In fact I was reading an article the other day where Sofia Samodelkina (though not coached by Eteri, but is Russian) was cited as saying she hoped the Olympics would be canceled this year because when it comes around again she’d be too old to compete. She’s 14 now, will be 18 in 2026. I think the mentality in women’s figure skating in Russia is that if you don’t make it by 16, you’ll never make it. Which is sad considering two of whom I’d think would be the most iconic women figure skaters to come out of Russia competed and won medals until they were nearly 30. Do they not idolized Slutskaya and Buturskaya? I do hope the age will be raised for competing, if for nothing else that it’ll deter Eteri’s current strategy of pumping out teen phenoms and then throwing them away before they’re 20. What will her strategy be when her phenoms can’t compete until they’re 17? Should prove interesting if the rule passes.

Has Jason already left China and flown back to the U.S.? Someone on another site posted a list of the men who were invited to the gala and Jason wasn’t on it. The list looks to have skipped those who placed 5th through 8th. Then resumed with invites for those who placed 9th through 11th. I’m guessing this happened because Jason and others immediately flew back to their home countries after competing. Or will be flying home soon and don’t plan to stay for the gala.

wait what? he doped? #sadness. Edited because @Linderhill corrected her statement to say Usain Bolt was NOT proven to be doping. Thank goodness. That would’ve been very disappointing. Looking at the protocols it shows that he actually came in 3rd in the LP. So that should soften the blow for you a little. Or maybe it’ll make it worse since he came so close? Hopefully it’s the former though. :)

The 4A was always going to be apart of his program no matter what. I’m sure he would’ve liked to have won gold, or at least A medal, but he made the choice to put 4A above all else. I’m sure he’s disappointed but I think the only thing he may be losing sleep over about this competition is that demon divot and not hitting the 4A.

Congratulations again Nathan! I had no doubt that he would win this. Congrats to Yuma. He is certainly the future. Awesome skate. Congrats Shoma on the bronze. He’s 3 times Olympic medalist. Despite the issues Yuzu had with his skate in both programs it is a testament to his awesomeness that he finished the competition in 4th. I can only imagine what would’ve happened had he gone clean. Great competition!

Congratulations Nathan! On winning your first OGM!!!

With that shirt what is supposed to be the theme of Nathan’s program? Or is there a theme? Lol

From what I’ve read about Brian’s training method he’s kind of hands off and leave it to his skaters to really manage their training. He’s there to advise and support, encourage but not really there to build a skater up from scratch. Go Nathan! I know you got this!

Kagiyama is going to be way ahead of Shoma. Great skate!