Figure Skating

[Moxie Cat]

59 minutes ago, fan94 said:

There was Rika Kihira of Japan, the first woman to land 3A-3T internationally

Whoops, thanks for the correction. I guess it just FELT like the entire slate was Russian! (Give it another year, lol.)

As to why the Russians succeed so much: my guess is that there is a single-minded, and more desperate, focus that those skaters have. If you don't pull your weight and become a star, you get dropped by the time you're in high school. It's hard for me to imagine that kind of focus in most American teens, many of who want to go to college too and have a life too. It's probably a better way to live, but not a system that produces many incredible skaters.

[Garden Wafers]

32 minutes ago, Growsonwalls said:

I think though that at the press conference Mirai is doing that thing so many people do to deflect personal feelings of disappointment which is to think "Well I feel shitty now, but nowhere as shitty as (someone who did even worse than me)." Unfortunately she had a mic on her at the time and chose to unload. It was tactless and unwise.

I figure she's using the "it's better to laugh than to cry" defensive mechanism, or her drug test comes back positive and it turns out she was high as hell during the ladies' free skate. I'm secretly hoping it's the latter case. 

[mightysparrow]

That interview makes me worried for Mirai.  It seems that there was so much emphasis put on her triple axle that she didn't have anything to fall back on when it failed her.  I hate to think that she's thrown away all her hard work and sacrifice on a stupid interview given when her head wasn't on right.  Somebody should have intervened and stopped her.  Aren't there any sports psychologists on the team?

[ZootSuitWyatt]

2 hours ago, TwopLurker said:

 

I wish someone had skated to something from the Game of Thrones soundtrack, same classical sound, more opportunity to engage a new audience. 

ShibSibs should do it.

[sab85]

2 minutes ago, ZootSuitWyatt said:

ShibSibs should do it.

I would love this but I think they would get some unfortunate Lannister comparions.

[MaKaM]

28 minutes ago, MaKaM said:

Yeah, this. And anyone used to being "interviewed" by Andrea is going to be on the defensive from the start. Plus with social media people (like us!) just waiting to tear you apart, there really is no "correct" answer to any question. Always waiting to put the worst interpretation on everything (the Japanese girl, Russian, and Canadian aren't chatting it up in the "winner" lounge, youth these days suck! when, huh, maybe there is a language barrier. Or, they are afraid of saying anything because there is the camera ready to catch every error and magnify it!). And if you stick to the bland, "I just wanted to skate my best" then you are a snooze with no personality.

Quoting myself because I found I have more to say. Reading that SI interview again, who pissed in the author's cheerios? He clearly had an angle he wanted and when he didn't get it, dumped on her. Yet another interviewer who doesn't think Figure Skating is a sport and thus, knowing how to do the 3A once should be good to do it forever. How dare Mirai still have fun doing what she loves at the Olympic Games when she missed that first jump! She should have just started crying right then to show us all how disappointed she was!

 

Frankly, that article says more about the author than any of the skaters.

[Growsonwalls]

3 minutes ago, mightysparrow said:

That interview makes me worried for Mirai.  It seems that there was so much emphasis put on her triple axle that she didn't have anything to fall back on when it failed her.  I hate to think that she's thrown away all her hard work and sacrifice on a stupid interview given when her head wasn't on right.  Somebody should have intervened and stopped her.  Aren't there any sports psychologists on the team?

Eh I'm not so worried. If you follow her in Instagram it's clear she has an extremely supportive family. Her grandma was there and it was cute to see how proud they were of her, medals or no medals. And she doesn't strike me as the kind of exacting perfectionist like Nathan Chen who will probably relive that SP over and over again. 

[Omeletsmom]

1 hour ago, peachmangosteen said:

Does anyone know if NBCSN or the app is airing the whole gala? I assume NBC will only air a few of the performances and I wanna see the whole thing, dammit!

 

I am seeing it at 3 am on Sunday morning on NBCSN, but it is only scheduled for two hours so I doubt it's the whole thing.

Edited February 23, 2018 by Omeletsmom
Hit post before finishing my thought.

[iMonrey]

I have to admit I almost felt sorry for Medvedeva. She spent the last 2 years expecting to be the next Olympic champion only to be sidelined at the 11th hour by the very machine that put her there.

But I think comparisons to Lipinski beating Kwan are a bit of a stretch. Kwan simply did not stand up when it came time. She was hesitant and wobbled at one point. Medvedeva skated lights out - there wasn't anything she could have done better. This isn't a case of jumps over artistry IMO. I think both skaters have comparable artistry and that's very subjective anyway.

[HartofDixie]

Here's the link to the feed for the gala.  It's supposed to air on NBC Saturday beginning at 8 so they will most like skip around.

http://stream.nbcolympics.com/figure-skating-olympic-ice-exhibition-gala

[Minneapple]

33 minutes ago, Moxie Cat said:

Whoops, thanks for the correction. I guess it just FELT like the entire slate was Russian! (Give it another year, lol.)

As to why the Russians succeed so much: my guess is that there is a single-minded, and more desperate, focus that those skaters have. If you don't pull your weight and become a star, you get dropped by the time you're in high school. It's hard for me to imagine that kind of focus in most American teens, many of who want to go to college too and have a life too. It's probably a better way to live, but not a system that produces many incredible skaters.

I don't know. Other American teens in other disciplines do well in competition. For figure skating, think it has more to do with development and lack of American stars in women's figure skating right now. The young skaters don't have an American star to look up to. That's important. And, apparently nobody is teaching the proper skills to measure up to the scoring system. The Russians have gamed the system perfectly. Nobody in the US is even attempting that -- and they should be. We complain about backloaded programs but it's perfectly legal, so why wouldn't you do it if you can?  

[Enero]

1 hour ago, CeeBeeGee said:

That interview was a disaster. And yes, she will be remembered for it, much as Nancy Kerrigan is still remembered for her snide remark re: Oksana Baiul as much as for the attack. Dumb, dumb, dumb, Mirai. Nobody expects you to throw yourself off a cliff in remorse but that kind of glib crap ("in my mind I went for it" and "this is all just icing," are you kidding me?) is not going to fly. If you don't want to try your hardest, there were plenty of skaters left at home who would've jumped at the chance. And throwing poor Gabby under the bus to deflect "aggressive questions" (Welcome to the Olympics, Mirai! The press is not there to fawn on you) was completely uncalled for. She is not a kid and she really should've known better.

And with these results, the US ladies' team is now the Romanian women's gymnastics team. (For non-fans, they didn't even qualify a whole team to Rio--this, the country that gave us Nadia and as a team had never finished off the podium since the '70s.) I don't blame them individually but something has to be done. Ninth, 10th and 11th place is terrible.

Eh. After this Olympic cycle is over, Mirai will never be talked about again until another American woman decides to try and land (or successfully lands) a 3Axel at the Olympics. As endearing as she has been throughout her career to many, she is not Nancy Kerrigan, not even close to being so well known outside of skating circles.  And IMHO will not be remembered as one of the greatest or most notable U.S. figure skaters.  

Regarding the interview, not once did she state that she was unfazed by her 10th place finish. The writer of that article made that statement and continued to put his own commentary that was quite negative on her responses throughout the interview. What I got from what was stated, she realized she had a snowball's chance in hell at winning a medal so she enjoyed herself for the remainder of her skate the best way she knew how.  

[dankesean]

59 minutes ago, Omeletsmom said:

I am seeing it at 3 am on Sunday morning on NBCSN, but it is only scheduled for two hours so I doubt it's the whole thing.

I find that NBCSN is actually fairly reliable for showing all of an event, but the actual times tend to bleed between scheduled blocks. Coverage may or may not begin within half an hour of 3, but if you set the recording for an extra hour I'd bet the gala airing will continue into the next time block, hopefully showing the whole thing. (Per my DVR, the following hour doesn't even have an event listed in the information, which makes me even more optimistic for complete gala coverage.)

[specialj67]

This Slate post had a great distillation of the Mevedeva/Zagitova result:

Quote

At 18, Medvedeva has already been eclipsed by a woman who was a junior only last year but may have to put those five consecutive triples into her program to make it to the next Olympics. If I had to put into words the subjective difference between their skates, that would be it. Medvedeva performed like someone who is just old enough to know she will never get another, better chance at gold. Zagitova skated with the freedom of someone who didn’t quite understand that she won’t be a young star for that much longer.

[qtpye]

15 hours ago, Minneapple said:

God, shut up, Johnny. This was not the most heartbreakingly beautiful competition by any means.

This was one of the worst ladies Olympic competitions I have seen in a long time.

[meep.meep]

9 hours ago, NUguy514 said:

 

Seriously, though, Med didn't get called for her very obvious flutz, she also kind of lipped one of her flips, and she takes so much time to do the second (and third) jumps in her combinations because she just doesn't have good jumping technique; as I've already posted, her technique on her jumps is terrible, and that alone deservedly (IMO) kept her from the gold.  Also, I think her artistry is really over-praised; honestly, there wasn't much difference between her cheesy Anna Karenina and Sakamoto's cheesy Amélie from a presentational standpoint.  I think she thought she won after she finished (and why wouldn't she given past precedent), but she got Kwan'd.

 

If you want to know why I can't stand Johnny Weir's "commentary" - Med clearly screwed up her second jump, there was a yellow light on it, and does master commentator Weir even mention it?  No, dead silence.  He's too unprofessional to bring that up.  Instead we get some goofy statement about how Med "skates with her whole soul."  Can you see it, John?

So Med and Zag won't be back to defend their medals in four years because their bodies will have developed and they won't be able to handle the jumps.  You could see that in the third Russian's performance.  Her body has already developed to the point where the bad techniques no longer work.  Kind of like Tara Lapinsky's super long career (2 years ?).  

[vibeology]

4 hours ago, BitterApple said:

Idk, to me, if you're not going to go into every event with the mindset that you're going to kick ass and take names, then you have no business being at the Olympics. I don't know if Marai is implying she only cared about the team event as an excuse for why she bombed in the individual or what, but that's a pretty piss-poor attitude to have, in my opinion. 

For me, I agree and don't depending on what your definition of kick ass and take names is. Many of these women know they have no chance at a medal. They just don't because they're not there technically or don't have the experience. I don't want them to kill themselves trying to compete with the top level figure skaters. But if you're in that camp, you need to have goals that are stretch goals. A personal best score, making it to the long program, finishing in the top 10. Something big to fight for and to skate for even if that something isn't a spot on the podium. If your attitude is just happy to be there, I don't think that's quite enough. I don't think that really holds true to the Olympic spirit. You should be striving for something.

And it's possible for Mirai, that something was land the 3A in competition, because that is a big fucking deal. But once she did, she needed a new stretch goal.

[kitmerlot1213]

59 minutes ago, iMonrey said:

I have to admit I almost felt sorry for Medvedeva. She spent the last 2 years expecting to be the next Olympic champion only to be sidelined at the 11th hour by the very machine that put her there.

But I think comparisons to Lipinski beating Kwan are a bit of a stretch. Kwan simply did not stand up when it came time. She was hesitant and wobbled at one point. Medvedeva skated lights out - there wasn't anything she could have done better. This isn't a case of jumps over artistry IMO. I think both skaters have comparable artistry and that's very subjective anyway.

Yes, to your entire post!.  Medvedeva was simply outskated because Zagitova used the code of points to her advantage with the jumping bonus.  Both girls have artistry and technical ability, it just comes down to personal choice.  I know Med's overwrought facial expressions and "acting" that she seems so proud of annoys the crap out of me, so I enjoy Zagitova's full steam, damn the torpedoes approach--plus her ballet tutus make me smile :)

It felt very much like Mirai was proud of her triple axel/bronze medal in the team event, so she didn't feel as though she had anything else left to prove which may account for her strange reaction in the kiss and cry.

[Eyes High]

22 minutes ago, specialj67 said:

This Slate post had a great distillation of the Mevedeva/Zagitova result:

When they lay it out like that...Jesus, how depressing. Med missed her only shot at gold and Zag's going to be swiftly replaced by the next Russian skating session.

A propos of nothing, I always thought "Evgenia" had a hard "g" (like game). Isn't Evgeni pronounced with a hard "g"? If it's soft, is it "g" like "general" or the "zh" sound like "pleasure"? Because I've seen people referring to Evgenia as Zhenya, and her Twitter handle is JannyMedvedeva.

Edited February 23, 2018 by Eyes High

[displayname]

6 minutes ago, Eyes High said:

Because I've seen people referring to Evgenia as Zhenya, and her Twitter handle is JannyMedvedeva.

That's just a Russian thing.

 

To put it into perspective, no reason to call Richard "Dick", or Edward "Ted".

[displayname]

O...kay. No, I don't agree with that Slate article. It's just the usual, dramatic slop.

 

Don't get me wrong, we've already talked about the Russian Factory. But I think Medvedeva was sad because she knew she wouldn't be able to match up to what Zagitova threw down, and Zagitova was blissfully unaware because, in her case, her inexperience worked in her favour.

[qtpye]

4 hours ago, blackwing said:

I think she is horribly overrated and she was way overscored.  She got points for being the Old Lady in a competition with some people half her age.  She got "respect" points.  The commentators like Tara always gush about her "artistry".  It surprises me especially from Tara because she was just a jumping machine.  To me, saying that "she is known for her artistry" is just a euphemism for "can't do the big jumps".  Just like the guy in freestyle skiing gushing about someone's "elegance" and "style".   It just meant that she can't do big tricks.

 

4 hours ago, BitterApple said:

I do too. She was the only one out there where it was painfully obvious she came from an entirely different generation of skaters. I respect the amount of work she puts in to stay competitive, but her scores are inflated. She can't even do the combination jumps which are considered de rigeur for top-level competitors. 

 

4 hours ago, blackwing said:

Kostner is the female Patrick Chan.  He readily admits that the skating world left him by the wayside and that he is no longer competitive.  That's why he's retiring.  Has Kostner said whether or not she is retiring?  Does she know she isn't competitive, or did she honestly think she had a chance at a medal?

Thank you for confirming that I had not lost my mind.  Carolina was last of an old guard in Sochi, so I did not mind the gushing. then, but she really is overpraised. The truth is she was never that great and always looked awkward and weird on the ice.  When Johnny said that Carolina was Picasso and made everyone else look like they were finger painting, I began to wonder if his hair gel had seeped into his brain.

[Shaynaa]

Americans fail to medal in free skate, but Mirai Nagasu could earn one for excuses

Nice hit piece.   Mirai's comments are weird but this reporter's attitude is really nasty.

[HartofDixie]

Best Kiss and Cry moments from PyeongChang

Edited February 23, 2018 by HartofDixie

[anniebird]

I don't think that sports writer was nasty - I think he was shocked because he'd never had an interview like that before. Can you imagine Tom Brady, after the Superbowl, interview that when he realized that his team was losing he smiled because he considered it an audition for Dancing With the Stars? Her answers were bizarre and he called her out on it.

[backgroundnoise]

I just read the L.A. Times piece, and yeah, it says more about the author than the skaters.  Frankly, he was being a bitch.  And Dylan, explaination is spelled explanation.

He was basically demanding to know from the skaters why the U.S. is so terrible.  WTH are they supposed to say to that.

I'm taking Marai's comments to be either taken out of context, mistakenly not seen as tongue-in-cheek, or her way to downplay her disappointment.

[blackwing]

I don't think he was that nasty either.  I'm not sure if Mirai was trying to be funny or tongue-in-cheek like her "best friend" Adam Rippon.   It seemed to me like she was trying to become a character just like him.  Saying she wants to be on Dancing With the Stars was weird. 

[MaKaM]

3 minutes ago, anniebird said:

I don't think that sports writer was nasty - I think he was shocked because he'd never had an interview like that before. Can you imagine Tom Brady, after the Superbowl, interview that when he realized that his team was losing he smiled because he considered it an audition for Dancing With the Stars? Her answers were bizarre and he called her out on it.

But what were they expecting her to do, suddenly become a medal contender? Be sad that she didn't medal when there was no way she was ever getting closer than 4th even with a triple axel? The author clearly wanted her to own the fact that the US (and ALL OTHER COUNTRIES) are far behind the Russians at this time and take the blame for the lowest US finishes since the beginning of time. But is it their fault? They are the best we had, no matter what Ashley says (she was never going to medal either short of norovirus taking out the rest of the field).

This article and the one linked above seem like they are offended that the US is not a contender any more and that is hardly the fault of the athletes. And, oh poor baby columnist, they aren't destroyed at not winning that medal they were never going to win so we have to shit on them. Let's make America mad at our failures because they are athletes and not people.

[BelleBrit]

Anyone who follows skating knows that even if all of the US ladies had skated clean-with the way that the others skated last night-the highest that they probably would have gotten was 7th. The only surprise was Dabin Choi's placement swapped with Gabby's. There's a reason why Mirai's 8 triple free skate with a triple axel-the first time that a clean 8 triple free skate has been done by a US senior lady by the way-only placed about a few points higher than the other skates in the team event.

The controversy over Mirai's comments is much ado about nothing imo. Slow news day?  They occurred in the mixed zone, so it's not very helpful that there's no video. I did see a few different interviews that she gave last night, like to Nick McCarvel (who she was crying to in her post short program interview because she thought that she had disappointed her country), that had some of the same comments.  And my impression then was "wow, she sounds very loopy and needs a nap", not "wow, what a disgrace". The way she had phrased it to Nick was that Adam had said "hey, this could be your audition for Dancing with the Stars" (as in, try to relax and enjoy yourself). Adam has choreographed for Mirai before and has said that she's never able to let go like she does in practice when she competes, because she's too focused on being perfect.  She said to Nick McCarrvel that she was able to smile in the middle of her program, which she never does.  Mirai often gets criticized for being stone-faced when she skates. Maybe she should have waited until after worlds to talk about Dancing with the Stars, but who the hell cares?  If you follow the practice reports, Mirai had been hammering out 6-7 triple free skate run throughs for the last few weeks, but struggled majorly with the triple axel, which journalists jumped all over and probably added a lot more pressure to her.  Her comments come off as  very defensive, but a skater does not try to put out triple axels and eight triple free skates unless they are planning to go for it. 

Maybe she had a little bit of a "fuck it" attitude after she biffed the axel, and without the benefit of seeing the mixed zone comments on video, it's hard for me to judge properly.  She still landed six triples even though she got zero points for the axel and lutz. Re: the Gabby comments-a bit foot in the mouth, but since I had seen Gabby and Mirai's moments backstage together, I took it more of Mirai identifying with Gabby as someone who had peaked during the team event and had disappointing results in the individual, since she was telling Gabby not to cry and that she won a gold medal.  And lastly, I don't take issue with her comments about the team event, even if you add up the points and the US still would have won the bronze. It was sketchy for a while until Mirai overperformed in the team event and was able to rack up a more comfortable margin.  Christine Brennan also gave Jeremy a hard time in 2014, and she's honestly still pissed that Ashley's not there. The other articles seem to be written by a lot of sports writers who don't even cover skating except for in the Olympic year. 

Edited February 23, 2018 by BelleBrit

[Shaynaa]

By political you mean...out of the closet?  Heaven forbid athletes be open about who they are and not interested in playing nice with bigots.  Any fans a skater loses for that weren't real fans to begin with.  Not to mention homophobic. 

[blackwing]

Question... why do a few of the female skaters (like Zagitova) pull the ends of their flesh coloured tights over the outside of their skates instead of tucking them inside underneath their foot?  I assume there is some kind of stirrups to ensure they don't bunch inside.  Is this for comfort?  I think the outside method looks terrible.  It destroys the illusion that they aren't wearing tights.

[anniebird]

7 minutes ago, MaKaM said:

But what were they expecting her to do, suddenly become a medal contender? Be sad that she didn't medal when there was no way she was ever getting closer than 4th even with a triple axel? The author clearly wanted her to own the fact that the US (and ALL OTHER COUNTRIES) are far behind the Russians at this time and take the blame for the lowest US finishes since the beginning of time. But is it their fault? They are the best we had, no matter what Ashley says (she was never going to medal either short of norovirus taking out the rest of the field).

This article and the one linked above seem like they are offended that the US is not a contender any more and that is hardly the fault of the athletes. And, oh poor baby columnist, they aren't destroyed at not winning that medal they were never going to win so we have to shit on them. Let's make America mad at our failures because they are athletes and not people.

All she had to do was say she wasn't happy with that performance but she was very happy to have won a bronze in the team event. She didn't have to include any of that bizarre Dancing with the Stars shit or claim she "saved" the team when that clearly was not the case. 

[CeeBeeGee]

Just now, Shaynaa said:

By political you mean...out of the closet?  Heaven forbid athletes be open about who they are and not interested in playing nice with bigots.  Any fans a skater loses for that weren't real fans to begin with.  Not to mention homophobic. 

Yup. One reason I like Ashley (in addition to the fact that she's the only US woman who has given us a World medal in the past 12 years) is that she was pretty outspoken about opposing Russia's anti-LGBTQ policies. I'm not even that crazy about her skating (frankly, I prefer Mirai's and Karen's skating to Ashley's) but I have zero problem with her using her platform or calling out shady judging. She doesn't go after other athletes; she goes after the system. And I really don't think the media was expecting Mirai to apologize for not medaling--but it is not out of line to ask someone why they did so well in one event (the team) and then faltered quite noticeably in the individual. She's not a child and this isn't her first time at the rodeo. This is what the media does for every athlete, not just Olympic skaters. They ask for an explanation.

[Darian]

I still like Mirai, and she's been through the wringer, but this, from the Washington Post, might validate some speculation here I saw that medaling in the team event can cool some skaters' competitive fire a few degrees.  Hard to know for sure, especially when we're hearing athletes talking about losses. 

 

Quote

When Nagasu helped the United States earn a bronze medal in the team event, she decided that was enough. She brought that medal with her to the rink for her free skate Friday. She pulled it out for reporters after her skate, a strange twist in an interview most in attendance expected to be somber.“

It’s been a long three weeks, and we got here, got to walk in the Opening Ceremonies, and then I saved the team event with Adam [Rippon] and the Shibutanis. We were about to lose our medal,” Nagasu said, holding up her medal. “So today, I put my medal in my pocket — here she is — and I said, ‘Mirai, you’ve done your job already. This is all just icing.’ ”

[HartofDixie]

NBC has posted Alina Zagitova’s short and free:

Short

free skate

[BitterApple]

Mirai's coming off like the Team Event was where she brought her A-game, and her attitude towards the individual was "whatever happens, happens" because she knew she had no chance to medal. If that's the case, then I disagree with that sort of mentality. If you're at the Olympics your goal should be to knock it out of the park every time you step in the ice, both for personal pride and because you're representing your country. I felt like the American men embodied that but the women weren't even close.

[Mumbles]

So apparently Dick Button is an avid Twitterer and was en fuego these past few weeks. I missed it! But I plan to catch up.

https://slate.com/culture/2018/02/dick-buttons-figure-skating-analysis-an-appreciation.html

These tweets are so...Dick Button. From casually name-dropping "Jerry" Robbins onward.

He seems lively and insightful. At 88 maybe he wasn't up for a trip but it seems a shame that he's not on the air. 

[Jeddah]

35 minutes ago, LadyKenobi said:

Sports used to be a place we could go to escape politics and the like, no matter what your beliefs, and now that common space is eroding.

When was this magical time when there wasn’t politics in sports and all athletes kept their mouths shut?

[BelleBrit]

I really disagree that Mirai had a "whatever happens, happens" attitude in the individual event.  After she placed 9th in the SP, with the spread of points, she knew that it was very unlikely for her to move up, so I think that a lot of this was her just trying to mentally prepare herself for what would be a disappointing result (and that it accounts for a lot of the post-skate comments too).  In her interviews after the short program, she sounded more and more like she was trying to give herself a pep talk and be positive, until her interview with Nick M. where she was crying about how she disappointed her country.  She has also talked about how she felt that she disappointed people when she came in 4th when she was 16, even though she placed better than people had expected her to.  

[Mumbles]

Quote

He is hilarious. He was sitting on FB yelling at ice dancers for two days about fringe and it was awesome. Good for him.

I just went to his feed. It's delightful. He treats his "audience" as his pals, tellling us what his dogs are up to. He makes references to Beyonce. He is dropping names of champions past that many of us have reminisced about here like the geeks we are. At one point he mentions Sarah Hughes is watching it with him. Lucky girl!

Unfortunately he didn't live tweet the team stuff, or dancing, except to casually mention he did ice dancing and won some championship in the mid-1940s (which I didn't know!)

Edited February 23, 2018 by Mumbles

[annzeepark914]

After viewing that horrible photo taken as Alina is walking toward her stone-faced coach, I thought...if I were Alina's parents and saw this photo, I sure as heck would have her switch coaches.  Are there any photos of this woman grinning and hugging her gold medal skater? 

Mirai, as I've said before, is "different".  A lot of people have criticized Frank Carroll for not being a caring coach but I've read several times that she was a difficult skater.  During Nationals in Greensboro, I remember seeing him trying to give her last minute support/advice/whatever coaches say rinkside to their skaters before they take center ice.  But Mirai just drifted off and skated toward the other side of the rink (while he was still talking to her).  I thought she was going to climb over the rail and leave the arena.  It was a bizarre sight to see. So I was not surprised by her comments in the interview.  She's just different.

[meep.meep]

12 minutes ago, Mumbles said:

So apparently Dick Button is an avid Twitterer and was en fuego these past few weeks. I missed it! But I plan to catch up.

https://slate.com/culture/2018/02/dick-buttons-figure-skating-analysis-an-appreciation.html

These tweets are so...Dick Button. From casually name-dropping "Jerry" Robbins onward.

He seems lively and insightful. At 88 maybe he wasn't up for a trip but it seems a shame that he's not on the air. 

The last time he was on the air, between National's and the opening of the Olympics, he went on and on and on and on about how there was too much emphasis on jumping in the sport these days.  Probably best that he sticks to Twitter.  

We saw  him at National's and he is pretty frail.

[roseha]

5 hours ago, BitterApple said:

She drew that? Wow. When a fifteen year-old makes you feel like a total loser in life, lol....

I can't help wondering if she painted that due to feeling homesick...

[Shaynaa]

6 minutes ago, LadyKenobi said:

 Everything prior to March 21, 2006, the day Twitter debuted, if you want to play dueling strawmen.

Since the rise of social media, sports has exponentially become a gladiatorial arena of personal branding, particularly within "every four year" events like figure skating. It's reductive, counter-productive, and detrimental to the sport in service of self-gratification and the race for Instagram likes. Some resist this, and good for them. 

This may blow your mind but athletes aren't coming out just to get hits or followers.  They are doing it because it is part of who they are and they should not have to hide it to have a career.  Athletes were never political at the Olympics before social media?  Oh really now.

[Jeddah]

5 minutes ago, LadyKenobi said:

 Everything prior to March 21, 2006, the day Twitter debuted, if you want to play dueling strawmen.

Since the rise of social media, sports has exponentially become a gladiatorial arena of personal branding, particularly within "every four year" events like figure skating. It's reductive, counter-productive, and detrimental to the sport in service of self-gratification and the race for Instagram likes. Some resist this, and good for them. 

There was politics in sports before social media. Athletes worried about personal branding before social media. Seriously, what time period are you talking about where that wasn’t the case?

[Minneapple]

1 hour ago, LadyKenobi said:

Sports used to be a place we could go to escape politics and the like, no matter what your beliefs, and now that common space is eroding. 

Sports and politics have always combined. Jesse Owens at the Berlin Olympics winning in front of Adolf Hitler. Muhammad Ali - for years sportswriters refused to call him by his chosen name, referring to him as Cassius Clay. The black power salute in the '68 Games. Billie Jean King fighting for equal pay and helping to create the Virginia Slims tour for women. Title IX. 

Athletes are human beings, they don't live in a bubble. I agree that they should think carefully about what they say, especially in these days of instant anger and outrage, but then they shouldn't be told to shut up and dribble either.

[Mellowyellow]

Regarding the triple axel, since it's such a big deal how come someone like Alina doesn't do it?

She lands everything else, doesn't seem like stretch that she could land this as well. Is it not worth enough points?

Or do they calculate the risks and if you can do a tonne of 3Ls it's more worth it to do that?

[Irlandesa]

1 hour ago, LadyKenobi said:

Sports used to be a place we could go to escape politics and the like, no matter what your beliefs, and now that common space is eroding.

Politics have always been a part of sports but especially when it comes to the Olympics.  Heck, the creation of the games in a way was inherently political.  Olympic politics manifests itself in which countries choose to boycott, what countries have been banned, which individuals choose not to participate for political reasons and even up to who dignitaries choose to have in their viewing boxes.  Heck, even figure scaring scoring, right? 

Politicians try to tap into patriotism by praising medal winners and presidents have invited them to the White House. 

Athletes have always had personal opinions that we're open to embrace or reject because it's true, they do have more platforms in which to share their thoughts.  In the past, everything was filtered through media.  If Adam Rippon had an issue with being embraced by a politician publicly 20 years ago, he would have had to hope a newspaper or the broadcast network would be willing to hear his thoughts on it.  Back then, he would have also had to pretend to be straight. Now he can take it directly to the people which ultimately meant it wasn't something NBC could ignore.

I get that it can be overwhelming but the only Olympic coverage I watched was on NBC/NBCSN because I didn't care enough about it to dive deep.  So I haven't visited anyone's Instagram or Twitter and I don't know about anyone else's political opinions.  It's surprisingly easy to do.

As for whether or not it's affecting interest in these games, I can't really say.  I imagine for some people it is.  But overall?  Ratings for live TV are down.  All over. Once upon a time, a sports event like the Olympics or the SuperBowl was the only game in town and it'd be on one channel  Now it's not. Events are spread out over networks. Netflix, Hulu and Amazon don't shut down for the Olympics.  Cable airs first-run original programming as usual.  Even some of the main networks, who have shut down their original programs for the two weeks, are airing first-run reality shows. 

[SeanC]

5 hours ago, Eyes High said:

I hope the Canadian team enjoys their success--gold medal in team and medals in all the individual events except men's--because most of those skaters are retiring.

I was almost wondering whether Kaetlyn wouldn't also consider packing it in after this.  She's obviously never going to be able to beat the Russians (current or whichever they bring out in time for 2022 after they invariably discard Evegenia and Alina), so it's not like she can aim for a high medal colour at the next Olympics, in all likelihood.  But from the comments I've read from Skate Canada, etc., they really want her to stay active, and I guess love of the game is enough to keep going on for a while yet.

Gabby I hope is able to use what happened the other night as motivation to go forward and go to Beijing to end things on a happier note.

[vixenbynight]

23 minutes ago, Minneapple said:

Sports and politics have always combined. Jesse Owens at the Berlin Olympics winning in front of Adolf Hitler. Muhammad Ali - for years sportswriters refused to call him by his chosen name, referring to him as Cassius Clay. The black power salute in the '68 Games. Billie Jean King fighting for equal pay and helping to create the Virginia Slims tour for women. Title IX. 

Athletes are human beings, they don't live in a bubble. I agree that they should think carefully about what they say, especially in these days of instant anger and outrage, but then they shouldn't be told to shut up and dribble either.

Agreed.

I also do not think that these athletes have to say and do the exact thing that you think you would do in the same situation.