Ok..... place your bets, BEFORE the competitions, no editing after the fact:



Mens:

Gold: Evgeni Plushenko (Russia)

Silver: Stephane Lambeil (Swiss)

Bronze: Jeremy Abbott (USA)



Womens:

Gold: Kim Yuna (Korea)

Silver: Miki Ando (Japan)

Bronze: Carolina Kostner (Italy)



Dance:

Gold: Meryl Davis / Charlie White (USA)

Silver: Oksana Domnina / Maxim Shabalin (Russia)

Bronze: Tessa Virtue / Scott Moir (Canada)



Pairs:

Gold: Aliona Savchenko / Robin Szolkowy (Germany)

Silver: Shen Xue / Zhao Hongbo (China)

Bronze: Qing Pang / Jian Tong (China)







If I had God like powers, I would choose Princess Weir for Gold, but.... realistically, he is there for the media and to decorate the athlete apartments apparently, according to the IceNetwork.

Ok, I will stick my neck out further on the Mens top 10, which is the only field I really know (work inside)



1. Evgeni Plushenko (Russia): He doesn't choke, he is 2006 Turin Gold confident and he is good for 4 Quads if he has to.

2. Stephane Lambiel (Swiss): He has the footwork and the Quad, the Olympic track record but not the triple axel

3. Jeremy Abbott (USA): He has the footwork and the Quad and the triple axel, but this is his first Olympics, having said that, Jeremy can win Silver if he doesn't choke. Yuka Sato is great for him, as was his leaving Colorado Springs and that politically negative environment. Silver is a real possibility. Gold is too, if Evgeni gets hit by a bus.

4. Brian Joubert (France): Built in choker. His French arrogance seems to be under control this year. But he did poorly at Euros.

5. Daisuke Takahashi (Japan): His 4CC performance could beat Plushy, but he has never repeated it.

6. Evan Lysacek (USA): He won 09 Worlds because all the big players were absent and Abbott had a meltdown. Luck has favored him too long already.

7. Johnny Weir (USA): Fabulous guy, moderate skater. Run for GLAAD CEO Johnny.

8. Nobunari Oda (Japan): Left Mariposa School (Orser, Stojko and Buttle), should have stayed there and he might have been higher up. His training is not the highest grade now.

9. Patrick Chan (Canada): The single most over-hyped athlete at the Olympics. Like Lysacek he won 09 Worlds Silver, because he had no real competition. He is more than making up for Brian Jouberts tamed arrogance and nobody at Skate Canada stands up to him. If anybody wants to use the term spoiled Chinese-Canadian Princess, please do. Oh but, also please mention he is a 100% heterosexual Princess.

10. Kevin van der Perren (Belgium): Why does this guy stay with skating? He consistently finishes in the bottom half.

thanks for the insight, DavidBC. Much appreciated since I don't follow figure skating as closely as I used to.

Plushenko ... FOUR quads?? Wow, that's awfully tough to beat. As much as I don't care for his spastic, arm-flailing style, the judges seem to love it. Can you give some insight on the "politically negative environment" Abbott was dealing with in Colorado Springs? Abbott's performance at Nationals was a tremendous breakthrough, but he'll have to match that performance if he wants to medal, and I can't shake the feeling that Nationals was a once-in-a-great-while kind of thing. I love Takahashi, but is he sufficiently recovered from his injury/surgery? Unfortunately, your prediction about Lysacek's and Weir's placements is probably correct. I didn't know anything about Patrick Chang's princess-ness (but do appreciate the gossip), but that score he got at Canadian Nationals was preposterous. Is it humanly possible to blow any more sunshine up the guy's ass??

Miki Ando is my favorite female skater. Her triple axel isn't the biggest or highest, but it might be the prettiest one in figure skating. It'll be a joy to see Davis & White (and Charlie's pretty blond curls) get the gold, but heartbreak to see Balbin & Agosto off the podium. I don't know anything about the pairs, so I'll watch out for the three teams you named. Any other pairs to watch for a possible upset?

Men don't do quads in the short any more because it's too much risk and too little reward. Any chance that the ISU will change the scoring for the quad?

Plushy actually plans to do 3 Quads in his long, but if Abbott or Lambiel do well, he could well add a 4th one.

Colorado Springs is home to America's #1 anti-gay Hate Group, Focus on the Family (James Dobson founder). Dr. (PhD in Child Psychology from USC) Dobson created and runs a program called 'Love Won Out" to cure people of homosexuality. His annual budget is in excess of $150 Million. Needless to say, Dobson has enormous control over the local powers that be and the Colorado Springs population. Jeremy wanted to leave 3 years ago, but was financially not able to.

Skate Canada: their De-Gay figure skating campaign & grossly over scoring Chan, are both signs that this organization is going into some dark years. Ironically, a low or no 2010 medal count and the loss of government funds because of that, could change this for the better. Virtue/Moir staying off the podium (Canada's only chance at a medal) will speed up the painful transition Skate Canada needs to go through. I am also betting their #1 sponsor, Bank of Montreal, will cool it off too. It really is the best thing for a strong Canadian figure skating future. Lets toss the bad apples now, and start fresh again. The sooner the better.

Davis & White are like the anti-melt down champions of Ice Dance.

I think the Chinese will dominate pairs, out side of German Gold, because that is China's thing these days. But I am weak on pairs too, so I am guessing.

Miki Ando is bursting with confidence and Mao Asada is crumbling with insecurity, because of the Mao VS Yuna INSANITY!. My god, don't go near the female message boards on FSU or YouTube, you will be flamed for just being there. Brian Orser's (Yuna coach for 4 years now...again Mariposa talent shining through) biggest job, is keeping the fan wars away from Yuna.

My Skate Canada dream..... fire the entire board this March (esp Wilkes, Thompson, Chidlow, Power, Bowland & Lavoie) Benoit you say? but, but, yeah - gone. Also lose Susan Morgan. Put a leash on the coaches, they should coach and stay out of marketing. Orser as the new Skate Canada CEO and let him 100% pick his own board, without the politics. I would hope he would grab David Islam, this guy would make a great board member. Maybe even Doug Leigh. Slipchuk was one big waste of money. Kurt Browning needs to be sidelined, he just doesn't get the big picture. Also get rid of/neutralize the "save the children" volunteer housewives. If the entire board was fired and Orser got the CEO title and complete control over who was hired, that would be the best way to get Skate Canada moving quickly again. Orser works better on a one to one basis and he is not a good corporate money raiser, so he wouldn't make a good long term CEO, but he would be able to build a team that would save the organization. Pelletier - no, Manley - hell no!

oops, I got my Japanese ladies mixed up. You really think Ando is capable of winning the silver? She's steady and solid, which may be enough if the competition turns into a splatfest, but otherwise not all that. It's Asada's triple axel that I was talking about (don't believe Ando has one, or any other female for that matter). Even though Mao has been shaky (and that might be generous) as of late, I keep hoping. But she's had too many coaching changes and too many continent changes.

Random thoughts ...
I do wish the risk/reward ratio favored men attempting quad combinations in the short. After all, what's figure skating without that OMG-I'm-going-to-caca-my-pants tension??
I had no idea Abbott was gay. Johnny Weir's flamboyance must have thrown me. Then again, my gaydar's always been iffy.
I wish Patrick Chan could skate as well if not better than he did at Canadian Nationals, only to be crushed by real judges. With the exact same long routine, no way in hell does Chan break 160.

I'm such an armchair quarterback when it comes to figure skating, but I enjoy it all the same, so I'll throw in my 2¢...

Women:

(Gold) Kim Yu-Na

(Silver) Miki Ando

(Bronze) Rachel Flatt

It's funny, if these games were held closer to 2006, when Asada still wasn't eligible due to age, she would have been the odds-on favorite. She did triple axles in her sleep, and had the youthful ignorance to nerves. She was a shoe-in so often, even when her famous short-program flops started. I don't understand the whole Kim/Asada war...at all. Mao Asada hasn't been a threat for almost a year now.

Kostner got a silver she had no business getting back in the 2008 worlds. (Ugh, and you talk about Chan getting overscored in the men's event in Canada?)... Kostner's flubbed landings and clumsy footwork seemed to be completely overlooked by those judges at that event. Even the TV commentators who find ways to explain such egregious scoring with technical musings were completely baffled. Even if she won a weak European field this year, the Japanese/South Korean contingent is just too strong. And Rachel Flatt appears to be the darling of judges lately, and Mirai Nagasu is back to form, if the US Nationals are any indicators. (Remember, Flatt got a higher score in the long program at one of the Grand Prix events than Kim, although Kim still won the event because of a good short program tally. Granted, Kim flubbed a jump, and Flatt was spot-on, but there's no denying the judges like Rachel) When on form, both Flatt and Nagasu should beat Kostner, but again, who knows who's threatening to give these judges cement galoshes what goes through these judges' heads. As sweet a girl as Kostner is, there's a reason she was 12th at last year's worlds.

I'd love to see Joannie Rochette, medal, though. Like so many "also-rans," she just can't seem to have two clean programs at the biggest events, which is too bad. Her smile, and disposition, and French-Canadian accent during interviews are all very charming, IMO.



Men:

(Gold) Flailing Mullet-Man, er, um, I mean, Evgeni Plushenko

(Silver) I-Don't-Like-North-American-Nancy-Boys Man, er, um, I mean Brian Joubert

(Bronze) Scary Costume Man, er, um, I mean, Stephane Lambiel

As strong as the American men have been touted to be, and as close as past American championships have been, our guys can't land quads like Plushenko (although Ryan Bradley did two in his long program at nationals...too bad his short program ruined it for him).

Lysacek can spastically flail his arms with the best of them, but can't match the other arm-flailer in jumping. The judges have always warmed to Joubert's swagger, so even a moderately clean skate will do him well. His looks have never hurt him, either.

Lambiel, even with the amazing lack of a triple axel, seems to be loved by the judges as well, but for some reason, I see Joubert breaking through to a sliver. Abbot and Lysacek could technically be silver and bronze, maybe not in that order, and while I'd love to see them both on the podium, they've choked so often in the bigger moments. Lysacek's "I'll use Nationals as practice" comment has probably soured many people in the skating world, and this arrogance can translate even to subconscious markdowns in a judge's mind.

Chan and Weir, yup, I agree, both way over-rated. I also agree that Chan's silver (and Lysacek's Kimmie Meissner-esque gold) at last year's worlds was a blip on the radar, as his past international record would indicate. He may have a mere four-continents championship, but look how poor his other Grand Prix and World Championships record is. Weir seems to be soaking up the attention the media's giving him more than being a real threat on the ice. He might be campaigning to be Lady Gaga's new BFF, but I don't think anyone sees him on the podium. At least Chan is still young, and could move up in the world pecking-order if he doesn't get consumed by all his inflated and grossly overblown hype...but Johnny needs to take the reality-show money and run, his truly competitive days have been riding off into the sunset.




Pairs? Uh, don't know, but hope Shen and Zhao win. Which is very much a possiblity. They probably would have won in '06 if he didn't get hurt, but there's no denying they're really back..and really real. Savchenko and Szolkowy seem a little nervous, so I'd either put them at silver or bronze and Pang and Tong getting the other medal. I just don't follow it as closely as the single events.

Ice Dancing? Don't know, and don't kill me, I don't care. I just can't get into it.

Just in time for Valentine's Day... pairs figure skating (short program) starts tonight! I haven't been keeping track of who's who in pairs figure skating lately, but here's what I found:

NBC Olympics website: pairs to watch (slideshow)

CTV Olympics website: pairs preview ("The last time that Russian or Soviet skaters didn't end up with the Olympic gold in this event was 1960, when Canadians Barbara Wagner and Robert Paul won. In 2002, Canadians Jamie Salé and David Pelletier shared the top prize with Russians Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze.")

Vancouver 2010 website: list of competitors

Honestly, I'm not sure I can even watch it anymore, which is a shame. There are some very talented people out there, but the subjectivity of it all, plus the corruption that just won't go away, plus the politics involved, have soured me.

I would really like to enjoy it. Some of the feats performed are amazing. Until there is more transperency and objectivity,, I'm araid I'll have to beg off.

If the pairs judging is any indication you're right on the ball.

I didn't see all of the pairs, but I must say I was distracted by the costumes of two of the Chinese pairs (Zhang/Zhang and Pang/Tong): dreadful! I was seriously distracted from their good skating. I liked Savchenko/Szolkowy, their performance and their costume (although somebody needs to tell them that "Send in the Clowns" is not about clowns). I didn't see the top Chinese pair, Shen/Zhao.

Canada's Dube/Davison had a flub in their program and are in sixth. I don't think they have much chance at even a bronze with Chinese and Russians ahead of them. Canada's second pair Langlois/Hay are in seventh.

Dube/Davison of Canada came in and had multiple flubs and an uninspired short program, and were scored way higher than they should have been. Granted, they may not be in medal contention anyway, but it's this kind of scoring that seems to be prevalent in pairs (rememeber 2002?) that is such a turn-off in the sport, I agree. I'm not sure how the Chinese team of Pang/Tong can be in 4th after their brilliant short program behind the Russian and German pair, but at least they got it right putting Shen/Zhao in first.

Costumes in figure skating are always going to be over the top (Lambiel, anyone?), so I take costumes with a grain of salt, but I disagree about the costumes of Savchenko/Szolkowy in the short program, I thought they were actually kind of creepy, in a Villians-of-a-Tim-Burton-Batman-Movie kind of way.

I watched only the top 4 programs via NBC web video, but I don't have any huge problems with the scoring. The judges definitely got one thing right - Shen & Zhao deserve to be at the top. Their routine was simply perfect. The German pair did some very difficult entries -- the footwork into their throw triple and the inside/outside spread eagles into the split triple -- although they don't quite justify the score. Pang & Tong had an amazing routine except for really a horrible side-by-side spin -- very slow rotations and completely out of synch. You can't do slow-mo replay when watching the web video, but I'm pretty sure he two-footed on the side-by-side triple toes. Of course, none of the commentators mentioned either/or.

Scoring will always be subjective, no matter how technical the ISU tries to make the scoring system. What I like about the new scoring is that you can place 4th in the short and still control your destiny. Pang & Tong are only 5 points behind Shen/Zhao. If they skate the long program of their lives, they can still win gold. In the old ordinal system, they would have had to win the long and have another pair take second (besides Shen & Zhao) to win the gold. No, the scoring wasn't perfect, but at least all four top teams are in control of their destinies in the long program.

If you had seen both American teams, and then Dube/Davison (who had a fall and other bobbles, as well as just seeming out of sync) you'd see how bad the scoring was. Dube/Davison had an actual fall, and other mis-steps, while Americans Evora/Ladwig had the skate of their lives, it was wonderful, and yet Dube/Davison are in 6th, while the Americans are in 10th. When the commentators have technical or mathematical explanations for these things, I can almost understand. But all the commentators just came out and disagreed with such a blatant over-score for the Canadians.

And the Germans had some side-by-side sync issues as well, I'm not sure how they can be ahead of the "Russians" and Pang/Tong, but at least, like you said, it's very close among the first five pairs. But Dube/Davison have no business being as high as 6th.

Oh, Elvis, really. Did you have to do this interview in Salon.com: Can figure skating go butch?


Elvis's pairs preview for Yahoo! News: Pairs: Five things to watch. Elvis on the men: Five to watch: Men’s figure skating

Figures the discipline I know the least about and was the least interested in, I actually predicted right.

Too bad the pairs free skate was an absolute splat fest tonight, with so many of the pairs, except the two Chinese pairs falling all over the place. Even Shen and Zhao had a slight lift problem, but I'm happy for them. They didn't skate as well as Pang and Tong in the free, but their combined performance was the best, IMO.

I'm also glad the Russian/Soviet dominance came to an end. They've hit the snooze button on that undeserved distinction a few times...like in 2002 when the IOC wussied out and let Berezhnaya/Sikharulidze keep the dirty gold they should have never won and in 2006, when a healthy Shen and Zhao would have absolutely mopped the floor with Totmianina/Marinin. Making it even more satisfying, is that this "Russian" team didn't even medal.

I hope the men's and ladies' skates are cleaner, the free for the pairs was such a let down, outside of the gold and silver the Chinese won. I don't want another 2006 like choke-fest-performance for the ladies, either, where the gold medal winner completes just four or five triple jumps.

Didn't get a chance to see much of the Pairs Free Skate... but sounds like I didn't miss much.

I will say this though... Antoine Dorsaz of Switzerland... WOW!!! *drools* haha

Why are so many of the male figure skaters wearing gloves? It's not a good look.

And it's too bad about Jeremy Abbott. Of the skaters I saw tonight, I most liked his choreography, which blended so well with the lovely music and tasteful costume. Too bad he singled and doubled what should have been triple jumps.

The standings after the short program:

1 Russia PLUSHENKO Evgeni 90.85
2 USA LYSACEK Evan 90.30
3 Japan TAKAHASHI Daisuke 90.25
4 Japan ODA Nobunari 84.85
5 Switzerland LAMBIEL Stephane 84.63
6 USA WEIR Johnny 82.10
7 Canada CHAN Patrick 81.12
8 Japan KOZUKA Takahiko 79.59
9 Czech Republic BREZINA Michal 78.80
10 Kazakhstan TEN Denis 76.24

==========

Those black feathers on Lysacek's cuffs looked ridiculous--on him, particularly when he smothered his face in them (above). That said, the feathers probably would have looked good on Johnny Weir's costume--the pink trim stood out, but it seemed to be missing something. Joubert's costume was OK, I liked Vaughn Chipeur's sexy black t-shirt and, as I mentioned, loved Jeremy Abbott's look.

The expanded results show a clearer picture. Expanded Results
Lambiel won every category expect for the technical score. I also feel very bad for Jeremy Abbott. He did superbly at US Nationals and I was hoping he would do just as well. His program is really good. Lysacek is on fire and i think he can really beat Plushy... The Japanese skaters showed how good they are... Takahashi has had such an amazing comeback from injury. I love Oda's free program.

Thanks Canmark for the pictures. There were a lot of gloves present! During the season, Lysacek was sporting a very, very sheer black top; four different costumes all together and I think all designed by Vera Wang. I like his firebird outfit with the feathers. What I don't like is the whole American in Paris look with the rolled up sleeves and loose tie. Jeremy's steered away from that with the low cut front.

In my defense, I did use the term “if Abbott doesn’t melt down”. He won’t come back, when he loses it, it is for the competition, not 1 program. When he missed the 3A, it was all over. You could see he gave up.

Joubert is now the nuclear choker. Because of the hype, I over estimated him too.

Lysacek is short strong. All his weakness is in the long, so I still don’t think he will medal.

Lambiel has that Euro driven ego, so expect him to be the come back queen of figure skating in the long.

Takahashi – no injury there now!

Oda is weak on the long too.

Chan was over scored AGAIN



So my post Abbott guess:

GOLD: Plushy

SILVER: Lambiel

BRONZE: Takahashi


I thought Abbotts outfit looked frumpy. Evan was sporting the "Disney Witch" look. Johnny was sporting that "I'm wearing this again because of the fur protests, but my coming long outfit will, make the front page" look.

P.S. they are wearing gloves to stop the spread of disease. Before/After the comps, they have to sign autographs for 100s of 9 year old girls, so the chances of picking up colds or the flu is really high. The gloves stop most of that. Remember how many times in the past skaters got sick during competitions?

OK, so no one predicted the men's event very well.

So, I'm happy for some reasons...

-I guess the American in me is happy that Lysacek won, and the fact that he's worked so hard for so long, it's good to see that rewarded.

-I'm also happy that Plushenko was taken down a notch, because of all the people singing his praises and practically giving the gold to him, he was singing the loudest, and the most cocky in believing it was owed to him.

-Also, Plushenko's skate just wasn't that good. Sure he landed two quads, but he was noticeabley getting slower and slower as the program went on. It wasn't captivating, and had some downright sloppy moments...both "in the air, and on the ice" as Scott Hamilton is (too) fond of saying. And it was downright lopsided, with all the jumps in the first minute and a half, and the last minutes being silly looking "filler." Almost all other skaters kept a better balance, even if it was to take advantage of the bonus points that jumps get later in the programs. I'm glad he didn't get gold for these reasons, too.



There are reasons I'm not too thrilled, with the results, though.

-Lysacek's a flailer. His flailing arms seem so un-artistic. Plushenko's a flailer, too. I wouldn't want that style to become a trend. I'm OK with excitement brought on by natural energy and athleticism, but not when it's trying to be artificially induced with spastic and constant arm gestures.

-I was vocal about it when Buttle won the world's without a quad, and I still feel the same way now. I know the sport isn't just about jumps, but now no one wants to do the quad. Kulik was doing it back in '98, and there were quads-a-plenty in 2002 and 2006. Look how few guys even tried it, let alone landed it in this Olympics. It's tough to guage. Maybe the skaters were just better jumpers back then. It would have been good if we had seen how the scoring system treated a few other guys who also landed the quad in this Olympics, but either they didn't try, or completely went splat when attempting it. So our only guage was Plushenko vs everyone else.

-How the hell did Lambiel and Chan wind up ahead of Johnny Weir?!??


And sure enough, Plushenko is whining that Lysacek shouldn't be the champion:

http://www.nbcolympics.com/news-features/n...sid=430590.html

Well, we all understand both sides of the argument, but did he forget that he fell on one of his quads in 2002? ...and by his logic, Timothy Goebel should have won the gold (since he landed two), Yagudin the silver (since he landed his one) with the bronze going to him? What's that you say, you mean, you were artistically better than Goebel, which is why you got the silver even with a fall?? Hmmmmm....???


The ladies could be more of the same. Yamaguchi did a triple/triple back in 92, where Ito (eventually) also landed a triple axel. And look at how few triples Arakawa had in winning 2006? And how many women are going after triple/triples and triple axels at this Olympics?

No sugarfoot!!!!

Johnny was brilliant in his skating- Chan and Lambiel make multiple mistakes... WTF!

I thought after his performance he would be 4th or even sneak into the 3rd spot.

Did anyone notice when Weir's score was announced, the crowd booed, and Weir got up and hushed the crowd? Its admirable.

Plushy is really good, but the programme he put was almost like "yeah, I can put this and that together... it will do because I do quads"

here I am, not an expert on figure skating, and I caught on with his performance as really ill prepared. like, something you would do for an exhbition. too bad, but i remember the 2006 performance and that was a class act, but this week, i thought he had become a real arrogant bastard. douche. bag.

It was really great to see Johnny's reaction. He knew he had two great skates, he was happy with both performances and it didn't matter what the judges scored. He is an Olympian and did his best.

And I love how Lysacek is playing all this... the more gracious he is, the more in praise of Plushenko he is, the more Plushenko sounds crazy and like a hideous, trivial person.

The whole argument that this regresses figure skating is ridiculous. Plushenko's program in 2010 is almost exactly the same as in 2006. In fact, his program in 2006 beat his program in 2010. He regressed!!

In 2006, Plushenko led after the short with Weir in second. Plushenko skated first in the final group of 6.
Look at the video from 2006. Tell me, where is his progression?
Plushy Torino 2006
Even the commentators had the same complaints about his skating 4 years ago...

I'm not unhappy with the result in the men's. Plushenko needed to be taken down a notch and his slightly imperfect skate opened the door (however, had he won on points, I wouldn't have objected). Lysacek really put it out there in both the short and long. He does, indeed, flail is arms (he needs to take notes from his countrymen Abbott and Weir, who are so much more graceful). Although he had some slightly imperfect landings, he gets an A for effort. Takahashi was very deserving of the bronze. Had he not fallen on his initial quad* he might have challenged for the gold.

Johnny Weir looked a little out of it in the short and long. Perhaps the PETA people got to him, or he was just tired. He seemed a bit slow and lifeless, without the energy and spark we expect to see. Maybe, had he skated to Lady Gaga... Patrick Chan was overmarked, no question there. Kozuka was very good, as was Oda--too bad about his skate lace breaking. Abbott, again a beautifully choreographed routine, but he didn't have it again.

*My personal feeling on the quad is that it doesn't add a lot to the skating. While there is a big difference between a single and a double, a double and a triple, the quad doesn't *look* that much better than a triple. It's much harder to do, and the skaters frequently fall--but it doesn't make the routine any more appealing to watch. And I wonder if there isn't some misogyny in the sentiment expressed by some (Stojko, Plushenko, etc.) that for a man to not do a quad makes it like the women's competition. As if that's some horrible disgrace that a man's skating should be in any way comparable to a woman's.

==========

The claws are out. It wouldn't be figure skating without people complaining about the scoring.

Hater #1 Elvis Stojko called it The Night They Killed Figure Skating.

Hater #2, Plushenko's coach Alexei Mishin: Evgeni was "robbed"

And does Elvis forget that back in the day figure skaters had to skate figures--no jumping involved, just tracing figures on the ice.

Plushenko's coach is an idiot for saying that men's and women's events are the same without a quad. All the men (except Lambiel) throw a triple axel, if not multiple triple axels in a long program. Almost all the men do triple/triple combinations, that very, very few women even attempt, and fewer land with any consistency. In fact, the only man that would be close to having a women's program is Lambiel (oh, the irony) since although he's recently attempted quads...didn't land them, and doesn't even try a triple axel.

I can't believe how Stojko appears to be making a living out of bashing the very sport that's provided him his comfortable lifestyle...the very sport he competed in most of his young and young adult life. The retroactive ungrateful vibe he's giving off isn't helping him keep many fans. How old was he when he started to skate? He makes it sound as though he was oblivious to all the gay people that have always been known to gravitate to the sport. What, did he wake up one morning, YEARS after he retired just to have the sudden epiphany "hey, wait a minute, there are a lot of gay guys in the sport I did!!!"

In fact, I think he's got it backwards. While gay people still aren't accepted as we should be, people are much more aware and understanding of the existance of gays than they were back in late 80s and early 90s when he was at his peak. For him to make it sound as though lack of masculinity is only a problem now (when only the manly-men skated back in his era ) and that it's this only recently new-found lack of testosterone that's hurting the sport is not only disingenuous, it's just as moronic Mishin's comments saying the men and women are technically the same when all the men aren't throwing quads.

I've never been a big Evan Lysacek fan, but he skated beautifully, and has comported himself impeccably through the all the post-competition whining by the incredibly ungracious Plushenko. I thought Lysacek's program was clearly the superior one. Plushenko landed his quad, but then most of his followup jumps were poorly executed, or he was off-balance on his landings, and in the last minute his skating slowed considerdably and the choreography and musicality became nearly non-existent. As for Weir, he skated very cleanly and while it was not a gold-medal performance, he deserved fourth or perhaps even a bronze; Lambiel and Chan finishing ahead of him is a joke, and a reflection of homophobia and disregard for individuality in the sport.

I know that I'm in the minority with this, but I really wish they would skate to some more contemporary music and that the costumes weren't so "gay"...enough with the sequins, feathers, etc. Save that stuff for the Ice Capades. Wow me with your skating, not your costume.

Saw this on Salon.com the other day: What real dancers think of figure skating

Here's an example comment from one of the dancers, choreographer Mark Morris. I like his comment about "The tricks are too hard to be beautiful." That's my feeling on the quad.

I really think Stojko has this fear of being identified as homo. When he was still competing, he was trying TOO HARD to be so macho on the ice. He must have one time tripped on the ice, fell on another male skater, grabbed his crotch by accident and got hard, and ever since, he's so paranoid to be identified as gay.
About his comments on Evan... who cares. He didn't care for the sport, and certainly, hardly anyone remembers him.

Joannie Rochette, who is supposed to skate for Canada in the women's figure skating later this week, just found out that her mother has died of a heart attack on Sunday morning.

I'm so sorry about Joannie Rochette's mother. I'm glad to hear that Joannie will still compete. If her mother could say one thing to her right now, it would be that she should go out there and skate.

What's doubly impressive about Lysacek's graciousness toward Russia's version of Serena Williams (sorry, just had to get that dig in) is that he responded as he did with absolutely no sleep. When I'm short on sleep, I'm no Miss Manners. The scoring system is set up to encourage programs like Evan's and discourage programs like Plushenko's. Evan's program was complete and balanced. The jumps were spread out, the spinning was superior, and the footwork and transition moves were top-notch. Plushy did all his jumps in the first 90 seconds and then just flailed around for the next three minutes. Now if a skater could go out there and do a complete, balanced program AND throw in a quad or two (like Abbott did at US Nationals), of course that would be the ideal. But if I had to choose between Evan's program and Plushy's, I'd much rather see Evan's.

The coaches of Davis & White and Virtue & Moir must be the best in the business. Forget whether it was authentic aborigine or offensive, I couldn't even make it through the Russians' original dance, just FF'd right past it. I was rooting for Balbin & Agosto, but they didn't pull it off. The only two programs I watched a second time were D&W's and V&M's. Both were amazing, and they deserve to be in the top two spots.

I'm watching some of the lower level ice dance pairs right now, and I was thinking while the individual skaters have improved--at least in terms of the abilities of the men and women to do triple and quadruple jumps--the ice dancing doesn't seem to be any better than it was some years ago.

I'm thinking specifically of the 1984 Olympics, where you had probably the best figure skating performance ever, Torvill and Dean's Bolero, Bestemianova and Bukin (who I loved, and who would win gold in the 1988 Olympics) and Klimova & Ponomarenko. I just don't think that the top three pairs at this Olympics will be able to skate with the artistry, the grace, the personality and flare of that trio. I see skaters doing tricks, fancy lifts, but the ability to create a routine that tells a story, that sets a mood, that is like a ballet on ice... you don't see that too much anymore.

Gold medal for Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir in ice dancing! Yay, Canada!


And may I say, Scott Moir you are adorable. So sexy in black. You make me wanna shout.

I was hoping that the other US pair could sneak into the bronze. B & A skated well, but their last two programs had such weak choreography compared to the Top 2 pairs and the Russian pair. It was a choreography issue rather than skating issue.

With the sour grapes that the Russians put forth when they don't get the Gold (despite getting bested- Slutskaya and Plushenko), I was hoping to minimize the medals LOL

I wish I had sufficient expertise about ice dancing to say whether it has improved technically in the past decade or so, but the more I watch, the less I understand. But I loved the free dances by the gold and silver medalists, that much I know. It was annoying that Davis & White were given a one-point deduction, but the commentators didn't mention why (or at least I missed it). Anyone know?

First of all, Joannie Rochette is an incredibly strong person. To be able to hold it together and skate as well as she did (her short program score was a personal best) is simply astonishing. I hope she continues to skate as well in the long. If she medals, there won't be a dry eye in the house. Mao is my favorite skater, but I concede that Yu-Na performed the best short program tonight. Everything was spot-on -- jumps, footwork, speed, and spins. The quality of her spins was noticeably superior to Mao's. But the 4.72 point margin Yu-Na holds over #2 Asada is no guarantee of gold.

Final thought about Plushy's long program: he's gotta be kickin' himself for not throwing in another triple. There's that long boring stretch toward the end of the program where he doesn't do a jump for ~1:15. He could probably do a triple sal in his sleep. Had he thrown one in during that stretch, it might have made the difference. Something I noticed watching it a 2nd time was how smug he was. He strutted a couple of times - once to the judges and once to the general audience - as if he had already clinched the gold. Oops.

I noticed that too. I looked it up on the nbc olympics website and they have the judge's scores. Davis and White received a one point deduction for an extended lift.
Hmm, go figure...

OK, so I predicted the ladies' event badly as well, except for Yu-Na Kim winning...that one was easy.

The only thing I didn't like, though, was Rachel Flatt's placement. How was she 7th?? They said she was downgraded on some of her jumps, but when they showed them close up and in slow motion, the commentators said most (maybe all except one) were fully rotated. It looked like Ando's jumps were short, and her artistry was non-existent. I don't know how she could have been ahead of Rachel. I guess Flatt isn't the darling of the judges I thought she was.

Happy for Nagasu. She did extremely well, skating so cleanly after the performances of all 3 medal winners. She nailed her routine and moved up nicely to 4th. Too bad neither of the US ladies landed on the podium (for the first time in like 4 decades) but both of them showed where the future's going to be.

Also happy all the ladies went for their jumps, and landed almost all of them. It wasn't the choke-fest/splat-fest/pop-fest that the ladies' event was in Torino. Hell, Rachel Flatt in 7th, landed more triple jumps than the gold-medal winning Arakawa did in 2006.

I was also WAY off about Asada. In honesty, though, she really hadn't been much of a factor this year. Too bad she flubbed one of her takeoffs and jumps, but she was very much in the thick of things. And I was wrong (yet) again about the ladies technical stagnation. A few ladies successfully did triple/triples and Mao landed 2 triple axels in her long, and one in her short program. That's history, right there. (Yes, Plushenko's coach is still an idiot for saying the men and women are on par technically, because Asada's still the only one who attempted the triple axel, and the only lady who can land it predictably...but Lambiel should feel pretty inadequate right about now .... I also wonder what Bitter-Mullet-Man, his coach, and Butch Stojko are saying after the ladies' event...I mean, Asada landed 2 triple axels, like he landed 2 quads, so she's obviously the winner, right?? She was robbed, too, huh? Or did the judges "regress" in the ladies' event, too? )

I guess I'm the happiest to be wrong about Joannie Rochette. She's never put two programs together like that, on any big stage, so it's understandable why I, and most others, predicted she wouldn't be much of a factor at this Olympics. She had stepped out of one jump, and a rough landing on another, but that was still an amazing performance....made all the more amazing that she had the weight of expectations of an entire home country and dealing with such a horribly tragic loss all at the same time. My heart goes out to her and her family in this very tough time.

There's no question in my mind that the ladies' event was by far the best of all the disciplines at this Olympics.

I actually thought the women were a lot more impressive than the men this year. Far from looking technically stagnant, Asada and Kim (at least this week) looked a lot more impressive than Kwan and Slutskaya. Whereas I think Yagudin would have beaten Lysacek easily.

Edited to add:
Questions for figure skating aficionados: Has any woman ever landed three triple axels cleanly in the same competition before? Also, wasn't there a Japanese girl who landed a quad in the juniors competion a few years ago? Was that Asada?

I don't follow skating as closely as I do tennis, but I'm pretty sure it's Miki Ando who landed the quad. I don't think I've ever seen a final set of ladies skaters perform at the Olympics without someone falling. I'm so used to skaters taking themselves out of the competition, but in this case, everybody threw down the gauntlet. If I heard correctly, it sounded like every one of the final 6 skaters, acheived their personal best scores. Just running through the last few Olympics in my mind (Arakawa, Hughes, Lipinski, Baiul), I was used to the favorites faltering and a surprise winner sneaking through by putting together a clean program. I feel like anyone in the top 7 could have won a medal in any prior olympics.

As for Yagudin, I miss him. Someone with both the quad and the artistry. Actually, even Plushenko from that era seemed more artistic than he does now.

I'm not even remotely an aficionado, but the commentators said no woman had ever landed three triple axels before in a competition. (I don't think any other woman even attempted it before Asada)

Ando did a quad, but I don't remember if she was a senior or a junior at the time. Ando's given up on attempting quads since then, because it was way too unsuccessful in later attempts.

Since I don't follow skating as closely as I used to, I could be off on this, but I believe the only two other women who have landed triple axels in competition were Midori Ito and Tonya Harding. After falling in the short program and falling out of gold medal contention, Midori attempted another triple axel in her long and fell. Then she tried it again, did it brilliantly, and clinched the silver. Tonya Harding did one at US Nationals, you know, back when she thought she could win by her own hard work and determination and not by clubbing her opponents' knees.

Yes, absolutely, Yagudin would have beaten Lysacek. One can make a valid argument about men's skating regressing (not saying I agree, just that one could argue). But even silver medalist Asada would have beaten the last few gold medalists. It is kinda hard to beat a triple axel, after all, much more so three of them. I can understand Rachel Flatts's placement. Apparently BOTH her triple flips were downgraded to doubles, which is a difference of eight points (ouchie!).

Yu-Na is without a doubt the queen of the ice. Mao did a fantastic job to win the silver. In no way does Joannie's bronze medal make up for the loss of her mother, but it must be beautiful solace to know how proud her mother would be right now. Bobbles aside, Joannie's long was terrific. She is the diametric opposite of Ando in that Rochette does so many difficult and interesting things in between her jumps. And yes, I'm in complete agreement that the ladies competition was the highlight of this Olympics' figure skating: so many terrific performances in both the short and the long, great technical advances (lots of triple-triple combos besides Mao's three triple axels), yet beautiful artistry at the same time (well, except for Ando).

A few years ago (maybe 4 or 5 years ago), when Kimmie Meisner was still in the picture, and nerves and lack of confidence hadn't yet completely destroyed her career, she landed a triple axel in competition. I'm sure there might be another, or some others, but I can't recall them off the top of my head. I think there was a Japanese skater (I can't remember her name) who was known as just a jumper who did one right around the same time as Kimmie, but she kind of got buried under the pile of other skaters recently pumped out of the Japanese figure-skating factory who could jump and be artistic.

You may be thinking of Yoshie Onda? She's in her late 20s now, just aged out of the sport, retired a couple of years ago.

Yukari Nakano also does the triple axel, but doesn't always get credit for the full rotation--you'd have seen her in Vancouver, but she missed out of the place at Nationals to Akiko Suzuki by a fraction of a point after they both skated lights out.

Kimmie is only 20 years old and still skates--she was injured and had to take time off ice, but no way has she retired.

Akiko Suzuki is no freshly churned out newcomer, either, by the way--she's a 24 year old who vanished from the scene for a few years due to a struggle with anorexia.

I think the above poster may be the aficionado we were looking for.

Yes, those names sound familiar. I've lost track of all the Japanese skaters, so many have been appearing on the scene the last eight years, but admittedly, I don't follow them all that closely, as I only see some of the big events (grand prix here and there, worlds, olympics...)

I didn't mean to insinuate that Meissner had retired, just that I think her competitive days as a contender are over. Even before she got hurt, after she had won the sparse Worlds after the Torino Olympics, she battled nerves and never seemed to skate two clean programs again. I knew she was hurt, but still don't view her as a factor in the national, let alone international, ranks. It's hard to believe she's still just 20 years old. I'll continue to make really bad predictions, I'm sure, and if Kimmie Meissner feeds me crow in some remarkable comeback, I'll gladly eat it (see my predictions about a Hingis comeback a few years ago ) ... but for right now, I think her best days are well behind her.

The CTV Olympics photo gallery of the Exhibition skate. Perhaps the most entertaining was the kid, Nam Nguyen. The kid has such personality!


NBC Olympics site has a poll: vote for the most memorable figure skating moment of the Vancouver Winter Olympics. Choices are:

- Shen and Zhao finally win gold
- Joannie Rochette's strength amid personal tragedy
- Lysacek skates to gold
- Moir belts out "Oh, Canada"
- Kim Yu-Na's free skate
- Other (share as comment)