2016 Worlds! Expectations? Concerns?

kiches · Apr 8, 2016

karne said:
You really could have, you know. I brought one every session of every day (among other forbidden items like Tim Tams) and no-one even noticed.

I actually did have an empty bottle sort of hidden and they made me throw it out. I realized if I hid it deep enough they probably wouldn't notice it but by then I didn't feel like trying to sneak it in, but my mouth got very dry throughout the week.

Itzme said:
Well, it's not normal in my experience, but to my disbelief I found that to be the case everywhere in Boston, except for the airport.

Interesting, I have a tendency to avoid public restrooms at all costs so I didn't really notice the lack of seat covers throughout Boston, but I thought they were standard for large arenas/venues since the bathrooms are used by so many people.

I know that restrooms in Asia don't usually have seat covers, but I found that many of them will have disinfectant that you can at least use to wipe the seats down before use (or in the case of Japan, they'll have a bidet or squatting toilet).

noskates · Apr 8, 2016

The lack of seat covers was bad enough but the toilets were soooooo low. Thought I was sitting on the floor. After about the 3rd day of sitting for hours on end in the competition I was afraid I wouldn't be able to stand up! :rofl:

Arriba627 · Apr 8, 2016

Mrs. P said:
It was a pretty awesome competition. I got my money's worth for sure. Even if the men weren't perfect there was so many things I enjoyed from both segments -- Yuzuru's pristine SP, Ivan Riginhi's inspiring SP (after a crazy freak fall right before it), Javi's amazing skate, the Americans bringing it, Kolyda being the frontrunner of team Russia, Shoma's charisma, Boyang's huge 4Z, Patrick's skating skills and 4T-3T in the SP.

Dance: New discoveries including Kuramoto/Reed, Kazislek/Spodriev, Torn/Paarten. Great to see a new -- much better--music cut from Gilles and Porier, solid dances from the top 5 couples.

LadiesSP : The top 12 ladies had clean or near clean programs -- we haven't seen that in a while. Pogorilaya blowing me away with her passion and huge jumps. Ashley sambing her way to a clean SP in a major comp. Mao's beautiful step sequence and so on.

Pairs SP: Awesome artistic performance from Sui/Han. A spirited performance from Duhamel/Radford. Huge twists from Massot/Savchenko and Trankov/Volosozshar

And best of all, my husband surpassed my expectations in taking care of Baby P. I could have stayed another day and watched the Ladies FS! Oh well!

That's just a few thoughts...I really could go on if you want me to make a case that if this wasn't the best worlds it was a pretty damn good one.

Great list! My first Worlds and I absolutely loved it! Only thing that would have made it better for me would be Shoma taking the bronze.

mrrice · Apr 8, 2016

karne said:
I had never seen a toilet seat cover in my life until I got to America.

Also you guys have weird toilets.

100% Correct.............After spending 4 years of my life on a base in Germany, you forget how weird the showers are here. It's not that weird anymore, but when we moved back to the states I couldn't get over the fact that shower head was attached to the wall and didn't come off so you could hold it. I remember pulling on the shower head and asking my mom if the shower was broken. The toilets were even worse. I was always afraid they were going to overflow because I had never seen so much water in them. :drama:

Sabrina · Apr 8, 2016

mrrice said:
100% Correct.............After spending 4 years of my life on a base in Germany, you forget how weird the showers are here. It's not that weird anymore, but when we moved back to the states I couldn't get over the fact that shower head was attached to the wall and didn't come off so you could hold it. I remember pulling on the shower head and asking my mom if the shower was broken. The toilets were even worse. I was always afraid they were going to overflow because I had never seen so much water in them.

When I came to Canada (from Europe) I was shocked by the way the showers are designed, and many other things, but it is not the proper thread to talk about that.
I've watched the Words on TV, but mostly online. These were by no means the best worlds. Still they are amazing if you consider these are are the first worlds where somebody jumped a 4Lz. I am happy Boyang got a medal in the end. I was also happy for Javi. If Anna would have got the silver medal it would have been almost perfect. So, there are some complains about the scores, but over all it was OK.

mrrice · Apr 8, 2016

I have a question regarding Anna for someone who might know. Anna, was my "Misha Ge" moment for this year's Worlds. I had heard almost nothing about her other than she was considered a "Head Case" Well, she certainly shed that label in style at these Worlds. Is she getting a good reception at home? I know that Med is the World Champion which to me was not the least bit shocking as she was the clear favorite ( To Me ) going in. I know it could be easy for Anna to be over shadowed by Med since they are both from the same country. Before she Won the Olympics in 2002, Sarah was always a foot note to Michelle's Wins. Michelle Kwan Wins Her 4th World Championship in 2001. :points:

BTW, Sarah Hughes was also there and took 3rd :yawn: Now......Back To Michelle!!!

MaiKatze · Apr 8, 2016

mrrice said:
I have a question regarding Anna for someone who might know. Anna, was my "Misha Ge" moment for this year's Worlds. I had heard almost nothing about her other than she was considered a "Head Case" Well, she certainly shed that label in style at these Worlds. Is she getting a good reception at home? I know that Med is the World Champion which to me was not the least bit shocking as she was the clear favorite ( To Me ) going in. I know it could be easy for Anna to be over shadowed by Med since they are both from the same country. Before she Won the Olympics in 2002, Sarah was always a foot note to Michelle's Wins. Michelle Kwan Wins Her 4th World Championship in 2001.

BTW, Sarah Hughes was also there and took 3rd :yawn: Now......Back To Michelle!!!

In the post Worlds Media frenzy it looked like Anna and Evgenia appear both, as a team. I don't think that Anna is overshadowed by Evgenia, it seems pretty equal to me. Also it seems like they are good friends, they skate in the same sports club, are very huggy and affectionate with one another. You probably wouldn't have seen such a happy couple if Evgenia and Elena had been the succesful two.

What I found a bit ridiculous were some comments on Anna's programs from tv commentators who said that Anna never skated clean before. :disagree: Please. Shut up if you don't know what you're talking about! That girl can deliver and has proved herself before. Watch russian Nationals 2015. She's been 4th at worlds before, she has won GP events and made the GPF, twice. She did not suddenly appear and skated better than ever, she has always been capable. She is not consistent, that's true. Her falls look bad because she's so powerful and because they must hurt, they take a lot of steam away and that hurts the program. But other than that, she is not an over-night sensation, she always had this in her, proved it before. She was always treated as random Russia girl Number Three for years, and it's been bugging me to no end. I'm glad she finally got a bit of recognition. Rant over and out.

mrrice · Apr 8, 2016

MaiKatze said:
In the post Worlds Media frenzy it looked like Anna and Evgenia appear both, as a team. I don't think that Anna is overshadowed by Evgenia, it seems pretty equal to me. Also it seems like they are good friends, they skate in the same sports club, are very huggy and affectionate with one another. You probably wouldn't have seen such a happy couple if Evgenia and Elena had been the succesful two.

Thank you for this comment. I'm very glad to hear that they are both happy. I also think it's a good thing when the top skaters get along as these two seem to be. I think it's inspiring for younger skaters to see the top competitors getting along. It removes the drama and cattiness that sometimes arrears in figure skating.

Sam L · Apr 17, 2016

Alexz said:
Exactly right, Medvedeva has an almost perfectly trained head-torso-hands coordination, it is what they call famous "Vaganova back". It's actually surprising for a Moscow girl to achieve, because Bolshoi academy training is a bit different, but Vaganova Academy (which is located in different city, not Moscow where Medvedeva lived and trained her childhood and teen ages) is the one that famous for their that special 'Vaganova' way of ballet movements. Medvedeva is either has born with it or just had a ballet teacher from St. Petersburg who worked on her from 10 to 14 y.o. Evgenia might look boney and skinny, but her core, back and abdominals are looking very strong.

Vaganova method is all about precision, flexibility comes only second. Vaganova method trained dancers has quiet power in their backs. Thais ballerinas might look too skinny or fragile, but I can assure you they can bend nails with their back. At the same time it is very controlled strength, regal carriage. It makes your core perfect for any kind of "dance" sport or choreographic art. Generally speaking, every single Russian gymnasts (rhythmic/artistic), acrobats, figure skaters, ballroom dancers, circus performers (look at Circque du Soleil: 1/3 of their performers are Russians), aerobic dancers & etc usually are required to take some Vaganova training under their belt in order to be worthy of well performing in their craft or art.

Usually Vaganova-trained dancers are easy to spot: even their routinely moves, walks, posture in real life is deeply internalized and their bodies naturally screams and breathes that special elegant movements either they just reaching their hand to the table to pick up a cup of tea, either they are waking defile in the fashion show podium. It's something either you are born with either able to develop in very young ages. Requires a discipline and highly structured classes few years long of Vaganova method. Certainly, figure skaters in Russia don't spend much hours a week for ballet training, but they all have to develop this pure nice lines in the port de bras and deep plies, en-dehors pirouettes are often taken from 4th or 3th positions. The quality of tandues are usually a big deal for figure skaters too. Figure skaters are surely not required to train and rehearse ballet as hard and much as ballerinas, but it does help them to develop a perfectly balanced muscular core, which helps them to keep their balance on skates and move their hands/head gracefully in any complex way choreography is required.

In short: the main secret of Russian figure skating or any Russian "performing athlet" is proper (Vagnova method) ballet training in the young ages.

Yes and I have none other than Vaganova's Basic Principles of Classical Ballet book.

Ballet basics carry over very well to Figure Skating imo.

moonvine · Apr 19, 2016

karne said:
You really could have, you know. I brought one every session of every day (among other forbidden items like Tim Tams) and no-one even noticed.

At first we were taking the whole no outside food thing very seriously and we were sitting at the wall outside where the line formed to get into the venue. We didn't see a reason to line up to get in an hour before the event even started so we were finishing our cokes....well, all kinds of people were offering us food so they did not have to throw it away...unopened bottles of water, soda, one lady gave us a really delicious pastry (thank you nice lady!). It was GOOD. I would have sat right there and eaten it before throwing it or giving it away. Anyway later into the week I forgot I had chocolate witches in my purse and no one bothered me about them. Also started taking in bottles of diet coke, they just stuck the wand in my purse to see if I had explosives....anyway the amount of food thrown away was shocking...too bad they could not figure out a way to give it to the homeless...

2016 Worlds! Expectations? Concerns?

kiches

noskates

Arriba627

TWO-TIME WORLD CHAMPION 🔥

mrrice

Sabrina

mrrice

MaiKatze

mrrice

Sam L

moonvine

All Hail Queen Gracie

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