Athletes View on 10 AM competition | Golden Skate

Athletes View on 10 AM competition

skylark

Gazing at a Glorious Great Lakes sunset
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Aug 12, 2014
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So, yeah, this is the Bee I have in my Bonnet. But it really irks me. Not to mention it makes me hate NBC. Every individual event has a 10 AM start time as well, apparently, if I'm not mistaken. In this article by Phil Hersh, Patrick Chan and Nathan Chen both talked (very little, but to the point) about how it affected them in the Team Event.

The schedule, with a 10 a.m. local start time to accommodate prime time TV in the United States, was disconcerting for everyone.

"None of us have competed this early, let alone at the Olympics," Chan said.

Two-time U.S. champion Chen got to the rink at 6 a.m. for a warmup session an hour later and did not have time to return to the Olympic Village before the competition began. He performed at 11 a.m.

"We practice at home around this time (10 a.m.), but I don't get to the rink at 6 for warmups," Chen said.
http://web.icenetwork.com/news/2018/02/09/266183266

Someone said in the comp thread that if you're doing a quad at 10 a.m., you're doing triples at 6 a.m. ... and you got up at 4. Which puts it even more into perspective.
 

evasorange

Final Flight
Joined
Jan 22, 2015
I knew NBC had a pretty strong grip on the Olympics but it’s pretty crazy how they were able to completely alter the times for one of the main events to be completely in their favor. I’m not surprised it’s so hard on the poor skaters, and I’m
also not surprised that NBC didn’t care that this was pretty much a guarantee to happen. And what kills me is that they did this but they obviously don’t even respect the sport. Between the cutting up of events, the ignoring of skaters from other countries in favor of puff pieces of American skaters and the completely horrendous commentary of Tara and Johnny it seems clear to me the decisions being made in how the sport is presented for broadcast are NOT being made by someone who is a fan of the sport. I wish they had another network to challenge them. And I hope as time goes on for the individual events the skaters get more accustomed to the time change!
 

blackey

On the Ice
Joined
Dec 8, 2015
to me this sounds kind of funny. the skaters have experience of competing all over the world with time difference. if 10am local time is too early for you, pretend it's another country and get up at 4, like most of them are jet lagged anyways?? even with the "normal schedule" anyone could be scheduled to compete from noon to 10/11 at night, that's a very wide range. If you are comparing competing in the morning with competing in the afternoon, should we also compare competing in the afternoon and in the night at the first place? Also I'm really not buying any excuse from patrick, he didn't even train for half of the season and barely even land one 3a in official practice, what did he expect
 

pearly

Record Breaker
Joined
Sep 1, 2017
I've gotten up for official practice at 4 am and it is not the least funny or easy. It's ridiculous to make athletes at Olympics do it. Luckily it should get better for skaters in the top two groups because they won't skate earlier than 12 in their main events. But still completely unfair to other skaters.
 

el henry

Go have some cake. And come back with jollity.
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Mar 3, 2014
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United-States
This is the *Olympics*. I don’t care if the comp starts at 5 a.m. Get a grip, get over yourself, and adjust your time clock. Or give your spot to an athlete who would be happy to get up at 3 a.m. to compete there.

Bradie and the Knierims have said they have no problem with the schedule. They have my respect:rock:
 

kenboy123

On the Ice
Joined
Oct 20, 2017
I love it because it's 5pm where I am, so I can actually watch it... Lol, but in all seriousness, why did they do that???... Does NBC really that big of a pull?? .... It seems so odd considering they almost never have competition this early... It doesn't seem so odd in other sports since some of them do start very early...
 

Shayuki

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 2, 2013
It's very frustrating, yeah. The performances will likely be bad due to this. And these are something we'll have videos of for years and will stay in the record books for ever, it's not like those performances could be redone. In my opinion, the attitude should always be about the athlete being able to perform to the best of their ability, first and foremost.

And of course, personally I now cannot watch anything at all live. Whereas, late night for America and early morning for me would at least have been doable for both continents.
 

el henry

Go have some cake. And come back with jollity.
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Mar 3, 2014
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United-States
I wonder if the thread title could be changed to “Nathan Chen’s view”, since it is not all athletes, all American athletes, or even all American skaters who have expressed this view? :scratch3:

Also, isn’t there another thread to discuss the actual decision to hold the comps when they are held? (Not that I expect that to stick at all:biggrin:)
 

Tavi...

Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 10, 2014
Sorry, but no sympathy from me. That’s true even though I think the early start time was a stupid concession to NBC.

Why am I so cold hearted about this?

Well, as I’ve probably said before, I used to be a singer. Singing a couple of arias with high Cs at 9:00 or 10:00 am isn’t unlike doing triples or quads at that hour: Not only does your whole body need to be awake, you need to warm up your voice, you need time to mentally focus, and you need to eat and allow for travel time. So when I used to have an early audition, I would get up at 4:00 am to make sure I was fully awake and ready to go when it counted. In fact, if it was a really, really, important audition - the opera equivalent of the Olympics, let’s say - I would put myself on that godawful early schedule a week or two before hand, so my body and voice were used to it. Was it a pain? Yes. But I never considered not doing it. This kind of advance planning for something important isn’t brain surgery.

It’s been common knowledge for quite awhile that the Olympic figure skating events would start really early. Skaters and their teams know what needs to happen before competition for optimal performance - on and off ice warmups, a meal, etc. So to the extent that they didn’t plan ahead for the team event and get themselves on an early schedule a week or two ahead of time - and it sounds like a lot of them didn’t - well, I’m sorry for the results, but I think it was easily avoidable, even with jet lag as a complicating factor.
 

Barb

Record Breaker
Joined
Oct 13, 2009
Well, at least everyone is competing in the same circumstances. And maybe we should wait to see the rest of the performances. Olympic games usually are not the best performances anyway. Men in Sochi was a splatfest, they competed early too? I can´t remember.
 

ice coverage

avatar credit: @miyan5605
Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 27, 2012
I wonder if the thread title could be changed to “Nathan Chen’s view”, since it is not all athletes, all American athletes, or even all American skaters who have expressed this view? :scratch3: ...

The view is not unique to Nathan, so I don't see why the thread title should single him out.

AP article:

Early starts at Olympics cause figure skaters concern

http://www.nbcolympics.com/news/early-starts-olympics-cause-figure-skaters-concern (Feb 10)​

Some skaters (plural) -- including, but not limited to, Nathan -- have expressed concern.

Some other skaters have differing views.
 

moonvine

All Hail Queen Gracie
Record Breaker
Joined
Mar 14, 2007
Country
United-States
I knew NBC had a pretty strong grip on the Olympics but it’s pretty crazy how they were able to completely alter the times for one of the main events to be completely in their favor. I’m not surprised it’s so hard on the poor skaters, and I’m
also not surprised that NBC didn’t care that this was pretty much a guarantee to happen. And what kills me is that they did this but they obviously don’t even respect the sport. Between the cutting up of events, the ignoring of skaters from other countries in favor of puff pieces of American skaters and the completely horrendous commentary of Tara and Johnny it seems clear to me the decisions being made in how the sport is presented for broadcast are NOT being made by someone who is a fan of the sport. I wish they had another network to challenge them. And I hope as time goes on for the individual events the skaters get more accustomed to the time change!

It won't solve the time problem, but if you can get the international stream from nbc olympics.com or other site, I recommend it. I never have to listen to Tara and Johnny.
 

rikaquegira

On the Ice
Joined
Nov 30, 2017
If they didn't prepare for the schedule beforehand, well, I hope they learn their lesson for next time.
I doubt Yuzuru will whine about schedule...
I doubt Medvedeva will whine about schedule. Eteri would make her jump 30 triple-triples before she says a word about skating badly because she's jetlagged.
True champions know the necessary process and the amount of effort an Olympic competition takes, so they make sure they're as prepared as possible. And they certainly won't blame the schedule for not having the skate of their lives.
With that said, I don't think Patrick or Nathan are whining. I think the questioning about the time came from the fans who are looking for excuses because they just can't believe these wonderful skaters had such bad performances at the freaking Olympics where they're supposed to be flawless. But let's all remember they're humans and they make mistakes. It's not the end of the world. They still have the individual event for redemption.
I wish all athletes the best of luck! Just be ready!
 

travelbug

Rinkside
Joined
Feb 16, 2010
This is the *Olympics*. I don’t care if the comp starts at 5 a.m. Get a grip, get over yourself, and adjust your time clock. Or give your spot to an athlete who would be happy to get up at 3 a.m. to compete there.

Bradie and the Knierims have said they have no problem with the schedule. They have my respect:rock:

An article with quotes from Bradie and her coach, and also Shoma (and also about Bradie and her coach's attempts to get to Korea and her ending up finding a place to practice en route due to flight issues)

The unprecedented 10 a.m. starts of all figure skating competition at the 2018 Olympic Winter Games mean skaters have warmup sessions as early as 6 a.m., with wakeup calls coming about two hours earlier.

That's when the alarm goes off for Tennell every weekday at her home in suburban Chicago.

"I'm up at 4:15 or 4:30
, depending how many times I hit the snooze," she said with a grin Saturday afternoon, after her final full practice before she will skate the short program in the team event Sunday.

<snip>

Japan's Shoma Uno, who won the short easily, expected the early start to bother him more than it did.

"Usually, it would be hard," he said. "Today, for some reason, I felt good. I was a little sleepy during the warmup session (which began at 7:05 a.m.), but my body was moving in the competition."

Tennell, the 2018 U.S. champion, shrugged at a question about her thoughts on the schedule.

"I don't think anything of it," she said.

Her coach, Denise Myers, said that is Tennell's default reaction to situations that are out of her control.

"She is very resilient," Myers said. "If it was going to be 10 at night, she would be fine with it. Any time of the day, she has been able to respond."

There's all the bit about the hiccups getting to Korea (including unexpectedly leaving a day earlier than planned because of weather, then getting stuck at SFO because of missed connections and so finding a rink overnight to train real quick en route, etc.)

Her coach said something similar at San Jose about being sick and training sick, etc. so Bradie wasn't phased by things. Seems like they really do emphasize it to try to make her able to overlook anything that might otherwise cause potential for issues.

Few athletes heading to their first Olympics would have handled all that with the equanimity Tennell did. But dealing with unexpected circumstances, such as being sick or having delays in a competition schedule, is something Myers has Tennell simulate at home.

"I think anything that upsets the apple cart is good," Myers said. "You learn how to be more resilient and bounce back."

http://web.icenetwork.com/news/2018...gi-bites-resilient-tennell-ready-for-anything
 

Arriba627

TWO-TIME WORLD CHAMPION 🔥
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Joined
Jun 2, 2014
Country
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I would hope that elite athletes would rise to the occasion, no matter what time their event is. They've known about this forever. It's not like this is the first time they've had an odd time start. Anyone from N. America who competes at Cup of China, NHK, Grand Prix Final, 4CC in Asia, Japan Open, World Team Trophy deals with this, and vice versa. We could go through the whole list of competitors from all regions. It's always the wrong time for someone...I'm trying to remember if I have ever seen skating live. Maybe from Vancouver and/or Calgary? Salt Lake City, I guess. Other than that, the results have already been announced in advance of when the programs air. I am so happy to see things live for the first time in a LONG time.
 

musicfan80

Medalist
Joined
May 20, 2015
I knew NBC had a pretty strong grip on the Olympics but it’s pretty crazy how they were able to completely alter the times for one of the main events to be completely in their favor.


I think what's crazy is that it's probably the snowboarding and skiing events that most Americans are going to want to see live, anyway. On a slightly related note, NBC's obsession with Shaun White and Lindsey Vonn is getting a tad tiresome.
 

Arriba627

TWO-TIME WORLD CHAMPION 🔥
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Jun 2, 2014
Country
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^^^It's funny you would say that, because when people were talking about all the skating hype, all I could think of was "what channel are you watching?!" And I have NBC cable and the Olympic Channel, in addition to NBC. I only saw advertisements for skiing, snowboarding, hockey, and maybe a little bit of figure skating. I probably noticed that because I love all the stuff like luge and sledding and noticed there wasn't anything for those events. Shaun and Lindsey have been everywhere!
 

noskates

Record Breaker
Joined
Jun 11, 2012
This is the *Olympics*. I don’t care if the comp starts at 5 a.m. Get a grip, get over yourself, and adjust your time clock. Or give your spot to an athlete who would be happy to get up at 3 a.m. to compete there.

Bradie and the Knierims have said they have no problem with the schedule. They have my respect:rock:

Yes what El said. I like the fact that we're able to see some of these competitions "live" instead on tape delay and finding out the results before you see the competition. The skaters knew way back when that the time would be different than the usual. Don't blame the broadcasting schedule.
 

noidont

Final Flight
Joined
Mar 27, 2010
Wait until all the men fall all over the place again and let's see if we as audience member have a problem with that or not.
 
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