- Joined
- Jul 29, 2003
Hi. I was one of those crazy obsessive fans through the 90’s until 2006. Then, for various reasons, only followed the sport sporadically. But, except for dance, this past olympics has reignited my passion for the sport. I’ve been meaning to gush about it earlier, but have been on youtube trying to catch up on what i missed in the past 12 years (holy crap I’m old, has it really been that long?!?!), which has been further slowed by watching Semei over and over and over and over.
I remember all the negativity surrounding code of points when it first came out but I’m amazed at how much it has pushed the sport. While I see some of the issues with it and I hate what it did to dance, I’m amazed at how much the sport has moved forward since it began, and even since the Chan era (which I just started watching).
For years, pairs made only minor technical progress. Love Story got gold with a collection of poses and crossovers. Neither gold couple was pushing the boundaries technically. But in 2018, I feel like pairs has become ice dancing combined with the most difficult of elements. Every top couple brought elements I’ve rarely or never seen in previous eras and most combined it with fully choreographed programs. Previous years you saw maybe one top couple push the sport technically, but this year we had quad twists and so many of the more difficult sbs jumps and throws. I still have to catch up on pairs, but previous to this year, the only successful quad of any kind that I saw was a quad twist by G&G way back when and almost all the pairs only did toes, double axel, and salchows. I found Sui and Han to be so dynamic, Savchenko and Massot to be both innovative and beautiful, and Tarasova and Morozov were a reminder of classic pairs skating at its most glorious. Not only were the programs difficult and beautiful, but the quality of the elements were consistently outstanding - so many enormous twists and level 4 everything!
Medvedeva was so hauntingly beautiful. Zagitova seems to have nerves of steel. She skated the most technically demanding ladies program I’ve ever seen almost perfectly while still having strong presentation. I think there should have been more of a gap between her and Medvedeva’s components scores, but both are worthy champions. And Osmond had a wonderful bronze skate with the most beautiful jumps of them all. People complain that the ladies are technically stagnant, and perhaps they are slower to progress, but it was still the most phenomenal group of skates that I can recall ever seeing in a ladies Olympic competition. All skating lovely programs with the most technically demanding content and not one real mistake in the top 3!
Most inspirational of all were the men. Even though there were a lot of mistakes, they are doing things that no one could have fathomed. Not only are the men doing multiple quads, but they skate such full programs these days. While I hope Nathan improves on the performance aspect, he does manage to combine the highest technical difficulty with a solid program and decent presentation. Even though Patrick Chan didn’t skate well, I enjoyed his actual programs more than any of the other ones I’ve seen from him. Misha Ge was mesmerizing. Hated Kolyada’s free skate but still loved watching him skate when he wasn’t falling. Aliev’s jump landings are the most gorgeous of them all. Fernandez is a wonderful performer. Uno vaguely reminds me of Alexei Yagudin. I liked Jin too though I have nothing specific to say about his skate It’s also interesting to see the influence of Plushenko - I don’t recall any male skater doing Bielmans and donuts and very few laybacks before him but it was fairly common in this competition.
I missed the men’s competition in Sochi, so this was the first time I’ve really seen Hanyu skate. I literally fell in love with him. I find myself thinking of him every day. And the more I learn about him, the more enamored I am with him - so expressive on and off the ice, such a great sportsman,the desire to constantly improve, a palpable love for the sport, and what a charming personality. The short program was enchanting. The long was so powerful while also graceful and distinctive. I think it’s the best men’s free skate I’ve ever seen - while NHK and GPF were skated cleaner, the performance of the Olympic skate was so strong. I’ve never seen such difficult jumps done with so much finesse while integrated so perfectly into superior performance quality and masterful elements. And charisma out the wazoo to top it off.
The only nitpick I have is that I wish he’d extend better sometimes. But his overall package is the greatest I’ve ever seen.
Most impressive to me of all, is how deep the fields are these days. Strong competition at the top as well as enjoyable skates in every group. In the 90’s, there were times that even skaters in the last flight became painful to watch - just skating around from element to element. In this Olympics, I found enjoyment from first group to last.
whew! long gush but I have no one in real life to talk about skating with
I remember all the negativity surrounding code of points when it first came out but I’m amazed at how much it has pushed the sport. While I see some of the issues with it and I hate what it did to dance, I’m amazed at how much the sport has moved forward since it began, and even since the Chan era (which I just started watching).
For years, pairs made only minor technical progress. Love Story got gold with a collection of poses and crossovers. Neither gold couple was pushing the boundaries technically. But in 2018, I feel like pairs has become ice dancing combined with the most difficult of elements. Every top couple brought elements I’ve rarely or never seen in previous eras and most combined it with fully choreographed programs. Previous years you saw maybe one top couple push the sport technically, but this year we had quad twists and so many of the more difficult sbs jumps and throws. I still have to catch up on pairs, but previous to this year, the only successful quad of any kind that I saw was a quad twist by G&G way back when and almost all the pairs only did toes, double axel, and salchows. I found Sui and Han to be so dynamic, Savchenko and Massot to be both innovative and beautiful, and Tarasova and Morozov were a reminder of classic pairs skating at its most glorious. Not only were the programs difficult and beautiful, but the quality of the elements were consistently outstanding - so many enormous twists and level 4 everything!
Medvedeva was so hauntingly beautiful. Zagitova seems to have nerves of steel. She skated the most technically demanding ladies program I’ve ever seen almost perfectly while still having strong presentation. I think there should have been more of a gap between her and Medvedeva’s components scores, but both are worthy champions. And Osmond had a wonderful bronze skate with the most beautiful jumps of them all. People complain that the ladies are technically stagnant, and perhaps they are slower to progress, but it was still the most phenomenal group of skates that I can recall ever seeing in a ladies Olympic competition. All skating lovely programs with the most technically demanding content and not one real mistake in the top 3!
Most inspirational of all were the men. Even though there were a lot of mistakes, they are doing things that no one could have fathomed. Not only are the men doing multiple quads, but they skate such full programs these days. While I hope Nathan improves on the performance aspect, he does manage to combine the highest technical difficulty with a solid program and decent presentation. Even though Patrick Chan didn’t skate well, I enjoyed his actual programs more than any of the other ones I’ve seen from him. Misha Ge was mesmerizing. Hated Kolyada’s free skate but still loved watching him skate when he wasn’t falling. Aliev’s jump landings are the most gorgeous of them all. Fernandez is a wonderful performer. Uno vaguely reminds me of Alexei Yagudin. I liked Jin too though I have nothing specific to say about his skate It’s also interesting to see the influence of Plushenko - I don’t recall any male skater doing Bielmans and donuts and very few laybacks before him but it was fairly common in this competition.
I missed the men’s competition in Sochi, so this was the first time I’ve really seen Hanyu skate. I literally fell in love with him. I find myself thinking of him every day. And the more I learn about him, the more enamored I am with him - so expressive on and off the ice, such a great sportsman,the desire to constantly improve, a palpable love for the sport, and what a charming personality. The short program was enchanting. The long was so powerful while also graceful and distinctive. I think it’s the best men’s free skate I’ve ever seen - while NHK and GPF were skated cleaner, the performance of the Olympic skate was so strong. I’ve never seen such difficult jumps done with so much finesse while integrated so perfectly into superior performance quality and masterful elements. And charisma out the wazoo to top it off.
The only nitpick I have is that I wish he’d extend better sometimes. But his overall package is the greatest I’ve ever seen.
Most impressive to me of all, is how deep the fields are these days. Strong competition at the top as well as enjoyable skates in every group. In the 90’s, there were times that even skaters in the last flight became painful to watch - just skating around from element to element. In this Olympics, I found enjoyment from first group to last.
whew! long gush but I have no one in real life to talk about skating with