2014 Olympics Mens Free Skate

[CanadianSkaterGuy]

Hanyu has all the jumps it's the artistry that needs work. He flails his arms everywhere.

I wouldn't say flail, but he needs more finesse and grace with his arms. His expression is good though. As for jumps he doesn't have all of them if we count the 4S, but his 4T and 3A are stellar.

 

[L_Canada]

I was so disappointed that Patrick could not get the 182 points he needed to win the OGM. He only scored lower once this year. Very disappointing, while his consistency has never been there, his skating is amazing and has really pushed this sport and the other athletes to be better skaters.

I really felt like this was Patrick's to win, had he not stepped out of the 2A and doubled the 3S, such silly errors, maybe he would be OGM. Hanyu will be a good Olympic Champion, seems like such a nice and humble kid.

Also, why is there so much Canadian skater bashing on this forum? Also disappointing.

 

[Blades of Passion]

Can we just stop with the whole pre-rotation thing?

No? It's part of what a jump is. If you SPIN on the ice on the takeoff then you AREN'T rotating as much in the air, WHICH IS WHAT A JUMP IS.

 

[SGrand]

I was so disappointed that Patrick could not get the 182 points he needed to win the OGM. He only scored lower once this year. Very disappointing, while his consistency has never been there, his skating is amazing and has really pushed this sport and the other athletes to be better skaters.

I really felt like this was Patrick's to win, had he not stepped out of the 2A and doubled the 3S, such silly errors, maybe he would be OGM. Hanyu will be a good Olympic Champion, seems like such a nice and humble kid.


Also, why is there so much Canadian skater bashing on this forum? Also disappointing.

I don't think we'll ever know exactly what happened because they themselves probably don't even know. So hard to say, so many 'what-ifs' with most of the men really here in the LP. I was shocked by the level of skating that day, so so sad as you just want to see them all bring their A Game to the Oly's, but it happens and there are so many reasons. My heart broke for Patrick, I really wanted him to pull through and deliver what he wanted, unfortunately that didn't happen. Regardless, he, and all of the others, have proven themselves and I am incredibly proud of them and in awe at what they have to do out there, both physically and mentally (which is really what went on with both Chan and Hanyu). Silver is nothing to sneer at and I hope he is proud of himself and knows that his fans are proud too. And as for Hanyu, I feel for him too, it's not the way you want to win, but I'm sure he'll take it haha! Thought it was sweet that he said that he had hoped that Chan would skate amazing to take the gold since he wasn't happy with his performance. I think he'll make an excellent champion!

As for the bashing of Canadians, I'm not really sure, I don't get it, but there are a few that like to exhibit this strange behavior that can always be ignored.

 

[moviechick]

Blame Canada!

 

[CanadianSkaterGuy]

No? It's part of what a jump is. If you SPIN on the ice on the takeoff then you AREN'T rotating as much in the air, WHICH IS WHAT A JUMP IS.

Everyone does it to some extent when attempting a high difficulty element. Heck many do that on their three jump series. Most quad salchows and even many quad toes have the guy taking off the ice facing forwards.

Skaters don't spin on the ice when pre-rotating... Their rotational momentum and timing of the jump causes them to be unable to simply pick into the ice and go straight up and then start rotating. If you've ever been an athlete attempting triples or quads (something that I highly doubt, though you can clarify if otherwise), some pre rotation is inevitable. The only time I doesn't happen is if the skater is doing a delay or has a massive vault so you can get the rotation going after you have left the ice, like Harding's lutz.

Face it, Reynolds has had many ratifiable quads even if he doesn't get as much height as others. He has more ratified quads than the vast majority of men. And instead of bashing him for not always rotating his quads or pre rotating (as pretty much every man does) maybe laud him for being the only guy actually attempting 5 quads (Kovtun not being there).

 

[Olympia]

I don't think we'll ever know exactly what happened because they themselves probably don't even know. So hard to say, so many 'what-ifs' with most of the men really here in the LP. I was shocked by the level of skating that day, so so sad as you just want to see them all bring their A Game to the Oly's, but it happens and there are so many reasons. My heart broke for Patrick, I really wanted him to pull through and deliver what he wanted, unfortunately that didn't happen. Regardless, he, and all of the others, have proven themselves and I am incredibly proud of them and in awe at what they have to do out there, both physically and mentally (which is really what went on with both Chan and Hanyu). Silver is nothing to sneer at and I hope he is proud of himself and knows that his fans are proud too. And as for Hanyu, I feel for him too, it's not the way you want to win, but I'm sure he'll take it haha! Thought it was sweet that he said that he had hoped that Chan would skate amazing to take the gold since he wasn't happy with his performance. I think he'll make an excellent champion!

As for the bashing of Canadians, I'm not really sure, I don't get it, but there are a few that like to exhibit this strange behavior that can always be ignored.

I was so sorry Patrick couldn't pull it off and give Canada its gold at last, but as a friend of mine once said, sometimes you get the bear, and sometimes the bear gets you. Frustrating for both him and his fans.

We're all so invested in "our" skaters that it's an emotional wringer for us to watch when things don't go well. After the way we've all felt, it's easy to understand the emotional reaction of many of the commentators, especially the ones who are themselves former skaters and/or who know the skaters personally. Scott and Sandra seemed almost grief-stricken, and I hear that Kurt Browning was very subdued as well. One of my friends, not a regular skating spectator, e-mailed me to ask me whether Friday night was a typical competition or an anomaly. I think if I hadn't talked very fast (and linked her to YT videos of things like Daisuke skating Blues for Klook), she would never have watched skating again.

 

[Crylais]

I wonder if people would react different if it was the same results (Hanyu falling and Chan stepping out of his Axels) but Chan had skated first?

 

[Blades of Passion]

Everyone does it to some extent when attempting a high difficulty element. Heck many do that on their three jump series. Most quad salchows and even many quad toes have the guy taking off the ice facing forwards. If you've ever been an athlete attempting triples or quads (something that I highly doubt, though you can clarify if otherwise), some pre rotation is inevitable.

You really need to stop talking about things you have NO clue about. I had all Triples up through Lutz and have studied jump technique more than just about anyone in the World. Yes, SOME pre-rotation needs to be there. A half turn. "Facing forward" by the time you leave the ice is normal. More than that is faulty technique. Kevin often pre-rotates 3/4 of a turn on the ice before taking off. That means he should be landing 1/4 of a turn further around for the jump to be considered properly rotated.

 

[AnastasiaO]

Hello everybody, does anyone know where I can find the men's medal ceremony, I am not living in the us and I can't watch it on the nbc site, thank you

 

[Ryan O]

Hello everybody, does anyone know where I can find the men's medal ceremony, I am not living in the us and I can't watch it on the nbc site, thank you

You might be able to see some of it here on CBC's website, if it works in your country.

http://olympics.cbc.ca/medalceremon...llects-silver-men-program-medal-ceremony.html

 

[AnastasiaO]

No, I'm in Germany

 

[NYscorp6]

I was so sorry Patrick couldn't pull it off and give Canada its gold at last, but as a friend of mine once said, sometimes you get the bear, and sometimes the bear gets you. Frustrating for both him and his fans.

We're all so invested in "our" skaters that it's an emotional wringer for us to watch when things don't go well. After the way we've all felt, it's easy to understand the emotional reaction of many of the commentators, especially the ones who are themselves former skaters and/or who know the skaters personally. Scott and Sandra seemed almost grief-stricken, and I hear that Kurt Browning was very subdued as well. One of my friends, not a regular skating spectator, e-mailed me to ask me whether Friday night was a typical competition or an anomaly. I think if I hadn't talked very fast (and linked her to YT videos of things like Daisuke skating Blues for Klook), she would never have watched skating again.

I can't believe I'm going to say this but, I felt bad for Patrick also. While I'm not a fan of his per se, the whole event was difficult to watch. I was hoping that we didn't have a 2013 Worlds "inflation" situation, but in some ways this was even worse.

 

[kimganos]

No, I'm in Germany

It's posted on page 155 in Hanyu's Fanfest thread.

 

[uncchristine99]

Has anyone else see Plushenko's video interview on CNN? It was posted today... says he was pressured back into competing because the younger Russian guys wouldn't be close to medal contention. So, he muscled through the team event and says he wanted to pull out of the individual men's event right after the team event but that the Russian federation would not let him. He said the federation said, whatever happens happens... I assume that as long as Plushenko skates, the result doesn't matter... it's still better than any other Russian man stepping out onto the ice. Ouch! What drama!

And OT for this thread but he was also asked about Yulia Lipitniskaia's performance and impact on the Russian team... he then brought up Tara Lipinski and likened them as 15-year-olds mostly unaware of the gravity of their actions (whether good or bad) so good that they've done well for themselves but as 15-year olds, they can't possible know what they're in the middle of. He brought up Michelle Kwan's name too and I took it as reference to Lipinksi skating lights out in Nagano as a naive 15-year-old because all eyes were on Kwan and that Yulia will have that same freedom since all eyes will be elsewhere (aka Yuna Kim).

Anyone else see this clip? http://www.cnn.com/video/data/2.0/video/sports/2014/02/17/intv-davies-plushenko-sochi-skate.cnn.html

Would love to hear your thoughts! Say what you want to say about Plushy but I enjoy his forthright manner.

I do think the men's free was lacking overall... everyone made mistakes and it was just ugly all around. I don't follow the men anymore but I did have a twinge of emotions for Patrick Chan--I wanted it for him, for Canada and the supposed "curse." How amazing would it have been for Jason Brown to win the bronze but he still has time... it was just really neat that for a hot second, he really had a chance to get on the podium.

 

[Mathman]

Thank you so much for posting the Plushenko video! No, I hadn't seen it before. This man has his act together.

This is not an "arrogant" man. He spoke very kindly about Michelle, Tara, and Julia, and also about the great skaters (including Yagudin) who were ahead of him when he came up as a fifteen-year-old phenom.

There is a video from Sochi where Evgeni spots Michelle Kwan in the stands during practice and he comes over with a big smile and gives her a hug.

Anyway, I think it is clear what the Russion Federation, even the Russian government, was going for. First, the Russians care only about gold medals. The don't care about silver and bronze and they certainly don't care about giving young athletes an Olympic experience, or anything of that nature. The Russian Federation wanted a gold medal in team and pairs. The way they handled the men's situation secured this.

 

[chloepoco]

Anyone else see this clip? http://www.cnn.com/video/data/2.0/video/sports/2014/02/17/intv-davies-plushenko-sochi-skate.cnn.html

Would love to hear your thoughts! Say what you want to say about Plushy but I enjoy his forthright manner.

Wow; what a great interview with Plushenko! Enjoyed it very much!!

 

[CanadianSkaterGuy]

This is not an "arrogant" man.

I wouldn't go so far as to call him "arrogant", but he's said brash, arrogant things. Particularly his 2010 silver led to comments that reeked of entitlement, and of course, there's bashing Kovtun saying only he himself had the top level experience to go to the Olympics.

 

[moviechick]

His 2010 comments were directed at the judging system and since they did change things after that, clearly it was an issue that would've come to bubble at some point or another.

 

[Danibellerika]

Anyone else see this clip? http://www.cnn.com/video/data/2.0/video/sports/2014/02/17/intv-davies-plushenko-sochi-skate.cnn.html

Would love to hear your thoughts! Say what you want to say about Plushy but I enjoy his forthright manner.

That's one of the best interviews with him! And that's very brave of him to state his openness about the gay rights situation over there.

His 2010 comments were directed at the judging system and since they did change things after that, clearly it was an issue that would've come to bubble at some point or another.

Yeah, and he has said nice things about Evan, even recently.