2022 Olympics Team Event Day2: Women's Short Program

[taikwan]

The only selection that didn't follow criteria. That's what you get when you play favorites.

I just feel badly for Karen. No one should have to shoulder both programs. Perhaps that's what added even more pressure. Just my opinion but shouldn't the ideal in a TEAM competition be where each COUNTRY puts forth their best athletes - shouldn't the assignments be distributed among that country's athletes? Too much pressure to push on to one skater, one couple etc. A team competition should reflect what it is - a TEAM. Not individuals. No matter how good those individuals might be....it should be a contest for the the country, not the individual. The individual gets the chance to compete as themselves later. So.....doesn't this make more sense, logically and more importantly isn't this more fair for everyone, for every country?

 

[BlissfulSynergy]

Nah, they already bought the ticket - may as well ride it to the end.

Bell is just as inconsistent, ESPECIALLY in the FS. I don't think subbing her in would guarantee a better result.

Yeah, it was my thought to switch Karen out too, but it would not be fair to not allow C/B to perform in ice dance. They'd need to lean on Nathan, and I just don't think he wants to do that, although I think he could do it. Unfortunately, the men's individual event is scheduled too close to the team event. Maybe on purpose? LOL

 

[jenaj]

Nah, they already bought the ticket - may as well ride it to the end.

Bell is just as inconsistent, ESPECIALLY in the FS. I don't think subbing her in would guarantee a better result.

I agree.

 

[BlissfulSynergy]

I just feel badly for Karen. No one should have to shoulder both programs. Perhaps that's what added even more pressure.

Ummm, she knew what she was being called on to do. If she felt that it was too much for her, she should have passed. I do not feel sorry for her. She's a competitive athlete, and a responsible young lady. She needs to be honest with herself, that's all.

 

[ManyCairns]

Bit of a letdown for my Team USA after the first day was so stellar, but overall this was such a nice event -- so many breathtaking skates! Fantastic! So many really good, really moving performances.

 

[Sai Bon]

See y'all in the men's fs thread!

 

[taikwan]

Still won't be enough, The US really needed the 8 points here and to head into the FS as leaders

Of course anything might happen still, But if we're keeping it real Russia's got it

Let's see who Russia chooses for Ice Dance though

Just feel so badly for Karen. I know she will be blamed but I hope she knows that isn't the truth. As I said before, not fair to put this much pressure on to one skater's shoulder's. How can you skate freely when you know it's all up to you? Bah.

 

[Mathman]

Karen would not have beaten Wakaba even without the fall. Schizas, Gubanova and Schott were excellent as well.

 

[LisaD]

I disagree - between Bell and Chen I think they made the right choice, she just didn't deliver. Simple as that.

I would have picked Liu over both of them, but that's water under the bridge at this point.

Certainly Karen Chen is more talented than Mariah Bell but you never know what you are going to get with her. Consistency wins championships. I feel like Mariah could have at least managed third or fourth place even with a triple double combo. Karen finished fifth. Karen gets too many under rotation calls.

 

[Mista Ekko]

Just feel so badly for Karen. I know she will be blamed but I hope she knows that isn't the truth. As I said before, not fair to put this much pressure on to one skater's shoulder's. How can you skate freely when you know it's all up to you? Bah.

I mean, if you're gonna be doing this at this level there's no point in discussing fairness of pressure,
There's no point in blaming Karen and she's doing her best, But if she can't handle the pressure someone else will
and is going to overtake her, That's sports, Wakaba and Madi seemed more nervous to me today than Karen.

 

[*~RussianBleux~*]

I agree.

Sadly it has to do with her 1st name because it's typical for the name of Anastasia to be consistently underscored .

And the change of countries from Russia to Ukraine and Georgia does not exactly help the cause It's not fair. How about they just score somebody how they were trained to and not hold them down because they skated early
But they have to save the big scores for the skaters skating at the end? There's no need to do that anymore with KV skating.

They did it yesterday with the Georgian pair team who should have been way closer to 70. They skated junior this year and I’m not saying they’re as developed as the older teams in the event but it’s so clear they lowball them. TEN full points behind USA and Japan with the SAME content- a fantastic lift, great twist, BIG throw? No way is that fair.

This whole “later group = higher PCS” is beyond ridiculous and entirely unfair. It’s not as obvious in the free when the top competitors skate later anyway but SO obvious in the short. The world standing thing (where Grassl can be ranked higher than Chen) is stupid anyway but should absolutely be done away with determining start order. If you’re going to rank them by anything I think SB is way better.

 

[BlissfulSynergy]

Nah, they already bought the ticket - may as well ride it to the end.

Bell is just as inconsistent, ESPECIALLY in the FS. I don't think subbing her in would guarantee a better result.

Essentially, this is true. But, Mariah simply wasn't given the opportunity, so we really don't know. Quite a few ladies tonight from other countries skated very well under personal pressure of wanting to do well at the Olympics, and support their team do their best ability, even when there really wasn't that much chance for some of the countries competing to make the final round.

Mariah held up slightly better than Karen at U.S.. Nationals, and Mariah is U.S. National champion. It was not really as clear a choice as some fans have been spouting. But why not trust your National champion? Does this decision eliminate confidence for both ladies in the upcoming singles event?

The big issue is that they didn't want to use Nathan twice, and therein lies the resulting dilemmas for other disciplines.

 

[MrMC18]

Ummm, she knew what she was being called on to do. If she felt that it was too much for her, she should have passed. I do not feel sorry for her. She's a competitive athlete, and a responsible young lady. She needs to be honest with herself, that's all.

What? Do you know how Karen feels right now? What do you mean with this “she needs to be honest with herself?” Did she tell you herself that she felt sorry for herself or something?

 

[Amei]

Essentially, this is true. But, Mariah simply wasn't given the opportunity, so we really don't know. Quite a few ladies tonight from other countries skated very well under personal pressure of wanting to do well at the Olympics, and support their team do their best ability, even when there really wasn't that much chance for some of the countries competing to make the final round.

Mariah held up slightly better than Karen at U.S.. Nationals, and Mariah is U.S. National champion. It was not really as clear a choice as some fans have been spouting. But why not trust your National champion? Does this decision eliminate confidence for both ladies in the upcoming singles event?

The big issue is that they didn't want to use Nathan twice, and therein lies the resulting dilemmas for other disciplines.

Mariah had covid after nationals so she might have had to miss training, granted based on the reports I've seen she's looked good in practice.

 

[BlissfulSynergy]

I just feel badly for Karen. No one should have to shoulder both programs. Perhaps that's what added even more pressure. Just my opinion but shouldn't be the ideal in a TEAM competition where each COUNTRY puts forth their best athletes - shouldn't the assignments be distributed among that country's athletes? Too much pressure to push on to one skater, one couple etc. A team competition should reflect what it is - a TEAM. Not individuals. No mater how good those individuals might be....it should be a contest for the the country, not the individual. The individual gets the chance to compete as themselves later. So.....doesn't this make more sense, logically and more importantly isn't this more fair for everyone, for every country?

Come on! It wasn't all up to Karen. Everyone who competed had pressure on their shoulders, and most of the athletes delivered, aside from Roman in the men's, etc. As others here have said, this is sport. Understand what you are capable of doing emotionally, and stop lying to yourself. U.S. fed lives and dies playing favorites. That's a big part of the problem.

 

[ribbit]

Personally, I wish the rules required all the disciplines be skated by 2 men, 2 women, 2 pairs teams and 2 dance teams in the team event. Now that’s a team!

In that case, only a tiny handful of countries would be able to compete, if the event could be run at all. No time to check, but off the top of my head, the US only had one pair at the 2018 Olympics. Japan has one dance team and one pair here. Canada has one woman here (and has two men entered, but has only one physically in the country). Germany and Ukraine each qualified athletes for only three of the four individual events and had to be allowed to bring additional athletes to round out the team. And the list goes on. Since the IOC is trying to limit, not expand, the number of athletes at the Olympics, if this were the requirement, there would be no team event.

 

[CanadianSkaterGuy]

Personally, I wish the rules required all the disciplines be skated by 2 men, 2 women, 2 pairs teams and 2 dance teams in the team event. Now that’s a team!

Love the idea except it would magnify how the lesser tier countries are so under developed compared to the biggies.

 

[Dogo]

In my humble opinion, the US lady team selection should have been based on who does not implode and has proven to have nerves of steel even in tricky situations. I wouldn't have chosen nor Karen or Mariah after seeing the consistency that Alysa has had on her jumps (minus the 3A but not even Wakaba went for it here) from the beginning of the season and during Covid. But some in USFS were thinking that a Worlds'21 situation can happen again. But Valieva was not there and, arguably, the competition was not that good either (including in Russia). One way or another Valieva has managed to slap everyone in the face (including her own team) with TES reality. I don't know what USFS was thinking...

But on another note, congrats to Kamila, Wakaba, and Madeline!!

 

[ribbit]

Come on! It wasn't all up to Karen. Everyone who competed had pressure on their shoulders, and most of the athletes delivered, aside from Roman in the men's, etc. As others here have said, this is sport. Understand what you are capable of doing emotionally, and stop lying to yourself. U.S. fed lives and dies playing favorites. That's a big part of the problem.

What makes you think that Karen's emotions are at fault? Why are you implying that Karen is emotionally weak? Jumps go wrong for all sorts of reasons. We all need to stop making accusations based on nothing but projecting onto people of whom we know nothing.

 

[BlissfulSynergy]

What? Do you know how Karen feels right now? What do you mean with this “she needs to be honest with herself?” Did she tell you herself that she felt sorry for herself or something?

I'm not saying she feels sorry for herself or that she should feel sorry for herself. I AM saying that Karen should be realistic about her strengths, or lack there of under pressure. Thinking that 'I can try to do it, or maybe I can do it,' is NOT enough. You have to know and believe you can do it. The jump she fell on, was not necessary for her to fall on. It was a nervous fall.

She clearly has issues with believing in herself. I have followed her career. It doesn't make her a 'sorry' person nor a 'bad' person. There's nothing wrong with not meeting the moment. The issue is: What do you learn. She had problems at the last Olympics. Did she actually learn anything that she was able to apply in this current situation? Apparently not