Brilliant Skating that finished too low (Olympics edition!)

[AngelENTL]

Chen Lu.

1992 - Her long should've been at least 3rd, and a very reasonable argument could be made that she should have won the long program. I also loved her Ghost/Beetlejuice short and rue that she messed up the double flip! Had she not, she should've gotten the bronze.

1994 - She should've won the long program. Interestingly, if she had placed first in the long and the judges had still placed Oksana over Nancy, then I think she would've won the gold medal.

 

[Mathman]

Bourne and Kraatz, 1998 (Riverdance). Although, I have to say that it was a packed field.

 

[chopinskate]

Chen Lu.

1992 - Her long should've been at least 3rd, and a very reasonable argument could be made that she should have won the long program. I also loved her Ghost/Beetlejuice short and rue that she messed up the double flip! Had she not, she should've gotten the bronze.

I think a case could be made for bronze anyway! But yeah, probably needed that flip.

 

[chopinskate]

The reason I've not included Kwan and Kim is, well, because of the thread title, honestly. I don't think either of them was especially brilliant at the Olympics they lost (although in case of Kwan in 1998, there was simply someone more brilliant).

2014: Kim should've won, but had Sotnikova landed her 3 jump combo properly, or just not underrotated her 3-3 (or done her 3Lo combo), I'd have been fine with the result.

1998: Lipinski rightly won. In terms of CoP scoring, I'd have her ahead of Kwan on performance, composition, and transitions, and she was better on jumps too. I do think Kwan's skating skills mean that their PCS should be very close.

The real story was Lu Chen anyway. If only her technique wasn't as unstable here. Her long program presentation still managed to equal the other two despite the shakiness. After her 3Lo she doesn't even look like she's skating, just showing off her deepest feelings. That is brilliant skating.

https://www.bilibili.com/video/av7722326/?redirectFrom=h5

 

[ramurphy2005]

Kyoko Ina and John Zimmerman in 2002.

 

[yume]

In a world where Mao is not harshly underscored and tech panel makes consistent calls, she would have got the highest free skate score, around 147 at least and that would have been enough for her to be in top 5.
Now, if she was graciously treated as some skaters who flutz and underrotate but tech panel rarely calls their flaws, her score would have been 155+. So a record and a 4th place finish.

 

[GGFan]

Chen Lu.

1992 - Her long should've been at least 3rd, and a very reasonable argument could be made that she should have won the long program. I also loved her Ghost/Beetlejuice short and rue that she messed up the double flip! Had she not, she should've gotten the bronze.

1994 - She should've won the long program. Interestingly, if she had placed first in the long and the judges had still placed Oksana over Nancy, then I think she would've won the gold medal.

That 1992 performance is so underrated!

 

[pohatta]

The three most mentioned skates (Ito 88, Chen 92, Asada 14) would have scored better if they had skated in the last group.

 

[Spirals for Miles]

Kaori at these most recent Olympics. One mistake but other than that - the skates of her life. Beautiful, and her score seemed low to me.

 

[Ulrica]

Pyeongchang: Javier should have gotten silver, imo.

Agreed

 

[yume]

Kaori at these most recent Olympics. One mistake but other than that - the skates of her life. Beautiful, and her score seemed low to me.

IMO, it was Kostner's score that was too high. Kaori should have been 5th because of that.

 

[chopinskate]

IMO, it was Kostner's score that was too high. Kaori should have been 5th because of that.

I think Kostner was overscored both in the Team event LP and the Individual one. So yeah, I agree. I never went back and watched Miyahara again (or well Kaori again either), but I did think she URed a few jumps in the SP and LP, so maybe even 4th individually.

 

[gotoschool]

In a world where Mao is not harshly underscored and tech panel makes consistent calls, she would have got the highest free skate score, around 147 at least and that would have been enough for her to be in top 5.
Now, if she was graciously treated as some skaters who flutz and underrotate but tech panel rarely calls their flaws, her score would have been 155+. So a record and a 4th place finish.

I think that if Mao were scored fairly at Sochi, she would have easily set a world record in the freeskate because of her excellence in tech (from jump difficulty, to spins, spirals and steps) and PCS since the heat maps clearly show she had the most massive rink coverage and most expansive jumps placement with a number of intricate transitions, which demonstrates superior skating skills which require great control not to collide with the boards during jumping passes and brings the most dramatic elements closer to the audience giving the program a more epic feel. I mainly blame the JSF for her SP because they forced her to train in a sandy and bitterly cold rink in Armenia with rust falling from the ceiling against her team's urgent requests to skate in Japan or Russia, which upset her training and forced her to sharpen and get used to adjustments in her blades at a critical time, especially since she had been recovering from a back injury in January and had to skate in the team competition in early February. She was heavily underscored in Vancouver with the SP underscoring being particularly glaring and decisive. The fact that all of Mao’s most watched videos for Vancouver and Sochi have been removed on multiple occasions while others haven’t, with the IOC posting that they had removed several of the most watched ones, indicates a concerted effort to fabricate view counts by deflating them so they appear to be in line with Mao’s heavily deflated scores.

I also associate Rachmaninoff Piano concerto II with another one of my favorite underscored performances because I believe Lu Chen should have won Worlds in 1996 with one of the most artistic freeskates with stellar skating skills, steps and marvelous loft and delayed rotation on her jumps.

I agree with Lu Chen being underscored in 1992. I also think Lu Chen was underscored in 1994 especially where she gave my favorite long program performance and she should have won the artistry component in the 1998 Olympics as well for Butterfly Lovers. I also believe Midori was underscored in the 1988 Olympics with it being very obvious that she won the long program and 1990 Worlds as well.

 

[Manitou]

Stojko losing to Urmanov in Lillehammer.

 

[Eeyora]

Drobiazko and Vanagas 2002 and 2006

 

[Tolstoj]

Mao over Yuna at 2010 Olympics in the SP.

I remember at the time people being maybe too biased for Yuna that they started even to claim that Mao wasn't an artistic skater which was so nonsense.

That Masquerade SP was legendary, and that steps sequence was to die for, plus she was the only woman in the field who was going for the 3A and judges didn't reward her enough for trying such a difficult element. (plus let me tell you the rules were really stupid at the time).

Similar situation at Sochi, okay the underrotations BUT, 67 on components was absolutely nonsense.

Can i say it for once? Mao Asada's success was extremely limited by ISU.

2005-06 -> at the age of 16 she was by far the best skater in ladies figure skating and she was ineligible for the Olympics.

2010 -> 3A allowed in the SP only in combination.

2014 -> well she bombed the SP so i don't think she could have medalled anyway after that, but you can make a case how she should have been ahead of Yuna in the free skate and maybe even Adelina.

 

[iluvtodd]

Javi for silver, Shoma for bronze in 2018

Michelle for gold in 1998

Mao in 2014 - higher in the final standings

Elvis in 1994

 

[Jeanie19]

Drobiazko and Vanagas 2002 and 2006

Especially 2006. !!!

 

[Triple loop]

I would say Elaine Zayak in the 1984 Sarajevo Olympics. There was a lot of politics involved then because she was out of favor even with the USFSA. She was unjustly placed 13th after the figures. She should have received higher scores for her excellent error free short and long programs which in turn would have put her higher than 6th. Elaine deserved a medal

 

[Kinga]

No one mentioned Delobel/Schoenfelder in 2006. Their 4th place was a joke.