(SPOILERS) Olympic skating thread

[K8smom]

Three cheers for Slutskaya's costume.  I love the way she displays her splendidly athletic figure while taking advantage of the rule allowing women to wear pants in competition. 

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Last night, one of the announcers said something about a new rule allowing women to wear pants. I thought that I remembered Debbie Thomas wearing a unitard at the Olympics, several Olympics ago. Am I confused, or is this not a new rule?

[Helene]

Pants on women were outlawed post-Thomas-era, but re-instated last year, where Candice Didier of France, all in white, Slutskaya, and Suguri, all in black, including a corset top, wore them.

I, personally, think that the cut of the pants that Suguri and Slutskaya wore/wear emphasizes the breaks in their line, the main weakness of both, but this year Elena Liashenko is wearing a unitard for her West Side Story free skate, and with her long lines, she looked stunning in it earlier this year.

[dirac]

The recently repealed rules were put in place after Katarina Witt's appearance at the European championships in '88 wearing a Vegas showgirl costume, complete with feathers, and sans any skirt. So the women were required to wear skirts, and I think they specified that hips and buttocks had to be covered.

[carbro]

I liked Slutskaya's costume. First of all, after all the (fake) bare skin in the Dance and Pairs contests, it was refreshing to see someone refrain from oversexualizing her presentation. I also think it had the paradoxical effect of softening her tomboyishness. She never looked quite at home in a skirt.

[K8smom]

Thanks for the explanations - I don't follow figure skating that closely, so I was a bit confused.

[dirac]

First of all, after all the (fake) bare skin in the Dance and Pairs contests, it was refreshing to see someone refrain from oversexualizing her presentation. I also think it had the paradoxical effect of softening her tomboyishness.

The costumes in Dance, especially, made me wonder what the point was in having any rules about taste, if those didn’t violate them.

[Helene]

Like hockey officials who back off at the end of tight games, so that their calls don't decide the outcome, the scores and levels of the elements on paper were so close among the top teams going into the Free Dance, that I think the ISU decided not to deduct for the one costume that most went over the line, Grushina's.

[dirac]

Unfortunately, nothing will happen unless somebody feels some pain. I’d be embarrassed for the sport, if I regarded ice dancing as a sport......

[canbelto]

The bronze medal winning pair in ice dance (Grushina and Gonckarov) had the most outrageous costumes. This picture shows Grushina's breast tassle costume in all its glory, along with the more conservatve (but very beautiful and sexy) costumes of the gold and silver medal winners.

If anyone needs another view, here it is.

Still think the Fusar-Poli/Margaglio minute-long staredown was hilarious.

Some pictures of that:

Babs isn't happy.

He might be begging for his life.

As for the ladies, I think if Cohen and Slutskaya both skate clean, Cohen will win. She's the better all-around skater. Better spirals, better spins, more elegant style.

[beck_hen]

Of course I don't regard costumes as the most important part of the performance, but they certainly influence my enjoyment of a skater. I must completely disagree about Irina Slutskaya's pantsuit, which I found very unflattering, a bit Saturday Night Fever-esque. I think unitards can be flattering on women, but pants with flared legs are distracting and interrupt the line. Many of the skaters need more time in ballet class. Then they would learn how to straighten their working legs in spirals and maintain the height of their legs after releasing catch-foot holds, not to mention cultivate a proper layback position.

Sasha Cohen's costumes are the most beautiful and elegant since Nancy Kerrigan's, in my opinion. I prefer her style in skating and costumes to Slutskaya's. Once the announcers pointed out that Slutskaya, like Plushenko, was skating over her music and frontloading all her jumps, she lost me. She is a skater I can admire, particularly in light of her personal troubles, but not like.

[dirac]

I like Slutskaya’s strength and speed. Cohen has her own strengths too, and so does number three, Arakawa. Any one of them would be a deserving winner.

As for the pants, I’d just like to see more of the women getting out of those little dresses and skirts. It’s about time.

[sandik]

This picture shows Grushina's breast tassle costume in all its glory, along with the more conservatve (but very beautiful and sexy) costumes of the gold and silver medal winners.

And what is that expression on Benjamin Agosto's face?

If anyone needs another view, here it is.

This shot makes it look like her partner is staring right at her breasts.

[Pamela Moberg]

A few years ago, I found the women's skating rather dull, but something must have happened. Watching the finals tonight I found them glorious. In turn:

Shizuka Arakawa - just beautiful.

Sasha Cohen - that girl really makes me happy, and she looks so joyful herself like she enjoys being there and doing it for fun.

Slutskaya had got out of her pants and was in red and gold, that's fine, but I had really expected more from her.

There were, though, two real highlights of the night for me. Kimmie Meissner I found delightful - just hope she will be lucky enough not to suffer any injuries in the future - because a great future she has.

And finally my own personal favorite: Elena Gedevanishvili - same as above. In a few years... She badly needs experience, big venues, traveling, but I definitely see great promise there.

The gala should have been broadcast here tomorrow evening (great excuse for that champagne), but then there will be hockey in stead , gala will be on Saturday morning. So one tapes and has both gala and champagne on Saturday night!

What an enjoyable time this has been, never mind about bad program planning, I have seen just about what I wanted to see!

[Helene]

I'm going to turn into a complete gushing fan here, but I am in Kvell Land for Arakawa and am floating on air: my alltime favorite Ladies skater from the triples era is Olympic Champion!!!!!

[dirac]

I prefer watching the men as a rule, but I admire Arakawa greatly and am delighted for her win. Richly deserved. Too bad for Kwan that she wasn’t there and in shape – she might very well have made the podium.

Very pleased for Joannie Rochette's showing as well. I'd have loved to see Fumie Suguri on the podium, but it just wasn't meant to be.

[sylvia]

Hooray for Arakawa. Re music, I feel the same way about Turandot as I do Carmen, it's been so over-used, but Arakawa used it wonderfully. I'm disappointed for Slutskaya, I love the quality of her jumps and spins and I wanted her to have a fantastic free skate. I really thought Fumie Sugari would score better - she's a gorgeous skater though it drives me mad the way she chops and changes the music, especially when Rachmaninov is so perfect for skating!

I did love the men's competition. Even if Lambiel, Buttle, Weir, Joubert aren't technically as awesome as Plushenko is, they're all such beautiful, and when on form, evenly matched skaters, it's going to make the coming years and next Olympics incredibly exciting.

[Dr. Coppelius]

And finally my own personal favorite: Elena Gedevanishvili

I loved her too and hope that she like another Georgian junior skating champion Nina Ananiashvili take the decision to give up skating for ballet.

[canbelto]

I for one am really glad they gave silver to Cohen instead of Slutskaya. I felt that Slutskaya's LP was a by-the-numbers CoP program: jump, arm waves, Bielmann, wash, rinse, repeat cycle. Sasha's programs actually have choroegraphy, and her general skating skills and artistry are much superior to Slutskaya's. Sorry Sasha fell, but the girl has always been a bundle of nerves. Happy for Shizuka.

[Gina Ness]

I completely agree, canbelto...That's exactly how I felt...

P.S. I also could not help thinking that, given what happened on the ice, this really could have been Michelle Kwan's year had she not been injured...

[dirac]

I didn’t find the competition as a whole to be very inspiring, but we tend to forget that great Olympics skating nights are the exception rather than the rule. Arakawa skated cleanly and with her customary virtues, but that’s about all I could say for the program, although I was pleased for her. She did play it safe, but under Olympic conditions that’s no sin. (Although I’d have liked to see one of those dazzling combinations of which she’s capable.) To skate cleanly under such pressure on the greatest stage your sport can offer is no small achievement.

canbelto wrote:

I for one am really glad they gave silver to Cohen instead of Slutskaya.

I had no problem with the placements, but I think it could have gone either way. I prefer Cohen’s skating overall to Slutskaya’s, but in part that’s a matter of taste – Cohen has her weaknesses, too. Cohen’s relief at getting that silver was palpable.

Gina wrote:

P.S. I also could not help thinking that, given what happened on the ice, this really could have been Michelle Kwan's year had she not been injured...

That crossed my mind also. Everyone was skating with caution and I didn’t see anyone out there doing anything Kwan could not have matched with her own skills. Even so, I thought it was a good night for Michelle even if she wasn’t there. Cohen and Slutskaya now join her in the ranks of those who were in good scoring position for the gold and failed to get there in two Olympics. I don’t regard this as a black mark against any of them, mind you, but maybe it will make the sportswriters shut up about Kwan the Choker.

[canbelto]

I didn’t find the competition as a whole to be very inspiring, but we tend to forget that great Olympics skating nights are the exception rather than the rule. Arakawa skated cleanly and with her customary virtues, but that’s about all I could say for the program, although I was pleased for her. She did play it safe, but under Olympic conditions that’s no sin. (Although I’d have liked to see one of those dazzling combinations of which she’s capable.)

Yeah I thought Shizuka was a little bit like, uh, Joan Sutherland. Beautiful but boring. I'm happy for Sasha, but she had that deer-in-headlights look and I knew something was wrong. The poor girl is just a bundle of nerves.

I agree with you dirac that for every Torvill/Dean "across the board 6's" we have a 2006 Men's Competition. The Olympics are just like any other sporting event -- there's the great, the really bad (Shani, Chad, and Lindsay Cobabellis), and the meh. For instance, I don't think anyone will ever forget the 2004 ALCS games between the Yanks and the Sox, but the Sox sweep of the Cardinals was very boring too.

[Helene]

I credit Cohen's work with David Wilson for giving Cohen a structure to work with between jumps, and for Cohen with sticking with the "score" of the program, even when her early jumps failed her. The little arm movements and arm positions that stilled her upper body, the short baby Ina, and the tiny transitions added to her program, collectively made programs by Suguri, for example, to appear empty. (Which is usually the criticism of Cohen's non-Tarasova programs.) After the hands down on the 3Flip, I thought Cohen skated exquisitely, and for the only time in her career, ended the free skate stronger than she started. (She was uniformly stellar in her 2004 Worlds qualification skate, the best I've ever seen her.)

The difference in component scores (PCS) was marginal between Arakawa, Cohen, and Slutskaya. I never thought I'd be typing this, but Cohen beat Slutskaya on the basis of her technical score. Cohen planned and rotated seven triples. Slutskaya, Suguri, and Rochette planned six triples, and rotated five. Suguri and Rochette landed their triples. Slutskaya fell on one of them, thus landing one fewer than Cohen. Tracy Wilson did an analysis for NBC, comparing the performance scores for Cohen vs. Slutskaya. Even with the errors both Slutskaya and Cohen had on jumps -- Cohen lost 7 points to Slutskaya's 3.29 -- and Cohen's additional landed triple, Slutskaya was still ahead on jumps. It was a virtual draw on spins, and Cohen made her winning margin on spirals and footwork.

Ultimately, having a harder program to start gave Cohen second in the free skate:

Cohen: planned ~ 57 points, skated a 57-point program, and received ~55 points for her effort.

Slutskaya, Suguri, Rochette: planned ~ 57 points, skated ~53-point programs, and received 53-54 points for their efforts.

Arakawa: planned ~60 points, skated a 57-point program, and received ~62 points for her effort.

I think that Arakawa was more Caballe than Sutherland, but that's my preference.

[dirac]

T. Wilson’s analysis was very helpful. However, you don’t need the math to understand this result – it was all out there on the ice yesterday -- alas.

canbelto wrote:

The poor girl is just a bundle of nerves.

She looked extraordinarily nervous during the warmup. You could sense disaster.

Normally I don’t go for sports sob stories, but I do feel bad for Slutskaya. I hope all goes well for her in the future.

Arakawa's dress was another good argument for a nice pair of pants.

[carbro]

I didn’t find the competition as a whole to be very inspiring, but we tend to forget that great Olympics skating nights are the exception rather than the rule. Arakawa skated cleanly and with her customary virtues, but that’s about all I could say for the program, although I was pleased for her.  She did play it safe, but under Olympic conditions that’s no sin. 

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I thought Arakawa was the class act of the night. The program a little thin? Yes. But that back-bend Ina Bauer was exquisite. Her quiet regality, and, oh, yes, the beautiful drape of her costume.

I can't imagine the pressure these athletes subject themselves to. Every waking (and probably sleeping) hour of four years all focused on six minutes of perfection. It's inhuman. Careers depend on the outcome, and yet . . .

Yuka Sato and Kurt Browning, to Olympic non-medal winners, remain two of the most satisfying and consistent of non-eligible skaters.

[Helene]

T. Wilson’s analysis was very helpful. However, you don’t need the math to understand this result – it was all out there on the ice yesterday -- alas.

Given the number of articles in the general sports press about how Cohen should have been off the podium altogether, I'm afraid Cohen's silver, Slutskaya's bronze, and Suguri's 4th place finish wasn't an obvious outcome to everyone, particularly those with the most exposure.