At least Chan managed better than Kurt Browning.
I put this into a post because it of course plays into the position of those in the comments section who believe that Skate Canada threw Virtue and Moir under the bus - handed them to the USFSA as a chew toy - in order to smooth Chan's path to the top of the Olympic podium. And now, oops, Canada has another men's silver medalist it doesn't need, and it has already thrown itself 100% behind the bogus position that all of Virtue and Moir's losses to Davis and White have been fair, including the GPF 2014. So there's that. Patrick may be apologizing because it was all for nothing.
I sincerely hope that SC does not put even more pressure on VM to try to take home the gold medal in a contest that they [SC] helped to rig against them.
ReplyDeleteSC clearly wants that men's OGM. Patrick Chan is a great skater, but he's also a great skater prone to consistency issues with jumps and who did not have a proper technical coach. SC should not have put all their eggs into one basket or thrown VM, who's skills should have been winning everything, especially in this field, under a bus.
I've been thinking a lot today about this season and last season, particularly last season. When Carmen debuted, people, including VM, were talking about the difficulty of that program. After the GPF, we started hearing about the various things from the internet that had filtered back to them about reactions to the program. From that point on, the press seemed to focus on that side of things instead of the difficulty. At the time, the speculation was that VM were saying these things for sham purposes, but more and more, I think it was SC who fed them the crap about what was filtering back. Let's not have VM talk about the difficulty of their program. That might negatively affect the plan to get the MEN'S OGM.
For VM on Sunday and Monday, I just want them to go out there and skate for themselves, the way we all know they can skate. Forget the judges and scores and everything else and just skate.
The commentators are talking over him so it's hard to tell, but it does sound like he says Tessa and Scott I'm sorry, sorry Tess, I'm sorry.
ReplyDeleteI guess ice dancing is not as "tough" as men's singles. What a joke.
ReplyDeleteVirtue/Moir are a treasure, and would have been cherished by any other federation.
"Virtue/Moir are a treasure, and would have been cherished by any other federation."
DeleteThere skating is a precious treasure to both sport and the arts, and, ITA, any other skating federation in the world would have cherished them. Can you imagine if they'd been from the US or Russia? They would not be in this position.
"Can you imagine if they'd been from the US or Russia? They would not be in this position."
Delete*rolls eyes* Please stop with the romanticism. Russia/USSR screwed over many of its most brilliant teams in the past in the name of politicks.
So, Russia would politic IK or BS over VM? I don't think so.
DeleteThank you, @8:28 pm. I find the "if V/M were Russian they would be so much more appreciated!" arguments to be hilarious and way off-base. If V/M were Russian they would be just as subject to politicking as they are in Canada. It's figure skating: there's no guarantee their talent alone would be enough to place them at the top no matter what fed they skated for.
DeleteThe grass is always greener...
Who were all these Russian teams that were so held down? Anytime Russian ice dancers were on the wrong end of federation politics, it was because there was another Russian team ahead of them: Moiseeva lost gold to Linichuk in 1980, Klimova lost to Bestemianova in 1988 (but got theirs in 92), Annenko lost in 1988 cause Russia wasn't allowed to sweep the podium, and Usova lost to Grishuk in 1994. There were always OTHER RUSSIANS ahead of them (and most of these placements were justifiable, IMO).
DeleteNever has the Russian federation sold out ice dancers for singles or just let them lose this much ground to an AMERICAN team.
Being the Russian ice dance #1 team is a very difficult position to nab, but once you have it, you get treated very well.
VM would have certainly been politicked over Domnina in 2010 with the controversy over the Aboriginal OD and Shabalin's injuries which actually affected his skating, unlike Tessa. Hell, for a while people thought Kokhlova were being politicked ahead of Domnina, and that's a vastly inferior team.
And currently there is no way that the inconsistent and messy BS or IK would be politicked ahead of VM. No way.
It's unbelievable the best ice dance team ever, a once-in-a-generation team, is held down and screwed over because their international governing body (ISU) cares more about their corrupt politics.
ReplyDeleteHow is it possible it's feasible VM might *only* get bronze and perhaps end up off the podium altogether?
With the ISU's history the IOC should have immediately demanded an outside investigation at the first report of a fix. They're all corrupt.
I'm gutted for Tessa and Scott. I hope they're eventually vindicated. Their talent is unique.
I work for the government. It's always this way. Government agency or governing body says we don't know anything about it, it's up to X agency (in this case the ISU), to investigate, but we will fully comply with their findings, etc etc. In the absence of any really bad press, the IOC was never going to bother to get involved. The ISU is interested in the status quo.
DeleteLOL. Why would the IOC ever demand an outside investigation?? They're the ones driving this bus, not the ISU. The ISU is just a bunch of puppets that ask "how high" when the IOC tells them to jump.
DeleteChan apologizing to V/M after his skate is sad, any way you slice it.
ReplyDeleteguys calm down and read this: "I’m obviously on a Tessa & Scott high right now and I kind of don’t even want to this weekend to happen - I just don’t want them to have to face going out on a bad note. But here’s what’s important to understand about them: in the history of skating there are maybe ten programs that have truly changed the sport. These are the programs that have set the standard for the sport going forward, that absolutely no one will be able to outskate, that were unforgettable. These are the programs that people who couldn’t tell a twizzle from a toe loop to save their lives will remember for decades. These are the programs that little kids today and tomorrow and five years from now and fifteen years from now will be watching on Youtube going “Mommy, I want to do that”.
ReplyDeleteI know because I was that kid.
Torville & Dean’s Bolero. Gordeeva & Grinkov’s Moonlight Sonata. Oksana Baiul’s Swan Lake. Anissina & Peizerat’s Carmina Burana.
And then there’s Tessa & Scott’s Mahler. And it eclipses them all.
I posted it on Facebook for an audience of 350+ people, 99% of whom have zero interest in figure skating. One of my friends wrote in response: “what have I just watched because I think it has genuinely transformed how I see life?”
That. That is what will never be taken away from them. That is what people will remember next year and the year after and ten, twenty years from now, regardless of what happens on Monday.
Because I bet no one can remember who won gold (or silver, or bronze) in Torino. Besides Anissina and Peizerat, I couldn’t recall a single ice dance medalist from Salt Lake. And truthfully, it didn’t matter past that season. They were all technically excellent skaters, and they deserve their due for that. They worked very hard and they performed very well, as have Davis and White.
But they’ll just never have a Mahler.
They can win all the medals in the world and they’ll still never have a Mahler. "
http://aykap.tumblr.com/post/76694439262/clear-eyes-full-hearts
it does not matter what V/M do anymore they are already LEGENDS. they are so great and powerful that USA and Russia had to collude against them so D/W could win. V/M won their gold fair and square and did not have to rely on a collusion to win unlike D/W. Thats what people will remember in a couple of years. and unlike the russians they did not have to rely on home-ice advantage. if anything its harder to perform and win in your home country tbh.
That is a nice sentiment, and a silver lining, but I certainly do remember all of the Olympic medalists, especially the gold medalists. And it's a sport and it's not OK for the most talented skaters with the most technically difficult routine and the best execution (even with a bobble or two, VM execute the cleanest elements), to lose. Moving the audience is great but it is no substitute for their deserved medal. This sounds like the type of thing Marina would say.
DeleteMarina pretty much said that after last year's Worlds though.
DeleteMarina has always spoken in those sorts of generalities for every skater she's ever coached.
DeleteThe Marina animus makes no sense. It's a fantasy in people's heads and they proceed to argue from that fantasy, just as they used to do about VM's relationship.
Skate Canada will learn now that Karma is a bitch. This is all a payback for their "Tough Campaign". Silver for VM too. Nobody cared if Chan lost, he said he would rather skate for China anyways.
ReplyDeleteWhy they put all their eggs into the basket of a guy that falls 3-4 times in every comp, I'll never know...
DeleteSkate Canada wants a men's champion as desperately as USFSA wants a ladies champ.
DeleteThey are so fixated on it
Is Patrick as popular among Canadian skating fans as SC tried to make us believe ? He certainly has his fanbase but whenever I visit an online board it's all about VM and Patrick seems to play second fiddle to them when it comes to popularity.