Ladies' Free Skate... No Surprises.
Posted on February 26, 2010 with 0 comments
Nope, no surprises in the outcome. As for the medal winners, the ladies' free skate for this year's winter Olympics went off, about as predictable as it could be. Kim Yu-Na was first, Mao Asada, second and Joannie Rochette, third. I enjoyed their performances and don't (completely) disagree with the placing, but ... they didn't inspire me.
Kim Yu-na (or Yu-na Kim, I can't really tell, as she's referred to both ways, per Asian custom,) was excellent. I can't deny that she is a great figure skater. Her jumps, spins, everything ... flawless. She looked beautiful and she was definitely in command. Her record score was ... a surprise. I'm not saying she didn't deserve high marks and to be Olympic Champion, she did ... but her total (along with the short program) of 228.56 points was a surprise, and there, I said it again. Her long program score was 150.06, and as much as I liked her performance (and don't misunderstand me here, I really did like it,) if I were a judge awarding points, I would not have put her so high up on that podium (over a 23 point margin, total) before the show was over. It left no room for other skaters, period. ZZZZzzzzz. But I did enjoy watching Kim Yu-na skate and look forward to whatever is next. At 19 years old, Kim has another Olympics in her future, if the cards all fall into place. And luckily for her, nothing out of fashion happened, and she won the gold medal. She's had so much pressure from her country of South Korea to live up to her "Queen Yu-na" title (she's like a rock star in that country, it's downright scary. Bodyguards and everything.) Good thing she is the real thing, I shudder to think what would happen if she didn't walk the walk, or in this case, skate the skate.
Mao Asada did not look happy on that podium, having won the silver medal. The Japanese, apparently, place just as much pressure on their skaters. Losing can cause a national incident. But Asada has nothing to be unhappy about ... she made history. The first woman to land three triple axels in the Oympics (the first one in the short program, the second two in the long program with one in combination with what I think was a double toe loop.) Why is that a big deal? Triple axels are tough, they require a lot of strength for three and a half rotations and the landings are kind of backward. A lot of men cannot land them cleanly and there are only a few instances where women have, but not in competition (or such a grand one, at least.) I thought Mao Asada did very well, even though she had a couple of minor mistakes. But she skated after Yu-na, and with the marks that Kim got, well, Mao wasn't going to come close. No competition, all predictable. Still, I was with her on her skate ... two triple axels!
Joannie Rochette. What can you say. She really came out fighting, after losing her mother so unexpectedly last weekend. She had everyone in tears and that didn't hurt, when it came to awarding points. She was good in the long program but she had some bobbles and ordinarily, it would have opened the door for the fourth place contestant (Marai Nagasu) who finished more than 12 points (total) out of the bronze but only a few points behind Joannie in the free skate. I enjoyed Joannie's performance and I'm glad she took a medal, but I think things would have been different if things were different.
Now, a word or two about our U.S. Figure skaters, Rachel Flatt and Marai Nagasu. Rachel is a great skater and I was very pleased for her, in fact ... she had me on her journey all the way, bringing me to the emotional heights I hope to have while watching a solid skating routine. I was flying with her, it was that good for me and her ... no matter that she didn't receive full credit for some of her jumps, thus landing in 7th place (and I don't get that... who was sixth? It was a six person field and whoever took sixth place, was not in the last class of skaters.) But watching Rachel was wonderful, and I look forward to seeing her in the future, in that she is only 17 years old.
Speaking of the future, Marai Nagasu. She was awesome, and coming in fourth is no small feat. Hers was the final skate of the night and she took control. Personally, I think she deserved the bronze medal but the moment wasn't to be. 16 years old and hopefully, she (and Rachel, too) will peak in Sochi, Russia, home of the 2014 Olympics.
Now, I said that our U.S. skaters took me to that emotional high. It didn't happen with Kim Yu-na, for all the wonderful skating our new Olympic Champion did, and for me ... that was disappointing. Michelle Kwan never got the ultimate title, but watching her skate brought me to that level. I hope to get it with Yu-na, some day. Of course, first, it has to come from her.
OK, so now it's over. There are a couple more Olympic events I'm interested in, but for the most part, it's over. So, we look forward to 2014. Actually, I look forward to every day.
And so, there you have it. On to the next chapter!
Teri Silver