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mercy_angel_09So Plushenko, and Russia on the whole, has been bitching about how Lysacek did not deserve the gold because he didn't do the quad jump.
Right, because ONE ELEMENT makes or breaks your program. If that was the case, then Plushenko would be screwed as well because he LEFT OUT a jump. Pot calling kettle, anyone?
After watching Lysacek's performance, I felt that he had skated cleanly and competently. There was never any doubt that he was going land his jumps, his footwork was superb, and his over all artistry was excellent. I knew that he had done everything in his power without a quad jump in his program to go for the gold. All that was left to see what Plushenko did.
Hm.
Plushenko, as far as artistry goes, was good. Pretty much what you would expect from someone who has been skating for so long. Technically? TECHNICALLY? I'm a little surprised that he didn't face plant on the ice. A couple of times he went up and I was fairly sure that he was going to come down in a heap. Like a cat he held on to them, but the fact of the matter is his program wasn't as clean as Lysacek's. When Lysacek went up, you knew that he was going to come back down and not wobble, trying to hang on to the landing for dear life. Plushenko skated like a Weeble - you know, he wobbled but didn't fall down.
Of course you get back to the new scoring system, and Plushenko basically shot himself in the foot. After the judging controversy of 2002 (French judge paid off by the Russians to score the Russians the highest), the entire skating scoring system was retooled to prevent future judging asshattery. This, however, hasn't kept the Russians from their sense of entitlement when it comes to figure skating. And of course, after not even making the podium in pairs, and then getting the lowly silver in Men's, Russia is out for blood.
Wait, where was I?
Right, Plushenko screwed himself over. Front loading his program with jumps cheated him out of the 10 per cent bonus for jumps after the half-way mark of the program. The logic behind that is that in a 4:30 minute program (give or take ten seconds), the ability to cleanly execute a jump after the first two minutes and fifteen seconds diminishes, and those who TAKE THE RISK to place jumps in the second half of their program ARE REWARDED FOR IT. Who the fuck needs a quad jump when you can do a triple, triple, double combination after the half-way point in your program (which is EXACTLY what Lysacek did and cleanly to boot)?
In the past, the scoring system didn't care about front loading. Well, it did, but it was a lot easier to get away with it back then. Of course, there's really no reason for skaters to not front load their programs now, except those who take the risk to do the jumps later in the program are rewarded for it. Just like skaters are rewarded for doing the difficult quad jumps.
There's something to be said about the inclusion of quad jumps in skating programs. It takes quite a bit of athletic ability to first of all get enough air to rotate four times, but also to land on one foot and stay upright so you can continue on with your program. Of the handful of skaters who included a quad in their programs last night, only two landed them. One of those two got the silver medal, the other got eighth place. Now, if what Plushenko said was true, that a quad alone would win the competition, then Kozuka Takahiko should have been in the podium, instead of Daisuke Takahashi who also had a quad, but didn't land it.
I digress.
Quad jumps are certainly the direction the sport has to go in order to evolve. Ambitious young skaters will do it - but what about those who simply are unable? (i.e. Lysacek who injured himself doing a quad and now is more or less physically unable to due to the injury.) The new scoring system allows skaters who are unable to successfully pull off a quad jump to compete on the same level. To say that a skater cannot compete to be a world champion is basically like telling any skater who cannot do a quad, "Too bad, try again never."
Yes, one must push their sport forward, but what's next? Qunituple jumps? Is that even humanly possible? For Plushenko to say that the sport is regressing is a little drastic - if anything it's simply at a stand still. For the sport to truly progress, Plushenko should get his scrawny Russian ass to rotate five times in the air.
After you've kissed the ice, call me and let me know how that goes, will you?
Right, because ONE ELEMENT makes or breaks your program. If that was the case, then Plushenko would be screwed as well because he LEFT OUT a jump. Pot calling kettle, anyone?
After watching Lysacek's performance, I felt that he had skated cleanly and competently. There was never any doubt that he was going land his jumps, his footwork was superb, and his over all artistry was excellent. I knew that he had done everything in his power without a quad jump in his program to go for the gold. All that was left to see what Plushenko did.
Hm.
Plushenko, as far as artistry goes, was good. Pretty much what you would expect from someone who has been skating for so long. Technically? TECHNICALLY? I'm a little surprised that he didn't face plant on the ice. A couple of times he went up and I was fairly sure that he was going to come down in a heap. Like a cat he held on to them, but the fact of the matter is his program wasn't as clean as Lysacek's. When Lysacek went up, you knew that he was going to come back down and not wobble, trying to hang on to the landing for dear life. Plushenko skated like a Weeble - you know, he wobbled but didn't fall down.
Of course you get back to the new scoring system, and Plushenko basically shot himself in the foot. After the judging controversy of 2002 (French judge paid off by the Russians to score the Russians the highest), the entire skating scoring system was retooled to prevent future judging asshattery. This, however, hasn't kept the Russians from their sense of entitlement when it comes to figure skating. And of course, after not even making the podium in pairs, and then getting the lowly silver in Men's, Russia is out for blood.
Wait, where was I?
Right, Plushenko screwed himself over. Front loading his program with jumps cheated him out of the 10 per cent bonus for jumps after the half-way mark of the program. The logic behind that is that in a 4:30 minute program (give or take ten seconds), the ability to cleanly execute a jump after the first two minutes and fifteen seconds diminishes, and those who TAKE THE RISK to place jumps in the second half of their program ARE REWARDED FOR IT. Who the fuck needs a quad jump when you can do a triple, triple, double combination after the half-way point in your program (which is EXACTLY what Lysacek did and cleanly to boot)?
In the past, the scoring system didn't care about front loading. Well, it did, but it was a lot easier to get away with it back then. Of course, there's really no reason for skaters to not front load their programs now, except those who take the risk to do the jumps later in the program are rewarded for it. Just like skaters are rewarded for doing the difficult quad jumps.
There's something to be said about the inclusion of quad jumps in skating programs. It takes quite a bit of athletic ability to first of all get enough air to rotate four times, but also to land on one foot and stay upright so you can continue on with your program. Of the handful of skaters who included a quad in their programs last night, only two landed them. One of those two got the silver medal, the other got eighth place. Now, if what Plushenko said was true, that a quad alone would win the competition, then Kozuka Takahiko should have been in the podium, instead of Daisuke Takahashi who also had a quad, but didn't land it.
I digress.
Quad jumps are certainly the direction the sport has to go in order to evolve. Ambitious young skaters will do it - but what about those who simply are unable? (i.e. Lysacek who injured himself doing a quad and now is more or less physically unable to due to the injury.) The new scoring system allows skaters who are unable to successfully pull off a quad jump to compete on the same level. To say that a skater cannot compete to be a world champion is basically like telling any skater who cannot do a quad, "Too bad, try again never."
Yes, one must push their sport forward, but what's next? Qunituple jumps? Is that even humanly possible? For Plushenko to say that the sport is regressing is a little drastic - if anything it's simply at a stand still. For the sport to truly progress, Plushenko should get his scrawny Russian ass to rotate five times in the air.
After you've kissed the ice, call me and let me know how that goes, will you?
