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My review- 2014 Sochi Olympics Figure skating competition


Sochi Olympics is over, and we have been really enjoying watching it since it started this month.

While watching many Olympics subjects, we also enjoyed the beautiful snow mountain scenery of Sochi.

My husband says it looks similar to the mountains in Austria , so beautiful.

I love snow mountain.

In this winter Olympics, my favorite subject is of course Figure skating.
We were recording all the skating competitions as usual.

I was very glad they have added " team " competition besides individual competition in figure skating, same as gymnastics,  which I have been hoping for.
Also it's really great for skaters as well, because they get chance to have another medal.

My husband and I really enjoyed with Team competition. 

However I feel the team competition may be better to put after individual competition, because I found most of skaters who attended the team competition looked exhausted in the individual competition mentally and physically and it might have affected their performances. 

Just my thought.

Olympics is the biggest competition event which gets millions of viewers who are not only fans of the sports but also "Go our country !  " type of audience as well .

So for athletes, it must be really pressure to compete in that situation while it's all the athlete's dream to be Olympians.


Another great thing was, the commentators on the NBC Sports Channel which is showing the Olympics - were Johnny Weir and Tara Lipinski and Terry Gannon !

We think Johnny and Tara are entertaining and fun besides giving us knowledgeable information which we didn't know.

I felt sometimes like I'm watching Johnny's documentary " be Good Johnny Weir ". lol

And also we always enjoy Terry Gannon's commentating as well.

So it's really great to have all three together.

I'm not always agreeing with what they say during each skater's performance , because I have my own view and feeling,  but it's normal everyone has their own view, including commentators.    

In the past, we were not liking NBC's skating commentators for the Olympics.

However, we did usually enjoy the combination of Dick Button & Terry Gannon & Peggy Fleming . 

I think tone of voices, and what commentators say and how they say it , are very important to me to as to whether I will like the commentating or not, because of how it can make me feel.

My husband and I are both really enjoying the  Johnny & Tara & Terry combination as commentators , so we hope they will be the main skating commentators for every event in the future.

So, I'm pleased to watch figure skating Olympics with comfortable feeling this year. 

My understanding is that Olympics game subjects which have scoring system are also a political game, so there are always inflated scores, and scores which are too low, at every Olympics.

There was a scandal concerning scores in Salt Lake City Olympics 2002 in ice dancing in Figure skating in the past.  I wasn't watching that Olympics. And for the Torino Olympics 2006, I didn't notice anything.

But in the Vancouver Olympics, I did feel there was something behind the scenes for men, ladies and ice dancing.

People's views are variety and I didn't think I would watch figure skating competition again ( would only watch skating ice shows ) after knowing Olympics figure skating competition is political game after the Vancouver Olympics.

I have tried analyzing COP for each skater every competition until Vancouver Olympics, and even though I have found examples of political games, such as a skater who made a clear landing error from a triple jump but some judges were giving bonus scores for the mistake, instead of deductions, in one of US Nationals competitions. 

But I still kept analyzing the COP and expecting ( or hoping ) for fair judging in every competition .

But after Vancouver Olympics, there was an interview of one of the judges who were in Vancouver Olympics's about how they are judging competition.
( at the link below, )

 http://tony-wheeler.blogspot.com/2010/03/i-would-say-10-of-judges-are-completely.html

Since then I have never taken the scores seriously.

Somehow, my husband and I both started watching figure skating competitions again even after knowing it's a political game , because we found it's fun to watch in our own way, by not expecting who should win or not, and not to take the scores seriously, but just enjoy our favorite skaters and all the performances and find our favorite performances which are memorable.

So this time, my view is different from last Olympics.

I'm watching it , although knowing it's a political game.

This time, the location is Russia, so I was guessing that of course Russian skaters would get benefit from hometown bonus , just like any other country had been doing the same thing for their hometown skaters.  
Also countries which are related to it can get benefit as well.

My personal impression is this Sochi Olympics looked more fair than Vancouver Olympics because I felt all the winners in Sochi deserved gold medals.


In Vancouver Olympics there were several " Hmm??? " results, which I felt like I was seeing the twilight zone.

Everyone has their own bias, including me.  
Even people who act like they see everything objectively, have bias.  Because there is always personal taste and views of each person.

There is not a correct answer for GOE and PCS rather than one's subjective taste and view.  Past score results don't prove anything because the past scores themselves were also subjective.  

So when people's favorites or their country's favorite skaters didn't get the result they wanted or expected, people start complaining as unfair judging.

However, in general I feel all the winners deserve their medals ( if one looks at it from the perspective of the Law of Attraction books ) even though many people including myself feel  like scores are inflated, because that's the energy the winners were sending out.  


Congratulations to all the medalists !!!

Also I would like to give warm claps to all the athletes who challenged to compete in this Olympics. 

I feel each athlete created their own unforgettable Olympics experience, no matter the result. 



My favorites and review


My favorite Performances


Ladies - 

Polina Edmonds   SP and LP ( especially her SP ! )

I found her movements are similar to Oksana Baiul who skated "The Swan"  , which was breathtakingly magic.  I call it " water flow super natural movements".

Polina's movements and poses are magic, definitely she has natural artistic talent of movements.
While watching her performance I forgot about this is competition, like watching a theater.  Very imaginative.

Great music choice as well.  I'm never bored to watch movements which have pure beauty. She is definitely my favorite  of this Olympics skating performances.

I won't say she was perfect,  but she is still 15 years old, and this is her first senior competition, I suppose she will improve her artistry even more.

For technically also, she has strong point getter, such as 3Lz+3T combo and also 3F+1L+3S combo.

But for artistry, I was inspired by her performance the most in this competition, more than anyone.  We watched both of her performances many times already. 

I really look forward to seeing her future performances. 



Kaetlyn OSMOND   SP  
 
Her short program choreography was so much fun and she nailed it really well. So much fun.  She looked like a naughty lovely cat.  She had a fall during the performance but it didn't bother me much because the program was very enjoyable.
Hope many more ladies will do this kind of creative fun program in the future.  


Yuna Kim  SP   

In the past, my only favorite of her performances was her SP "Danse Macabre" performance in the 2009 World Championships .   and this her SP performance is another one.

I felt she improved her graceful movements a lot. In the past I had never impressed with her soft movements because there was no impact.  So I thought she was more fit with powerful performance.  

But in this SP performance, she used her body movements really well.   

I like her facial expression, it looks natural, feeling with music.   

Only thing if there was more story telling choreography in the program, it would be more enjoyable.  


For her Free program, I was not impressed with her artistry much because I felt the tango needs more passion and sharp movements with impressive facial expression, plus there was no impressive choreography as well,  there was only arm movements and there weren't those which make impact in her FP performance.

But her Short program was wonderful.

Artistry is subjective, so if the judges are different, the result of the score will be different as well ,so how she was scored in the past are not always the same or similar.



Carolina KOSTNER  SP  -   

I'm usually not a fan of her skating but her SP Ave Maria was beautiful and I liked it.


Men

Daisuke Takahashi  SP and LP

Even though he had a few mistakes in his jumps, his interpretation, expression, choreography, and performance execution was awesome and had the biggest impact. His movements are always really balancing which has yin and yang ,based on the music.  

His facial expression looks natural and I love that as well.  So sad he will retire after the world championships. 

After 2010's Olympics, I was not always watching figure skating, however, I was always watching his skating and checked his result every competition.

Definitely one of my favorite skaters - forever.
   

Jason Brown  SP

I love this performance. He was excellent. His movements are really beautiful and also fun.  We both always enjoy watching his performances.


Pair

VOLOSOZHAR Tatiana / TRANKOV Maxim

I haven't seen Pair skating for a few years, so I didn't know there was such a beautiful artistic pair skaters like them.
It's so nice to see artistic pair skater like Tatiana / Trankov pair.

My husband saw TRANKOV Maxim and his previous partner on TV before, and said both the pair with his previous partner and his new partner are great.  

 
DUHAMEL Meagan / RADFORD Eric  

Their performance is creative, unique and fun !  We really enjoyed it.


Ice dancing

I wasn't watching ice dancing much since Torino Olympics because since then I felt like the only type of  performances they value became like all about speed and power and technical part.  but this season, we really enjoyed watching  Meryl Davis & Charlie White 's free dance performance in US Nationals competition.


Short dance

We both really enjoyed these two ice dance pairs.   Their performances were quite impact, which has ups and downs.

PECHALAT Nathalie / BOURZAT Fabian

CHOCK Madison / BATES Evan


Free Dance  -

Meryl Davis & Charlie White

I love how Meryl was using her arms, hands and fingers with music. It was exquisite.  Charlie before looked always dry and I was not impressed with his movements, but for this one I thought he did best ever.  

In the past I thought they were more technical skaters who have power and speed, but for this performance I felt their artistry was wonderful.  

So happy they finally achieved their dream !


VIRTUE Tessa / MOIR Scott

They were really perfect. Just I felt Tessa gained weight since Vancouver Olympics (?) so her arms were not delicate look and it was distracting the graceful movements. I feel delicate thin arms look more graceful and beautiful and has more impact.  She could also use more finger tips to make sensitivity, to bring  more details.


ILINYKH Elena / KATSALAPOV Nikita 

Especially KATSALAPOV Nikita , he has power and his movements have impact, also elegant and very artistic .  I feel Nikita is the most artistic men's ice dancer.  

WEAVER Kaitlyn / POJE Andrew 

While watching Poje  Andrew's movements, it reminds me of Emanuel Sandhu's Tango movements. He is a great ice dancer . 





Favorite jumpers

Ladies

Yuna Kim  - 3Lz + 3T

Mao Asada  3A,  2A+3T ( even though the second jump was counted as UR, her ability to do quick jump after the  first jump always look awesome.  I know only a few skaters can do this kind of quick second jump such as Miki Ando, Kanako Murakami .  For men, I've only seen Johnny Weir do it.)

Gracie Gold   2A + 3T

Adelina Sotnikova  3Lz + 3T, 2A+3T

Polina Edmonds      3F


Men

Tatsuki Machida  - 4T   Flawless, smooth landing, beautiful air turning position.   ( I usually love  his 3A as well, but in this Olympics competition, his 3A was cautious. )

Jason Brown - Tano 3Lz  It's gorgeous !

Evgeny Plushenko - 4T+3T,  4T  ( My husband love Plushy's quad jump the best)

Yuzuru Hanyu -  4T, 3A  ( Amazingly stable. )



The moment which made me tears

Mao Asada 's emotional moment at the end of her Free program.

Honestly, I felt the performance was not so impressive except for that she landed all her jumps.  I loved her last season's swan lake program but this season's both of her programs are not my cup of tea because it's not a theatrical type of program which I love.

Also there was no impressive artistry in this performance. In the past, she often combined sensitive artistic movements with the technical parts. But in this one, her arm and hand movements were not detailed and no sensitivities. 

She looked like her mind was full of fire to land all the jumps, and clear all the elements.  I'm glad she landed her 3A in her last Olympics. 

I know Mao can do artistic beautiful movements easily, this is why it was so shame to be unable to see her artistry.

However, it was inspiring her fighting spirit and brought her back her from the disaster SP 16th place to 6th.  Even though some jumps were counted as UR, she challenged to do 8 triple jumps and landed all of them was wonderful.

It was hard not to make me tears seeing her emotional moment at the end.



Greatest Skating competitors (in this Olympics)


Men

Evgeny Plushenko

One of the most " Wow " skaters in this event  for me was Evgeny Plushenko.

There is no one like him.
He had not even competed much since last Olympics. And actually at the last Olympics also, prior to it he had not competed much since the Torino Olympics.

And then in this Sochi Olympics, he competed both in the team competition  short program and long program,   landed all the jumps including quad jumps , except one of the triple jumps became double, but he skated clean as usual

How could he do it ? 

He is definitely a King on Ice , the strongest competitor in figure skating history.  

Yes, he had to withdraw from the individual competition after competing in  Team event because of his terrible back injury.

In any case, his mind must be like metal iron , but his physical body is human.

His body has been giving warning  signs through many injuries, many times, and he has had many surgeries to recover from, and there is a limit his body can handle.

He had been competing since little kid. I've seen his completion when he was 13, which he only did triple jumps, but I thought he was already not skating like junior , but it looked already senior level performance.   

I've read about that he was already doing his quad jumps in competitions when he was 16.

I'm so amazed by his incredible mind toughness at the team competition.

He is 31 years old,   4 times Olympic medalist ,  one gold , and two silver medals in the past, and in this team competition, he got another gold medal.

I've read several skaters said that when Plushy is on the same ice as them, it always made them nervous.  Yuzuru Hanyu is one of them  .

We both enjoyed with his free program performance.

Love the  " Best of Plushenko " music . 

I like to see skating performance as art or entertainment, so love programs which are story telling , creative and imaginative.

I see performance as whole, rather than part of the program like each element to element and transition.

So in the beginning I was not understanding why some people said he is just posing in the transition, because I've never seen that way. 

Plushenko is very expressive, and his pose is the part of story which is creative and gives me imagination.

Johnny Weir has that part as well so I love it.  Also I think beautiful artistic  pose is nessesary to make a great movements as well.

He is very passionate and has a lot of energy and emotion besides expression.   

I think his posing is artistic, and I'd rather watch  well balanced artistic pose which is connected to the story of the music, than skaters who just arm flapping with no  artistic movements.

I prefer his spins until he was around 2006 Olympics season,   but still I think his spins are creative and imaginative so I love them. 

I always love imaginative beautiful spins rather than architecture type of spins.   Plushenko's step sequence is not so complicated like other present top skaters , but he has his own style of skatng.
His energy is always great, very powerful. 

He always skates clean, no falls, that's one of the reasons,  his win doesn't bother me.

While we started watching the men's short program , we soon noticed Plushy's condition looked awful, my husband said he should withdraw. But I thought he can't because he is the only skater in Russia and
his whole country is expecting him.

and when Plushy went to a judge to tell his withdraw, my husband said , it's good he made the right decision.

His body is more important.

We suppose everyone would withdraw in that situation because even  Plushenko who has super strong mind , had to.

It was actually a miracle he competed both programs in team competion , with clean program and quad jumps at the age of 31.

I can not imagine who else can do the same thing.

Hope he will recover from his injury and will be able to skate in ice shows again. 

It was also great to know about Plushenko loves Jason Brown's skating in the article below,

 http://sports.yahoo.com/news/jason-brown--heartbroken--over-evgeni-plushenko-s-injury-100208614.html


Yuzuru Hanyu

He was a super samurai in the team competition and also in his SP at individual competition.  

He looked tired before he started his free program, and I felt like he and Tatsuki Machida and Patrick Chan all looked tired from team competition, like they didn't sleep well the day before the night.

But I felt they all did good job until the end without giving up even though they made some errors.

He had the strongest mind-set in the competition so he won even though he was not perfect in his free program.  Congratulations !!!


Ladies

Yuna Kim

As a defending Olympics champion, and from her home country and her fans expectation,  I suppose her pressure must have been huge but she was amazingly strong.  

She was saying in interview that she already has one gold medal so, her pressure is less than last Olympics, but she looked nervous during the warm-up and before her SP started, but once it started, he looked natural  feeling with music and did excellent job.
 
For her free program, she looked calm even she skated last. Her mind toughness was really amazing.

I'm not sure but in her triple Lz jump in the free program, her landing looked unstable, from the angle of the camera I saw so I thought she had one minor mistake, but when I saw the protocol  she was getting GOE 1.00 for the jump , so that kind of landing was okay ? or she got benefit from her reputation bonus ?
Except for that jump, all her jumps looked solid so she skated almost clean.


Carolina Kostner

It was so nice to see she finally skated both programs clean without any major error in Olympics.  I really liked her SP Ave Maria. also great to see she improved her artistry , in the past I have never impressed with her movements.

I was not crazy for her free program music bolero because I feel the rhythm is all the same kind of sound , repeating, and the choreography also was not impressive. but her Ave Maria and her exhibition number Scheherazade by Rimsky-Korsakov were really gorgeous.   


Adelina SOTNIKOVA

Russian audience might have been more expecting Yulia to win since Yulia won European Championships, and also the team competition  in this Olympics

But after Yulia made error in her both programs, their expectation went to Adelina in her Free skate, and in that situation, she was really strong skated almost clean without major miskake.  Honestly we both were not expecting her to skate clean because like Kostner, she was not consistent in the past competitions.

She made one minor mistake in her combination jump, and it was clealy deducted, there was no judge who gave bunus point to the mistake.
For about her artistry, her style is not my taste honestly, but she was doing her own artistry with the choreography which is different type of art.
So it's subjective.

As a result she won the mind game which is a big part of figure skating competitions. Great job !

Congratulations !


Pair

VOLOSOZHAR Tatiana / TRANKOV Maxim

They handled their pressure and nerve really well both in team and individual by competing in their hometown. 

Ice dance

Meryl Davis & Charlie White

Amazingly strong mind-set.  Always looked positive as well.



Russian audience

I've read about that some people said Russian audience's manners in Olympics was awful.
They said they cheered only Russian skaters and no claps for other countries skaters. They said some people in the Russian audiences were laughing when other countries skaters fell on jumps.

From watching on TV here, I  noticed that they cheered loudly for Russian skaters , and for some skaters they were not clapping much.

I suppose maybe in Olympics, there were many non skating fans who just want their country's skaters to win and careless for other country's skaters.

My personal impression of Russian audiences in the past was they are very passionate for their favorite skaters - whether they are foreign skaters or Russian skaters. 

What I know is  Johnny Weir and Stephane Lambiel were very popular in Russia and when these two skaters were in Cup of Russia competition, both of their big banners were everywhere, and they cheered them loudly.  I've heard that besides Evgeny Plushenko, Johnny and Stephane were the most popular skaters over there at that time.

Even when Plushenko, who is a superstar in Russia  and Johnny both were competing in Cup of Russia,  I've heard that Russian TV commentators said that Johnny Weir fans were the most passionate in the competition.

I also heard that in the 2007 Cup of Russia, one Russian lady  who was in the audience there reviewing the competition , in her right hand side there was the bulk of Johnny Weir fans screaming and cheering loudly,  and in her left hand side , there was the bulk of Stephane Lambiel fans screaming for him as well, and when Jeffrey Buttle 's turn came up, no one was clapping for him, also that particular performance he didn't skate well though, so she sympathized him and  clapped for him, to be fair.  

Of all the Canadian skaters, I've heard that Russian audiences more loved  Emanuel Sandhu's skating . 

While Japanese audiences are always cheering all the skaters to be fair ,  Russian audiences seem to not superficially give a clap to a skater when they didn't feel impressed with the performance, whether skaters skated clean or not.

Many Russian people care for the beauty of movements ( although not all the Russian skaters are artistic. ) and they value strong emotion.

Personally, I've found that my husband and my taste are similar to many Russian people, I love Russian ballet style of movements and strong emotional performances like Johnny Weir, and when Johnny Weir was competing in Russia, they were more cheering to him than many of their own country's skaters - except Plushenko.

I think it's just cultural habit or personality and I'm actually not disliking their way.



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