The men's free skate was everything Olympic figure skating should be -- extraordinary athleticism combined with grace, musicality, and even a little humor. Evan Lysacek's win was really a triumph for the new Code of Points. It seems like skaters are finally figuring out how to design programs that showcase not only jumps, but also the unsung elements of figure skating -- transitions, footwork, spins, and the quality of the skating. Evan's program was brilliantly designed to gather points at every moment. By contrast, Plushenko's program was basically a bunch of jumps, interspersed with the occasional hip swivel, strut, or blown kiss. It brought to mind his exhibition programs -- all preening, no actual skating. It was like he was doing Russian supper club choreography. Don't get me wrong -- I think he's a charismatic skater and his jumps are incredible -- but there's no question in my mind that Lysacek was the superior skater.Video of all performances is here.
I loved Nobunari Oda's Charlie Chaplin tribute, and he gets major props for moving past the broken shoelace so quickly. (In 1994, Tonya Harding broke a shoelace before the long program and totally fell apart. Stephane Lambiel's closing spin, the highest-scoring spin of the night, moved so fast that I thought he might launch himself off the ice. Daisuke Takahashi was so good -- and if he had just been able to land that quad, he very well might have come away with the silver instead of the bronze. But my favorite program of the night was Johnny Weir's. He had the audience with him from the very beginning, and delivered the artistic performance of the evening. I thought he was ridiculously underscored on program components (including interpretation and choreography, where there's no way he should have been under Stephane Lambiel) but regardless of the scoring, he was really a star out there.
One final note: what is the future of the quad? As Adam pointed out and as Evan Lysacek demonstrated, the quad often isn't worth the risk. Only two skaters (Plushenko and Kazuka) delivered a clean quad last night. Four years ago, I thought that a quad would have been required for men's skating by now -- but then again, back in 1988, when Midori Ito was the first woman to land a clean triple axel in competition, I would have predicted that triple axels would have been de rigeur for women. Clearly, I was wrong both times. I wonder if we're just hitting the limit of the sport -- and if future developments in jumping will have to come from better skating technology, rather than from pushing the limit of the human body.
Friday, February 19, 2010
WHO DOESN'T LIKE SAYING THE NAME 'DICK BUTTON'? More thoughts from Gretchen on last night's competition:
I had this in the last post, but thought it would fit here better...
ReplyDelete<span>Plushenko's coach said that he was robbed of the gold medal, solely based on his quad. He also said this, which I find just so irritating:
“Any judge who thinks this is the right champion is a Cyclops,” Mishin said. “Without the quad, there is no difference between the men’s competition and the women’s. Why not let them skate together? Why not have it as a unisex competition in the Olympics?”
Yes, his loss has nothing to do with the fact that he was weak sauce on the ice, all of his turns tilted and barely holding on to the endings. Why bother skating the rest of the program at all? Just go out there, do a quad, and collect your medal... anything more is just a woman's program, apparently...</span>
Same as calliekl, reposting from other post:
ReplyDelete<span>Anyone read Elvis Stojko's commentary? Sounds like he's looking for a new Olympic skating event that consists only of jumps. Guess it could be like skiing - downhill vs. ski jumping...
<span><span><span>http://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/vancouver/figure_skating/news?slug=es-thoughts021810&prov=yhoo&type=lgns</span></span></span><span></span></span>
Yup. If the contest were solely the quad, then Lysacek is right: you wouldn't have the rest of the program. But in any event, Plushenko got 3.2 points more for his quad combination than Lysacek got for his top combo jump. If you look at the short program and the that top combo jump, that meant that Plushenko's doing the quads in the short and the long gave him a 3.75 point advantage. If he skates the rest of his program at a top level, he doesn't just win, he wins big. Put another way, all things being equal, or even somewhat advantaging Lysacek, and Plushenko still wins because he did the quad.
ReplyDeleteBut Plushenko didn't skate the rest of his program at a top level, while Lysacek largely did. Much of the rest of Lysacek's program was harder and Lysacek largely did a better job with it. So, he chipped away at that 3.75 point advantage, and earned imself a 1+ point win.
In total agreement on Johhny Weir. I was mesmerized by him and thought he was robbed.
ReplyDeleteForgot to add that Plushenko is an ass. I halfway expected him to sidle off podium during the Star-Spangled Banner and leave the (obviously tainted!) silver medal lying behind. His whole demeanor screamed, "I'm doing you all such a favor be even BEING here, and this is how you repay me? Peasants!"
ReplyDeleteTo answer the opening question -- Dick Pound
ReplyDeleteLook, we can raise an entire Dick Armey if we need to.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I was struck by how tilted his jumps were -- so many of them flew off the axis that it was amazing he could land them at all.
ReplyDeleteMeghan O'Rourke just wrote a terrific appreciation of Johnny Weir -- http://www.slate.com/id/2245177/.
ReplyDeleteIn some ways, Plushenko's program was more like the old "athletic" programs, before the new code of points -- big jumps, not much in between. Evan's program was just as technical in its own way -- just with a focus on footwork rather than big jumps. I was thinking that the whole "artistry versus athleticism" debate is really, in some ways, moot in the new code of points -- truly artistic programs, like Johnny Weir's, just don't garner enough points to really be in contention. Instead of artist versus athlete, we're really talking about jumping proficiency versus skating proficiency. Both are highly technical and athletic.
ReplyDeleteDick Butkus, anyone?
ReplyDeleteWow, I didn't realize until today that "Plushenko" was Russian for "sore loser." What a jackass.
ReplyDeleteUm, yeah. To say he needs something of Sex Bomb level to redeem himself at the exhibition is an understatement. And I trust that NBC will ensure Weir gets to perform as well.
ReplyDelete@Gretchen (and anyone else): does this same "strength of jumps v. skating/artistry" dynamic play out in the ladies' competition as well? Or does it not matter because it's Kim Yu-Na's world, and we're just spectators looking to see who gets silver?
ReplyDeleteDan & Keith would like to make sure that somebody mentions Dick Trickle.
ReplyDeleteMy DVR cut off before the end of the program, so I had not seen that Plushenko pulled the crap that he did at the medal awards. Between that and his sore loser comments---ugh.
ReplyDeleteI think the storyline for the women is different, exactly for the reason you pointed out -- Kim Yu-Na is so dominant and so artistically complete, WHILE being so technically gifted, that it's really her coronation. For the rest of the women, I think the narrative is more about consistency (Rachael Flatt) versus inspiration/excessive nerves/unpredictability (Mirai Nagasu, Joannie Rochette). Rachel Flatt is more of a jumper to be sure, but there isn't really a female Johnny Weir -- more of a pure artist -- in the ladies' competition.
ReplyDeleteFor whatever reason, Lysacek's video played sans commentary for me. As did Oda's. Would that they were all that way.
ReplyDeleterussia sucks it
ReplyDeleteTotal class. Just saw Costas interviewing Lysacek and he asked him his thoughts on Plushenko saying that was he was scored on was dancing and not skating. Lysacek gave him a complete pass. Said that he knows that sometimes you say things you don't mean when you are disappointed. He's known Plushenko a long time and he's a nice guy. Classy, classy, classy.
ReplyDeleteThere was a urologist in the town I grew up in whose name was Richard Tapper (and yes he went by Dick).
ReplyDeleteDon't fixate too much on the Beavis and Butthead reaction to the name, because you might make former Rep. Dick Swett nervous.
ReplyDeleteI have a cousin who is named Dick Mooney. No joke (well named Richard but his father went by Richard he goes by Dick).
ReplyDeleteThanks for that link. A very interesting take.
ReplyDeleteI'm frustrated by the fact that the points system is getting so much credit for producing the 'right' result. Yes, it was correct that Lysacek's performance was more technically profecient than Plushy, and so the higher points were correct. However, the artistic scores were totally flawed. The performance differences were, IMHO, inexplicable.
ReplyDeleteThere are 5 performance catagories. Choreography, Transitions, Interpretation, Performance, Skating Skills. Plushy outscored Lysacek in the last 3, and only lost significatly on Transitions. If Plushy had nailed just two more of the jumps he'd have won the Gold, and a lot more attention would be being paid to the screwed up artistic scores.
Lou, I agree with you that the component scores were totally wacky. I particularly noticed it in the differences between Lambiel and Weir, but you're right. It's bizarre that Plushy's ridiculous "choreography" was scored more highly than Evan's.
ReplyDeleteElvis is just bitter because all he had were his quads. No musicality, no real grace, no real engagement with the audience, just straight athleticism, jumping ability and a perma-frown. He has to defend the quad as the defining achievement in skating because he has less of a place in a sport where it has a diminished importance. But he's an asshat, and always was.
ReplyDeletePhilippe Candeloro has weighed in as well: "Evan did a very good job; all the jumps were clean. But my problem is, I didn’t see any quad. For me, it could be much better for the ice skating world if Plushenko can win. It would be more respectable. People who like skaters like warriors."
ReplyDeleteOn a lighter note, might I present the 20 funniest figure skating faces?
ReplyDeletehttp://www.buzzfeed.com/mjs538/the-20-funniest-figure-skating-faces/
I did wonder about that. I know that Evan was a bit tight, but all in all, his performance categories should have been higher than Plushenko. My personal guess was that they didn't want Plushenko to lose in a blowout, and the performance categories were the easiest way to play with the numbers to avoid that.
ReplyDeletecalliekl FTW!
ReplyDeletePhlippe Candeloror has always been a prat.
ReplyDelete