Winter Olympics

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My thoughts is that the falls by the Russian guy (name escapes me) impacted the interpretation and musicality. It just doesn't make sense that a gorgeous, almost perfectly executed program like Adam Rippon's would score less than his.

That said, I'm really preferring NBC Sports Network for coverage. Loved seeing the snowboarders last night instead of all of the ice skaters. (and I love that I can hop back and forth between the channels and rewind to see what I've missed on the other!)

Agreed. The Russian who fell so many times is the one that really stood out to me as well. I'm not sure how he got a higher score than Adam Rippon did. But, this is probably why I am not an Olympic figure skating judge. Although, to be fair, the commentaters seemed a bit confused about that as well.

 

[declansdad]

Maybe this will help.

https://www.thrillist.com/news/nation/2018-winter-olympics-figure-skating-scoring

 

[Turn the Page]

Maybe this will help.

https://www.thrillist.com/news/nation/2018-winter-olympics-figure-skating-scoring

Yeah, I get that. The point is it seems off when one skater can biff it three times and end up with a higher score than another who sticks all his landings. And it isn't as if Adam Rippon was doing nothing but singles and doubles the entire time either.

 

[Planogirl]

The commentary and updates aren't great. I had to laugh when Katie Couric said that the Dutch are so good at skating because it's a primary mode of transportation. Um, no.

I liked the Russian who fell a few times. He was so dynamic! It is odd that he scored higher though.

 

[Turn the Page]

The commentary and updates aren't great. I had to laugh when Katie Couric said that the Dutch are so good at skating because it's a primary mode of transportation. Um, no.

I liked the Russian who fell a few times. He was so dynamic! It is odd that he scored higher though.

I will say I did find his choice of Elvis music and the choreography that went with it to be a bit odd. It just didn't really go together that well I didn't think.

 

[cabanafrau]

Weighting the artistic side higher has caused problems with the development of younger skaters too. When the artistic side of the mark was getting more attention many pipelines of very young skaters moved away from increasing their jumping arsenal to include more jumps with more revolutions. When the concept of increasing points for attempted jumps factored in, many formerly promising skaters were left in the dust. Somehow they're going to have to really work on a concept that hits the sweet spot for both sides -- and more than that clean up their judging all the way around.

The Russian ladies long program last night offers another perspective. No jumps at all until second half of program to boost the bonus score on each, resulting in a second half of the program with no attempt at artistry or choreography whatsoever, merely jump, after jump, after jump, after jump . . .

 

[Cannot_Wait_4Disney]

That wasn't safe or fair to the athletes.

Agreed. And the person that I wanted to win won so it's not sour grapes. The fans deserved a show. What they got was very few hit jumps and a lot of aborted runs. As for those of us watching on TV in the states, we'd have gotten 3 runs and a ton of commercials anyway.

 

[RedAngie]

Yeah, that wind didn't seem fair to everyone - you'd like to see a competition where most of the athletes have a chance to do their best and seeing one competitor after another either crash or just bail from their jumps didn't make for a fun competition.

And I still don't understand figure skating.

Yeah, the whole women's snowboarding event was marred by holding it in such conditions.

I've been watching figure skating since the 1972 Olympics and still can't tell the difference between a lutz and flip. I've seen diagrams and read explanations, but it's all Greek to me, so I sit back and enjoy watching.

I liked when they showed the score from each judge rather than just the total.

But, anyhow, it is true that it must be too easy for athletes to find a way to compete under another flag, if perhaps they might not be good enough to make the U.S. team.
One I saw really stood out to me... a pair, neither of which seemed to have direct ties to the country they were competing for... The guy was an all-american from New Jersey???

The past four or five Olympics, both winter and summer, have seen an increasing amount of such athletes. In Rio there was a third-generation American born athlete entered as the lone competitor for some country because his great-grandmother was born there but moved to the US as an infant.

 

[cabanafrau]

Canada scored a silver in Men's speed skating with Dutch-born Ted-Jan Bloeme, who skated for the Netherlands until maybe 2014 & for Canada since 2015 by virtue of his father's dual citizenship after being born in Canada to Dutch parents while they were living in Canada in his early years.

 

[clutter]

Maybe this will help.

https://www.thrillist.com/news/nation/2018-winter-olympics-figure-skating-scoring

That's my point. I get the technical merit is higher. But I just don't see how you can fall that many times and have a higher performance score. (Besides the fact that Adam's artistry was better overall - at some point, the falls have to affect the artistry.)

 

[clutter]

I will say I did find his choice of Elvis music and the choreography that went with it to be a bit odd. It just didn't really go together that well I didn't think.

Did anyone else think "strip club" when the first song came on?

 

[Cannot_Wait_4Disney]

Did anyone else think "strip club" when the first song came on?

The Russian strip club from grand theft auto IV.

 

[declansdad]

Yeah, I get that. The point is it seems off when one skater can biff it three times and end up with a higher score than another who sticks all his landings. And it isn't as if Adam Rippon was doing nothing but singles and doubles the entire time either.

That's my point. I get the technical merit is higher. But I just don't see how you can fall that many times and have a higher performance score. (Besides the fact that Adam's artistry was better overall - at some point, the falls have to affect the artistry.)

It is more than the jumps but the combinations, the footwork, the placement of the elements..those things the true athletic component to the sport, much more so than artistry. Artistry is very subjective and open to interpretation. I don' think there should be much wait put on artistry at all.

 

[Cannot_Wait_4Disney]

It is more than the jumps but the combinations, the footwork, the placement of the elements..those things the true athletic component to the sport, much more so than artistry. Artistry is very subjective and open to interpretation. I don' think there should be much wait put on artistry at all.

It's supposed to be a show. If all they want is a jumping competition just let em go one at a time round by round like say the triple jump in track and be done. Don't waste 4 minutes of my time with a show if you're only going to score jumps Waste just 30 seconds of my time with each jumping pass.

 

[cabanafrau]

It's supposed to be a show. If all they want is a jumping competition just let em go one at a time round by round like say the triple jump in track and be done.

That approach would probably mean they need to bring back the compulsory figures into the competition as well.

 

[Cannot_Wait_4Disney]

That approach would probably mean they need to bring back the compulsory figures into the competition as well.

You mean like putting figure skating back into figure skating? Naaaaaaaaah. We can't possibly do that.

 

[cabanafrau]

You mean like putting figure skating back into figure skating? Naaaaaaaaah. We can't possibly do that.

Yeah, what was I thinking, there's no way to pull TV ratings out of that! Unless . . . you send a cameraman to the rink to take a shot of someone from the top group going through the drill, have the studio announcer hype up the drama, cut to commercial and come back to show what's going on with another event and make a promise to take the audience back for the dramatic happenings later -- as in tell the audience the results muuuuuch later.

 

[declansdad]

It's supposed to be a show. If all they want is a jumping competition just let em go one at a time round by round like say the triple jump in track and be done. Don't waste 4 minutes of my time with a show if you're only going to score jumps Waste just 30 seconds of my time with each jumping pass.

It's suppose to be an athletic competition.

Yeah, what was I thinking, there's no way to pull TV ratings out of that! Unless . . . you send a cameraman to the rink to take a shot of someone from the top group going through the drill, have the studio announcer hype up the drama, cut to commercial and come back to show what's going on with another event and make a promise to take the audience back for the dramatic happenings later -- as in tell the audience the results muuuuuch later.

When they had compulsory figures, I don't think they broadcast it, thank God.

 

[cabanafrau]

When they had compulsory figures, I don't they broadcast it, thank God.

No, they didn't. You might get a shot of your country's favorite out there with a couple comments about how the compulsories are not their strength and some thoughts about how far down in the rankings they could finish before it hurts their shot at the gold, but that was it until it was short program time and you were told where everyone stands after compulsories.

Brian Orser would have stood atop the podium in '84 and '88 were it not for his compulsory placements. The very next Olympics in '92 was the first without compulsories. He had to have been truly dreadful at them, because Scott Hamilton really struggled with compulsories himself and was held back by them often.

 

[Cannot_Wait_4Disney]

It's suppose to be an athletic competition.
.

Well then. We better cut curling out of the Olympics. Also cut bobsledding down to one rider and eliminate Biathlon because the shooting portion isn't athletic in the least. And if you eliminate the shooting what is left is cross country skiing and that is already an event.

In the summer olympics we can eliminate dressage, Table Tennis, Badminton, Air rifle.