Ladies' figure skating!

[Desire4Bono]

This is my favorite event of the Olympics. It's always fun and exciting. Who are you for? Here are some pics, especially for the guys who have to put up with our hot pics in PLEBA!

Michelle Kwan- USA

Sasha Cohen- USA

Sarah Hughes- USA

(those last 2 were underage, guys, only teenage boys under 18 can look!)

Silvia Fontana- Italy

Laetitia Hubert- France

Irina Slutskaya- Russia- Yes guys that's SLUTSkaya!

Victoria Volchkova- Russia

I have 2 questions-

1. Who do you think will win?

2. Guys, who is hotter?

 

[sulawesigirl4]

I'm rooting for Kwan. Of course, she should have had the gold in Nagano...but that's another discussion.

I think we'll see Kwan, Slutskaya, and either Cohen or Hughes in the top three. I haven't seen Hubert skate since like 92, and I remember her being a terribly boring skater, but perhaps she's improved a lot.

Of course, anything can happen in the short program. One fall can put the favorites out of medal contention...

 

[Desire4Bono]

I agree, I think it will be Kwan and one other US girl and Slutskaya. I have never liked Slutskaya though. I think I remember Hubert from '92, wasn't she the one in the orange dress who skating a great short program then fell like 7 times in the long and slid along the ice crying?

[This message has been edited by Desire4Bono (edited 02-19-2002).]

 

[scatteroflight]

I think Kwan, Slutskaya, and Hughes are all excellent. I don't really have a big preference. I've come to the conclusion that pairs and men are my favourite disciplines. I do hope that the women cheer me up, I'm generally depressed after the ice dance, for a few reasons.



------------------
Your sun so bright it leaves no shadows, only scars
Carved into stone on the face of earth
The moon is up and over One Tree Hill
We see the sun go down in your eyes

 

[jezebel]

Nice pix, Desire4Bono!

Being American, I think it would be really cool for a sweep....but most of us are rooting for Michelle, no matter what happens with the silver and bronze!

[This message has been edited by jezebel (edited 02-19-2002).]

 

[*Stormy*]

I've thought all along, even before the judging controversy which now makes it worse, that Michelle would be the best but would not be given the points because the judges would pick Irina Slutzkaya the Russian. They seem to alternate every other year eastern/western bloc, not fair, but I'm worried.

1976- Dorothy Hamill, USA
1980- Annet Poetch, GDR(that's the old East Communist Germany- and USA's Linda Fratienne was better)
1984&88- Katerina Witt-GDR yes, she was the best
1992- Kristi Yamiguchi- USA
1994- Oksana Baiul, Ukraine(former Soviet Republic, though she two footed two landings and Nancy Kerrigan skated flawlessly)
1998- Tara Lipinski, USA
2002?

Oh, looking at that it seems they owe us one, the Commies took 2 in a row in the 80's!

All I can do is wish our girls the best and hope honesty will prevail-sigh

------------------
"I was born a MacPhisto"

 

[sulawesigirl4]

one note...Katarina Witt the best in 88? Hardly. If you'll recall, those were the days of the compulsory figures, where the judges could jack up the marks of their darling and put her out of reach for the short and long programs. If Witt had competed under today's rules (1/3 short, 2/3 long program) I highly doubt she would come away with the gold. Oh wait...she did compete in Lillehammer and came away...actually pretty low, I don't remember much except for her looking quite silly out there.

 

[*Stormy*]

Originally posted by sulawesigirl4:
one note...Katarina Witt the best in 88? Hardly. If you'll recall, those were the days of the compulsory figures, where the judges could jack up the marks of their darling and put her out of reach for the short and long programs. If Witt had competed under today's rules (1/3 short, 2/3 long program) I highly doubt she would come away with the gold. Oh wait...she did compete in Lillehammer and came away...actually pretty low, I don't remember much except for her looking quite silly out there.

You're right! I almost forgot about the school figures, and how boring and conservative her Carmen program was in '88! School figures really hurt the chances of a lot of good skaters, like Midori Ito. By the time they were abolished, she was a bit too old (22!) and her ankles were damaged from years of jumping and she had a hard time with her trademark triple axle. She and Tonya Harding are the only girls to ever land one in competition.

 

[*Stormy*]

Sasha Cohen is now in first and Sara Hughes second, with all the other favorites still to skate. Hughes was given 5.3's to 5.5's but the RUSSIAN judge gave her a 5.1!!!

Here we go again? What will happen with Michelle, will she be treated faily? The drama continues.

 

[tiny dancer]

Beautiful & brilliant performance Michelle!!

 

[*Stormy*]

Originally posted by tiny dancer:
Beautiful & brilliant performance Michelle!!

YAY! GO for it on Thursday! She's in first place! They gave her low techincal scores but her artistic ones made up for it. Good luck!

 

[Lemonboy]

Well La-di-da!

I think Kwan looks hottest but im curious about the name Slutskaya!

------------------
"PLEBA Mansion Bootler"

"Lemons, the chicks- they love the lemon"
-Bono in Rotterdam-

"Proud member of the U2 gender"

 

[Saracene]

I know I should back Irina Slutskaya cause I'm Russian too (and she's also my Mum's namesake

), but I just like Michelle Kwan so much. I hope she wins.

And I think it should really be spelled Slootskaya, not Slutskaya, to be close to the original Russian pronounciation...

 

[Hallelujah Here She Comes]

Originally posted by Desire4Bono:
I agree, I think it will be Kwan and one other US girl and Slutskaya. I have never liked Slutskaya though.

Me, either. She's good technically, but I never really feel like she's putting herself emotionally into the performance. She does everything so quickly (the judges like speed) but I think it takes away from the effect of say, a beautiful lay-back spin, if you're just speeding through it. Still, the judges like her. I think she'll come in second, Kwan will win and Sasha Cohen will get the bronze, although Sarah Hughes has a good shot at that if she skates well in the free skate.

My two cents

 

[sulawesigirl4]

Actually, you can feel free to disagree with me here, but I didn't really feel like ANY of the performances last night were particularly inspired. Going-through-the-motions and all very proper, but even Kwan seemed cautious. Then again, that's not too surprising for a short program, because one mess-up can end your chances for a medal. Hopefully, the long program will be a bit more passionate all around.

 

[80sU2isBest]

I met Oksana Baiul once. I was even interviewed on The Today Show when I met her.

 

[scatteroflight]

Originally posted by sulawesigirl4:
Actually, you can feel free to disagree with me here, but I didn't really feel like ANY of the performances last night were particularly inspired. Going-through-the-motions and all very proper, but even Kwan seemed cautious. Then again, that's not too surprising for a short program, because one mess-up can end your chances for a medal. Hopefully, the long program will be a bit more passionate all around.

Maybe not absolutely inspired, but you have to admit that was a pretty amazingly skated short program. Sarah Hughes skated THAT well and she's only fourth?! And Maria Butyrskaya skated great too! She's twelve years older than some of those girls! I was pretty impressed with the quality, those programs were largely error-free. And the skaters probably will cut loose some more for the free skate. I'm looking forward to ti.



------------------
Your sun so bright it leaves no shadows, only scars
Carved into stone on the face of earth
The moon is up and over One Tree Hill
We see the sun go down in your eyes

 

[anitram]

Originally posted by sulawesigirl4:
Actually, you can feel free to disagree with me here, but I didn't really feel like ANY of the performances last night were particularly inspired.

I agree with you.

I found the men's short to be much more fun to watch. I think what has bugged me in women's skating recently is that I don't see any of them particularly pushing forward aggressively. Sometimes, you can see it in Sarah Cohen, but for the most part it's absent. When you look at the men's side, after Elvis landed the first quad in competition years ago, men's figure skating underwent a revolution of sorts. They all challenged each other, and in turn pushed each other forward. To me, watching the women skate has been somewhat less inspiring. You can of course disagree, but sometimes, I just think they're perfectly satisfied simply competing, doing a clean program, rather than pushing the envelope and trying new things. I wish somebody would step on the scene and really challenge the women.

 

[sulawesigirl4]

Originally posted by anitram:
I agree with you.

I found the men's short to be much more fun to watch. I think what has bugged me in women's skating recently is that I don't see any of them particularly pushing forward aggressively.
...
I wish somebody would step on the scene and really challenge the women.

And that is exactly what I feel is missing. Remember Midori Ito? Sure, she may not have had the artistry down, but the mere fact that she was a triple-axel threat forced the other competitors to really work at not only their jumping but in putting together really innovative artistic programs in order to beat her marks should she land the axel. That resulted in a some great competition in Lillehammer...remember Kristi Yamaguchi? That was 10 years ago and it seems to me that in terms of technical difficulty the ladies have REGRESSED not progressed as one would think.

But perhaps having watched the men's programs so recently with all their quads and multiple-jump combinations, not to mention the fighting Russians and the exuberant Tim Goebel, has spoiled me. I dunno. I just hope to see some passion and fire out there in the free skate.

 

[*Stormy*]

Midori Ito was one of my favorite skaters.

 

[anitram]

Originally posted by sulawesigirl4:
And that is exactly what I feel is missing. Remember Midori Ito? Sure, she may not have had the artistry down, but the mere fact that she was a triple-axel threat forced the other competitors to really work at not only their jumping but in putting together really innovative artistic programs in order to beat her marks should she land the axel.

I do remember her.

Also, I very clearly remember, as a young girl, watching Surya Bonaly skate exhibitions programs. She wasn't often at her best in the short and long programs, but in the exhibitions she jumped and jumped, and looked like she was genuinely having fun out there.

 

[The_Sweetest_Thing]

Originally posted by 80sU2isBest:
I met Oksana Baiul once. I was even interviewed on The Today Show when I met her.

WHAT?????!!! Details!

 

[The_Sweetest_Thing]

Well, what can I say? It's already been said..

Medal 3: Kwan, Stutskaya, Cohen (altough Hughes has a chance as well). Hubert has had too many problems. I don't see her as a medal contender.

Women's skating, IMO, has regressed. I loved Bonally, Ito, Cohen. Not so much for their programs, but more for their athleticism and how they tried so hard to change skating. Look at Timothy Goebel: 3 quads in his long program. That's equal to the number of quads even attempted at Nagano. look how far the sport has come in 4 years...

Bonaly tried to change skating technically, as well as artistically (her music was always somewhat...different. While I wasn't a big fan, I do admire her now for trying). If Cohen can throw in a few big jumps, maybe women's skating will change. *fingers crossed* Or else, what have you got? The triple lutz??!! Women are still doing triple/double-toe combinations (save Tara who did Triple loop/triple loop in Nagano). Men are doing Quad/Triple/Double combos. It's amazing.

If this keeps up, it'll turn into mens/women/s aerials (skking). Men are doing crazy stuff up there; the women just can't seem to compare.

I for one would love to see even, some more artistry. It seems lately there hasn't been much feelimng out there. It's a cold, cold ice surface, but why do they have to show it? At least in ice dance, pairs, mens, there seems to be people having fun....exciting, innovative programs (normally the short program) that gets the audience (ie: Sale and Pelltier). It just seems that women are lacking that je ne sai quois that once made skating so interesting. It seems now the most exciting aprt of skating is the jumps--because they always look like they're going to fall.


Hey, whatever happened to Maria Buterskaya? I remember her being quite good a few years ago..

 

[*Stormy*]

GO MICHELLE!

Good luck to her tonight

 

[80sU2isBest]

Originally posted by The_Sweetest_Thing:

WHAT?????!!! Details!

Well, I met her back in 98. On the day I met her, I was interviewed by NBC, for a story about people who get to meet their favorite celebrities. They told me it would be on the NBC Nightly News in a couple of weeks. Well, I kept watching but never saw it.
Then one day, a friend of mine is in a gym, hears a familiar voice, looks up, and there I am on TV on the Today Show! The following Sunday in church, people were coming up to me telling me they saw me, also.
To this day, I have never seen it.

 

[80sU2isBest]

Originally posted by Desire4Bono:
Cool story 80sU2! Was that when she was a real drunk? LMAO did she seem drunk to you?
I am getting intense now, what will happen tonight? Will the judges be fair, who will make the worst mistake? I can't wait!
[This message has been edited by Desire4Bono (edited 02-21-2002).]

Naw, she wasn't drunk. She was pretty sweet. And she smelled good, I remember that!

I think the judging will be fair tonight; it BETTER be!

Go Michelle!

 

[sulawesigirl4]

80s, you are a guy and you follow figure skating?

I am seriously impressed!

As far as tonite goes...I must admit, I'm a bit nervous. lol. I really wanted Michelle to win last time around and it was hard to take the upset by that annoying whats-her-name girl. gah. So, I'm almost afraid to watch tonite and see it happen again. In any case, I will be there recording it regardless. lol. Old habits die hard.

-sula

 

[80sU2isBest]

Originally posted by sulawesigirl4:
80s, you are a guy and you follow figure skating?

I am seriously impressed!
-sula

I used to have a major crush on both Oksana Baiul and Josee Chuinard.

 

[sulawesigirl4]

Originally posted by 80sU2isBest:
I used to have a major crush on both Oksana Baiul and Josee Chuinard.

lol. Ugh. Both of them horrid skaters. The least you could do is choose your crushes better.

 

[80sU2isBest]

Originally posted by sulawesigirl4:
lol. Ugh. Both of them horrid skaters. The least you could do is choose your crushes better.

Horrid skaters? You've got to be joking, right?

Oksana was the best for her first 3 or four years. Josee has great charm and grace on the ice.