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tez
2010-02-24 07:55 pm UTC (link)

Yeah, that's pretty much what I saw. Lysacek nailed everything -- jumps, spins, footwork, everything -- while Plushenko did a lot of jumping around but didn't do anything particularly smoothly. It felt like he was just going through the motions in between the jumps.

Sometimes I wonder how some of these jumpmaniac skaters would do if they were skating in the age of compulsory figures.

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	xturtle 2010-02-24 08:17 pm UTC (link)
	I'm glad someone finally did it. The focus on jumping has always annoyed me -- all of skating takes so much strength and control (heck, I can only stand up on the things for a few minutes before the muscled in my lower legs complain vigorously) -- why focus on only one sort of skill? (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

tez
2010-02-24 08:28 pm UTC (link)

I remember thinking 'oh they make it look so easy' before getting on skates for the first time. After my ass got introduced to the ice numerous times I revised my opinion.

What gets me is that this insistence that the quad is the uber-jump takes away from the fact that Lysacek did (iirc) two triple axels in his program. That was the hardest jump out there before the quad came around, and it's probably the one style of jump that'll never be done as a quad, it's too hard. That's not exactly tiddlywinks.

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mary_mac
2010-02-24 11:45 pm UTC (link)

In the words of one of the Beeb's commentators, "Oh son, you have to do the transitions too."

I mostly want to smack that particular person, but yeah. And doing what Lysacek does, especially with his build, is nigh-impossible. There's a reason everyone else that tall is playing hockey.

Also it's nice to watch a programme in the knowledge the skater will not land on their head. I'm sure the judges like it even more than me.

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witty
2010-02-26 01:35 am UTC (link)

OT, but I really liked compulsory figures. I don't know a thing about them except that I watched Boitano do them on TV (uh... I guess that makes it 1992) and to see them was to be able to say, "Yes, that is a difficult skill that requires practice, talent and precision."

How can you not like that?? Also, it was just kind of neat, being able to look at the ice and the pattern his skate-blades had made. When it's all big leaps and fast movement, you don't always get to see fine detail like that.

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	tez 2010-02-26 02:09 am UTC (link)
	Would've probably been 1988; he didn't compete in 1992, came back in 1994, and I'm not sure if figures had been abolished by then or not. I watched them in 1988 and I was totally fascinated. That's a skill that I think has gotten totally lost with all the jumptacularity that people keep harping on. Hardcore fundamentals, that's what figures are. (Reply to this)(Parent)

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