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	tez 2010-02-25 07:47 pm UTC (link)
	YOU SPEAK GREAT TRUTHINESS. Seriously, the only reason Stojko got the accolades he got was because of when he skated. Four years earlier? The Brians, he'd be fucked. Four years later? Yagudin and Plushenko, and he's fucked again. If he was competing now, he wouldn't stand a chance with the new scoring system. Fantabulous editorial in the Vancouver Sun. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

ecchaniz0r
2010-02-25 11:43 pm UTC (link)

*Squee.*

Seriouly though this quote from the article:

That’s why Kurt Browning performing Casablanca in Lillehammer, though he never won a medal, or Phillippe Candeloro swordfighting 200 feet down the ice to The Three Musketeers in Nagano, or Lambiel doing William Tell the other night, will stay in the memory long after whatever variation on a kung-fu movie you chose for your theme, between jumps.

SO VERY MUCH TRUTH.

Randomly: I swear to balls there was some weird curse on Kurt in re: Olympics. He'd either have a hideous sinus cold and thus his inner ear was all LA LA LA LA WHUT and his balace was iffy (but he still skated like epic though - get me out on the ice with a cold (and my knowledge of all of two little jumps gotohellLUTZahem) and I'm only good for comic relief or a human zamboni)or - buh - I forget when it was that he bunged up his rotator cuff and his doctor flailed at him. But I swear, man.

...I'm still amazed that he managed to perform as well as he did with a cold. I mean he was STILL having the time of his life and making even the fans of the people he was skating against go 'ee'. Seeing people stop trying to not grin = me squeeing.

BLATANT FANGIRLING? WHY YES :D

...Man I wish I knew how the new scoring system worked. XD;;

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tez
2010-02-25 11:57 pm UTC (link)

Oh JESUS YES. I will never ever forget Candeloro in Nagano. EVER. The knee spin. KNEE SPIN! Frankly, I forgot the other medalists (I had to look it up to know that it was Ilia Kulik who won gold) but I cannot ever forget Candeloro. People need to realize this shit.

I do agree with you re: Kurt and the Olympic Curse. It was like it always just bit him in the ass for no good reason and denied him the medals he seriously deserved. But, you know, we love him and he got out there and had one hell of a good time while sick and he's made of win just for that!

From what I understand, they broke it down and quantified everything as best they could in an attempt to make it less of a subjective sport. So now it's not just jumps and spins that earn you points, it's how you finish those jumps and how you transition into those spins and how well you put everything together as a whole. Shit still happens (see: Johnny Weir getting vastly under-scored this year), but for the most part it's been rewarding people accurately instead of politically. The one thing I've heard the most out of Scott Hamilton this year is 'quality of skating' as a major factor -- in other words, if you can jump and that's all you can do, you're not going to do as well as the guy who might not be QUITE as jumptastic but put together a solid coherent program.

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