Great Olympic performances that did not make the podium

[berthesghost]

Some obscure ones.....

1976 Robin Cousins. Everything I've ever read says he was completely robbed. This was also his hardest ever LP with 5 triples. A video of this performance is one of my holy grails.

1972 Starbuck & Shelley. Haven't seen it but from magazine reports, they skated better in Sapporo to finish 4th than they did at 1972 Calgary Worlds to finish 3rd. Total politiks.I haven't seen or even read a description of any of them, yet I'd kill to see any of these:
1948 John lettengraver, 2nd in fs 4th overall
1952 Ginny Baxter, 1st in fs, 5th overall
1956 Cathy muchado, 3rd in fs, 8th overall
1960 the protopopovs, 9th
1964 tommy Litz, 2nd in fs, 6th overall

[judgejudy27]

I would love to see more of the 76 Olympic mens competition in general. I only saw Curry and Cranstons skates. I have heard Kovalev skated horribly with falls and stumbles yet was marked high enough to pass Hoffmann who was ahead of him going into the long program, and hold off Cranston who was just behind him going in (with some judges putting Kovalev over Cranston who didnt skate badly in the long program phase) to win the silver. Apparently the crowd was jeering that result.

[berthesghost]

^ it was pretty off the hook, with insult added to injury by having to witness kovalev's insanely huge bell bottomed pants! :lol:

[museksk8r]

Even the Eursport commentators thought Mirai would place second ahead of Mao and Joannie in the LP, but ended up placing 5th in the LP (behind Kim, Asada, Rochette, and Lepisto), and they were appalled when her LP mark didn't even break 130, despite the fact that Mirai was going bonkers over her LP score and placement.

5th is the absolute correct placement for her in the LP, IMO. Kim, Asada, Rochette, and Lepisto are all miles ahead of Nagasu in terms of skating skills and presentation. However, after the SP, I would have had Nagasu in 4th behind the Olympic medalists. The SP is where she was really robbed!

[smarts1]

^ But I think based on her technical elements alone, Mirai should have broken 70+ in for her TES at the very least, considering there was not a foot wrong in that program and the quality of her spins should have pushed her TES up. 65.80 was too low for the program she put out there considering Asada received 64.68 (barely over a point off) and Rochette received 62.80 for their flawed programs, while Lepisto received 63.89 even with her doubled salchow and worse jump content.

[smarts1]

Here's the Eurosport video btw: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=igZAmv_kF0w&feature=plcp

[SkateBlades17]

The ones that come to my mind.

2006 & 2010 Johnny Weir
1998 Bourne & Kraatz
1992 Grishuk & Platov
2010 Belbin & Agosto

[caseyedwards]

Lots of people have good things to say about the Duchesnay's in Calgary! Not 4th or near the podium really so it's not a 4th place should have medaled type pick.

[judgejudy27]

Lots of people have good things to say about the Duchesnay's in Calgary! Not 4th or near the podium really so it's not a 4th place should have medaled type pick.

Yes I agree they were great. Their placing or what it should have been is irrelevant in this case, it was just great to see someone have the balls to do something so totally different and unique in the stodgy World of dancing. What a contrast to their bland Albertville programs when they went in as favorites. :yikes:

[blue_idealist]

I kind of agree with blue_idealist also... Quite honestly, even though Joannie became the darling of those Olympics due to personal circumstances, she made 4 major glaring errors in her LP and it was definitely NOT worth the 130+ that she received in the LP. She had a major step out on the flip (and was leaning) and the double axel had a slight turn out, which were her two most visible errors. Her second lutz and her triple salchow (in the sequence) were both clearly underrotated and if the technical panel wanted, they could have easily given them < marks. Besides, I hated the choreography for Joannie's LP anyway-- that step sequence was horrendously put together. And on top of that, Mirai was undermarked on PCS in the SP (considering she was pretty unknown still to the international panel at that point).

Even the Eursport commentators thought Mirai would place second ahead of Mao and Joannie in the LP, but ended up placing 5th in the LP (behind Kim, Asada, Rochette, and Lepisto), and they were appalled when her LP mark didn't even break 130, despite the fact that Mirai was going bonkers over her LP score and placement.

Yes, nothing against Joannie Rochette, I think she's a good skater but that FS wasn't that great.

[Shyjosie]

Yes I agree they were great. Their placing or what it should have been is irrelevant in this case, it was just great to see someone have the balls to do something so totally different and unique in the stodgy World of dancing.
I absolutely agree and thought about mentioning them, too. The topic says great olympic performances that did not make the podium, and that's exactly what their Savage Rites routine was.

[blue_idealist]

I see someone else mentioned them, but I forgot about P/T in 2006.

[VIETgrlTerifa]

Joannie Rochette was utterly boring in 2010 as well.

Speaking of 2010, I can't believe nobody mentioned Suzuki's absolutely awesome LP.

[TwizzlerS]

Speaking of the Duchesnays in 1988, I loved their Tango OSP even more than the Savage Rites.
Tango (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jMFxoLjFJr0)

[blue_idealist]

Joannie Rochette was utterly boring in 2010 as well.

Speaking of 2010, I can't believe nobody mentioned Suzuki's absolutely awesome LP.

I guess because Suzuki was already behind in the SP, there was no chance of her medalling really, so it flew under the radar. I think that's why I didn't take much notice of it, anyway. Or, I did at the time but it slipped my mind.