Hoping the Zhangs can still win a World title

[judgejudy27]

So I guess the question is if the Chinese federation is purposely continuing the hold up the older teams and keep any new teams from having a fair shot, or if all these other teams just never become good enough to compete with these same Chinese teams we keep saying every year.

You do sort of wonder why nobody has been able to surpass Pang & Tong or Zhang & Zhang. Both teams have been around forever, and neither team has ever really been the best in the World (Pang & Tong won Worlds twice but it was with the Oly Champions of those years missing both times), and really it is not like both teams are still improving at this point. Shen & Zhou are easy to understand, one of the greatest pairs of all time, but how the other two are not surpassed for SO long is more surprising. I had never thought of it that way but seeing someone else bring it up is food for thought.

[judgejudy27]

Wow and I just realized those same 3 pairs have now been in 3 Olympics in a row together. Amazing. By the 2nd Olympics it still felt like you had the old (Shen & Zhou), the middle (Pang & Tong), and the still very young (Zhangs). However by 2010 it was more like the really old, the old, and the middle aged.

[julieann]

In all fairness to P/T, you are talking about a team who who are the current world champions, a team who won the free skate at the Olympics (they would have won the gold if they had a better short), they won both grand prix competitions this season and silver at the GPF and they weren't even trying this year.

So if some baby chinese team want to knock them off the top, they can sure try but they should not be forced into retirement. If that were the case maybe some teams with "less skill" no matter what country should not compete either.

What if someone told told Shen and Zhao they had to quit after 16 years because they have been around too long and 4 tries for an Olympic gold medal is 4 tries too many? I mean really, if they can't get a gold in 16 years they'll never get it, right? Why try? Give the kids a chance

[yaoyao]

According to all news about them I read, no one forces P/T to continue or to retire. It’s their own wish to keep on after last season, because they had beat S/S, K/S, Z/Z, and S/Z had retired,and M/T,V/M splited. Recently, P/T want to retire, because they finally realize they have no chance to get a better result considering the great performances of S/S,K/S,V/T. Actually, this season P/T do not do their best efforts and focue on training as they did last season. They are always addicted to many cornmerciai activities and shows. Besides, it’s difficult for P/T to bear the pressure of competition by themselves as S/Z’s retirement and Z/Z’ injuries. IMO, once P/T take off they have no competence to come back too! And I think Sui/Han are able to surpass P/T if judges fair to both sides, or sooner or later the younger will surpass P/T if they still do not improve themselves and make many mistakes continually.

[julieann]

Aren't they a couple? Maybe they just want to get married and start a family?

[skateboy]

I've never heard that they're a couple... anyone else?

[caseyedwards]

P/T? It was revealed after the pairs competition at the olympics.

[skateboy]

Oops, I thought we were talking about the Zhangs. P/T are a couple, yes.

[judgejudy27]

It is interesting how in 2006 it seemed Pang & Tong skated cleanly at the Olympics and lost to the Zhangs who had a disaester, but then at Worlds both teams had a fall and Pang & Tong won. I am not going to neccessarily say either was wrong, but both results surprised me a bit at the time, especialy the Worlds one in co-relation to how the two teams were compared by the judges at the Olympics. I guess different judging panels have different viewpoints.

[pumba]

However by 2010 it was more like the really old, the old, and the middle aged.

With all respect to all 3 gorgeous pairs, it makes me shiver when I think there could be B/S and P/T, skating till Vancouver, and T/M till Sochi, with no worthy younger couples around.

[julieann]

It is interesting how in 2006 it seemed Pang & Tong skated cleanly at the Olympics and lost to the Zhangs who had a disaester, but then at Worlds both teams had a fall and Pang & Tong won. I am not going to neccessarily say either was wrong, but both results surprised me a bit at the time, especialy the Worlds one in co-relation to how the two teams were compared by the judges at the Olympics. I guess different judging panels have different viewpoints.

I wish the word "clean" would be removed from the figure skating world.

People think some teams deserve to win although there are no visible mistakes but what needs to be remembered is some teams do much harder elements and other teams get higher levels.

If one team gets all level 1s and one teams get all level 4s, the team that got the level 4s had a fall they can still win. It's hard to explain to someone watching in the stands but it does happen.

[judgejudy27]

OK let me put it another way. I thought Pang & Tong skated worse at the 2006 Worlds than the 2006 Olympics. Obviously she took a big fall on a jump whereas there was nothing else about their performance which looked superior to their 2006 Olympics performance. The Zhangs even though they also had 1 fall as their only visible mistake looked like they skated much better than in Turin. I havent looked at the protocal but I dont see where either team altered their programs any other than what mistakes they made.

So it was interesting how Pang & Tong finished behind the Zhangs in Turin yet over them at Worlds that considered. I am not saying either result was wrong (I would need to exmaine it over again and look at the protocals closely before forming a firm opinion again) but it was an interesting confliction of results all the same.

[Ziggy]

Hoping the Zhangs, who have been stagnating for I don't know how many seasons, finally retire.

[skateboy]

Does anyone here speak/read Chinese? Perhaps the Zhang's official website will tell us something. (I can't get the "English" link to work from my computer.)

http://zhdanzhhao.sports.cn/

[DinDonShamu]

Does anyone here speak/read Chinese? Perhaps the Zhang's official website will tell us something. (I can't get the "English" link to work from my computer.)

http://zhdanzhhao.sports.cn/

The latest news says that He-Zhang has not recovered from the hand injury and will not participate in the Asian Winter Games. I suspect they would be out for the entire season.