Figure Skating Champions SURVIVOR: Ladies ROUND 8

[kwanatic]

Seems like Lulu will be out in this round. But you gotta admit, she was truly special.

Agreed. I did vote for Mao this round b/c Lulu was a more consistent competitor...though I hated voting for Mao. She's a truly special skater as well. However, given the high number of votes she garnered this round she's definitely on the chopping block next round.

I expect things will start getting very dirty from here on out...

[judgejudy27]

It is already evident the final 3 will be Kim, Slutskaya, and Kwan. I woudnt be surprised if Kim's point total balloons next round (although still not enough to go out before Mao) but then drops way down again once Mao is gone as Mao fans will also have lost interest at that point, and Kim ends up in the final 2 or even winning. Once Mao is gone it will mostly be the turn of the Kwan and Slutskaya ubers to spar.

[UGG]

omg its just a poll for fun...if people are signing up under fake screen names just to vote then that is really... sad...and creepy.

.

[jobelle]

For me this vote was between Lu Chen and Mao Asada. I voted for Asada because while I admire her skating she has never moved me the way that Lu Chen has.

[briancoogaert]

For me this vote was between Lu Chen and Mao Asada. I voted for Asada because while I admire her skating she has never moved me the way that Lu Chen has.

I totally agree !

[FunnyBut]

Agreed. I did vote for Mao this round b/c Lulu was a more consistent competitor...though I hated voting for Mao. She's a truly special skater as well. However, given the high number of votes she garnered this round she's definitely on the chopping block next round.

I'm not so sure. It seems only three of the remaining four (Mao, Yuna, Michelle) have a large number of ubers. How many of those voting Lulu this round will vote Irina next round?

We'll have to wait and see, but I agree it will be

[sk8ingcoach]

OMG people... This is not a poll about who moved you the most and who made your heart feel warm ?? This is about who is truly the weaker skater. Yes Chen Lu had good artistically but she didnt have the technical ability anywhere near Mao Asada. And yes people can say " oh but she didnt have a supportive country" blah blah blah, it doesnt matter, she was a weaker skater and should be voted out.

In terms of the next vote, they all have great artistically ( besides maybe Irina ) but there are clear differences in technical ability. 3 of them (irina, mao, kim) can do clean and difficult 3-3 combinations while Michelle can not. I know people want her to win this poll, but my next vote will go to Michelle because of her lower technical ability than the others.

[gingercrush]

In terms of the next vote, they all have great artistically ( besides maybe Irina ) but there are clear differences in technical ability. 3 of them (irina, mao, kim) can do clean and difficult 3-3 combinations while Michelle can not. I know people want her to win this poll, but my next vote will go to Michelle because of her lower technical ability than the others.

I love Mao and would love her to win and I can't believe I'm defending Michelle Kwan but she consistently performed Triple Toes and Triple Loops and Triple Salchows.

How often did Mao perform a Triple Toe and how many times has she performed a Triple Salchow? And how many times did Yu-na Kim do a Triple Loop? Also Triple Lutz something Mao has doen maybe one of.

I also disagree that artistry shouldn't be in play it absolutely should. And for me I will always regard Mao's Nocturne No.2 to be her finest program and to hold side by side against any program Lu Chen, Michelle Kwan, Yu-na Kim and Irina Slutskaya did. I also love her Claire De Lune.

[berthesghost]

OMG people... This is not a poll about who moved you the most and who made your heart feel warm ?? This is about who is truly the weaker skater. Yes Chen Lu had good artistically but she didnt have the technical ability anywhere near Mao Asada. And yes people can say " oh but she didnt have a supportive country" blah blah blah, it doesnt matter, she was a weaker skater and should be voted out.

In terms of the next vote, they all have great artistically ( besides maybe Irina ) but there are clear differences in technical ability. 3 of them (irina, mao, kim) can do clean and difficult 3-3 combinations while Michelle can not. I know people want her to win this poll, but my next vote will go to Michelle because of her lower technical ability than the others.

Hi.

This is a discussion about figure skating. You know, the sport where an entire 50% of the scoring is for choreo, interpretation, musicality, etc...all the stuff that makes up what used to be called presentation, and before that artistry. Whatever you call it, it still means the same, and has always had an equal part in the sport's scoring as tech.

When another poll comes along titled "who was the weakest skater technically only, then you can vent. Until then, youre not making sense.

Im sorry but Michelle and Chen have considerably weaker technical ability than the rest on this poll. Yeah they both are good artistically but so are Yuna and Mao. Michelle and Chen could never do any good 3-3 combinations ( sometimes 3T+3T ) while the others on this poll consistently pulled of fantastic 3-3 combinations of much harder difficulty than 3t+3t. In my opinion Chen should be voted out now, the either michelle or Irina because they both lack either technical ability (michelle) or atristic ability(irina), while Mao and Yuna exceeded at both

[Triple Butz]

3 of them (irina, mao, kim) can do clean and difficult 3-3 combinations while Michelle can not. I know people want her to win this poll, but my next vote will go to Michelle because of her lower technical ability than the others.

How many of them pulled off 7-triple programs? Michelle did it at least 10 or 11 times. Kim and Slutskaya maybe twice and Mao...did she ever? I'm not discounting the difficulty of those three you mentioned, but being well rounded, consistent, and staying on your feet has to count for something.

Michelle Kwan hit at LEAST 6 triples in every freeskate at worlds from her debut in 1995 until 2004 when she hit 5 which is the same total amount of triples as Yuna's best freeskate at Worlds. Name any other woman who could hit 6 (or 7) triples at Worlds for 9 years in a row. For that reason, Michelle Kwan is simply unmatched as a competitor in my mind.

[skateboy]

I never thought Michelle was so great artistically. To me, she was a very good technical skater. I apologize, ubers.

[love_skate2011]

It is already evident the final 3 will be Kim, Slutskaya, and Kwan. I woudnt be surprised if Kim's point total balloons next round (although still not enough to go out before Mao) but then drops way down again once Mao is gone as Mao fans will also have lost interest at that point, and Kim ends up in the final 2 or even winning. Once Mao is gone it will mostly be the turn of the Kwan and Slutskaya ubers to spar.

that pretty much sums up the ending
although I think Yuna will win this poll

[senorita]

I do not think Yuna has made the same impact as Irina who competed in the gold era with and against Kwan, but she probably will win the poll anyway.

[Amy03]

[QUOTE=Triple Butz;3613644]How many of them pulled off 7-triple programs? Michelle did it at least 10 or 11 times. Kim and Slutskaya maybe twice and Mao...did she ever? I'm not discounting the difficulty of those three you mentioned, but being well rounded, consistent, and staying on your feet has to count for something.





I am sorry to dissappoint you but Mao Asada has pulled many 7-tripples program that includes a 3A and 3-3 and most other jumps in combination too, let me show you a few of them:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQ8LXKlFjUI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bYJ_mG6Qvno
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWdY5uHROoI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QpZGFBDYc2w

[Amy03]

OMG people... This is not a poll about who moved you the most and who made your heart feel warm ?? This is about who is truly the weaker skater. Yes Chen Lu had good artistically but she didnt have the technical ability anywhere near Mao Asada. And yes people can say " oh but she didnt have a supportive country" blah blah blah, it doesnt matter, she was a weaker skater and should be voted out.

In terms of the next vote, they all have great artistically ( besides maybe Irina ) but there are clear differences in technical ability. 3 of them (irina, mao, kim) can do clean and difficult 3-3 combinations while Michelle can not. I know people want her to win this poll, but my next vote will go to Michelle because of her lower technical ability than the others.

I get your point but i think irena should go first, because unlike michelle, irena really lacked artistically.. so i would much rather see a skater who has the jumps right as well as great artistry, then a skater who has done 3-3 once in a while, but doesn't have any artistry... beside that michelle was much more consistent then irena! so my vote will deffinitly go for irena in the next round!

[briancoogaert]

I am sorry to dissappoint you but Mao Asada has pulled many 7-tripples program that includes a 3A and 3-3 and most other jumps in combination too, let me show you a few of them:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQ8LXKlFjUI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bYJ_mG6Qvno
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWdY5uHROoI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QpZGFBDYc2w

It's interesting to see that the 3Axel attempts of the first 2 videos look good and still receive -GOE.
Plus, in that period (2007-2008), she skates too much on 2-feet !
(I voted for Irina this time, not for Mao )

[magnolia]

Plus, in that period (2007-2008), she skates too much on 2-feet !

Did 2007-2008 Mao skate 2-feet more than Michelle or Irina ever did in their performances? (A real question)

That 2011 4CC performance was really beautiful. I remember watching that and totally expecting Mao to rock it from there on til Sochi, and then was quite shocked to see her suddenly thin and frail at 2011 Worlds. Looking back, it must have been after 4CC that she found out about her mother's state.

[galaxy]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQ8LXKlFjUI[/url]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bYJ_mG6Qvno
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWdY5uHROoI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QpZGFBDYc2w

Thanks for the links. The last one is really beautiful, she skated with such a joy. And the 3A is smooth, light and effortless. What happened to her between this and the Worlds? I heard the massive earthquake was an enormous shock to her, and was she worrying about her mother's health at the same time?

[briancoogaert]

Did 2007-2008 Mao skate 2-feet more than Michelle or Irina ever did in their performances? (A real question)

I admit that I didn't watch them to compare. It's just that when I was watching those videos of Mao, I noticed that the first part is on 2-feet, while at 2011 4CC, it was so much better !

[miki88]

Mao's Fantasia LP had a lot of crossovers which were never her strong point before going to Sato, who has greatly improved her stroking. Mao also have a low free leg that lends itself to 2-ft and probably affects her GOE on her jumps. I also find a similar problem with LuLu's skating especially during her last years. But despite that, they both skate effortlessly and gracefully.