Figure Skating Champions SURVIVOR: Pairs Round 4

[julieann]

Pang/Tong; it drives me crazy how much they're held up by the judges, even when they make NUMEROUS mistakes! Plus, they tend to have such boring programs and could really learn to express the character of their music better. Also, her positions in the lifts most of the time look so hideous and her jumps almost always appear UR. They are also pretty weak spinners.

But how Tong throws Pang is just precious! That leg is priceless

[blue_idealist]

Pang/Tong; it drives me crazy how much they're held up by the judges, even when they make NUMEROUS mistakes! Plus, they tend to have such boring programs and could really learn to express the character of their music better. Also, her positions in the lifts most of the time look so hideous and her jumps almost always appear UR. They are also pretty weak spinners.

At least Woetzel/Steuer were always interesting.

I just couldn't vote Pang and Tong out at this stage because their 2010 Olympic FS was so memorable and great. I agree that not all their stuff has been that great.

[museksk8r]

But how Tong throws Pang is just precious! That leg is priceless

Yes, he can be brilliant; her on the other hand .

[shady82]

It's not time for Pang/Tong to go yet, not for a couple rounds.

For most of their early/middle years, they really weren't ever held up. They were always appropriately marked, and often undermarked in comparison to the Zhangs. IMO they deserved a medal at Torino (although I'm not going to make a big deal of it, since the competition was pretty weak that year anyways).

They were on/off, and had years of glory sandwiched in between years when they didn't medal at Worlds. But they still pulled off two World golds and an Olympic medal, often with good performances. The same can't be said about S/N and K/S. W/S were successful at Worlds and Olympics, but their 1997 Worlds FP was incredibly lousy. They're also fairly weak skaters.

I hope a couple videos will change some opinions here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EMl1m3B3h-0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NgeLH5nrq9s
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LGdwyg_dDzE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0xOKu...eature=related

I haven't been following skating much the past two seasons, so I can't say for this period.

[Cherub721]

I just couldn't vote Pang and Tong out at this stage because their 2010 Olympic FS was so memorable and great. I agree that not all their stuff has been that great.

The problem for me is that's literally the only program of theirs I remember. The others all look the same!

[Macassar88]

I just couldn't vote Pang and Tong out at this stage because their 2010 Olympic FS was so memorable and great. I agree that not all their stuff has been that great.

Yeah but their 2008 and 2004 FS were amazing as well.

[julieann]

Yes, he can be brilliant; her on the other hand .

I was actually mocking his horrific throwing technique but whatever....

[judgejudy27]

As it looks like they are (blissfully) getting their long overdue axe, and this will be my last chance to point this out, one funny thing if anything remembers is the German judge giving them an outrageous 1st place at both the 97/98 GP final and 98 Olympics:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3XoSNV61USU

This was most outrageous of all. She singled the side by side double axel (while he did a double), she doubled the throw triple toe, she two footed the throw double axel, and the last lift almost collapsed, probably a performance on par with their huge meltdown at the 95 Worlds, and they still got a 1st place vote from the German judge (5.7, 5.9 vs 5.8, 5.8, note the German judges marks for both teams) over a clean, flawless, and wonderous Berezhnaya & Sikharulidze:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-kKWyd5NA10


Then in Nagano, the German judge ranking Kazahkova & Dmitriev 4th when all other 8 judges had them 1st, LOL:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qTJ-FK3PALA

"Pathetic attempt to give Woetzel & Steuer the gold." So true.

[casken]

^^^^^ Yup.

Ironically though, I would have had W&S first over K&D in the sp in Nagano.

[blue_idealist]

I can't help it, I'm always going to love W/S's 97-98 FS because of the music.

[judgejudy27]

^^^^^ Yup.

Ironically though, I would have had W&S first over K&D in the sp in Nagano.

I actually agree. K&D's death spiral was basically botched and should have incurred a big deduction, dropping them to no higher than 2nd in the SP. W&S as usual had many mediocre elements, but no major problems on any, and they revived their No Holly for Miss Quinn program which was one of their only nice programs ever. One of the only times I would have W&S higher than the judges did in any program.

I also agree W&S's 97-98 LP was their nicest LP ever with nice music, and they emoted to it very well, but it doesnt mean squat if they skate it poorly.

[antmanb]

Wow, so many nice 6.0 pairs programmes. Unlike my post in the men's thread, IJS has completely ruined pairs skating. God I even enjoyed watching W&S's botched programmes compared to most IJS pairs programmes (with a couple of notable exceptions of course!).

[vodkashot]

As it looks like they are (blissfully) getting their long overdue axe, and this will be my last chance to point this out, one funny thing if anything remembers is the German judge giving them an outrageous 1st place at both the 97/98 GP final and 98 Olympics:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3XoSNV61USU

This was most outrageous of all. She singled the side by side double axel (while he did a double), she doubled the throw triple toe, she two footed the throw double axel, and the last lift almost collapsed, probably a performance on par with their huge meltdown at the 95 Worlds, and they still got a 1st place vote from the German judge (5.7, 5.9 vs 5.8, 5.8, note the German judges marks for both teams) over a clean, flawless, and wonderous Berezhnaya & Sikharulidze:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-kKWyd5NA10


Then in Nagano, the German judge ranking Kazahkova & Dmitriev 4th when all other 8 judges had them 1st, LOL:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qTJ-FK3PALA

"Pathetic attempt to give Woetzel & Steuer the gold." So true.

LOL, the good old days when it was patently obvious which judges were playing dirty!

[sk8ingcoach]

Both Shishkova & Naumov / Woetzel & Steuer has high and low points technically at their World Championships win. However i personally thought that Woetzel & Steuer had much better artistically which lead me to vote for Shishkova and Naumov

[Plusdinfo]

I found Woetzel/Steuer to always be interesting and to connect well with their music, while Shishkova/Naumov didn't make me feel like they were emoting. Admittedly, I haven't seen much of '94-'02 pairs in recent years, but I like Woetzel/Steuer too much to vote for them over a team that didn't strike my fancy when they were around.

[shady82]

I can't believe Woetzel/Steur might survive another round..

[DaiKozOda]

I can't believe Woetzel/Steur might survive another round..

This!