U.S. Ladies [#5]: All That Glitters Is Not Gold

[Sylvia]

No hand-wringing from me! This is a valuable learning experience for Gold. There's still the FS tomorrow.

[smarts1]

The SP at Skate Canada was "interesting" to say the least. The long will probably separate them though. Ksenia and Murakami will probably have horrible longs. I doubt Osmond will stand up to the pressure and I don't Elene will either.

I'm have to say though, I'm not much of a fan of Akiko's programs this year... Her SP is really strange.

[leafygreens]

Re: Gracie, Everyone should know not to put all their eggs in one basket.

[judgejudy27]

Re: Gracie, Everyone should know not to put all their eggs in one basket.

I think they are all being put in the Ashley basket until Sochi. That is good for Gracie, she has a couple more years to develop and get used to the pressure of Senior competition in Ashley's shadow, then post Sochi she will be ready.

[maatTheViking]

Aren't the skaters suppose to wear the jacket because it has the sponsor on it? I thought they were, and that is why I found it a bit disrespectful.
I'm sure Stanford isn't throwing any money USFS's way.

I don't recall there being anything else that US Figure Skating on the jacket, maybe I am wrong.

[chipso1]

No hand wringing here, either. Gracie is a great free skater; I think she'll come out fighting tomorrow. With two large mistakes, she's still only less than 6.5 points behind Makarova who's in 3rd...

[reese]

I don't recall there being anything else that US Figure Skating on the jacket, maybe I am wrong.

I thought they were supposed to wear the jackets so that USFS could *attempt* to sell advertising on the jackets in the future, like the Japanese skaters with the sponsor patches on the jackets. If sponsors think that they won't get any exposure on the jackets, USFS will have a harder pitch.

[Coco]

I find the comments about parents' money interesting. You all do realize that MANY parents put more per year into their child's skating than Flatt's parents currently are, and many of those kids will never ever make it out of Regionals? How parents spend their money is IMHO, completely up to them. In my case, we base our decisions on how hard our children are working in a particular activity and how dedicated they are to it. Results don't even enter the equation.

I don't have scores in front of me, but Rachael might have needed some luck to make it out of regionals this year, lol.

You mention that you base your decisions on your children's effort and dedication, which I happen to think is great. But I think the point many are trying to make is that she doesn't seem dedicated to skating. We keep hearing a lot about how it doesn't fit into her life these days. That coupled with the declining results and declining performance level. Why can't people complain about this? Are we supposed to celebrate someone's part time quasi dedication to a sport?

OTOH, she should skate as long as she wants to and retire when SHE wants to. But she shouldn't expect everyone's reaction to be sunshine, roses and praise.

[mag]

I don't have scores in front of me, but Rachael might have needed some luck to make it out of regionals this year, lol.

You mention that you base your decisions on your children's effort and dedication, which I happen to think is great. But I think the point many are trying to make is that she doesn't seem dedicated to skating. We keep hearing a lot about how it doesn't fit into her life these days. That coupled with the declining results and declining performance level. Why can't people complain about this? Are we supposed to celebrate someone's part time quasi dedication to a sport?

OTOH, she should skate as long as she wants to and retire when SHE wants to. But she shouldn't expect everyone's reaction to be sunshine, roses and praise.

I didn't say people shouldn't complain. It is certainly not up to me to decide what people post about
I said I found it "interesting."

[jlai]

I don't have scores in front of me, but Rachael might have needed some luck to make it out of regionals this year, lol.

Southwestern regional happened during the Skate America weekend, right? Rachael's SA score would have put her second in that competition. 4th place at Southwestern got an 87.74.

[smarts1]

for Caroline and Gracie. How bad is Caroline's back injury?

[chipso1]

After Skate Canada. Zhang improves on her Nebelhorn Trophy score by about 25 points, and Gold is about 20 points lower than her U.S. Classic score.

2012-13 U.S. Ladies -- Top International Scores

1. Ashley WAGNER (188.37), Skate America
2. Christina GAO (174.25), Skate America
3. Agnes ZAWADZKI (172.95), U.S. Classic
4. Gracie GOLD (171.15), U.S. Classic
5. Mirai NAGASU (163.09), Finlandia Trophy
6. Angela WANG (162.65), JGP Zagreb

7. Hannah MILLER (158.52), JGP Linz
8. Samantha CESARIO (157.72), JGP Linz
9. Leah KEISER (156.33), JGP Istanbul
10. Courtney HICKS (153.77), JGP Lake Placid
11. Caroline ZHANG (149.87), Skate Canada
12. Barbie LONG (147.19), JGP Bled

13. Kiri BAGA (142.22), JGP Lake Placid
14. Vanessa LAM (140.89), JGP Courchevel
15. Ashley CAIN (136.51), JGP Courchevel
16. Rachael FLATT (136.09), Skate America
17. Nina JIANG (115.48), JGP Istanbul

Japan Open (free skate only) scores: Ashley WAGNER (123.57); Agnes ZAWADZKI (89.95)

Upcoming assignments:

• Cup of China (Mirai NAGASU)
• Ice Challenge (Rachael FLATT)
• Rostelecom Cup (Gracie GOLD, Agnes ZAWADZKI, Caroline ZHANG)
• Trophee Eric Bompard (Christina GAO, Ashley WAGNER)
• NHK Trophy (Alissa CZISNY, Agnes ZAWADZKI)
• JGP Final (Leah KEISER, Hannah MILLER, Angela WANG)

[Nomad]

Time to kick Gracie to the curb. "Loser" with a capital L tattooed on your forehead. Step up to the plate, Hannah Miller. You must save US Ladies figure skating en route to ruling the known universe. You can totally do it. No pressure, mind you.

[jlai]

Time to kick Gracie to the curb. "Loser" with a capital L tattooed on your forehead. Step up to the plate, Hannah Miller. You must save US Ladies figure skating en route to ruling the known universe. You can totally do it. No pressure, mind you.

Seriously, there wasn't that much hype over Gold. But there was a Gold reference as a joke or snark just about every third or fouth thread over the summer. So, Gracie, stop reading news or posts about yourself.

[chipso1]

Time to kick Gracie to the curb. "Loser" with a capital L tattooed on your forehead. Step up to the plate, Hannah Miller. You must save US Ladies figure skating en route to ruling the known universe. You can totally do it. No pressure, mind you.

I'M not ready to give up on Gracie quite yet. She's a great skater, even if her first SGP event didn't go quite how she planned.

[Nomad]

Seriously this time: I think Gold did okay at SC, especially when you compare her results with those of Sr. GP veterans like Zhang and Flatt. 151 and change isn't bad for a Sr. GP debut, esecially one with major errors in both programs. So she didn't live up to the hype, so what? Hopefully she'll learn from that and build on it. And I think she will.

[RD]

Again, re Gold: this is the danger of hyping someone to the heavens. When they don't blow the roof off, it's like a disappointment, then folks get angry and give up before it even gets started. Careful, folks. Remember how long it took Czisny & Wagner to begin contending.

No, she didn't get me excited (and frankly, wouldn't have even if she skated like Gao at SA), but I'm willing to give her some more time. It works the other way as well - one mediocre competition does not necessarily mean trouble. And it's early in the season, too.

[chipso1]

That's the thing, though. The majority of people that have been hyping Gracie here have been trolls or posters just looking to be obnoxious. The VAST majority of level-headed fans have been quite realistic about her skating, development and results thus far.

[love_skate2011]

I think this was just a fluke from Gracie, if i'm correct she only lost here
she'll be better at her next GP even win if she clean up her FS

[Sylvia]

Don't understand why you feel the need to continue to over-hype her, love_skate2011. Just let Gracie develop at her own pace.

Quotes from Gracie and Caroline after the FS (IceNetwork article):

"I just really need more experience competing this program at the senior level," Gold said. "I was kind of taken with the crowd and the lights and the signs, and after I'd land one jump, I would get ahead of myself again and kind of mess it up. I have to work on keeping that in check."
...
"I got distracted on the first start pose; my dress, the back of it, sort of fell," Zhang said. "I got a lower level on my flying spin, and I skipped the Beillmann because I was afraid it was going to fall. I guess it broke, and I tried to fix it in my program, but it wasn't happening."