writer rips kwan in relation to chanflation, and implies that nationalism is a factor

[AndyWarhol]

This is probably the most figure skating has been in the news in ages!

[SGrand]

This is probably the most figure skating has been in the news in ages!

Maybe this is what it needs??? Lol!!!!
(I kid, I kid!)

[Eyre]

To compare Kwan to Chan is a pure insult.

Let me tell you what's "pure insult". Your many posts were pure insults to a great talented skater!

[bek]

I'm frankly trying to understand when Michelle Kwan ever won a world title with two falls another big jumping error, and then a double jump? Kwan lost major competitions for far less egregious errors than what Chan pulled. And I'm not a Kwan uber.

[skateboy]

I'm frankly trying to understand when Michelle Kwan ever won a world title with two falls another big jumping error, and then a double jump? Kwan lost major competitions for far less egregious errors than what Chan pulled. And I'm not a Kwan uber.

Word. And I am as far from a Kwan uber as it gets.

[bek]

Word. And I am as far from a Kwan uber as it gets.

And for me it has nothing to do with being an uber. I adored Yu na Kim back in 2010, but I was very upset when she got higher PCS than Asada than 2010 worlds.....I didn't need to see Yu-na win, when she was skating sub par.

[kosjenka]

When did Kwan fall and win world titles?

I am geting too old, I simply cannot remember.

[hirshey girl]

When did Kwan fall and win world titles?

I am geting too old, I simply cannot remember.

I can't remember either. I'd have to go back and watch, but the only one that I can recall where she had a fairly subpar skate and won was 1998 Worlds (thought the whole competition that year was pretty blah). I don't think she fell though. Don't think that was the best example that the writer could've used but she was probably the one American skater he thought people would remember.

Went back and watched Kwan's 1998 Worlds LP. She stumbled out of a double axel and doubled a Salchow. It was not her best gold medal performance. No falls though.
She had also won her QR, was 1st in the SP and the others (Slutskaya and Butyrskaya) were 4th and 5th in the SP. Don't think it would've been possible for them to catch up but can't really recall their LP's.

[lala]

Hmmm...come to think of it, Phil Hersh has used the term "Chanflation" on Twitter and in some of his columns

I already read it in last season on internet...

[gingercrush]

Wow Fsuniverse user rips two lines out of an article and decides to cause controversy. It isn't outrageous at all. It simply implies that many skaters receive favourable marks which is o.o true. Nationalism polays a huge part. In the 6.0 system you had geo-political/regional bloc voting which probably still exists only we don't know about it. Add to that skaters receive favourable marks when skating at home. Not an unknown quality in the slightest.

I don't particularly think Kwan was favouritised but I find it plainly ridicolous that so many people can in essence be so outraged by a two line comment.

[jamesy]

We are ready to bust out store windows and flip cars over.

[bek]

Wow Fsuniverse user rips two lines out of an article and decides to cause controversy. It isn't outrageous at all. It simply implies that many skaters receive favourable marks which is o.o true. Nationalism polays a huge part. In the 6.0 system you had geo-political/regional bloc voting which probably still exists only we don't know about it. Add to that skaters receive favourable marks when skating at home. Not an unknown quality in the slightest.

I don't particularly think Kwan was favouritised but I find it plainly ridicolous that so many people can in essence be so outraged by a two line comment.

In context it is outrageous. People are screaming about Chan's scores when Chan skates poorly and still wins titles. When did Michelle Kwan ever get handed title after title when she was making multiple major errors... Of course nationalism and favortism plays a role. But it use to be that the favorites at least had to skate somewhat decently... Now they don't even have to do that.

She fell once and won the world title....But she didn't fall twice and have another bad stumble. Chan had two falls and another similar bad stumble that cost Kwan the Olympics...

[judgejudy27]

Kwan's only World title with any mistake was the weak watered down 98 Worlds after the Olympics. She won the title and the LP with a doubled triple salchow and a fall on a double axel, and 6 clean triples. She still would have lost the LP to either/both Slutskaya and Butyrskaya had Slutskaya not fallen on a triple flip and turned out of 2 other jumps (and had horrible artistry then) and had Butyrskaya not taken a huge jarring fall near end that ruined the last 40 seconds of her program. Slutskaya and Butyrskaya still both beat her on technical scores.

[dots]

Who is this F-er who speaks ill of the Kween????

Please Kwan skated more clean programs in one season than Yu-Na has skated in her entire career.

[falling_dance]

We are ready to bust out store windows and flip cars over.

The Fall of HomeSense. The Siege of Indigo.

[Jammers]

Oh boy has this guy opened up a can of worms. LOL

[riveredge]

Who is this F-er who speaks ill of the Kween????

Please Kwan skated more clean programs in one season than Yu-Na has skated in her entire career.

What's Yuna got to do with this article?

[iarispiralllyof]

Wow Fsuniverse user rips two lines out of an article and decides to cause controversy. It isn't outrageous at all. It simply implies that many skaters receive favourable marks which is o.o true. Nationalism polays a huge part. In the 6.0 system you had geo-political/regional bloc voting which probably still exists only we don't know about it. Add to that skaters receive favourable marks when skating at home. Not an unknown quality in the slightest.

I don't particularly think Kwan was favouritised but I find it plainly ridicolous that so many people can in essence be so outraged by a two line comment.

O?

You make it sound like I misrepresented the contents of the entire article. But in fact that paragraph I quoted basically sums up the entire article quite nicely. If anything your interpretation of the article comes out of left field.
I don't think anyone here denies that nationalism plays a role in judging. But the article isn't talking about nationalistic judging in general. It explicitly references Americans' double standard in regards to a specific skater, Michelle, and how the author thinks that justifies Patrick Chan's current inflated scores and competition results. And that claim has no basis.

[IceJunkie]

Kwan was not winning titles with 4 mistakes. Her strength was in delivering a near perfect SP& LP every time. That's what won her those 5 world titles. This is not even close.

This. I can only think of one world title - 1998 - where she fell in the free.

[UGG]

Wow Fsuniverse user rips two lines out of an article and decides to cause controversy. It isn't outrageous at all. It simply implies that many skaters receive favourable marks which is o.o true. Nationalism polays a huge part. In the 6.0 system you had geo-political/regional bloc voting which probably still exists only we don't know about it. Add to that skaters receive favourable marks when skating at home. Not an unknown quality in the slightest.

I don't particularly think Kwan was favouritised but I find it plainly ridicolous that so many people can in essence be so outraged by a two line comment.

Why? The author if the article is making up lies. There is probably only one competition everyone can agree on that Michelle probably should not have won, and that is Skate America in 1999 where she received a 6.0 for a program with a fall, and nationalism was not even a factor in that competition because the skater who "suffered" from her being held up was Sarah Hughes, another American.

All of her world titles were deserved as well as her other non gold world medals. (Silver in 1997, 1999 and bronze in 2004). As others have pointed out there were even titles won where the judges were saving room for skaters who were skating later and scored her below what she really probably deserved. (2000 and 2001 LP's). 3 of her 5 titles were won with 7 clean triples in her long program and the other two she had 6 clean triples. 1998 was the only LP with mistakes.