Well if they couldn't land those jumps, then they aren't really the athletes, right? That's supposed to be their edge.
Look at all of the melt downs this year and then think about your comment. Are you saying that Zag was not really an athlete during her World's FS or Russian Nationals FS? What about Gabby Daleman all of last year? Katelyn Orsmond is an even better example up until 2 seasons ago (she was either on or off). Moving to the US, what about Ting during her short last year at Nationals? or during her JGP assignments - she only tended to only go clean on her shorts and botched her longs.
Gabby, Katelyn, and Ting are all beautiful big jumpers. When they are on, they was great to watch. But when they are off, well that is another story. Whenever you have big jumpers like those ladies, the margin of error is extremely slight (much smaller than if you have low height, fast rotation jumps).
Under the US system, Ting has been a "developing" skater until this year when she moved to Senior. Developing skaters are more prone to falls since they are still developing. To become a top international skater, a skater needs to try those big jumps at competitions during the developing years. Doing jumps in practice is very different from doing them in competitions.
People on the board complain that the US is not producing more top international skaters. My point is that the current system promotes clean over risk. I think this system is flawed. Rather, the USFS needs to promote more risk in the developing years so that the skater can get the kinks out before they move to Senior. For the most part, a skater's technical content (all their triples plus at least one 3-3 combo) should be fully developed by the time they reach Senior if they are to have a shot at becoming a successful international competitor.