And I think she’d really struggle in this next quad technically.
Osmond's technical talent was always far superior than most of her contemporaries. In Osmond's career, the issue for her often had more to do with nerves and confidence. And later in her career, she had to battle back from injuries. In what has turned out to be her final season, Osmond should have been considered just as much in the running for the 2018 Olympic gold medal in singles as either of the top-touted Russian ladies! But as we know, the political terrain, rep status and buzz factor has been dictated in Russian ladies' favor ever since the 2014 Olympics. That's not putting down the talent of the Russian jumping phenoms, it's just a sad fact that their PCS are too often over-inflated.
OTOH, Osmond is not only a talented jumper, she's also an expressive and entertaining skater who was blossoming into a true artist. Alas, without a professional tour, and with a scarcity of shows, there won't be as much opportunity for fans to see Osmond continue to grow as a performer. And that's a huge loss.
I'm thinking of skaters like Biellmann, Sato, Yamaguchi, et al, who had the chance to further develop and hone their skills in the heydey of more substantial pro and show opportunities.
Of course, in part, Osmond needed to be much more aggressive competitively when the 2017 -2018 season kicked off. While she managed to medal on the GP, she never really made a strong case in the early part of the season that she was going to be reliably consistent, against Zagitova in particular. It's to Osmond's credit that she took advantage of landing in third place in the sp at 2018 Olympics, by coming on strong in the fp to maintain her third place position. I could see how much being in third after the sp boosted Osmond's confidence to stay in medal contention and grab that bronze in singles.
So, like a few other Canadian skaters, Osmond has a full complement of Olympic medals: 2014 Team silver, 2018 Team gold, and bronze in ladies singles (
ETA:
In addition to her 2018 World gold medal, which was thrilling to witness, in what we now know was the cap-off to her career; Black Swan was great for her, and I can only hope she explores that program further in exhibition). Osmond had nothing more to prove, but she still had a lot more left to give. The sport as currently constituted just doesn't allow skaters to fully blossom. Not these days with teenybopper phenoms quadrupling and triple-axeling their way into the history books stats, but never into our hearts or our fond memories, at least not into mine. And that's for sure.
Congratulations and best wishes to Kaetlyn Osmond! Thanks for the memories!
. She was just such a special skater.
to a great competitive career, KO! I hope she has a great pro career ahead of her 
