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Those horses make me laugh every time!
Toller was such a bitch!
I think she also did five triples at 1981 Skate America. Good jumper in her early days.
I think I read somewhere that Sumners also had a practice triple lutz in her repertoire of skills.
I think Kwan really miscalculated scaling back her SP from 3flip to 3toe. I could see a couple judges thinking "Kwan comes to the Olympics, waters down her program, and just expects to be GIFTED an Olympic Gold Medal for not even attempting her best? While Lipinski is going all out with EVERYTHING she has and taking a huge risk?" After Nationals, Lipinski could have scaled down to 3loop (or do a Kwan 3toe) in the SP, but she went for the 3flip knowing the last time she attempted it in a major competition she fell. The girl's got spunk. I'm sure then going into the LP, some judges wanted to crown an Olympic champion on the Olympic motto: Higher, Stronger, Faster. Higher? Neither's jumps were all that great or big. Stronger? Kwan skated rather cautiously and some say cowardly. Faster? Well, that goes to Lipinski by a mile. Lipinski reached for the brass ring and grabbed it. Kwan just expected to somehow be gifted that brass ring, or well the Olympic Gold Medal by taking zero risk. Lipinski skated like a champion, as much as I really didn't like her skating. But she was undeniably the skater of the event. And with risk come the spoils.
Kwan definitely skated beautifully for a silver medal performance. The best silver medal performance ever skated by anyone in the ladies event, to my knowledge.
She had always been doing the solo 3toe since 1996. The reason she went for the flip at Nationals instead was that her doctor had ordered her to do no more than 1 3toe (and sal) per day at that time so she couldn't practice that jump as much to get the confidence / consistency she needed to do it in the short. When the Olympics rolled around a few weeks later her toe would have recovered more so she went back to her usual reliable jump - and she won the short with it over a clean Lipinski with a flip anyways.
Yes, her “crashing to the ice” on the flip in practice at nationals 1998 was talked about in Brennan’s book.
Her watering down her SP compared to her competitions for so many years was disappointing. I think it helped Bute and Slute and others gain their reputation. If Kwan from 1996 on had been doing 3flip in the SP, she would have cemented her distance from the field, and her competitors would have needed to really work on their second mark. Instead, we saw cautious Kwan winning while being out jumped for years. Eventually it became boring.
I totally agree. I felt she deservedly won 2003 Worlds with no 3/3 and I think only 6 triples over Sokolova who had two 3/3s. Her skating was that much better. But would I have felt that way at an Olympics? I'm not sure. The Olympics to me is the ultimate achievement. Much much more than Worlds. I guess I want to see people skating their 100% best at the Olympics. To scale down and go cautious for the Olys kind of defeats what I value in the event. It would be similar to if Alyona skates clean without attempting a 3axel while Sasha goes for her quads. I much prefer Alyona to Sasha, and in any event except the Olympics I would be fine with Alyona winning. But if Sasha comes out at the Olympics and hits her program I'd give it to her. Of course with COP the math would do the job and not just depend on the "feelings" of the panel on that day. I really hope Sasha goes to the Olympics over Alyona because she could absolutely demolish the field if she's clean. Of course she never is, but Sarah Hughes never landed two 3/3s in one program until the Olympics either. All it takes is hitting at the right moment. An "Olympic moment". It's just my opinion.
