Slutskaya complains about 2002 and 2006 Olympic Placements

[Bulletsdad]

Irina Slutskaya: “At the Turin Olympics, the placement was pure politics. Or Salt Lake City – there, an American had to win, so they could build a whole business around her, organize half-year tours.”

Russian figure skater Irina Slutskaya reflects on the political challenges and biases she faced in figure skating during her career.

fs-gossips.com

I just rewatched Slutskaya and Arakawa's 2006 Oly free skates. Slutskaya landed 4 triples, three with wide free leg landings, fell on triple loop and doubled flip combo.

Arakawa landed five clean triples and doubled her loop. She also had superior extension in spiral sequence and much better step sequence.

These were the days of no triple/triples, with the new IJS system.

In 2002, Slutskaya attempted 6 triples. The flip had a bad forward landing, her three jump combo was messy, and another triple was two footed. Also, no triple/triples. Hughes completed seven triples, four of which were triple/triple combos.

Slutskaya's biggest strength was her high, powerful jumps. However, at the 2002 and 2006 Ollympics, she simply didn't bring her best, and her artistic impression marks were not going to save her.

 

[Winnipeg]

Why in the world would she raise this now? SMells like sour grapes?

 

[caseyedwards]

2002 yes of course her not winning was absurd and ridiculous

2006 not Being on podium at all would have been fine!

 

[her grace]

She’s no Michelle Kwan.

 

[Coco]

Is the RSF preparing their arguments in case AP doesn't win?

 

[Bulletsdad]

Delete

 

[VGThuy]

It’s nice to see some people never change.

 

[VALuvsMKwan]

It’s nice to see some people never change.

Part of her Festivus celebration?

 

[Skaterbob]

She is entitled to an opinion. I was surprised how hard she was dropped at the 2006 Olympics when she was receiving such high marks on the Grand Prix. I do agree some sort of fix was in. I think Shizuka is the worst winner in modern history I don't think that even remotely debatable with the actual performances.

 

[my little pony]

I guess you could say it was politics that ensured her a medal regardless

 

[VGThuy]

She is entitled to an opinion. I was surprised how hard she was dropped at the 2006 Olympics when she was receiving such high marks on the Grand Prix. I do agree some sort of fix was in. I think Shizuka is the worst winner in modern history I don't think that even remotely debatable with the actual performances.

Irina winning for that performance would have been even worse.

 

[Skaterbob]

Irina winning for that performance would have been even worse.

Oh I agree not saying she should have won at all. But her score was so distant it wasn't even close to Sasha who made plenty of mistakes. Whoever won that year was going to be worst gold medalist.

 

[my little pony]

regretfully I was there, and after Sasha's mistakes she got up and won the silver. it was all very good after that and she definitely deserved her placement imo.

 

[Skaterbob]

regretfully I was there, and after Sasha's mistakes she got up and won the silver. it was all very good after that and she definitely deserved her placement imo.

Thankfully I was not there because I would have had a full blown meltdown after Michelle's withdrawal after paying for that type of trip. I would have had Fumie as silver with Irina or Sasha not getting a medal.

 

[Bulletsdad]

She is entitled to an opinion. I was surprised how hard she was dropped at the 2006 Olympics when she was receiving such high marks on the Grand Prix. I do agree some sort of fix was in. I think Shizuka is the worst winner in modern history I don't think that even remotely debatable with the actual performances.

2002 was a decent performance. However, 2006 was really not good. Slow, awkward spiral sequence, utilitarian stroking, and messy landings on 3 of the four jumps she did land.

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[Coco]

https://www.isuresults.com/results/owg2006/OWG06_Ladies_FS_Scores.pdf

Sasha attempted 7 triples, received credit for rotating them, fell on one and stepped out with weight on both hands on the 2nd one (-2.86 out of a max -3).

Irina attempted 5 triples and fell on 1.

Spins and steps, Sasha had 17.4 BV + 4.15 GOE. Irina had 16.8 BV + 2.51 GOE. Sasha's margin there was due to the spiral sequence.

Both had - GOE on a jumping pass that was landed, Sasha's deduction was close to a point more than Irina's.

All in all, Sasha only edged Irina by 1.89 points. It was the one extra triple she landed that kept her ahead.

ETA: Fumie had 5 triples, with slight negative GOE on 3 jumping passes. Only one L4 spin (steps & spins = 16.5 BV, 1.28 for GOE), so that's why she couldn't pull ahead.

 

[PRlady]

Boy that was worse than I remembered, description above is accurate. Every jump was off and that spiral was really awkward. She was lucky to medal.

 

[Vagabond]

Get over it, girl! Even Linda Fratianne managed to move on.

 

[Andora]

I'm not sure what has transpired in Irina's life to leave her so disconnected from reality... but she does herself no favours reminding us of these skates, and programs, if I'm honest. I was a fan back in the day, but watching these back, I'm not sure why that was.

Inspiring fans to re-watch her programs is a surefire way to ensure we all understand why she doesn't have an Olympic gold medal.

 

[Bulletsdad]

Delete

 

[AngieNikodinovLove (ANL)]

It’s funny when I think of both of those years…. those Olympics I think of Sarah Hughes, and Shizuka, the correct winners of both events.

When I think of Irina, what comes to mind are wooden performances and stiff landings. I did enjoy her skating, but those two events she was not the winner.

 

[bardtoob]

She is entitled to an opinion. I was surprised how hard she was dropped at the 2006 Olympics when she was receiving such high marks on the Grand Prix. I do agree some sort of fix was in. I think Shizuka is the worst winner in modern history I don't think that even remotely debatable with the actual performances.

That isn't exactly historically accurate.

Irina was dropped like a rock at the pre-Olympics Grand Prix Final that year for an Olympic age ineligible but Grand Prix age eligible Mao Asada.

I also think that Tarasova and Morozov coaching Shizuka lent her some political support.

In the good old days it was called "the black mark of Tarasova".

 

[Vagabond]

>>> >>

(FSU sorely needs some 2020's emoticons in addition to .)

 

[Stephanie]

Why in the world would she raise this now? SMells like sour grapes?

It’s not the first time

 

[chantilly]

Her complaints and other Russian FS coaches and skaters etc are consistently beaking off prior to the Olympics because they are mostly banned.
They are complaining about the poaching of their skaters, skating for other countries(honestly legitimate); complaining about the lack of technical ability in women's skating (hard disagree) and just being excluded(disagree on the reasons given to them, but not on them being disallowed for their state wide doping)

Anyway It's Russia.

Yup I said it.

 

[viennese]

That isn't exactly historically accurate.

Irina was dropped like a rock at the pre-Olympics Grand Prix Final that year for an Olympic age ineligible but Grand Prix age eligible Mao Asada.

I also think that Tarasova and Morozov coaching Shizuka lent her some political support.

In the good old days it was called "the black mark of Tarasova".

I also think that Shizuka's astounding skating in the practice sessions made her the favorite. I recall her landing triple-triple-triple combinations. She scaled down her difficulty in the free skate, but it still counts when skaters deliver a clean and artistic performance.

My other impression was: both Shizuka and Sasha chose stirring and powerful music that completely suited them. Irina, not so much.

 

[VGThuy]

I will say that last piece of her “Mario Goes For a Walk with his Dog” (I call it that because of the dog at the fire hydrant spiral positions all over those Olympics) does make me nostalgic for the mid-2000s with that stupid Euro-trash generic techno beat. So many programs during that era added that crap.

 

[Winnipeg]

Notwithstanding the complaints, I did like her skating.

 

[kwanfan1818]

That isn't exactly historically accurate.

Irina was dropped like a rock at the pre-Olympics Grand Prix Final that year for an Olympic age ineligible but Grand Prix age eligible Mao Asada.

I don’t think this is exactly historically accurate, either. Slutskaya had a weak SP: her 3/2 vs. Asada’s 3/3 was landed poorly, she doubled her Flip, and she went back and forth on the edge of her opening spiral like she was skiing a slalom. Asada was also skating at home and lived up to the hype, contrary to the “no pressure” claims of commentators. That was most of the difference in their final scores, despite the judges giving Slutskaya higher PCS — marginal in the FS — in both programs. Her FS was less than three points lower than Asada’s and not significantly less than in her two regular GP’s and at 2006 Euros, her score was a little higher than Asada’s GPF FS score.

The judges didn’t “dump” Slutskaya, although her awful posture and technique in her basic skating — was she ever close to upright if she wasn’t gliding on two feet? — and little nuance skating after Asada in the SP gave them reason to. They simply didn’t inflate her when another skater skated up to her, which no one else had done all season.