I decided to watch NBC’s coverage last night to hear their commentary on the event. (I was surprised that Gogolev wasn’t featured in prime time while most of the other top 12 from short were). Anyway, they showed Ilia warming up backstage and he was wearing a “Quad God” shirt. #yikes. That didn’t age well last night, that’s for sure.
2026 Olys Mens FS PBP - Habemus Pop-am
- Thread starter genevieve
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I am SO so grateful that I was able to watch the venue feed with no commentary last night. It would have sucked to hear T&J say literally anything during the last flight
Kateri
void beast
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The PCS is kind of amazing, yeah. Nobody got over 9.0 in anything (overall, not looked at individual judges), and Junhwan Cha won PCS (making up for his robbing in the SP?)
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Just watched a clip of Nathan Chen being asked his thoughts about Ilia's performance last night - he said he can't know what was going on for Ilia, but relayed what it was like at his first Olys as a medal contender who missed in the FS. It was very kind and ended with him saying that Ilia will come back and we'll be talking about his for several Olympic cycles. I saw it on FB so no link but I'm sure it's available many places
flyingsit
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I’m pretty sure Raf was in the K&C
Cachoo
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I love that we are concerned about Ilia first and foremost. When I see the abuse hurled at athletes in other sports it makes me adore figure skating that much more.
I want to look for reactions in Kazakhstan. Such a HUGE moment for them.
I want to look for reactions in Kazakhstan. Such a HUGE moment for them.
Dave of the North
Digging up dead relatives since 1992
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Pretty good skate, though, for someone of his age...
rfisher
Let the skating begin
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It's due to the 10 points he lost due to URs. It would have put him in 2nd place. I do think they were a bit harsher on him than other skaters, but he finished pretty much where most people who do watch the Russian men expected him to finish. He has been hit with URs all season. And, he has nothing to do with what "fans" post. He got a lot of flack when the Russian fed selected him and not Dikidzhe. It was unfair to Gumennik as the fed did what they said they'd do with regard to selection. It's too bad they had to make the selection a year out because if it had been normal circumstances, Semenenko might well have been the pick, but it wasn't and Gumennik is a class act and did what he was supposed to do.
Private Citizen
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Ah thanks. I couldn’t see the kiss and cry from my seat. During the warmup I only saw Roman and only saw Ilia conferring with Roman, which was a change from previous days where Raf seemed to be doing most of the coaching.
Chen's analysis was really thorough and interesting. And sympathetic. I wish he'd been part of the NBC / USA commentating team. I wish I could send a thank you out to him for taking time off from his studies to offer his wisdom.
Has the ISU changed the rules? Is the backflip legal now?Well everyone handles Olympic pressure different. And Yuma, and Yuzuru at least got to go to their first Olympics as teenagers. Ilia was denied that when he was 17. Now he'll be 25 at his next Olympics if he doesn't retire and stays healthy and competitive in his mid-twenties. Yuma especially wasn't expected to win in 2022 and he didn't, he won silver. He didn't have that pressure, Yuzuru and Nathan did, with Nathan prevailing and Shoma winning the bronze.
The next four years if Ilia hopefully doesn't retire I'll be praying to the skate gods that he stays healthy, happy, and becomes even better than ever. And that he wins an individual Olympic gold. And I hope that he isn't pressured to compete in four programs like he was here. Of course, I personally hoped that he would but if he didn't want to, then he shouldn't have been talked into it.
BTW, did Ilia do his Bonaly back flip in his FS? I was in shock as I was watching the nightmare unfold. I don't remember if he did. And I can't bare to watch that FS again. Just like I can't bare to watch Kurt Brownings Olympic heartaches, nor Sasha Cohen's Olympic FS'S, or Michelle Kwan's "Fields of Gold" Olympic exhibition in 2002.
once_upon
You do you, I'll be me
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Raf was there in short program.tpp.
Raf was at the boards with a couple of others who listed him as coach. Can't remember who
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Yes, but Ilia sometimes does the "Bonaly backflip", aka landing on one foot. Looked like he intended to, but put his 2nd foot down a hair after the first.
I think the rest of Sasha'sSpins' post was about the rest of his program, not the backflip.
tlk
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I hope that sometime soon Nathan can get together for a private chat with Ilia and talk about his experiences in 2018 and let Ilia talk about his experiences with someone who's been there. Just the two of them. Nathan knows from his own experiences about what Ilia's going through.
VGThuy
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That post isn’t available in my country to see for some reason. What does it show?
zigzig
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Does anyone know why the venue feed only showed the last two groups? Just want to plan ahead as I need to watch the women on replay too and don’t want to miss the earlier skaters (I just feel like the broadcast feeds aren't always reliable about showing every skater).
YourBorneo
Now is the Winter of our missed content
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I can only conclude that it's because NBC and Peacock are completely incompetent and couldn't care less about the viewing experience or preserving the content.
CassAgain
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I fell in love with Mikhail Shaidorov during 4CCs last year and then in Boston. It’s been such a rough season so far—so thrilled for him! So emotional about Denis Ten and his legacy.
Wish Yuma could have had the free skate we all know he is capable of.
Oh Ilia. It’s hard to be a god at 21.
Wish Yuma could have had the free skate we all know he is capable of.
Oh Ilia. It’s hard to be a god at 21.
rfisher
Let the skating begin
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The final scene in The Man Who Would Be King as Sean Connery sings Rule Britannia as the angry villagers cut the ropes for the bridge.
flyingsit
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I watched the entire event on the venue feed
I watched it live on the venue feed and the early skates mistakenly had commentary by Belinda Noonan for the first ?group or two? before it was stopped. I've seen speculation here that that may be the reason these weren't included in the replay.
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beckab81
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It’s an improvement over the team event, when I went to watch the rythem dance on replay my only option was the USA/NBC feed. Glad they at least made some of it available!
I would love to see a roundtable of Nathan Chen talking about 2012 & Kurt Browning, Brian Orser, and Michelle Kwan talking about their Olympic experiences. You can probably think of others. Sometimes these stories are more compelling than absolute triumphs.
Miezekatze
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It's the clip of Sato realizing he's medalled.
AngieNikodinovLove (ANL)
Get it Amber 🏳️🌈
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I did too, and I love his music choice, I know everybody hated it, but my God, he did not make me sit through a Maria Maria, or an Eleanor Rigby for the 10 zillionth time.
Basically all it really does to make ANL happy is to simply not choose a warworse. Easy Peezy.
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AngieNikodinovLove (ANL)
Get it Amber 🏳️🌈
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It’s been interesting Olympics. The French dance team werent even a team at this time last year and Steven Gogolev of Canada if he had one less error I believe it was on the loop if it has been a triple instead of a double he would be an Olympic medalist right now.
terisa
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ITA. I watched the USA tile last night, and was screaming "SHUT UP TARA" at the TV 10 minutes in...
Spikefan
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Someone got video of Shcherbakova in the audience crying at the end of the event. Her father was consoling her. I would imagine this event brought up so many of her own emotions from 2022.
CantALoop
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I was just loling at Tara saying Mikhail was planting the seeds for the next Olympics. I was like "girl, he could freaking medal" 
A totally deserved win, although I was
at how his goofy juggling arms during his footwork to the Fifth Element Diva Dance is now OGM-winning footwork.
I know some people don't like Yumandot, but I wish he could've skated it like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZOoPdWi--gI
People here are pretty well-read and cultured, but in case anyone didn't know, Puccini died before he finished Turandot. There are several different endings by different composers, but Christopher Tin was commissioned by the Washington National Opera to create a new ending. He wanted to follow Puccini's style and make an ending that fits and completes Turandot, and he worked with a professional librettist for the lyrics. The video has the translation of the lyrics, and Yuma's choreography was made to match the storytelling. It's a lot more meaningful than any of Ilia's jejune voiceovers.
I really wanted Yuma not just to skate his best, but also present this very thoughtful tribute to Puccini that was the collaboration of many accomplished artist in Puccini's home country.
That being said, absolutely gobsmacked at Ilia and I was aghast he was actually popping things when he can easily turn quads to triples on the fly. I would give him grace for saying things about Beijing or anything he said post-skate, his mind was probably just trying to make sense of everything and just trying to get a hold of something.
The Quad God showed that he was indeed mortal - we should consider the human.
A totally deserved win, although I was
at how his goofy juggling arms during his footwork to the Fifth Element Diva Dance is now OGM-winning footwork.I know some people don't like Yumandot, but I wish he could've skated it like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZOoPdWi--gI
People here are pretty well-read and cultured, but in case anyone didn't know, Puccini died before he finished Turandot. There are several different endings by different composers, but Christopher Tin was commissioned by the Washington National Opera to create a new ending. He wanted to follow Puccini's style and make an ending that fits and completes Turandot, and he worked with a professional librettist for the lyrics. The video has the translation of the lyrics, and Yuma's choreography was made to match the storytelling. It's a lot more meaningful than any of Ilia's jejune voiceovers.
I really wanted Yuma not just to skate his best, but also present this very thoughtful tribute to Puccini that was the collaboration of many accomplished artist in Puccini's home country.
That being said, absolutely gobsmacked at Ilia and I was aghast he was actually popping things when he can easily turn quads to triples on the fly. I would give him grace for saying things about Beijing or anything he said post-skate, his mind was probably just trying to make sense of everything and just trying to get a hold of something.
The Quad God showed that he was indeed mortal - we should consider the human.
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