Rough night for Chen. I think sometimes we forget he’s still young. He has time. The USFSA neeeds to stop counting their chickens. No one is guaranteed anything...
Just because Nathan has so far bombed at Pyeongchang Olympics does not take away the fact that he completely upset the applecart in men's figure skating last season, to the point where TPTB were rattled and decided to hurry up and put into effect rules changes they were yet again contemplating re quad point values. This because they made a total mistake overvaluing quads in the aftermath of the brouhaha men's event at 2010 Vancouver Olympics.
It was more than a 'rough night for Chen,' by the way. He's never performed the way he did his last two times out. But if you're not a fan of Nathan, what happened to him is no big deal. Truthfully, the dust hasn't settled yet regarding the enormity of what Nathan wrought last season, and the resultant aftermath. Nathan upset the applecart and ever afterward he was dealing with new territory, as were his competitors. Yuzu is actually fortunate that his injury forced him to stop the grind, slow down, take stock, recuperate and put his focus on his main mission: to redeem his poor performance at the Sochi Olympics fp, and grab gold again in the process. It was the high standard Nathan set at U.S. Nationals and 4CCs last season landing 5 quads cleanly in back-to-back events that pushed all the men to up their game. So it's sad that Nathan himself collapsed under that high standard and the accumulated pressure and OTT expectations.
In the scheme of things, it's all just sport. USFS does tend to miscalculate, but that's not why Nathan faltered. It's not about USFS 'counting chickens.'
And no one has ever said that a win for Nathan was guaranteed. Not even the OTT promotional ads. It is true that Nathan is a talented contender who had beaten Yuzuru Hanyu twice in close competitions, and so that generated a lot of buzz and excitement. Let's face it, a lot of people besides USFS knew Nathan was a threat for the Olympic podium, at his best. But Nathan actually hasn't been at his best all season, despite the fact he managed to eke out wins. Nathan's troubles in Pyeongchang are most likely due to a combination of things, including equipment issues, nagging physical problems, too much off-ice attention in an Olympic year for a young skater, too much switching around with the quads, too much over-reaction by ISU, NBC, sponsors, and by Nathan's competitors to the amazing feats he achieved last season. ISU overvalued quads, and young skaters responded, realizing the more quads they mastered, the greater was their opportunity to get on the podium. That in particular was the message ISU judges sent when Boyang Jin reached the podium as a newbie senior with four quads, but needing a lot of work to his skating otherwise.
No matter what happens tomorrow, it doesn't take away the fact that Nathan is an extraordinary skater. His career could have been over with injury after 2015 - 2016 season, but he came back even stronger and he made history. And ever since, he's been catapulted into an enormous amount of attention and pressure that has steadily built. He seemed to be handling it, but he's such a quiet, low-key person that maybe he was holding too much inside, and it never got fully worked out. He's young yet, but he's still very smart and very talented. We'll see what happens going forward. Whether Nathan decides to continue on, reconnoiter and build toward more accomplishments in the sport, or whether he decides to do something different with his life, he's still made an important impact.
Nathan upset the applecart in the sport to where the top complacent guys were suddenly looking over their shoulders. TPTB were rattled enough to move forward quickly with instituting yet more rules changes. If they suddenly needed in the aftermath of Nathan's feats last season, to push forward quickly with devaluing quads, then they hugely overvalued quads for all the wrong reasons post-2010 Olympics, just as I've always said. And btw, there's really no reason for them to devalue triples! But what else is new? The sport lacks leadership and common sense.
So tomorrow, it's looking like Yuzu manages to repeat a feat accomplished only by Dick Button in the history of the sport. Along with Yuzu's huge talent, his accomplishment will also be due to a lot of luck and everything panning out just right.
And that brings me to the point that hardly anyone who covers figure skating these days truly thinks about it in terms of historical perspective re how they analyze what's happening now. When historical and anecdotal events are brought up, it's usually superficial fluff, without any meaningful connections being made that can enhance our understanding of how the sport has evolved.
