Olympic teams cheer thread

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volturemean

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I think Patrick and Kolyada (both inconsistent) will be the biggest keys of all to determining which of Russia or Canada takes the gold. Whichever outplaces the other will probably determine it as the other 3 events will probably be combined almost a tie either way. Assuming both skate both programs which I think is likely.
 
aftershocks

aftershocks

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Weve3 said:
I knew the minute that Mike Tirico pointed out that Nathan almost walked into the ladies restroom upon arrival, he was fighting some nerves and distraction. Oh, Nathan... :( :fragile:
Click to expand...

Please tell NBC to keep the f'ing camera out of Nathan's face, please! :drama: Why was the cameraman following Nathan to the bathroom in the first place??? I didn't need Mike Tirico to tell me. I saw the clip with the cameras following Nathan relentlessly as he was looking for the bathroom. The broadcasters thought it was cute and funny at the time. :drama: Come on, now! Nathan does not show many nerves and he always seems calm, but he's been dealing with a lot this entire season on and off the ice. The buildup can begin to take a toll. It's his first Olympic games and the exposure and expectations are OTT at this point. NBC needs to turn down the temperature on Nathan. Raf should figure out a way to allow Nathan to decompress and channel his inner yen and zone out the OTT noise. Seriously.

But by this point, Nathan will have to forget about being embarassed and feeling like he let his team down. I'm sure he's a tough customer, and as usual he carried himself well in talking with Andrea Joyce immediately afterward. The U.S. team is in good shape after the Knierims stepped up, as long as the Shibs do what they are capable of in the SD, along with one or other of the U.S. ladies for the sp. It will be interesting to see if Adam still gets the call for the men's fp, or Vincent. I still think Adam should go out there. The team standings are at least interesting with how things have developed. But I still say the media is too OTT and too rah rah USA all the time to an oppressive degree. Allow things to develop. Be supportive but refrain from over-hype and over-expectations.

That was a nice fluff feature on Nathan prior to his team sp performance. But please tell me that feature was not being shown in the rink on the overhead screen while Nathan was waiting to take the ice for his performance?! I mean really?! Nathan is 18 years old. This is his first Olympics. Skaters are not accustomed to performing in team events in major competitions. This is only the second time that a fs team event has taken place at the Olympic games.

Hopefully, this just turns out to have been a way for Nathan to shake the kinks and jitters out. But it's still not great for his gold medal prospects in singles. He will need to get his mojo under control. It still seems to me that with Nathan holding back on the quad lutz, he might be dealing with a toe or foot issue on the picking foot. Of course he's not going to talk about it, if that's the case.

No one seems to truly understand what figure skating is about anyway. They misuse, mischaracterize and overhype skaters without actually realizing how seriously difficult the sport is. It's simply not like other sports. The team event IMHO is a work-in-progress, and it should not be so carelessly offered up every four years and expect all skaters to be ready to deal with it like nothing, especially not skaters who are competing at their first Olympic games. The scheduling of the team event is also somewhat questionable, and the jury's still out. The turnaround time from arrival was so short and the opening ceremonies hasn't even happened yet. And here we have local news and sports broadcasters failing to understand why this 'bad mother' quadster Nathan was falling and popping instead of laying down the quads as we've seen him do, but they haven't because they don't follow figure skating except every four years. Forget about them understanding the team event vs the singles event, and the differences between jumps!

Oh well, the sport of figure skating is a backwards a$$, antiquated, frustrating 'mother,' and that's a fact.
 
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Frau Muller

Frau Muller

From Puerto Rico…With Love! Not LatinX!
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Showing Nathan’s fluff piece before his skate caused NBC to chack Israel’s Bychenko magnificent skate. Boo! Stop the fluffs. Just let the event progress without editorializing. Oh how I miss the wonderful NBCSN coverage as in Sochi (what Tara & Johnny hosted four years ago).
 
Bellanca

Bellanca

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http://www.rockerskating.com/news/2018/2/9/opining-on-olympic-team-event-part-1-a-crazy-way-to-start: I've linked an excellent write-up by Jackie Wong via his Rocker site, a good place to go to gain a broader perspective on the team event scene the day after. Otherwise, many of the headlines are basically what would expect, shouting out ICYMI, Nathan Chen falters, implodes, lets down team U.S.A., etc. etc. It is unfortunate, and I don’t think that anyone expects the media to sugarcoat anything, they won’t, but there is a zeal, a desire to build them up to tear them down. It is nothing new, and I’m sure we can expect to see a lot more of this across the entire Olympic sports spectrum.

Oh well, Nathan will need to block out the noise. The same thing happened to Mao Asada after her SP in Sochi.
 
Wyliefan

Wyliefan

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I'm not that familiar with Jack Gallagher, though his opinion of Kaori and the buzz around her is interesting. But this just sounds like clickbait to me, frankly. How can anyone know if Yuzuru is ready to win gold after what he's been through, and how little we've seen and heard of him lately?
 
Bellanca

Bellanca

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Wyliefan said:
I'm not that familiar with Jack Gallagher, though his opinion of Kaori and the buzz around her is interesting. But this just sounds like clickbait to me, frankly. How can anyone know if Yuzuru is ready to win gold after what he's been through, and how little we've seen and heard of him lately?
Click to expand...
Yeah, true! :lol: Jack is a passionate Team Japan type of guy... He absolutely does wear his heart on his sleeve, that is why he is being featured in the Olympic teams cheer thread. Linked ^^^^^, more familiar names, Jackie and Phil... Both have excellent articles out today. Sure to please some, AND, positively sure to irritate others, as always! :angryfire ;)
 
aftershocks

aftershocks

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Thanks for citing Jackie Wong's reportage @Weve3, as I had asked in U.S. men's thread, 'Where's Jackie?' ;) Jackie as always offers straightforward, thorough analysis without slamming skaters. He tells it like it is, with a good eye and an adept, knowledgeable grasp of what he's talking about, without a lot of over-hyping or under-cutting the skaters. More insightful and reflective commentary can come later as the storylines continue to develop. It's way early yet.

Phil Hersh's take wasn't bad generally, as Phil has tempered his tendency toward harshness toward the skaters one moment and overhyping the next. Underlying Phil's writing though was a sense of disappointment in Nathan, but Phil kept it in check for the most part. The gloomy finger-pointing came out in the fact that Phil included the negative slant of Shoma seeming to blame Kolyada and Nathan for "doubting himself when he executed his quad flip." :lol: If that's the case, who is Shoma blaming for his shortcomings at 4CCs and at other competitions this season? And would Shoma still be 'blaming' Nathan and Kolyada had they both skated lights out? To be honest, since there is a language difference, I'm going to hope that's not exactly what Shoma intended by his comments. The judges do love Shoma and consistently overlook his minor flaws, but athletes are definitely in trouble if they are allowing themselves to be overly affected by what others are doing on the ice. Not that how other competitors perform isn't a factor. It's just one more factor that's important to tune out when you take the ice yourself. Blaming other athletes for your own mistakes is unacceptable though.

And boy, this is a bit much too:
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/08/sports/olympics/nathan-chen-figure-skating.html
"Chen, whose jumping ability and Olympic medal prospects figured in NBC’s push to hold figure skating in the mornings local time so it could be viewed in prime time in the United States, said he was 'a little too excited' and 'got ahead of himself.'”
No you didn't NBC! :eek: Godalmighty, no! Please don't tell Nathan that. :drama: Oops, too late I guess. :duh: It's like Nathan is horseflesh and all these corporate honchos and network farts and over-the-hill sports journalists who mostly know big ball sports, put all their bets on this Kentucky Derby prospect/ Triple Crown contender. Influential people within the sport assured all concerned that betting on Nathan was a sure thing? Statistically and reputation-wise, it certainly seemed to be so. But such shortsighted bettors don't understand the sport and they don't follow it except for some 3 weeks every four years, and even then superficially.

And then there's this poignant and self-reflective show of support by Patrick Chan, the skater who helped usher in the quad revolution circa late 2010 (post Plushy's dire Vancouver Olympics ire re the importance of macho quads, which the ISU overheeded, and are now trying to backtrack away from with the advent of Nathan 'Quad King' Chen's recent record-setting quad feats):
"Canada’s Chan, a three-time Olympian... expressed sympathy for Chen, saying it was normal to not have a great [performance]. 'It’s part of the experience, part of the Olympics,' he said."

Exactly Patrick. Not only is experiencing failure part of the Olympics, it's part of everyone's journey in skating; it's ubiquitous to skating on thin ice. It's part of life. But we don't really get that from the superficiality of the skating coverage and the promotional ads, and the OTT, in-your-face hyping of a 'sure thing.' The aftermath reporting takes are fairly useless as well, unless they offer straightforward insights, meaningful quotes, and at some point, enlightening commentary.

Please turn down the temperature NBC, and stop banking everything on the shoulders of one extremely talented and very special athlete, who's senior career is just beginning and could reach more extraordinary heights that go beyond quads, if the quads and the over-hype don't burn Nathan out first and completely distract him from the essential reasons why he chose skating over gymnastics and ballet.

"I'm a keep running, 'cause a winner don't quit on themselves." -- Beyonce (Freedom lyrics)

Below is a pretty good article which echoes what I was saying in U.S. men's thread: figure skating is not the same as other sports because the athletes not only have to complete technically precise athletic feats, they also have to perform to music. That's a huge difference which some people seem to desire to give short shrift to, as if it somehow diminishes figure skating as a sport. It does not!
http://www.nbcolympics.com/news/figure-skating-isnt-just-girls-and-heres-proof
 
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Bellanca

Bellanca

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http://web.icenetwork.com/news/2018/02/10/266247560: Bradie Tennell, The Shibs up for Team U.S.A.! Team Event - Day 2. Good luck!

https://www.msn.com/en-ca/sports/mo...anada-in-figure-skating-team-event/ar-BBIXpvg: Kaetlyn Osmond, Virtue, Moir up for Team Canada! Team Event - Day 2. Good luck!

I hope they'll make sure to grab a :coffee: on their way to the rink after a 4:00am wake-up call o_O and a 10:00am competition start time :yawn: Yeeeooowwwzzzaaa! :duh: The linked article also includes 'Chock, Bates in harmony with 'Imagine'

I just have to go on the record :barrel and say ... these early bird comp starts for the athletes ... (n) :blah:

Also, http://www.nbcolympics.com/news/who-bradie-tennell
 
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aftershocks

aftershocks

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Weve3 said:
No clear favorites: http://www.latimes.com/sports/olympics/la-sp-olympics-figure-skating-20180210-story,amp.html
Click to expand...

Ummm, to me Nathan's quad lutz has been one of his more consistent quads, every time I've seen him perform it. He's had a high consistency and an ability to combine it with a triple on the end of it. Therefore, it seems to me they are either being cautious to avoid any problems with the picking foot for the lutz (either pain, soreness, etc., or it's partly their strategy to keep Nathan's layout plans flexible) .

Keeping in mind also that Raf's other student, Adam, has admitted to taking out the quad lutz from his fp since he doesn't have a high percentage rate, and he doesn't want to reinjure his picking foot (Adarippp's same foot that recently healed from a break).
 
aftershocks

aftershocks

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Finding a more appropriate home for this inane 'flop'-ridden discussion, as excised from of all places, U.S. pairs thread:

Skittl1321 said:
Did you see his face when he finished or hear his interviews? He flopped and he knew it. He is known to be one of the best jumpers...his protocols have a 0 for a jump element and another across the board -3 GOE. He blew it big time. You say have some perspective, well, perspective matters in calling a flop. He and SK/K got the same number of points for the team, sure, but for him it was with one of his worst skates and we'll behind what he should have done. Whereas they exceeded expectations.
Click to expand...

Big deal how anyone chooses to describe what happened to Mr. 18-year-old quadster slayer/slayee at his first Olympics event outing. :COP: I didn't say 'no see-e no flop' two days ago in the 'Nathan OTT expectations' watch. :duh: :confused: :p Just not a 'complete' flop -- a 'flop' nonetheless by Nathan's high standards and by everyone's gigantic, ginormous OTT NBC and Phil Hersh-sized expectations, obviously. :barrel

And yep, try to gain perspective and actually read the initial post where I qualified all of my statements. Praise be to the Lord and to the Knierim saviors!

Below are prior posts from the same U.S. pairs thread, for those who need more than cliff notes: :rolleyes: And it's nearly time for the rest of the team event story: :fan21:

Sylvia said:
... Mark Zeigler wrote a follow-up article titled "Knierims bail out US in Olympic team skating event": http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/sports/sd-sp-olympics-knierim-skating-team-20180208-story.html
Click to expand...

aftershocks said:
Great that the Knierims skated their best and some other pairs who could have landed in front of them, made some errors. But a little perspective in that Nathan did not completely 'flop.' Nathan actually set a record for landing the first quad-flip at an Olympics. He made two bad errors, one crucially significant because he lost a huge amount of points that could have had him at least in second place. The fall on the 3-axel was further damaging points-wise. But Nathan still managed to gain 7 points, the same amount of points the Knierims were awarded.

The difference [i.e. 'flop' factor :drama:] is that Nathan was expected to get 9 or 10 points which would have the U.S. team at 16 or tied for first at 17 total points. So indeed, it was crucially important when the Knierims got at least 2 points better than what might have been expected of them going in. :cheer2: The Knierims' performance made a huge difference for the U.S. being in second place overall. And yes, Nathan's points are important too. It's not all bad. Japan and OAR are 1 point behind the U.S. and 4 points behind Canada.
Click to expand...

JJS5056 said:
If Nathan didn't flop, why did the Knierims have to place higher than originally expected? Nathan is expected to challenge for individual gold; his skate and placement - arguably the safest bet team USA had going in - fell far short of expectations, and could likely be the difference between 2nd and 3rd in the end. You don't need to reply and tell me every element he did well because he could have landed a 5lutz and all that matters is his placement and points earned.

And, no. 4th place in pairs does not equal 4th place in mens, and does not support an argument that Nathan skated well. How can you throw out context completely? Again, Nathan is expected to be in the top 3 individually. The Knierims are looking for a top 10. To get to 4th, they had to surpass tough teams, though I am sure you can let them know that J/C felt like phoning it in and that is why they were able to beat them. Give me a break.

The USA's sure bet for team points skated under expectation, and its weakest link delivered the best skate they could to make up for it. Can it just be left at that for once rather than making up reasons as to why their achievement was any less impressive?
Click to expand...

Nowhere did I equate the placements. I just indicated that Nathan obviously contributed a share of the overall points, :drama: albeit less than expected and less than the team strategy dictated. Why so OTT re mentioning a 5lutz which none of us will be seeing in any of our lifetimes nor in Nathan's lifetime, until and unless significant advancements are made to skate boot technology, and to the ice surface, not to mention superhero-like physical advances to skaters' bodies! :eek:

I respect all the athletes who go out there on the ice to do battle. It takes an enormous amount of courage, and its easy for us sitting on the sidelines to throw darts.

Clearly a number of factors confronted Nathan at his first Olympics outing in the team competition, but bottom line he seemed uncharacteristically distracted by nerves and the OTT expectations. Although we've previously seen this kind of thing happen for athletes at their first Olympics, few would have expected to see Nathan succumb to the pressure. The men's sp team event was very underwhelming for most of the skaters, aside from Bychenko, Rizzo, and partially Shoma. And still IMO, Nathan's effort was not a complete flop, as he did successfully land the first quad flip ever performed in Olympic competition, and he gained points for the team. What the Knierims did was crucial obviously since Nathan did not get the 9 to 10 points that was expected, while the Knierims gained more points than was anticipated for them, and they skated beautifully.

You are reading my comments in such an overexaggerated negative way. In no way was I trying to diminish what the Knierims have achieved. I'm stoked for them, and I'm glad they are having fun with this very deserved hard-won experience. And oh boy, I never said J/C 'phoned in' anything. Vanessa doubled her sbs triple which is very uncharacteristic for her since their last season breakthrough. Both Vanessa & Morgan are generally good and consistent with most of their tech elements. Clearly, the judges dinged them on that jumping pass enough to where J/C did not move ahead of the Knierims, which would have been anticipated on paper. The U.S. team is in second place at the moment and the rest of the team event should be gripping and quite close. It's only just started.

Under any scenario, silver has been considered less likely for the U.S. team to manage, even if not out of the realm of possibility. After Nathan's failure to obtain the expected points, even the bronze is going to be more of a battle. So kudos to the Knierims for picking up Team USA and keeping medal prospects alive.
 
Bellanca

Bellanca

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aftershocks said:
Clearly a number of factors confronted Nathan at his first Olympics outing in the team competition, but bottom line he seemed uncharacteristically distracted by nerves and the OTT expectations.
Click to expand...
There is no doubt about it.

I know there have been many attempts to cleanup Nathan's SP performance in the team event, but let's just call it what it was - nerves, fatigue, pressure, etc. It's not the end of the world to admit this, and it certainly doesn't mean that Nathan can't recover. I guess we'll see if Nathan’s result in the team event affects the men's event.
 
Bellanca

Bellanca

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