LOL totally off topic but I have to disagree a bit here. Of course 2006 was a long time ago & I've forgotten a lot of the details ... but I can say Arakawa never fell off my radar as a 2006 contender. When you win Worlds the way she did in 2004 and have the kind of season she did that year, you will be always be a potential contender in judges' eyes, IMO. That level of performance isn't seen that often, so when it is seen, judges remember. I also had the benefit of seeing Arakawa live at the 2004 Marshalls cheesefest, so I knew that the quality of her basic skating was in every way comparable to the other top women. It was just a matter of putting that together with the jumps. In general, I think Arakawa (and Kwan) stayed relevant in the judges' minds for 2006 because of the very well-known flaws of their rivals: Slutskaya's lack of real artistic quality, and Cohen's inability to skate a clean program.
I don't necessarily understand what he means - but OTOH, I do think skating judges are a reflection of the audience in many ways. If they saw Arakawa not doing well for several months, she'd not have been a "contender" - as in, not a contender for gold, not necessarily 'not contending' for any medal at all, because anything can happen for those bronzes usually.
Simply based on
talent I think you're right. She was up there with Kwan in terms of basic skating. A lesser performer and interpreter than Kwan, but then she had larger and more difficult jumps, and her extension/flexibility was more suited for CoP unlike Kwan.
Cohen was slower, had much worse edges and jumping technique, and by this point her advantage with spirals wasn't nearly as big as it might have been in the past. That left her with some clear advantages (spins, the artistic components) and some disadvantages.
Slutskaya's programs for me were actually some of her better ones at these Olympics - she just did her relentlessly technical thing in the SP, which was a good call. But she couldn't put up with the big-tech requirements, her spirals were outclassed, and her PCS, transitions aside (and skating skill in comparison with Cohen), were never on par with the other women (judge scoring and reputation for those PCS aside).
I wouldn't say Kostner was a contender either, but I think as a skater, she'd already skated two SPs at this point (2004 worlds and 2005 worlds) that I'd put ahead of anything Slutskaya ever did, and she even had a 3+3 and better spins, better basic skating, the entire thing.
