Re-watching 2010 Olympics men for the judging game, I am struck by how unlucky Nobunari Oda had been throughout his amateur career.
2005/6 - won Nationals, received the gold medal and presumably the sole ticket to Turino for Japanese men, only to be told the system did not recognize a IJS bug he had, and got downgraded to silver medal and lost his ticket to Turino.
2005/6 - pretty much did enough to win the bronze at Worlds but also did an extra combo and lost all value for the 3flip - losing out bronze to Evan Lysacek.
2007 off season - arrested over moped DUI and pretty much lost the entire 07/8 season.
2010 - he was so good in the Olympic short and was in medal contention, then in the free he was clean all the way til he broke his lace and fell on the 3loop, dropping him to 7th overall. He went on to single all jumps at Worlds short and did not make the free.
2011 - At Worlds he was again at medal position after the short, and in the free did 3toe3toe and then 3axel3toe - invalidating the entire axel combo - if he had done 3axel2toe instead, he would have won bronze over Artur Gachinski.
Despite never medalling at Worlds, he was always very consistent throughout his career, but the quick rise of Tatsuki Machida and Hanyu meant that he would lose out on going to Sochi.
I am not sure if "unlucky" was the right word since it was his fault for not studying the IJS rules and for the moped incident, but he could easily have been a 3 time Olympian and 2 time world medalist, potentially an Olympic medalist in 2010. As for now, he settled for just being a 4CC and a Jr World Champ (still impressive of course).
Any other skaters who could have easily accomplished more?
2005/6 - won Nationals, received the gold medal and presumably the sole ticket to Turino for Japanese men, only to be told the system did not recognize a IJS bug he had, and got downgraded to silver medal and lost his ticket to Turino.
2005/6 - pretty much did enough to win the bronze at Worlds but also did an extra combo and lost all value for the 3flip - losing out bronze to Evan Lysacek.
2007 off season - arrested over moped DUI and pretty much lost the entire 07/8 season.
2010 - he was so good in the Olympic short and was in medal contention, then in the free he was clean all the way til he broke his lace and fell on the 3loop, dropping him to 7th overall. He went on to single all jumps at Worlds short and did not make the free.
2011 - At Worlds he was again at medal position after the short, and in the free did 3toe3toe and then 3axel3toe - invalidating the entire axel combo - if he had done 3axel2toe instead, he would have won bronze over Artur Gachinski.
Despite never medalling at Worlds, he was always very consistent throughout his career, but the quick rise of Tatsuki Machida and Hanyu meant that he would lose out on going to Sochi.
I am not sure if "unlucky" was the right word since it was his fault for not studying the IJS rules and for the moped incident, but he could easily have been a 3 time Olympian and 2 time world medalist, potentially an Olympic medalist in 2010. As for now, he settled for just being a 4CC and a Jr World Champ (still impressive of course).
Any other skaters who could have easily accomplished more?