OMG. My dream women’s figure skating Olympic podium came true. Yu-Na winning gold, Mao silver, and Joannie bronze.

This NEVER happens.

AND my favorite US skater Mirai Nagasu had a terrific free skate and bumped herself up to 4th!

The skating gods must be trying to make it up to me for the results of the 1998 and 2002 Olympics. This doesn’t *quite* make up for either Tara Lipinski or Sarah Hughes (UGH) but it’s a start.

😉

Totally behind but YAY for Evan Lysacek winning men’s figure skating Olympic gold!

Before the men even did their free skates, I honestly thought Plushenko was going to win. But once I saw Plushenko’s program, I knew that Evan had done it. Even despite Plushenko’s quad. There seems to be so much emphasis on landing a quad but figure skating is so much more than that to me. Otherwise, why do footwork sequences, transitions, spins, spirals, etc. also earn points? Unfortunately for Plushenko, there’s been some minor changes to the Code of Points since he won gold at the last Olympics and with his absence of 3 years, I just think he and his coaches didn’t “play the game” so well this time around. His free skate was completely front-loaded — if he had just rearranged his elements to earn some extra bonus points in the second half of the program, that might have made the difference. On the other hand, Evan knew he couldn’t land the quad (he fell on it at Nationals) so he capitalized on his strengths, made sure that every single piece of choreography would earn him points, and found himself on top of the podium.

So happy Daisuke won the bronze medal too! His free skate was amazing and so technically difficult, even with the fall.

Jeremy Abbott didn’t have the Olympic experience I wanted him to have so here’s hoping he sticks around until Worlds next month.

Ahhhh!!! Ice dancing was so great this year! It wasn’t the splatfest that Torino was! I am so, so happy that Tessa Virtue & Scott Moir and Meryl Davis & Charlie White captured gold and silver respectively. They were fantastic in all 3 of their programs. And is it weird that I totally ‘ship Tessa and Scott? They are so freaking cute (yes, I know she’s dating someone else)…

This free dance was FAN.FREAKING.TASTIC.

As was this free dance. Even despite the cliched Phantom of the Opera music selection.

But it wouldn’t be ice dancing if there wasn’t questionable judging and I really believe that Tanith Belbin & Ben Agosto were sacrificed in order for Oksana Domnina & Max Shabalin to win the bronze. I have to admit that I don’t care for Belbin & Agosto’s free dance but it was the best they’ve performed it all season. Domnina & Shabalin had the edge in the compulsory dance but I think they should have been ranked below B & A in both the original and free dances. Oh, well. I’m really going to miss Belbin & Agosto if they retire. They really paved the way for US ice dancing.

*sniff*

Oh figure skating, don’t ever change. Off to watch the Ladies short program now…

Thanks NBC Olympics for the pics.

SQUEE. The results of the ladies figure skating competition are pretty awesome.
Since Michelle Kwan withdrew from the competition, I didn’t have a favorite for the gold… I just wanted to see some good skating! Didn’t really get that — in fact, I think this Olympics was kind of lackluster compared to the last 4. It wasn’t the best day for the top skaters (oh Sasha — I really wanted her to skate cleanly; she has such a problem with putting 2 clean performances together) but I am SO SO HAPPY that Shizuka Arakawa won.

Worlds next month! That should be fun. 😀

So I wasn’t going to watch the ladies figure skating competition (still sad about Michelle Kwan not being able to compete *sob*) but… I’m a sucker.

Some thoughts as I was watching…

Kimmie Meissner – Very clean program. Good for her. I think she’ll be a force to be reckoned with if she sticks it out another 4 years to get to Vancouver. Right now, she has the technique down but I think she needs to work on her artistry. I just don’t connect with her skating. It’s too formulaic. I don’t see her medalling in these Games but she should easily be in the Top 8 or 10.

Elena Sokolova – 🙁 She’s been around a long time… that must have been such a disappointing skate.

Elene Gedevanishvili – WOW! Where did she come from? She was totally awesome. So enthusiastic and explosive. Loved her. I can’t wait to see more of her.

Emily Hughes – Loved her costume… didn’t love her program that much. She had a lot of heart and really attacked her skate but most of the time, she looked like she was flailing her arms around. So distracting.

Irina Slutskaya – I’ve never loved her skating but she is amazingly talented. She has so much speed and power on the ice. I just can’t relate to her performances, though. It seems like she’s out there jumping and spinning and not really connecting with the audience. But barring a major mistake, I’m sure she’ll be on the podium.

Shizuka Arakawa – She’s so awesome. I loved when she won the gold at 2004 Worlds. She’s in a good position after the short program.

Fumie Suguri – Aww, I loved her. She’s one of those skaters who reminds me why I love the sport. Her choreography and artistry is so beautiful. She’s my personal favorite for a medal. SQUEE. PLUS. Her costume was gorgeous.

Sasha Cohen – Yay! It is SO HARD to be a fan of hers. She has the technique, flexibility, grace… but she is also incredibly inconsistent (and sometimes she strikes me as a diva — but that’s neither here nor there). It’s frustrating. When it counts, she can’t seem to keep it together. But she found a way to be perfect tonight. So great. Now I’m just praying she doesn’t meltdown during her long program. Cause that would be typical. 🙁

Bring on the long program!

Also? The Torino medals look like CDs! Hee.