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.
I’m officially giving up on the 30 Day Meme. The rest of the prompts require way too much thinking… also, L-A-Z-Y.
So what have I been doing? Mmm… watching WAY too much Olympics coverage. I’m an Olympics junkie. I’ll watch anything that NBC “packages” up in primetime — speed skating, alpine skiing, luge, etc. And of course, I’m following figure skating! I follow individual men’s and women’s skating more closely than I do the other disciplines but I’m really happy that Shen/Zhao won pairs despite the almost-spill on their lift in the free skate. They’re the total package — they have the tricks and the artistry. Which brings me to the men. I can’t believe Plushenko is the leader going into the free skate. He is ALL jumps and no artistry. There’s no real choreography or footwork between jumps — he’s just skating around doing as little as possible until the next jump. I much prefer Evan Lysacek (despite the questionable arm-flailing he does in his programs), Daisuke Takahashi, Stephane Lambiel (his spins!), and Jeffrey Abbott (too bad he imploded in the short program). I hope they all have amazing free skates on Thursday and overtake Plushenko. A girl can dream.
This past weekend was Valentine’s Day and Rob and I celebrated by…
1. Going to Starbucks. LOVE their Valentine’s Day cups. 😀
2. Taking Diesel to the park. He’s in desperate need of a haircut, LOL.
3. Watching the NBA All-Star festivities (the slam dunk contest, which I normally enjoy, was laaaame) and the Olympics (again, figure skating!).
4. Renewing our Disneyland annual passes. We decided that this would be our annual Valentine’s Day present to each other. YAY!
5. Looking at model homes and going back and forth (and back and forth) about the pros and cons of buying a townhouse versus single family, new versus resale, now versus later, etc. It’s kinda stressing me out. Seriously, the home buying process is not fun.
Off to watch more Olympics. Speed skating tonight! 🙂
First, I just want to wish my husband Rob (weird!) a happy belated 30th birthday. It was actually yesterday but we were out sightseeing on the north shore and I was too lazy to blog about it. 😀
So it’s 7pm Hawaii time… Rob’s taking a nap after a very tiring day at the pool (hee) and what am I doing? I am refreshing my browser every few seconds checking on the scores of the women’s gymnastics all-around competition. Gawd, how I love the Olympics.
And because I don’t think it has aired yet (warning: spoiler ahead)…
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.
I never thought I’d say this but I am *so* glad gymnastics is over in the Olympics. I don’t want to get into it here (because I’m sure I’m just going to get all riled up) so let’s just say I’m feeling disillusioned by the whole Men’s All Around controversy, all the #@!$ protests, and the judging errors. Artistic gymnastics is my favorite sport and it’s such a shame to see what’s happened at the games so far. 🙁 I think we’ll definitely see a huge change in the judging system as well as the Code of Points for this upcoming quadrennium.
On to more positive thoughts and a final wrap-up…
Marian Dragulescu is my new gymnastics boyfriend. He’s such a cutie. I still can’t get over his fantastic first vault in event finals. WOW.
But I will never ever forget my very first gymnastics boyfriend Alexei Nemov. I love him, I love what he’s done for the sport, for what he’s achieved and for never failing to take off his shirt during the champion’s gala. It’s too bad he won’t have the chance to do that again in Athens. Heh.
I want to give Paul Hamm a HUGE hug.
I’ve never paid much attention to Anna Pavlova’s gymnastics but she really shined in this Olympics. I *so* wanted her to medal in the All Around but I’m glad she leaves with her bronze on vault. I hope to see her in competition again.
Catalina Ponor rocks. I just love her beam routine — she’s so effortless and graceful. It’s so great to see her take home 2 gold medals.
And of course, I’m very, very happy for Courtney K, Carly, Terin and Annia for their individual medals. 🙂 Go Team USA!
Phew. I swear, no more gymnastics talk here until next year’s Worlds. November 2005, I think. You’re all safe for an entire year. 😉
Watching the Women’s gymnastics All Around right now. I’ll be doing some running commentary since NBC insists on showing the meet one… rotation… at… a… time.
Aahhh… Svetlana Khorkina. I just love her. She’s such a diva and makes no apologies for it. I still remember when she slapped her teammate in the Sydney Olympics for falling off an apparatus in the team competition. Oh man. *shakes head* The sport won’t be the same without her.
Why in the world does NBC insist on putting those huge logos in the right hand corner of the screen?!? That thing is huge and very distracting. I don’t need to know RIGHT NOW during Courtney Kupets’s vault that swimming is coming up in 7 minutes. Grrr.
Random — NBC is showing swimming now and Markus Rogan (won silver in the 200m backstroke) is CUTE. Evidence here.
Anna Pavlova rocked that beam set. I’m pulling for her to medal.
Another amazing beam set from Carly. She is on fire.
Svetlana is way too thin. I’m scared she’s going to snap right in half when she lands a tumbling pass.
Love Courtney Kupets. Don’t like her floor routine. Which brings me to something one of the commentators (Elfi, I think) on the NBC coverage said… something about the floor choreography in this Olympics being some of the best. Is she crazy? Most female gymnasts now don’t even take any kind of dance training. It definitely shows and that’s part of what I dislike about the Code of Points for this quad. I guess I just remember the days of Lilia Podkopayeva (96 Olympic and World champion — one of my favorites), Svetlana Boguinskaya, and the old Soviet greats of the late 80s. Tangent, sorry.
Carly up on floor… OMG. Wheeee!!! YAY CARLY! 🙂 What a great meet — very, very happy for her.
Wow, Svetlana is happy. Shocking.
So, so close for Anna Pavlova. It broke my heart to see her cry. I thought she had a great night. But I’m not surprised at the podium at all. Carly, Svetlana, and Zhang Nan were the same top 3 in 2003 Worlds (CP and SK switched, of course).
NBC is playing that I Believe I Can Fly song in their ending montage. So cheesy.
No artistic gymnastics until Sunday night (event finals) so my blog should be gymnastics free until then. 😀
Still very happy for the US gymnasts (both men and women!) on their team silver medals. 😀 I just wish that American media would stop harping on the women for not winning the gold. UGH. Yes, they were the gold medal favorites and yes, they were the reigning world champions but I hate reading articles that focus on their errors. It’s not like they made mistakes on purpose! They wanted to win just like everybody else. Gymnastics is a completely unpredictable sport and the US team winning the gold was never a sure thing.
Err… yeah. Getting off my soapbox now, lol.
Men’s All-Around has started. YES! Possible Marian Dragulescu sighting. 😉 Off to watch…
I’M BACK — HOLY SH*T! I can’t believe Paul Hamm climbed out of such a huge point deficit to win the gold. Oh man, that was an amazing high bar set. I’m thrilled for him and his helium voice, hehe.
Oh and Alie, I vaguely remember taking a tumbling class when I was really young (maybe 3 or 4?) but otherwise, I’m just a HUGE fan of the sport.
Gymnastics is monopolizing my blog. I *really* need to find something else to blog about. But uh, probably not for another few days. HEE!
Sorry guys. 🙂
OMG, I am so glad my boss is not around today. Cause I can’t believe what I’m doing…
I’m watching an Italian live feed of the Women’s Gymnastics All Around final. !!! I just can’t stand waiting until the delayed NBC coverage. I have to know the results immediately. Hehe.
I should so be fired. But really, I think I deserve a 2 week long vacation during the Olympics because I’m such a junkie.
Happy birthday to one of my oldest friends Carmen! 🙂 Hope you’re having a great day!