dimi wrote:Guys nobody says to abandon the quad, it is just some minor little changes to secure his wins, nobody can deny he is THE jumper of the century.
furthermore Chan, Dai , Brezina and Joubert and whoever else will start jumping them and he has to do them.
But for example in Sp a 4-3 is important and he kicks ass with this
in Lp 4-3 is not important, because
if he does a 4t - 3t at the beginning of Lp and a 2axel at the end of Lp, and someone does the same jumps differently like 4t in the beginning and 2axel-3toe in the last part , the second skater gets more points because the 3toe is after 2,5 min mark. It is insane but this is the rules and this is the system now. But For Plushy is much easier and safe to do a 4 toe alone and do the combo anywhere else, he jumps this 2-3 or 3-3 like breakfast , what is the use of doing a 4-3 when by the system he competes someone else will beat him with same or less jumps done differently? I know many disagree with this, i just see this way. If you lose a competition is fine, if he had lost Euros I would not care much. But if you lose 1.36 in Olys that is one opportunity per 4 years , then this kind of stuff look so stupid. History was prevented for a single 2toe and the average skater (Lysacek) became world champion (i cant even say this) . If he competes for fun then fine, if he competes to win these are essential. And he didnt have the three jumps combo in Olympics, I dont know why Mishin designed it that way, maybe he had his reasons
.
Anyway i m so happy to see him skate in shows and in GS, and I secretly laugh because Lysacek will be there and will see who is the real Olympic Champion
(i know it was not Lysacek's fault but ok..
)
I think that winning is not the only thing at stake here. Another big issue at stake is what direction male figure skating will take from this point on: will men do quads in the future or not. The American skaters, like Evan Lysacek and Patrick Chan, have said that they see a future of male figure skating without a quad because, they argue, under the new rules you can win without one. Plushenko and Mishin vehemently oppose this: male figure skating without a quad is simply the sport regressing, going backwards. I completely agree with Plushenko and Mishin on this, and I support them in their position of defending the quad. Plushenko is such a world leader that if he stops doing the quad or he starts doing it much less (i.e., not including it in the long program), then this will send a message to young boys all around the world that the quad is no longer needed, they will not include it in their programs for competitions, and they will not learn it at all. The sport of mens figure skating will regress backwards.
I agree that Plushenko does need to have his programs adjusted to the new rules, but he should not abandon the quad or do it less by any means! He won Olympics in Turin in 2006 with the quad in both programs, and this was already under the new rules. Plus, after the Olympics 2010 in Vancouver there have been some changes to the rules, including a slight increase in points for the quad. It may not be a lot (I think it's something like 3 or 4 points), but it is a difference. In the case of the recent Japan Open you have to remember that Plushenko is currently not in the best shape (he is recovering from the ailments he started having after the Olympics in Vancouver), he is taking a year off from competitions in order to recover fully. So the Plushenko we saw at Japan Open 2010 was not Plushenko at his strongest. He didn't do a quad. Plus, the program he skated was an old program that was originally set to the old rules. So I don't think we should all become worried that Rippon got more points than Plushenko, and so now Plushenko needs to make some drastic changes to stay competitive. Plushenko is competitive! He just needs to get the rest he needs and then come back in 2010-2011 with full strength and full force. When it comes to his programs I have full faith in his judgement and the judgement of the people he is working with, who have helped him to get to the top so many times over. We already know that they are going to be developing new programs because Plushenko has asked all of us for ideas as to new programs he might do (another topic on this forum).
I am very confident that Plushenko and coach Mishin know what to do to defeat someone like Rippon, and I am sure they will do it without abandoning the quad to prove to the world that the quad is still the future of mens figure skating.