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[cekoni]

И ещё:
фамилии засудей и Лейсячека скоро забудутся... даже на следующей Олимпиаде о них никто не вспомнит! А Женя Плющенко останется в фигурном катании НАВСЕГДА!!!

Spasibo Мещера for the commentary ... but in the future, and you and everyone else - this is topic for comments:

Дискуссии по прокатам Жени и до них || Discussion
viewtopic.php?f=13&t=80

[AnyaNikolaievna]

I understand Zhenya's desire to come to terms with the defeat, but unfortunately his words aren't doing much good for his reputation here in the US. :(

[cekoni]

I understand Zhenya's desire to come to terms with the defeat, but unfortunately his words aren't doing much good for his reputation here in the US. :(

US media was already ruin enough his reputation and before...

[cekoni]

Give Evgeni Plushenko his deserved Gold Medal!

THIS IS A FAN GROUP MADE BY FANS FOR FANS OF EVGENI PLUSHENKO.
We strongly believe that's not possible and not fair to win an Olympic gold Medal without doing quadruple jumps. More than anything is not possible to be Silver DOING it.

http://www.facebook.com/n/?pages%2FGive ... 130f67aG4c

------------------------------------

I do not think that something can be achieved in this way ... but join there, if you think that you should give support to Zhenya

[AnyaNikolaievna]

Cekoni, my dear friend, I understand entirely where you are coming from. However this is starting to sound like the 2002 scandal, and believe me, our dear Zhenya doesn't need to be seen in that light. At least I don't think so. If he makes a fuss, or if we make a fuss, then his reputation, at least here in America, will CERTAINLY be ruined permanently, and that saddens me a great deal. It is already damaged I think but he can recover from it. If he were to make a fuss, or if we were, he would be seen as someone trying to take the thunder away from Lysacek. I really don't think giving Zhenya gold with Lysacek would be a good idea. Let us, and him, be gracious, grateful, and supportive. America doesn't like arogance from foreigners, even if it is not really arrogance but confidence. Sure, if he were American there wouldn't be any damage done and people would be demanding the gold for him, but he is not. There's more at stake here than just a medal.

[cekoni]

Cekoni, my dear friend, I understand entirely where you are coming from. However this is starting to sound like the 2002 scandal, and believe me, our dear Zhenya doesn't need to be seen in that light. At least I don't think so....

I think same... and Zhenya himself also, I am sure

I do not see that there will be some problems in the future, as regards the Russian skating federation, unless the media themselves do not continue to "heat" (both - in America, and in Russia)
... As for facebook ... this is just one of a billion addresses which exist on the Internet - let people express their opinion, if they have him

[AnyaNikolaievna]

I'm glad you agree. Like I said I'm just worried with all the media has put him through. Anyway let us hope for his sake, as cruel as it sounds, that nothing is done about the results. Let us just be glad that it went so well, and honestly... laugh at Lysacek for being unable to secure a margin of over 20 points... like someone we know ;)

[cekoni]

... laugh at Lysacek for being unable to secure a margin of over 20 points... like someone we know ;)

It was not possible nor much better skaters against Zhenya .... let alone him

[Serg]

Source:Toronto Star
(http://olympics.thestar.com/2010/articl ... re-skating)
http://www.thestar.com/olympics/2010/sp ... re-skating

DiManno: 'It's not figure skating'
New rules send sport on bad trajectory, as skaters in cahoots with clever choreographers avoid hard stuff

February 20, 2010
Rosie DiManno VANCOUVER

Do not let your eyes deceive you. Do not be coerced by the occult of figure skating scoring.

The custodians of the sport like it that way: Unfathomable, impenetrable, outside the ken of the mere hoi polloi.

Evgeni Plushenko should be the 2010 Olympic champion. Under the discarded scoring system, he would be. But scandal forced the International Skating Union to change what was so easily manipulated. It's still manipulated, but by skaters who can't do the hard stuff, in cahoots with their clever choreographers.

I'll crunch numbers in a moment but first word, and it's gospel, goes to Plushenko himself: "Now it's not figure skating. It's ice dancing.''

A word, too, from Canada's Elvis Stojko, three-time world champion and twice silver at the Olympics, in a column posted Friday for Yahoo! Sports: "In what other sport do you have to hold back in order to win?''

That column was headlined "The Night They Killed Figure Skating.''

That was Thursday night at the Pacific Coliseum when American Evan Lysacek dethroned the Russian Plushenko, copping gold by 1.31 points. And you want to know why? Not because Lysacek put on a superior display, though many claimed he did. Not because the jumps he executed were more impressive, though, head-to-head on the same triples, his were better in the air and on the landings.

Strictly on the component marks, the two men were dead-even on the tally sheet.

But, in a program designed by Canadian Lori Nichol – and she has some 15 skaters here relying on her ingenuity – the routine back-ended many difficult elements, meaning they were in the second half of the 4:40 skate. Under the new rules, that immediately adds an extra 10 per cent value to the base score, upon which judges then inject a Grade of Execution mark with a plus-minus value of up to three.

That means Lysacek got bonus marks on five elements; Plushenko on only three –and therein lies the gold/silver difference.

Lysacek was undoubtedly better trained, in peak shape, while Plushenko knew he'd be gasping for air, coming off a three-year retirement.

Further, it has always been Russian practice to front-end the tricks. They seem not to have embraced, or deliberately rejected, the new normal in figure skating: the count-by-numbers rote of exacting rotations and body-shifting positions on spins; the fancy footwork transitions.

When the evolving orthodoxy works to your benefit, as it did with Toronto's Patrick Chan in climbing from seventh to fifth overall (fourth in the free skate), everyone's happy and in love with the system. But if this had been Stojko competing, Canadians would be in up arms. He'd never have won all those laurels under the Code of Points, now-called.

So Plushenko does what only two other skaters managed on Thursday – a quadruple toe jump – in combination with a triple toe (leaving off a double toe at the end, the three-spot trick his signature move) and scores 14.60.

Lysacek counters with an opening triple Lutz-triple toe – relatively small potatoes for ultra-elite skaters – and pulls down 11.40.

Plushenko's triple Axel-double toe was also better than Lysacek's. But the latter earned high levels further down, racking up bonus and style points. So, via winning the free skate 167.37 to 165.51 – overall 257.67 to 256.36 – Lysacek matriculates to the top of the podium.

When Stojko calls this "ridiculous'' he's absolutely right. When he accuses men's figure skating of moving backwards, he's likewise correct.

It took a century for skaters to develop the athletic ability for a four-rotation jump. That came to separate the men from the boys, and now it apparently means squat. There's no payoff in taking a quad risk, pushing those boundaries, being an athlete. Now it's about polishing what you can do and skipping what you can't.

Lysacek does quads – just not when it counts most, because there's no dare there anymore. If that's the trajectory of figure skating, why even bother with the vexing triple Axel? Let's just make it all about pretty spins and flourish footwork.

Plushenko thought he'd won. Some of us know he did and are sickened by the outcome, might even take a cue from Stojko: "I am going to watch hockey, where athletes are allowed to push the envelope. A real sport.''

[cekoni]

DiManno: 'It's not figure skating'
....
.... Evgeni Plushenko should be the 2010 Olympic champion. Under the discarded scoring system, he would be. But scandal forced the International Skating Union to change what was so easily manipulated. It's still manipulated, but by skaters who can't do the hard stuff, in cahoots with their clever choreographers....
...
When the evolving orthodoxy works to your benefit, as it did with Toronto's Patrick Chan in climbing from seventh to fifth overall (fourth in the free skate), everyone's happy and in love with the system....
....
It took a century for skaters to develop the athletic ability for a four-rotation jump. That came to separate the men from the boys, and now it apparently means squat. There's no payoff in taking a quad risk, pushing those boundaries, being an athlete. Now it's about polishing what you can do and skipping what you can't.

.... why even bother with the vexing triple Axel? Let's just make it all about pretty spins and flourish footwork.

Plushenko thought he'd won. Some of us know he did ...

Thanks Serg for article

I already two years repeat on all skating forums, that the competition among the skaters, turned into the competition of choreographers ... this is a direct consequence of that.

I wrote and that should merge together men and women, to be together compete in one category - when some women jump more difficult jumps, than most men

... very sad future of men's skating, if Chan and Lysacek will be a "model" and reference ... in the end - as far as I know, the new scoring rules have made and some Canadian judges, responsible for Ice Dancing - and we got the "male dancers" ... only to them missing a "partner" on ice... thus alone - they are too much boring