Every public comment I’ve read about this showed that Kwan was okay with it. She knew that she likely wouldn’t have placed if Kerrigan hadn’t been attacked. Of course, she could have just been playing nice for the media.
In fact, Kwan later benefited from this herself a few years later. She was unable to compete in Nationals prior to the Turin Olympics. She petitioned to be put onto the team anyway and won. Once she got to Turin, she re-injured her groin muscle and had to pull out.
I think the scoring for skaters needs to be re- evaluated. Johnny Weir kept saying you get more points for falling on a quad, then landing a triple cleanly. Somethings not right with that.
Absolutely heartbroken to see all the hate Lindsey Vonn is receiving online after her comments in her CNN interview last year and her sixth place finish a few days ago. Scrolling through Instagram, and there are comments on her posts with people hoping she breaks her neck in her next race and fellow Americans celebrating that she missed out on a medal. Why? It hurts my heart to see people saying those things to one of my idols.
I get where you are coming from, but I also see the other side of that coin. From what I understand, this policy is in place in order to encourage innovation, advancement of the sport, and courage to take it to the next level, vs. rewarding stagnation and playing it safe.
Surely the judges are capable of discerning the difference between an obviously incapable skater who plans loads of quads in order to get some kind of hollow credit and a skater who clearly shows the ability to land them but makes a very small error which results in a bobble, a fall, or two footed landing, etc.
Note that the article includes and analyzes the actual scoresheet of many of the athletes we’ve seen perform. So while we spectators are only seeing the final score, the skaters and their coaches can actually see the breakdown by element (I’d assume there would be an appeal process if scoring seemed off, at least for something that could be reviewed on a replay of the tape)
The article also breaks down the scoring between Adam Rippon and Mikhail Kolyada in the free skate of the team event, in great detail. Apparently Rippon would have scored higher if he hadn’t under-rotated a triple lutz at the end of his program.
It’s all very math-y. No matter what Johnny Weir said, a program filled with messed up quads didn’t help Nathan Chen at all in his short programs. In hindsight, Chen probably would have done better to hold back on the short program quads and rack up full points for a clean program – because if he hadn’t messed up so badly in the short program, he likely would have medaled after the free skate. (Of course, if is equally possible that would have just reversed the problem, which he himself has attributed partially to nerves during the high-stakes skates).
@calmom, I have read that repeatedly: that if there is any time to go clean and conservative, it’s in the short program, because even small mistakes can kill your chances.
Okay, while we are walking down memory lane, I just came across this about US figure skating champion Debi Thomas, who graduated from Stanford after winning the Bronze medal at the1988 Olympics, and then went on to med school and a career as an orthopedic surgeon:
Another Vox article, this time explaining the differences among the various skating jumps. Really interesting, though I can’t say it was enough to help me identify what I’m seeing on TV because the jumps go by so fast. Slow motion replays would help. https://www.vox.com/culture/2018/2/8/16919618/winter-olympics-2018-skating-jumps
My H was fascinated by the downhill skiing. He said it was just like motorcycle racing (which he quit the week before he met me) in terms of figuring out the angles of the apex, etc.
One of the coolest things yet I’ve seen so far is the video of Norwegian Havard Lorentzen’s brother going crazy watching his brother on his small phone, willing him on remotely! Havard won the gold in the 500m speed skate by .01 seconds! The brother Hakon is a professional Norwegian soccer(football ) player and he was watching with his soccer teammates in the room with him. I teared up watching it, probably partly because I had two very athletic boys- and loved seeing the support and emotion Hakon showed for his older brother!
It’s not the wild, wild west.
I ate what I wanted the whole time!