Franz
02-20-2010, 12:44 PM
...clearly should have gone to Plushenko, not Lysacek. While Evan's routine was very good skating, Yvegeny make's a valid point in his statement that at this stage in men's figure skating no world or Olympic champion can or should be the winner of gold who fails to do quads in his routine. If Evan had had to compete against the splendid Brian Boitano when he was the reigning world and Olympic champion 15 to 20 years back--which is the level of figure skating that Evan's routine was reflective of, Brian Boitano would have trounced Lysacek. Thus, I also reluctantly have to agree with Plushenko's comment that awarding the Olympic gold medal to Lysacek for his skating routine in the long and short programs (done with no quad jumps) does represent regression in the supposed standards of the sport. Naturally it always great when an American athlete wins gold, but not when another competitor's routine substantly was better.
I can recall, back when the old Soviet Union was still going strong, the Soviet skate athletes winning gold medal after gold medal every four years allegedly because their style and precision were near perfect in comparison to the more free-form routines done by American, German, French, and Japanese athletes of the day, just as I can recall the unrelenting complaints coming from the American skating community that the Soviet athletes were not amateurs but rather professional skaters in that they were financially paid and supported by the Soviet state practically from birth--a valid criticism during that era. It is ironic to me that today the American critics and commentators are defending Evan Lysacek getting the gold medal because, they allege, his skating was "technically superior" to the silver medal winner. When Evan Lysacek was specifically asked to comment during a media interview this morning on the point that he did no quad leaps in his short and long skating routines, he simply evaded answering the questions about that and took refuge in making "kind comments" about his closest competitor. And he joined his interviewer in Russian-bashing, which is purely an ad-hominem argumentation and thus a "cheap shot".
I can recall, back when the old Soviet Union was still going strong, the Soviet skate athletes winning gold medal after gold medal every four years allegedly because their style and precision were near perfect in comparison to the more free-form routines done by American, German, French, and Japanese athletes of the day, just as I can recall the unrelenting complaints coming from the American skating community that the Soviet athletes were not amateurs but rather professional skaters in that they were financially paid and supported by the Soviet state practically from birth--a valid criticism during that era. It is ironic to me that today the American critics and commentators are defending Evan Lysacek getting the gold medal because, they allege, his skating was "technically superior" to the silver medal winner. When Evan Lysacek was specifically asked to comment during a media interview this morning on the point that he did no quad leaps in his short and long skating routines, he simply evaded answering the questions about that and took refuge in making "kind comments" about his closest competitor. And he joined his interviewer in Russian-bashing, which is purely an ad-hominem argumentation and thus a "cheap shot".