The competition finished more than 3 hours ago, speculations are pointless.

SPOILER IN BLACK: NONE OF THEM GOT IT

Yeah well they JUST showed it here in the U.S. Finished 3 minutes ago. I was speculating cause I hadn't seen it yet.

and...

SPOILER COMMENT IN BLACK:Yay for Arakawa. Her performance, although conservative, was very inspiring and clean. She deserves the gold. She was awesome in the short program, composed in warmups, and amazing in the long program. Never showed signs of slowing down. I believe it's the first gold for Japan in figure skating. Congratulations Arakawa.

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Well, no need to disguise it anymore. Thanks to everyone who did!

this is the second tome someone not expected to win did. it goes to show that really anything IS possible at the Olympics. The top 2 skaters in the world fell under pressure, and Arakawa, who was ranked 9th coming into the competition, rose to the challenge. they broke down after the perfomance how Slutskaya came in 3rd, even though she only fell once. that is because Cohen got more points for spins and footwork. We all know Cohen is more artistic.

I feel bad for Cohen, who had her leg bandaged due to a groin pull. No doubt that has a lot to do with why she failed to complete her jumps. I also feel bad for Slutskaya, whom we all knew had the potential, and fell apart at the end. commentators said that if she had stuck to her program, and not let the fall effect her, she could have held onto the silver, but she missed crucial footwork and spin points.

Not only is this the first gold for Japan in figure skating, it is their only medal so far this Olympics.

EDIT: and that girl from Georgia...I predict she will be a force to be reckoned with in 2010. She has a lot of power, grace, and style at 16, just wait 4 years to watch her soar to the top.

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WOW. What a gala show it was yesterday! That was truely awesome.

Plushenko was the star of it all. He is back to his own self. An that vilolinist on ice. He was brilliant. The whole idea of bringing him was great! I am very please I have finally seen good old figure skating, that blows me away.

I actually have a feeling that in the competition performance Plushenko was having a go at the new scoring system that doesn't reward artistism and originality. As if he was trying to prove that it is possible to win without emotions, just doing the jumps. The gala yesterday demostrated how different the competition is from real figure skating: in the tournament they don't have time to do all these amazing spins and sequences. They are not marked high but they look so beautiful.


I am still sad for Irina though. She deserved it more than anybody else. I mean she was the first woman to do a triple lutz-triple loop combination, the first woman to land a triple salchow-triple loop-double toeloop combination... She won every competition possible... except the Olympics. There was so much pressure on her... and not just from media and herself, but from her family situation. She really wanted to do it for her mother who has been on life support machine for a long time and depends on Irina a lot. ... She couldn't cope with her nerves and the gold will never be hers. I still think that she should have been in silver though. Her bronze was a shock for reporters and specialists.

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The top 2 skaters in the world? The only thing that made her look so is U.S. PR program.
Cohen only once won U.S. Championship and once won Grand Prix, 2 times was second in the World Championship and now won silver at the Olympic Games.
Slutskaya 5 times won the cup of Russia, is 7 times European championship winner, 4 times Grand Prix winner, 2 times World Championship winner, won silver and now bronze medal at the Olympic Games.
How can you put Cohen in one line with Slutkaya and call her a top skater in the world??!??!
It was clear Cohen lost all her confidence before the competitions even started, she already fell a few times on her warm-up.
Sasha lacked speed she demonstrated before and her performance lacked energy, and spins you’re talking so much about were in fact very slow, especially comparing to what she did in the short program.
Yeah, she has a wonderful flexibility, but flexibility alone doesn't equal good skating skills. Cohen’s program component scores were too high, considering the mistakes and the speed issues.
She has a huge potential and maybe in years to come she'll become a true champion, but for now she's definily not.
Yeah, gala show was amazing indeed, thing I liked the most was violinist on ice while Plushenko and Marinin&Totmyanina were performing!
Without no weight on the shoulders it's much easily for everybody to show excellent skating and it's muuuuuuuuuuch easily to watch too!
Thing that's making me really sad is that it was the last Olympic Games for many of my favourite skaters.

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That's sad indeed. I don't see who is going to be the nest great. But at the same time. Navka and Kostomarov were only 10th in SLC and look what a progress they've made. I heard that Plushenko is staying.

That violinist was fantastic. And Nino Rota's Romeo and Juliette is a timeless classic. When Romeo+Juliette with DeCaprio fist came out I predicted that it will soon be forgotten and Zeferelly's R&J will always be on the top. Time proved I was right.

BTW: I have just watched BBC figure skating tournament highlights: the best of the best. They showed all gold medal performances, the Chinese pair silver medal dance after they fell and then resumed... and Irina's dance... No Cohen in the best of the best!

I mean I admit she is a great girl and a fine skater but I simply don't want to see her being put on the same level with Slutskaya... yet. She is not there at the moment... may be in 2010 but not now.

You're right about the music, but let me not agree with you on the movie itself.

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Lisathewitch is away.

WhisperedVoices. Go there. Now.

Do they really? That would be great! This new system is good. It's more fair I think, but these things like deduction for falls are rediculous. It means that no matter how many time they fall they can still win if they add 10 other jumps. But what about the dance? If they only jump and fall and then jump again, they have no time for dance itself at all, no time for nice spins and lifts that maybe not as difficult to make (hence not marked high) but are very beautiful.
I hope they will correct these mistakes.

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