Well, its time to share my opinated thoughts with you all....
Vancouver is a lovely place, a modern city with beautiful natural scenery & very friendly, helpful people. Whistler is gorgeous too.
I
hate long (in this case, nine hour) plane flights!!
I'm glad I went to an Olympics but in future I'll stick with Euros (plus any worlds that might be held in Europe) - more skating for less money!
Thanks to Irina for coming with me on this adventure!
Really good to meet with Jeanne & Karen - hope you girls have got/will get home safely! Well done to Jeanne on handing over the card!
Irina & I couldn't make practice
as our accomodation was so far out of Vancouver (sorry Irina, I thought it was closer
) but we managed quite a bit of sight-seeing - Whistler, North Vancouver including the Capiliano suspension bridge, Vancouver Aquarium & a trolley-bus tour of the city.
The Olympic volunteers were terrific!
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Let me look at the guys in finshing order:-
Evan - he was really focussed & did his job perfectly, a superb competitor who worked the system to win, we have to remember that CoP rewards "percentage" skating (ie. non-risky things done well). What I remember best about Evan's performances is the "burnt firebird" comment - which I'll leave for Irina to explain! - but he
was better than Evgeny...
Evgeny - like Torvill & Dean in 1994, he thought he was going to win because of who he is but - again correctly - no! His jumps were not impressive (I was suprised to see that he got so much +goe on them - must be the name) & the rest of his skating is the same as ever - he waves his arms, wriggles his bottom & thrusts his hips, the actual music is background noise only.
Daisuke - in my mind he should have won. Such a complete skater - jumps, spins, musicality but both the quad & first combination were downgraded & he got two edge calls on his lutzes. When he fell hard on the quad at the start of the fs I was worried but he continued on like it had never happened & was so thrilled to make history with the bronze!
Stephane - his jumps didn't seem on but full marks to him for hanging onto so many poor landings, everything else was good as always.
Chan - boring, bland & overmarked.
Johnny - Ab Fab!!! Totally undermarked in both programmes as he skated really well, good jumps & spins, great flow & musicality - he got my silver medal!
Oda - remarkable that a) he would skate in the olympics with such tatty laces & b) that he could skate so well after breaking one of them. Chaplin was pleasant to watch - one of Morozov's better efforts!
Kozuka - I've started to like this boy's skating, good - bar a couple of mistakes in the fs.
Jeremy Abbott - another bland skater who cameback well from a bad sp, I thought his fs marks were a bit generous.
Brezina - a talented skater who has to earn his marks (no PCS freebies from the judges) & mostly did, should have finshed ahead of Abbott.
Denis Ten - if he survives puberty he is going to be incredible!
Florent - another talented young man who skated well, hope FFSG doesn't destroy him....
Artem - enjoyable to watch (ditch the tango please) but could use a haircut!
Javier - much improved & fun to watch!
Adrian - undermarked, especially in the fs where he was really hitting the jumps beautifully & also being totally freaky & different, another skater who doesn't get judges' freebies - I give him my bronze medal!
Brian - I'll draw a discreet curtain here.........
Kevin - a decent sp but he popped too many jumps in the fs.
Contesti - some skaters can manage panpipes music, but Samuel is not one of them.
Tomas - another discreet curtain...
Bacchini - bathroom break time.
Pfeifer - I enjoy Viktor, he is musical.
Lindemann - a good sp, I was sorry he didn't have a better fs in his last competition.
Vaughn Chipeur - the manliness of Canadian skating didn't do very well, he really needs his jumps to work & they didn't, but he is pleasant to watch.
Kovalevski - Anton had a lovely sp most enjoyable to watch!
Ri Song Chol - North Korean with strong jumps.
Abzal Rakimgaliev - I remember him from Goteborg, he was a lovely suprise there but seems to have regressed since.
Gregor Urbas - why he didn't get a deduction for vocal music, I'll never understand. He is definately regressing fast.
Przemyslaw Domanski - rather forgettable I'm afraid.
Zoltan Kelemen - skated below his best, so had no chance of making the fs.
Nurmenkari - poor Ari-Pekka had a horrible skate.
Subject: Re: 2010 Vancouver Olympics 
15.02.10 16:44
!
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Alex 
....Tomas and Brian with curtain 
