Welcome back, Sheena, and thanks for sharing your impressions with us!

Is there going to be an exhibition gala like at the other competitions?

21.30...that's a good time! I'll surely watch it, though an exhibition gala without Brian is going to be weird and slightly sad of course. Never seen one without him before actually...

Girls, the gala has already been broadcasted this afternoon....!!
I just checked the shedule on the eurosport consumer site and it said:

16:47
FIGURE SKATING
Olympic Games in Vancouver (Canada) - Gala Exhibitions (73min)

I know...I watched it. It was also on this morning at 8 or something...But I was still fast asleep then.
I'm sure there will be a rerun!

Hmmm And the Olys has ended!!! Pity

(
(and for me school is beginnig, after 2 free weeks )

I'm glad Olympics at Vancouver are over! The bad lucky is gone! Now, SOCHI! SOCHI!


______________
Izadora

I saw a part of the closing ceremony! Evan lysacek had his gold medal around his neck and was on television for 3 or 4 times. And Joannie was holding the flag for Canada!

[quote="MAMOUNA38
I see that you are taken under silence for Brian and Tomas, it did not have to be obvious to see them missing the competition!
I hope that they will get their revenge from the Worlds in Turin!
![/quote]

I've had time to mull things over a bit more....

Seeing Tomas underperform, though sad, was not altogether a suprise (he is famous for being consistently inconsistent!) however I really didn't expect such performances from Brian - who is normally more reliable. I cannot even begin to guess what happened - panic attack, over-focus on the Olympics, something-said-by-someone-who-should-know-better before the sp??? I haven't heard about anything worrying before the sp, so it was a shock to see.

It was a rather surreal experience, in the most important programme of his career Brian was slow & uncomitted. The quad was exactly as he had done it in the wam-up (I couldn't understand why he didn't do another one before warm-up ended - I do put that down to poor coaching), he did a beautiful 3 axel & then.....fell on the lutz.

Being innocently unaware of all Didier's lack of class attacks between the sp & fs, I was hoping that Brian could come out fighting in the fs & show what he really was capable of - but no, again his jumps were off. It seemed that the body was out on the ice, but the mind, heart & soul had remained in Poitiers. I felt - & feel - so sad for him, to loose his big dream in such a crushing way.

Let us hope that both Tomas & Brian get the chance to get their revenge @ Turin.

Maybe this test-skate is a good thing (didn't Brian say that he would have liked another competition before Euros as he had missed two others due to his injury?) though I do think that it is very insulting to the skater who has won so much for France - 1 World & 3 European titles, 4 other World & 6 other European medals, 1 GPF title & 1 GPF medal, 7 GP titles & 4 GP medals (despite never been at his best early in the season) all while carrying the burdens thrust on him by DG & FFSG.

Hopefully he has recovered in his training & will "win" the skate-off. If he doesn't I hope his good friend Alban gets the spot as I consider Ponsero to be a liability under pressure & can see France loosing their 2nd worlds spot with him, though the FFSG seems to love him.

Thank you, Sheena, for your report and comments; I've been patiently awaiting this, lol.

In regard to the test skate, my personal opinion is that the FFSG is using it as a punishment to Brian for failing to deliver that gold medal; just another, different way to shame him. I think this for the very reasons you've posted, one of those being, all his previous high-placing medals at various competitions. Those goons at the FFSG (and DG, in particular) should be horse-whipped for putting Brian under the extreme pressure and expectations which they did. They put all their "eggs" in a basket named Brian, which was wrong from every perspective, and when Brian couldn't deliver (for whatever reason--and we may never know what happened) they slammed him, along with his supposed-to-be mentor's vicious remarks between the SP and FP. DG may have been the mouthpiece, but if you noticed, no one from FFSG made any comment in support of Brian, so the entire organization appears to be out to get him ( although there are probably members who feel differently but are too cowardly to stand up to DG).

Quote:

It was a rather surreal experience, in the most important programme of his career Brian was slow & uncomitted. The quad was exactly as he had done it in the wam-up (I couldn't understand why he didn't do another one before warm-up ended - I do put that down to poor coaching), he did a beautiful 3 axel & then.....fell on the lutz.

The really sad thing about all of this is that we may never know why Brian could not skate up to his abilities. If he didn't do a second quad in the warm up, and you thought that was odd, it points up to the fact that "something" negative had already diverted his attention away from his skating and his program, and that "something" must have had a huge emotional impact on him, otherwise I can't understand why everthing went the way it did. It is truely tragic that Brian got all the way to the Olympics and then couldn't deliver on his dream.

Mary C.