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I'm back... FOR THE SKATING. Yes, it's all about TEH MENZ!
I'd say I'm back online but really, I'm just posting to share my squee about the upcoming Olympic men's figure skating finals.
Plushenko.
Lysacek.
Takahashi.
Weir.
Lambiel.
OMG!
I love seeing more of the skaters *not* attempt quads but that's simply because it hurts so to see them fall. Most of them do, more than half the time. New York Times has a great interactive spread tabulating risks and rewards of a quad for the 14 men skaters in this Olympics who've tried a quad in major international competitions in the last four seasons (and not including the short programs from Tuesday night).
The record shows: "only about a third of them earned more points than if the skater had performed a well-executed triple lutz, one of the most difficult triple jumps, but one which most of the top men can do consistently."
In other words, even landing one doesn't necessarily help that much. Lysacek, for instance, only added "positive grade of execution" points 31% of the time for trying and/or landing one - and even then, it was only an additional +0.8 at most (and far less than that on average). So, he's smart not to plan one in the long program. Plushenko's efforts, however (with only the four competitions since his 2009 return tabulated) have hit 100%, and have netted him an additional +1.2 on average, with +1.8 as his high.
Daisuke Takahashi, ranked 3 after the SP (but virtually tied with Plushenko and Lysacek) has tried more quads than Lysacek, and he's landed half of them, and garnered up to +1.5 additional points for grade of execution as a result. So it makes sense he'd try one in the LP tonight.
Who am I rooting for? WAHHHH I WANT THEM ALLLLLLL!!!! THEY ARE ALL SO AWESOME. Truly, I love them all, for different reasons. Takahashi is beautiful, Lysacek is elegant, and Plushenko is OMG PLUSHY OMG. And Johnny Weir is SO CUTE. (Although frankly, I find him more a performer than a skater, especially Tuesday night.)
Can I just say that also, Lysacek reminds me somewhat of Snape? especially when he wears something like Tuesday night's dark, long-limbed Firebird costume, with the gorgeous feathers drawing attention to his large, strong hands. And Plushenko, IMHO, makes a perfectly marvelous Remus? :D :D :D *Snupin love* In person, of course, Lysacek is just a nice well-to-do American boy who loves sports (see interviews below). But Plushy, in his interview, could still be Lupin. I have so much love for Evgeny Plushenko as the bravura daredevil he truly is, I have to be rooting for him. But... also for all the others! I just hope (like Dick Button, lol) that they all do wonderfully, pull off their best performances ever. Which I will then enjoy!
The NBC Olympics website has the short program videos up, as well as
a long interview with Evan Lysacek (in two parts, the second linked from this one) and a shorter but still delightfully rich interview with Evgeny Plushenko.
The short programs for virtually every contestant is up there, though a bit hard to find: Plushenko, Lysacek, Takahashi, and all the rest. YUM YUM YUM.
Plushenko.
Lysacek.
Takahashi.
Weir.
Lambiel.
OMG!
I love seeing more of the skaters *not* attempt quads but that's simply because it hurts so to see them fall. Most of them do, more than half the time. New York Times has a great interactive spread tabulating risks and rewards of a quad for the 14 men skaters in this Olympics who've tried a quad in major international competitions in the last four seasons (and not including the short programs from Tuesday night).
The record shows: "only about a third of them earned more points than if the skater had performed a well-executed triple lutz, one of the most difficult triple jumps, but one which most of the top men can do consistently."
In other words, even landing one doesn't necessarily help that much. Lysacek, for instance, only added "positive grade of execution" points 31% of the time for trying and/or landing one - and even then, it was only an additional +0.8 at most (and far less than that on average). So, he's smart not to plan one in the long program. Plushenko's efforts, however (with only the four competitions since his 2009 return tabulated) have hit 100%, and have netted him an additional +1.2 on average, with +1.8 as his high.
Daisuke Takahashi, ranked 3 after the SP (but virtually tied with Plushenko and Lysacek) has tried more quads than Lysacek, and he's landed half of them, and garnered up to +1.5 additional points for grade of execution as a result. So it makes sense he'd try one in the LP tonight.
Who am I rooting for? WAHHHH I WANT THEM ALLLLLLL!!!! THEY ARE ALL SO AWESOME. Truly, I love them all, for different reasons. Takahashi is beautiful, Lysacek is elegant, and Plushenko is OMG PLUSHY OMG. And Johnny Weir is SO CUTE. (Although frankly, I find him more a performer than a skater, especially Tuesday night.)
Can I just say that also, Lysacek reminds me somewhat of Snape? especially when he wears something like Tuesday night's dark, long-limbed Firebird costume, with the gorgeous feathers drawing attention to his large, strong hands. And Plushenko, IMHO, makes a perfectly marvelous Remus? :D :D :D *Snupin love* In person, of course, Lysacek is just a nice well-to-do American boy who loves sports (see interviews below). But Plushy, in his interview, could still be Lupin. I have so much love for Evgeny Plushenko as the bravura daredevil he truly is, I have to be rooting for him. But... also for all the others! I just hope (like Dick Button, lol) that they all do wonderfully, pull off their best performances ever. Which I will then enjoy!
The NBC Olympics website has the short program videos up, as well as
a long interview with Evan Lysacek (in two parts, the second linked from this one) and a shorter but still delightfully rich interview with Evgeny Plushenko.
The short programs for virtually every contestant is up there, though a bit hard to find: Plushenko, Lysacek, Takahashi, and all the rest. YUM YUM YUM.