Evan Lysacek skated a beautiful program, damn near flawless - if he bobbled, I certainly didn't see it.
His tragedy was his short program - there was no way for him to overcome that, when the points were totalled up. What made no sense to me was how Plushenko got 85 points for presentation. As Button and Hamilton both said, there was no program. All of the jumps were loaded at the front and he practically walked from one trick to another. He should have been marked down for his footwork and spins, and perhaps he was, but jumps are still so heavily weighted that all a skater really has to do is go out and land the most difficult jumps (or even try them, because a skater is still better off falling on a quad than leaving it out altogether).
Johnny's program was safe, but he stayed on his feet. Definitely, he lacked the jumps, but there is no question that his footwork was better, and even if he didn't have the sparkle of Tuesday night, he should have at least had higher presentation marks than Plushenko. In fact, every skater in that last group (with the exception of Joubert) was miles ahead of Plushenko in presentation (as were most of the skaters we saw from the earlier groups). It makes you wonder if they've really got the Russian Mafia out of the judging.
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Date: 2006-02-17 05:50 am (UTC)His tragedy was his short program - there was no way for him to overcome that, when the points were totalled up. What made no sense to me was how Plushenko got 85 points for presentation. As Button and Hamilton both said, there was no program. All of the jumps were loaded at the front and he practically walked from one trick to another. He should have been marked down for his footwork and spins, and perhaps he was, but jumps are still so heavily weighted that all a skater really has to do is go out and land the most difficult jumps (or even try them, because a skater is still better off falling on a quad than leaving it out altogether).
Johnny's program was safe, but he stayed on his feet. Definitely, he lacked the jumps, but there is no question that his footwork was better, and even if he didn't have the sparkle of Tuesday night, he should have at least had higher presentation marks than Plushenko. In fact, every skater in that last group (with the exception of Joubert) was miles ahead of Plushenko in presentation (as were most of the skaters we saw from the earlier groups). It makes you wonder if they've really got the Russian Mafia out of the judging.