Are figure skating judges not rewarding difficulty sufficiently?

When Evan Lysacek defeated Evgeni Plushenko for the gold medal, there was controversy. Vladimir Putin sent Plushenko a telegram stating that his “silver was as good as gold” and that he had “performed the most accomplished program on the Vancouver ice.” Two-time Olympic silver medallist Elvis Stojko said that he was in shock and wrote a column called “The night they killed figure skating.” (You can also see a video here.) In it, he describes the reasons that he feels that Plushenko should have won the gold, including the fact he did a quadruple jump and Lysacek did not.

Because of it, the sport took a step backward. Brian Boitano did the same thing, technically, in 1988. There are junior skaters who can skate that same program.

[ snip ]

With that type of scoring, you don’t have to risk it. You can play it safe and win gold.

In what other sports do you have to hold back in order to win?

[ snip ]

Figure skating gets no respect because of outcomes like this. More feathers, head-flinging and so-called step sequences done at walking speed – that’s what the system wants.

I am going to watch hockey, where athletes are allowed to push the envelope. A real sport.

Figure skating has always suffered from an identity crisis. It’s a sport that sometimes looks like a dance recital. How do you judge artistry? And should it allow you to defeat someone who has shown more athleticism?

However, in some subsequent columns by other writers, the reasons for Lysacek’s victory have been explained:

* Skaters receive a score for artistry, technical difficulty, and execution. The two skaters received the same score for artisty. Plushenko got a higher score for technical difficulty, but a lower score for execution, since some of his landing were a little wobbly.

* Skaters receive more points if they put their jumps in the latter part of their program (“backloading”), since that requires more cardiovascular conditioning. Lysacek did so, and so received the bonus.

So, will this affect Kim Yu-na? No. Plushenko came out of retirement to compete at the Olympics. When he and his Russian handlers noticed things like backloading in the points system, they chose to complain about it rather than change his program. Kim, on the other hand, obviously knows how to work with the system for maximum results, since it’s the same one that she’s being winning one competition after another with.

Kim Yu-na to skate 23rd; tragedy strikes Joannie Rochette

Kim Yu-na will be the 23rd out of 30 skaters in the ladies’ figure skating short program, which takes place on Tuesday, February 23rd.

21 – Laura Lepisto (Finland)

22 – Mao Asada (Japan)

23 – Kim Yu-na (South Korea)

24 – Akiko Suzuki (Japan)

25 – Alena Leonova (Russia)

26 – Joannie Rochette (Canada)

27 – [I’m not sure but I’m guessing Hungary’s Júlia Sebestyén]

28 – Rachael Flatt (USA)

29 – Carolina Kostner (Italy)

30 – Miki Ando (Japan)

Kim and Mao Asada expressed relief that they weren’t to skate last. Miki Ando, who will do so, said that while she usually doesn’t mind skating last, she wishes she weren’t at the Olympics. Ando also noted that the favorite doesn’t always win the gold medal, citing how, at the last Olympics, Shizuka Arakawa came out of nowhere to defeat Irina Slutskaya and Sasha Cohen for the gold medal. Kim’s coach, Brian Orser, knows this very well. He once went into the Olympics the reigning world champion, and lost the gold medal by the slimmest of margins.

Orser has said that if Kim performs without any mistakes, she’s unbeatable … but that’s a big “if.” Having said that, I think that even if she makes some small errors, she’ll probably find her way onto some position on the podium. She’d probably have to pancake herself, spreadeagled, onto the ice to finish out of the medals altogether. I think that there are about six or seven girls who could find themselves with a medal.

One of those young women suffered a tragedy this past Sunday. After traveling to Vancouver from Montreal to watch her daughter compete at the Olympics, Therese Rochette, Joannie Rochette’s mother, died of a heart attack. Incredibly, Joannie still intends to compete. Kim Yu-na sent her condolences to her grieving competitor.

“I just heard before practice. I just hope that she can get through this quickly and get back into the competition.”

Kim Yu-na gave $100,000 to Haitian relief efforts but didn’t tell her coach

I knew that figure skating star Kim Yu-na is nice, but I didn’t know this.

Recently she donated $100,000 to Haitian relief efforts. “I just know that she was touched by this disaster,” says [coach Brian] Orser. Kim never told Orser about the donation. “I read it in the newspaper,” he said. “It’s pretty remarkable.”

Koreans win gold and silver; Apolo Ohno becomes most decorated American winter Olympian

At the Vancouver Olympics’ men’s 1,000-meter short-track speedskating competition, Koreans Lee Jung-su* and Lee Ho-suk** (no relation, as far as I know) won the gold and silver medals, respectively. Apolo Ohno won the bronze to become America’s most decorated winter Olympian ever. He has seven medals, as opposed to the six held by Bonnie Blair, the previous record-holder. He has also won the most medals for any short track speedskater, regardless of nation.

* Yes, that Lee Jung-su, who acted like a douche-nozzle after winning a previous gold medal.

** Yes, that Lee Ho-suk, who wiped himself and a teammate out when he decided to go for a gold instead of settling for a bronze.

Apolo Ohno: “Most Reviled Athlete in South Korea”

ABC News has an article* that does a pretty good summary of the brouhaha surrounding Apolo Ohno, and includes some information that even I wasn’t aware of.

One company once sold toilet paper emblazoned with Ohno’s face: Ohno joyfully winning the gold, Ohno kissing his medal, Ohno laughing.

Oh, that is awesome. If I had known about that, I would have bought several rolls and sent them to my family. I hope Ohno wins every a gold medal in every competition he has left, so that they print more.

One video game features an Ohno character you can shoot in the head, and to call something “Ohnolike” is to deride it as a dirty trick.

Hey, that’s not nice. And neither is this.

Thousands of angry anti-Ohno e-mails shut down the U.S. Olympic Committee server for nine hours.

[ snip ]

The animosity toward Ohno grew so heated that the entire American short-track team withdrew from a World Cup event held in South Korea in 2003, citing death threats against Ohno. In 2005, the athlete traveled in South Korea, reportedly under the guard of police.

Here is why Lee Jung-su is a douche-nozzle:

Incensed gold medalist Lee Jung-su criticized Ohno as “too aggressive” in a post-race news conference.

“Ohno didn’t deserve to stand on the same medal platform as me,” he told Yonhap. “I was so enraged that it was hard for me to contain myself during the victory ceremony.”

He has the freakin’ Olympic gold medal. What to do? Thank his family for their support? Express his joy? Convey his gratitude to his home country, which sent him to represent them? No, he takes a cheap shot at the guy who came in second. Douche-nozzle.

The portrayal of Ohno is, in my view, honest and balanced.

He also admitted he had been hoping to capitalize on a South Korean mistake.

“At the end of the race, I was hoping for another disqualification, kind of like what happened in Salt Lake City,” Ohno said.

Still, Ohno later offered his congratulations to Lee in a Twitter post. “Wow Koreans are strong as always,” he added.

This part made me laugh.

But at least one blogger hopes to see him fall flat on his face: “He should fall down on the ice and have (figure skater) Kim Yu-na land on his disgusting face after she performs a triple axel.”

Why would such an extremely violent description of murderous intent make me laugh? Because Kim Yu-na doesn’t do the triple axel, Mao Asada does. Kids, do your homework before getting your hate on. Oh, snap!

* Part One, Part Two, Part Three

Kim Yu-na featured in Time magazine

Kim Yu-na has been featured in Time magazine. She is described in an article entitled “Olympic Athletes to Watch.” If you’re familiar with Kim, there isn’t much new information. I would take issue with this:

Steady and consistent almost to the point of appearing robotic, Kim rarely slips on the ice — a skill that has served her well in the points-based judging system.

Robotic? Hardly. I guess they wanted a punchy phrase.

By the way, did you know that Kim can sing really well? Watch her performance with Tae-yeon, whose vocal abilities are head-and-shoulders above the other members of Girls’ Generation.

Here’s a girl who trains for the Olympics and plans to continue her education, and so only sings as a hobby. Some of the so-called “professional” full-time singers here should be feeling embarrassed.

Edit/Update:

Miki Ando’s coach believes that she could beat Kim for the gold medal.

“Miki can beat Kim Yu-na,” Morozov said in an interview with U.S. figure skating website Icenetwork.com on Wednesday. “She beat her in the short at the Grand Prix Final. She lost the free by a few points.” He added, “They [Ando, Kim, and Mao Asada] all have a chance; it depends on the preparation; it depends on who is healthy, if it all comes together on the day.”

Morozov is currently coaching Ando in Simsbury, Connecticut, at the same Olympic-sized rink where he helped legendary Russian coach Tatiana Tarasova train 2002 Olympic champion Alexei Yagudin of Russia. It is also where he coached 2006 Olympic champion Shizuka Arakawa.

Morozov and Ando will move to Vancouver on Feb. 14. They are considering making changes to her jumps after observing her condition and other skaters. If necessary, Ando will play it safe by lowering the level of difficulty of her jumps. The pressing issue is not to fall massively behind in the short program, where Kim has shown formidable dominance throughout the season.

Mao Asada wins Four Continents Championships, dances to “Abracadabra”

Mao Asada has been in a slump. Once touted as Kim Yu-na’s greatest rival for the gold medal at the upcoming Vancouver Winter Olympics, she had to fight just for a berth on her country’s Olympic team. She came to this week’s Four Continents Championships to try to turn a new page. At first, things didn’t look good, as she finished third after the short program. However, she did very well on Friday’s long program to take the title at the last major competition before the Olympics.

When Kim was told that Asada had not qualified for the Grand Prix final, Kim fought to hold back a smile. But now, that schadenfreude is likely vanishing. Just when it counts the most, Asada appears to be on the upswing.

Kim’s such a sweetie that I find it hard to imagine her behaving like that, and I bet that her heart would be filled with rainbows and sunshine for Mao if she saw her performing “Abracadabra” at the exhibition performance.

Meet K-1’s Lim Su-jeong, who has a pretty face and fists of stone

I stumbled upon this profile while searching for what Choi Hong-man is doing these days. First Choi Hyun-mi, and now this girl. I’m wondering two things: a. Is there something about the Korean gene pool that produces girls with pretty faces and fists of stone? And b. How can I meet girls like this?

I found her Wikipedia page, but you have to be careful not to confuse her with another South Korean kickboxer who has the same name (임수정, but who practices tae-kwon-do, not muay thai). In the picture below, the girl I’m talking about is the one on the left.

Lim started to train Muay thai for dieting when she was a high school student, and in November 2007 at the age of 22, she went to Thailand and stayed there for 3 months to practice Muay thai.

I did some Muay thai back in Canada, and it is tough.

After fighting for several years in South Korea and Thailand, Lim became the bronze medalist of the International Federation of Muay Thai Amateur Tournament held in Bangkok in 2007 and the Muay thai bantamweight champion in South Korea.

[ snip ]

Before competing in K-1, Lim’s professional Muay thai record stood at 17-0-4.

To be competing at that level in Muay thai, she must be carved out of wood. Her current record in K-1 (a comprehensive kickboxing league based in Japan) is two wins and no losses. Below is a video of her bout against Chen Qing.

Apparently, she is known as “K-1 얼짱” which could be translated as “the K-1 fighter with the prettiest face.” Look below and judge for yourself.

Kim Yu-na is writing a book

Current world figure skating champion Kim Yu-na is writing a book. Entitled “Kim Yu-na’s Seven-Minute Drama,” it’s a collection of her reflections, culled from a diary that she writes into every night after training.

Despite being a world figure skating champion, Kim defines herself, “a simple, cool and down-to-earth 20-year-old figure skater who dreams of freedom and a normal life, has blood type O, and eats everything except for things she doesn’t like.”

(emphasis mine)

Has blood type O? Well, this is Northeast Asia. And the part about eating whatever she wants seems to contradict earlier claims about her diet.

The book goes on sale January 28, and you can begin reserving your copies.

Kim Yu-na and Mao Asada are not representative of their respective economies

The Chosun Ilbo recently had an article proposing that Kim Yu-na and Mao Asada were representative of their respective economies. According to it, Kim and Korea have good presentation skills and Mao and Japan have good technical skills.
Rubbish. Kim is overflowing with technical skills. She regularly does triple-triple combinations. (That is, she performs one triple jump followed immediately by another triple jump.) While other skaters slow down before a jump, she actually speeds up. The reason that she has been so dominant and setting records is because of has both superlative technical and presentation skills. The fact that Mao Asada can do the triple Axel (a 3-and-a-half rotation jump) owes as much to sheer brute strength as it does to technical prowess. And the notion that the Japanese lack a sense of aesthetics is ridiculous.