Christine Brennan USA Today launches war on Zagitova!

[caseyedwards]

https://www.rt.com/sport/419317-us-columnist-zagitova-ice-skating/

Must give her low marks in composition! She Must be punished!!

 

[caseyedwards]

Original column

https://t.co/lw4gW0tK69

“Every single one of these points is valid and should be taken into account by the judges in the women’s event. But this is the Olympics, and these are the Russians, and this is figure skating. I’m not optimistic.”

 

[caseyedwards]

Inman too. Who also launched war against plushenko!

When everything in the second half of the program is jump, jump, jump, you tell me if that’s a balanced program,” said Joe Inman, a highly regarded U.S. international figure skating judge who worked the women’s event at the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics but is not judging at these Games.

I wonder if like in plushenkos case he emailed all the judges to penalize zagitova

 

[Satellitegirl]

Ugh...I saw someone else complaining about this on facebook, and it's just ridiculous. So she saves her jumps for the end...and? Anyone else could do this as well. She's working the system, not "gaming" it. She's a beautiful skater...both Russian skaters are(this coming from a former crazy MK fan). And it's funny, because I never found myself bored by Zagitova's program, despite the jumps coming at the end.

 

[Cherub721]

Alina has done everything she can to prepare and I have no doubt she will fight really hard for the gold. She has the most difficult program ever. I don't care about all the negative comments, I really don't. I love watching her and whatever will be, will be. No one else could captivate me for a whole half a program with no jumps.

 

[Spun Silver]

That is pure sour grapes. It's not Zagitova who should be punished, it's the system that's at fault. She is nothing but smart for using the system to her advantage, just as any skater would who was capable of it. Which they aren't. Suck eggs, Brennan. Go Alina!

 

[caseyedwards]

What happened to their respect of step sequences as being demanding as jumps?!?

 

[skateboy]

I think Christine Brennan should stfu.

 

[tony]

The simple fact of the matter is that it's Zagitova, she's scoring extremely well, and people don't like it. She's following the rules, she's hitting the accents and the flow of the music extremely well (those jumps have to be exactly spot-on timing or the effect is lost) and she's been a total machine in the free skate.

Do I think her PCS is 9.00, even approaching 9.50 average? Absolutely not. But there is absolutely no denying that her technical score should destroy everyone else when she skates well. It's not as if what she's doing is a conservative approach. There's a huge risk involved and it has rightfully paid off.

So you drop her PCS down to a more reasonable level-- somewhere in the 8's. She's still going to for sure beat everyone else besides Medvedeva or possibly Kostner if she has the competition of her life. So what's the point? She doesn't deserve scores in the 5's or 6's like some people try to suggest.

After this year, I'm sure the ISU is going to go back and analyze whether the 10% bonus should happen or if the distribution of elements should be more-so rewarded in PCS. But again, all of her elements do match the music. I'd rather see that than 75% or so of the skaters that hit 2 minutes, throw 4 jump elements in a row, and they have absolutely no connection to what's happening to the music. But that's also for the sake of the points, you know.

 

[Rob]

If ISU wants a well balanced program, it should have required 1/2 the jumps in the first half and 1/2 the jumps in the second half. Otherwise, skaters are free to take advantage of the code of points. Perhaps the code could award bonus for up to 2 or 3 jumping passes in the second half of the program.

 

[Coco]

I don't think she ever does more than three jumps in a row which is about par for the course for everyone else.

 

[Meoima]

The simple fact of the matter is that it's Zagitova, she's scoring extremely well, and people don't like it. She's following the rules, she's hitting the accents and the flow of the music extremely well (those jumps have to be exactly spot-on timing or the effect is lost) and she's been a total machine in the free skate.

Do I think her PCS is 9.00, even approaching 9.50 average? Absolutely not. But there is absolutely no denying that her technical score should destroy everyone else when she skates well. It's not as if what she's doing is a conservative approach. There's a huge risk involved and it has rightfully paid off.

So you drop her PCS down to a more reasonable level-- somewhere in the 8's. She's still going to for sure beat everyone else besides Medvedeva or possibly Kostner if she has the competition of her life. So what's the point? She doesn't deserve scores in the 5's or 6's like some people try to suggest.

After this year, I'm sure the ISU is going to go back and analyze whether the 10% bonus should happen or if the distribution of elements should be more-so rewarded in PCS. But again, all of her elements do match the music. I'd rather see that than 75% or so of the skaters that hit 2 minutes, throw 4 jump elements in a row, and they have absolutely no connection to what's happening to the music. But that's also for the sake of the points, you know.

Alina at least has tons of transitions.

 

[Foolhardy Ham Lint]

Like the cheerleaders who auditioned Missy in Bring It On, maybe Brennan would only be happy if Zagitova adds a front handspring, step out, round off. Back handspring, step out, round off. Back hanspring, full twisting layout to her routine.

 

[aftershocks]

There is a problem with the way the rules are being gamed for point-gathering purposes, but the sport hasn't decided to address the situation because there's simply a lack of intelligent, responsible leadership. And of course, RusFed has a lot of clout within the skating community.

However, Alina Zagitova herself should not be blamed. She's a talented skater who is doing what her coaching team has taught and guided her to do in order to win. I do have to laugh at some of the Twitter comments though. One lady who effuses over Zagitova, can't even properly spell 'ballerina.' Another poster must not be a regular figure skating fan, because she seems aghast and incredulous and disbelieving that what Zagitova is doing is even humanly possible. Good grief! What all fs athetes do is incredible. Zagitova doesn't even jump as high as Canadians, Kaetlyn Osmond and Gabby Daleman, nor does Zag move into her jumps with as much speed and ice coverage as the Canadian ladies. And Zagitova is not as artistically accomplished as Carolina Kostner and Satoko Miyahara. Plus neither Zagitova nor Evgenia Medvedeva have 3-axels in their arsenal. No other lady besides Mirai Nagasu of the U.S. will be attempting a triple-axel. And Nagasu also has well-rounded skills that could serve her well if she skates her best.

The problem is all the over-hype and the over-scoring on PCS of the Russians, and the acceptance by everyone in the skating community that gold and silver are only being fought between Zag and Med. They are definitely skilled and consistent jumpers, but they should not be receiving such high PCS across the board. Their coach, Eteri, is smart in the way she's costumed the very pretty Zagitova and in the way she conceived and constructed Zag's program, which is full of bells and whistles and camouflage techniques which effectively hide Zagitova's youthful weaknesses. It's very much the same for Medvedeva with all her OTT dramatics. Zagitova is a better jumper than Medvedeva, but both are overhyped, and it's been working quite well for the Eteri camp. The figure skating community as a whole buys into it hook, line and sinker.

It's not that the Russian ladies aren't talented and worthy of their position in the top echelon. The biggest imbalance is that jumps are considered everything in this sport, and the Russian ladies' jump consistency along with overhype and Russian clout has led to the judges consistently over-rewarding these ladies on PCS. The other part of that is so far, none of the other contenders have stepped up in a big way to make a case for themselves. When Wakaba Higuchi of Japan was skating lights out during the season, she was not being fully rewarded, and then her fed was more behind Satoko Miyahara and other skaters. When push came to shove, Wakaba sadly could not withstand penultimate pressure. She's a boss skater with all-around skills that should be flattening the Russians.

As well, Canada's Kaetlyn Osmond could be more front and center as a rival, but she didn't make a strong case for showing she could beat the Russians when she had the opportunity -- she's still dealing with trying to conquer her own nerves. Bradie Tennell of the U.S. came on the scene at the tail end of this season, so despite her worthy talents, Bradie won't be given a lot of credit by the judges for her strong competitiveness. And it's also not helpful that Bradie drew to skate first in the sp. However, she could simply lay down a great skate in the sp and see what happens. Still, the judges usually aren't as willing to hand out high scores to early skaters. At least, Bradie will have a chance to make a significant showing on the global stage which might set her up for future showdowns.

Christine Brennan and Phil Hersh often tend to bray a lot about superficial matters that don't take into account root problems and underlying complexities. Criticizing the Russian ladies in this way only serves to bring more attention to them and ultimately it helps them prevail, rather than pointing out what the real problems are that need to be resolved.

Frankly, no one condemned Aliona and Bruno for smartly getting all of their difficult jumping passes, throw twist and lifts out of the way earlier in their pairs fp, so they could move through the rest of their program building energy and finesse for completing spins and footwork. It was a good strategy for them (although pairs is quite different from singles).

In any case, it's not easy to leave all jumping passes at the end of a program. It still requires focus, stamina and balls to do that. It does make for unbalanced composition, and I don't like it. But until the sport decides to address it, we may begin seeing more of it should Zagitova become Olympic champion. Again, not everyone can complete all their jumps successfully at the end of a performance. Young Tessa Hong tried it at U.S. Nationals a couple of years ago to disastrous results.

 

[Cachoo]

I do not like her program because of the backloading but I understand why it is back loaded. I think Med's program is more enjoyable. Of course I miss Anna---before last year's meltdown I thought her program interesting with so much potential. I wish there was a way to allow more entries from countries with a glut of talent like Russia.

 

[hanca]

https://www.rt.com/sport/419317-us-columnist-zagitova-ice-skating/

Must give her low marks in composition! She Must be punished!!

As long as she is not impeached...

 

[barbk]

At the next ISU Congress, I'd like to see:
- bonus removed for the SP, but at least one jump required after the halfway point; max of 4 jumps rewarded for second half in the free.
- max of two jumps rewarded for hands over the head
- max of two elements rewarded for blade grabs
- elimination of rewards for spins that make the skater look like a hunched over crab with hemorrhoids.

That's not asking a lot, is it?

 

[judgejudy27]

Well since it is from Christine Brennan, even if were a point with merit nobody would take it seriously since it is from Christine ****ing Brennan. The Rosie DiManno of U.S journalism in the sport.

I do think (albeit by accident as she is only concerned about her own hidden agenda and biases as usual) makes one good point though, in that the back loading strategy can be misused. It was not designed to do this, it was designed to create a well balanced program with some of the harder jumps done late. This clearly is not this. And now with a few people like Zagitova taking advantage of it another way, it is perhaps time this summer to look at adjusting the rules on how bonus points in the 2nd half are applied. Maybe encouraging them to be split evenly.

Zagitova, aside from the backloading factor is overscored though. I feel most sorry for Medvedeva who has clearly and hands down been the best and most consistent skater of this quad, and might lose out on her deserved (if she delivers) Oly Gold due to Zagitova's jacked up GOE and most of all PCS. Granted Medvedeva's scores are also at times inflated, but less so than Zagitova, and the PCS between the two should be much more, even if both probably get higher PCS than they deserve even relative to the others.

 

[UGG]

She is taking full advantage of the scoring system. I don’t see a problem.

 

[AxelAnnie]

Zagitova's back loaded programs, while legal, and smart, will hopefully bring about change in the rules. I could see +10% for the last two jumps in the long, or something like that. But, her program is ridiculous.

 

[zigzig]

Love Zaggy! My only issue with the judging are the +3s’ she keeps getting on that fug Charlotte

 

[el henry]

I’m no huge fangirl (or not) of Christine Brennan, but actually *reading* the article, she doesn’t say anything that multiple folks on FS Boards have said. (God knows what rt.com said, but I’m not about to give them clicks). Since I do not follow the ladies, the merits of this opinion are irrelevant to me.

Certainly no worse than Phil “I only have eyes for Nathan Chen” Hersh. It’s her opinion, and she’s entitled to it.

 

[Carolla5501]

You all do realize that your ranting and complaining are just what these people want.... attention LOL!

If you really want them to go away... ignore them. They get paid for READERS..

And personally I hate the back end loaded programs just as much as the old front loaded programs! The ISU needs to fix this! They need to promote a balanced program!

 

[casken]

If Zag had USA next to her name Brennan would have never written this article.

An article praising her ambition and smart use of the system would be in it's place.

 

[Vash01]

Is Brennen just trying to get attention by writing something controversial?

 

[Perky Shae Lynn]

If Zag had USA next to her name Brennan would have never written this article.

An article praising her ambition and smart use of the system would be in it's place.

/thread

100% true.

 

[morgan rye]

Ugh...I saw someone else complaining about this on facebook, and it's just ridiculous. So she saves her jumps for the end...and? Anyone else could do this as well. She's working the system, not "gaming" it. She's a beautiful skater...both Russian skaters are(this coming from a former crazy MK fan). And it's funny, because I never found myself bored by Zagitova's program, despite the jumps coming at the end.

well personally i do not like zagitova's skating but as long as the rules are as they are you have to deal with what she is doing. i don't like her skating/ i don't like backloading. she is not an artist enough on ice to pull it off so for me watching the first half of the program is ho hum. russians in my mind don't generally play fair but in this instance they are in bounds. her coach i think realized she needed to do this to be competitive. otherwise she is just another russian lady landing jumps........ in a tutu.

 

[Tavi]

The simple fact of the matter is that it's Zagitova, she's scoring extremely well, and people don't like it. She's following the rules, she's hitting the accents and the flow of the music extremely well (those jumps have to be exactly spot-on timing or the effect is lost) and she's been a total machine in the free skate.

Do I think her PCS is 9.00, even approaching 9.50 average? Absolutely not. But there is absolutely no denying that her technical score should destroy everyone else when she skates well. It's not as if what she's doing is a conservative approach. There's a huge risk involved and it has rightfully paid off.

So you drop her PCS down to a more reasonable level-- somewhere in the 8's. She's still going to for sure beat everyone else besides Medvedeva or possibly Kostner if she has the competition of her life. So what's the point? She doesn't deserve scores in the 5's or 6's like some people try to suggest.

After this year, I'm sure the ISU is going to go back and analyze whether the 10% bonus should happen or if the distribution of elements should be more-so rewarded in PCS. But again, all of her elements do match the music. I'd rather see that than 75% or so of the skaters that hit 2 minutes, throw 4 jump elements in a row, and they have absolutely no connection to what's happening to the music. But that's also for the sake of the points, you know.

So I agree with you that she’s a technical marvel who is simply taking advantage of the rules as anyone could do. I also watched a subtitled documentary about her and Medvedeva and she comes off as a really sweet, endearing, somewhat vulnerable kid (Med comes off wonderfully, too - extremely happy and positive).

I guess I differ with you on two things: first, for me personally, the first half of Zagitova’s program doesn’t work. I think it’s Kostornaya who uses the same structure - all jumps in the second half - but in her case, I don’t notice an imbalance in the program because her skating is just so beautiful that it mesmerizes me. Just taste, I guess.

But as to PCS - Zagitova is a wonderful talent and I really like a lot of what she does. But if she only deserves 8s in PCS, then IMO that’s what she should be getting, on principle. And even if it’s “only” Kostner and Medvedeva who will then be competitive with her - don’t they deserve that chance? I think they do.

 

[UGG]

Why are people bitching? She is backloading all her jumps. Other than her potential score, she isn’t making anything easy for herself. Too bad if others cannot. I am not even a fan. I only care about the US Ladies and I’m still pissed AW was low balled but all this complaining over a competitor who is taking full advantage of rules is stupid.

 

[judgejudy27]

@Vash01, does Mrs. Brennan ever write anything with any intent but drawing attention via being controversial.