Did L&A really deserve 2nd place at Olympics and 1st at orlds?

[iceboy]

I rewatched my tapes from Worlds and Olympics, and I am wondering....

I mean they had a great Od at the Olympics, I agree with the second spot there... maybe even good enough for first...

but the quality of their compulsories was rather weak in my opinion and the freedance was hum, weird and didn't look that difficult to me...

Am I the only one to think that???

[schnood]

I totally agree, iceboy.

Well, I didn't see their compulsories (from Olympics)...but they were never their strength anyway.

Lobacheva & Averbukh's OD at Olympics was awesome....totally caught the flavour of the Spanish dance and had content.

But the free dance, if I was an American I think I might be a little offended by it. And isn't there some kind of rule against theatrical costumes? I didn't think their costumes were a little over-the-top, as was the plaster (?) in the hair.

Am I mistaken or did the ISU call for more "upbeat" free dances last year, and maybe even some actual dancing rather than more drama on ice?

And what won the Olympics & Worlds? Two dramatic, although not as dark as some "dances" in recent years, programs that both bordered on being offensive to Americans.

And it's still a total joke that Fusar-Poli & Margaglio were on the Olympic podium at all.

Rant off ;)

[Miezekatze]

:roll:

[Icesk8dance]

Originally posted by schnood
And it's still a total joke that Fusar-Poli & Margaglio were on the Olympic podium at all

I couldn't agree more!

[icenut84]

I didn't see Worlds so I can't comment on that, but why do you think L&A didn't deserve silver at Olympics? The 3rd and 4th place couples fell. After that, it was between A&P and L&A for gold and silver. L&A's programme was plenty difficult as far as I know. It had a lot of footwork, and plus, their lifts are probably the best of the bunch, along with A&P. Love it or hate it, they skated the programme well and deserved the medal, IMO.

What a lot of people find difficult when making judgements on ice dances, apart from it not being easy to guage the difficulty for yourself, is that they analyse the music and the theme (if it has one) too much. I try to think more along the lines of whether I think they interpreted (in both the choreography and the skating itself) the musical choice well, rather than how much I like the programme. It is difficult, but there's always going to be some people who love a programme and some who hate it, but if it is difficult enough, choreographed effectively and skated well, they should be able to judge similarly based on what they know. JMHO. :) (I'm talking the judges here, not the fans)

[Isabelle]

I definately don't think they deserved the 2nd or 1st!!!!! First of all, their compulsories are very weak, like some of the top pre-novice teams could probably do them as well as they did them, if they had the same amount of time to work on them. (although perhaps slower...) Their OD was kinda cool, but their free dance was horrible! And they always seem to have the exact same expression on their faces, no matter what rhythm they're doing. I probably would've had quite a few other teams ahead of them.

[Noble Webmaster]

If you are basing L/A on 'always weak compulsories' on seeing ONE CD from O's then sorry ........

[lrngsk8-gabi]

I think they could easily have been first, with just a little more push at the end. Loved their Free. The only people I might have placed ahead of FP/M if the fall had been worse would have been C/S...g

[Blue Ridge]

I find the suggestion that L&As FD could in some way be offensive to Americans bizarre. Their FD caught my feelings about September 11 almost perfectly. I thought it was brilliant. I also couldn't care less whether they "really" deserved any particular placement. How do you determine "really" anyway???

[marlyn]

Olympics .....YES!
Worlds.....gotta say that I think B&K outskated them.

[Greek Chic]

Originally posted by marlyn
Olympics .....YES!
Worlds.....gotta say that I think B&K outskated them.

I totally agree on that comment!

[Aussie Willy]

Looking at each section and just L&A in particular ....

I think their compulsories were weak. They did not have correct steps (I found their choctaw in the blues a real problem), their posture was very forward, particularly on the quickstep and even in the blues the were quite far apart from each other. I personally would have had B&K second in the compulsories at the Olympics but I don't know how they did at worlds because I haven't seen the compulsories from that. However L&A were better than F-P&M but not sure if they were better than D&V.

However their OD was far superior to all the other competitors at Worlds and I think only A&P were better at the Olympics. In fact their OD at Worlds was much better than at Olympics. It was quite brillant.

As for the FD, maybe the thing that gave it to them at Worlds was the fact that they are such good skaters generally and they do have a real connection to each other which is kind of reminiscent of Klimova/Ponamarenko (in fact when I watched them live at 98 Worlds they reminded me of K&P). B&K, even though they had a great FD and are very good skaters, do not have the same chemistry that A&P or L&A have and this might be the influencing factor because technically I think they are equivalent.

So I am not sure if I have evaluated the FD well enough but I hope it does shed some light on your question.