Saturday, October 2, 2010

This and That



Shawn Johnson is making progress in her training. She looks to be on pace for next summer.

Joshua Farris won the JGP UK.


Adam Rippon dominated the Japan Open with the best performance of his career. He defeated Daisuke Takahasahi (who landed a quad), Evgeny Plushenko, Michal Brezina, Takahiko Kozuka and Jeff Buttle. Given how PCS and GOE tend to be reputation based, this should help him during the Grand Prix series. He is on track to make a major move up the rankings this year. Get ready for every Japanese fan on youtube to claim his jumps are cheated and they'll talk about his crossovers. I personally can't wait for the slow motion videos. Orser and Wilson look like they are addressing (or at least masking) his back pumping and his choreography and unique positions are lovely. This is a wonderful program for him.

Videos:
Adam Rippon
Evgeny Plushenko
Michal Brezina
Takahiko Kozuka
Jeff Buttle
Julia Sebestyen

The FIG is launching a disciplinary procedure for the Hong Su Jong age falsification scandal. It appears that Hong Un Jong and Hong Su Jong are twins, which makes Hong Su Jong ineligible for the 2003 Worlds and 2004 Olympic Games. North Korea was previously barred from the 1993 Worlds as a result of Kim Guang Suk's multiple birthdates.

Interviews with the Chinese World teams have been posted.

Men:


Women:

14 comments:

  1. How cute is Chow? I also love seeing a gym where little girls are working out alongside an elite. Seems like there is a great atmosphere in that gym.

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  2. "Get ready for every Japanese fan to claim his jumps are cheated and they'll talk about his crossovers."

    Why do you say that??? I'm a Daisuke fan from Japan, but I do love Rippon too. I've been following him since his junior years. And, I'm sure, he is very much loved by Japanese figure skating fans. Actually, it's only him who got a standing ovation last night. I went and watched him skate at Carnival on Ice. He surely was the greatest of the night. (You'd better watch his new EX, seriously.)

    I've been a fan of your blog since the summer of last year, and it's okay with me that you don't like the Japanese skaters because everyone has their own tastes and I don't like some of them either. But, tbh, sometimes I'm overwhelmed by your indiscriminate hatred of both Japanese skaters and fans. That makes me feel very sad.

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  3. Exactly who has been named to the Chinese team?

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  4. I love the Japanese skaters (minus Ando), their fans just tend to go overkill with the youtube videos. I'll edit to post to specify.

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  5. What an amazing performance from Adam Rippon! His crossovers aren't so hot, but the rest is very good. Seeing him get more and more confident with the 3A will be a great thing.

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  6. I am not a huge fan of Shawn's gymnastics, but I'm completely impressed by this comeback so far. I hope she stays healthy... It would be such a great story to see her back in competition. Her two to layout on beam already looks great!

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  7. Love the SJ updates. Crazy how good she seems and she's only been in the gym in a few months. I'm sure she'll get more polished closer to 2011. I am slightly disappointed that her flexibility (in her beam series leaps) is still lacking.

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  8. I like how Shawn is doing twisting double layouts and meanwhile has a 110 degree split.

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  9. I don't understand why Rippon didn't try his quad. Well it is the Lysacek era and quads are irrelevent in figure skating now.

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  10. Yeah, Chow is the cutest thing ever. "That's what I'm talking about." hehe
    How tall is Shawn, now, anyway?

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  11. Rippon isn't Asian (aka a former colony) so the Japanese don't really care. If anything, the backlash against Rippon shouldn't be that strong.

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  12. I was not a Shawn Johnson fan before but now I am. I always respect and root for fighters, and this girl is proving she IS a fighter!

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  13. I love Adam and know that he is the future. Great program, but look at 4:46 -- what I call the "dreaded hip drop." Why don't skaters realize what ballet people do -- once you establish a level for your leg, that you never drop below it. It totally distracts from your line. Call me picky! Doesn't it bother other people?

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  14. hey, ya all should know that strong gals have 2 work extra hard on flexibility and the tiny gals have to work on power/strength. (SJ)

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