News Flash: American Sasha Cohen, the leader heading into the long program, falls on her first two jumps and settles for a silver medal in Women’s Olympic Figure Skating.
Teddy’s Take: Why do figure skaters consistently pull a “Vanderjagt� in the Olympics? I mean, come on! They spend their entire life preparing for this one moment. Hour after hour, year after year of training and sacrifice, and this is the best they can do? It’s not just Cohen. Did you catch Irina Slutskaya, the gold there for the taking until she began scraping the frozen water like a bad Zamboni?
Am I being too harsh? Help me out here. Like any skill, acquiring it is the hard part, but once they get these jumps down, shouldn’t they be able to pull them off in their sleep? I’ll bet they land a triple lutz or salchow hundreds, if not thousands, of times in practice. Is the pressure put on these often fragile young ladies that difficult to overcome when it counts?
I must admit, I often root for them to fall and laugh hysterically when they do. But this year was different. I was actually pulling for Cohen because there was something about her. She seemed immune to the pressure during her brilliant performance in Tuesday’s short program. She was incredible that night. As good as I’ve seen since my all-time favorite, Katerina Witt. Then came Thursday night and….Timber!
Oh well, it’s back to the practice rink to begin preparations for Vancouver and the 2010 Winter Games. There, figure skating’s top competitors can once again hit the ice harder than the Titanic.
That’s my take……what’s yours?
I ask the same question about pro basketball players at the foul line. If you expect a skater to pull off maneuvers like that without falling, then you should have no patience for a pro athlete making millions not hitting a foul shot every single time. What do you think about that Ted??
When you begin to criticize Bodie Miller for his abysmal showing at the Olympics, and this due to his party hearty demeanor, then come back to see us about the Figure Skaters – Male or Female.
Ted, if I knew that you watched Olympic figure skating, I never would have joined your fantasy football league. Please don't tell me that the "victim" has taken a monetary interest in the sport.
foul shots is a lost art in the nba ,look at peirce ay what u want but iv`e seen the man miss more than vice pres. cheney at a quail hunt
figure skating is a tremendous sport all the hours of prep .....give me a break ,bring back the drama of kerrigan ,harding and gilolly ,at least there was some story to it as for the commie not only did she choke biut when i first saw the program i thoughtit was mens figure skating can u say homely ,she look like yelstin on skates after a hard nite of drinking.or was that bode miller?and as i realize i`m actally watching this i can`t help to think WHY ME?WHY ME?.........