Draw the World's Only Platinum Medalist in Five Steps!

Just had to share this blog post featuring the world's only "Platinum" Olympic Medalist:

How to Draw Plushenko from Aunt Joyce's Ice Cream Stand

1. Big Nose

2. Little Eyes

3. V-shaped Mouth

4. Pointy Face

5. Mullet

The how to sketch is priceless!

Vancouver Men's Long - Spin Focus

I'm going to try to focus on the spins in this post as everyone else focuses on the jumps! I'm also only noting the skaters I see on the NBC broadcast.

Jeremy Abbott - Nice flying sit, good position in the sit change sit with a change to a forward inside edge, wobbled on the first camel rotation then back to the good, low and extended sit spin positions. Glad you focused and fought Jeremy! I'm proud of you. 149.56 free, 218.96 total.

Takahiko Kozuka - Flying change foot combo - way low in sit spin, cool upside down manuever; sit change sit with the foot tucked behind making a little ball position, nice; camel not as stretched as it could be but nice speed and extension in the sit spins, excellent blur scratch spin to finish. How often do you see a fast scratch spin these days? Thanks for that treat Takahiko! Like Sandra Bezic said on the broadcast he has a pure skating technique. I'm really looking forward to watching him over the seasons to come. 151.60 free, 231.19 total.

Denis Ten - Flying Camel Spin that started with good stretch and then almost immediately switched to inside and grabbed his blade. I wish he just held the initial extension, it was a good position. Change foot sit spin that featured resting his foot above the knee on both sides. Oooo, a Bielmann in his combo spin! Threw several positions in the combo spin, wish he picked two out of four and held longer and centered. 135.01 free, 211.25 total.

Huh, NBC showed Tony Dungy and Jerry Jones are in the seats watching. That's different. Wonder what they think of the event.

Florent Amodio - love this music from the Amelie soundtrack, superb speed, positions and centering in the combo spin; inside edge entry to back sit, then change sit and a nice tucked under position;  super sweet tuck position in flying sit, displaying snowboard-like "big air" with that flying sit tuck position. Loved the straight-line footwork preceding it too. This is a performance I'll look up on YouTube to relax and enjoy skating. 134.95 free, 210.30 total.

Patrick Chan - Nice position on a centered and fast sit. Good transition to another edge by pulling in his leg and placing his foot on his knee. Classic sit change sit after the half way mark. Camel, sit spin with unique arm position as part of combo. The crowd cheers are the end! Another program I'll go back too, loved the knee action and glide in his footwork sequences. Good jump technique too. I'm going to enjoy watching him over the next four years, stay healthy Patrick! 160.30 free, 241.42 total.

Michal Brezina - Flying sit with a good air position like Florent's, little wobble on a revolution; sit change sit with a change to an inside edge on the back sit; running out of steam but nice inside edge into back camel for the combo that included more sit spins and camels. He seems to rock to back of his blade in his sit spins and then quickly corrects. I must squeeze in a bit about his jumps. He has a great position in the air, really nice, tight leg position. Good edge riding out of his jumps as well. This is first time I saw him skate on TV instead of a web feed. It was so enjoyable on a bigger screen. 137.93 free, 216.73 total.

Penultimate group done, big guys warming up! Great six minutes of skating - but they decide to go to commercial. Argh.

Realizing as I watch Evan at the boards with Frank Carroll that he is first and Evgeny is last... remembering Michelle and Tara skating order in Nagano. Don't hesitate Evan, go for it!

Evan Lysacek - good position for a tall skater in a sit spin, pulled his leg into a wrap; jump not as high as others in flying sit, but again he's tall it's hard to tuck that daddy-long leg underneath; extended camel could have been held longer, beautiful, fast and centered sit spins that he held for about 10 revolutions each into great extended catch-foot spin to end. I felt I could see him thinking and not performing the first half of the performance. He built energy at the end, good skate. 167.37 free, 257.67 total.

Nobunari Oda - like the lift in the death drop into the sit spin position, good to see a spin earlier in the skate; oh, shades of Tonya Harding with a broken skate lace. Well that's a nice spin after retying his skates, his sit spin position is reminiscent of a curled up cat. Good combo spin with the same curled-cat position as well as nice camel positions. So calm and focused with the skate lace snafu! 153.69 free, 238.54 total.

Stephane Lambiel - La Traviata music; flying camel with excellent arm position along with leg extension; oh this ending combo spin is bringing a big and well deserved cheer from the crowd, camel with hands clasped behind the back, sit spins with about 12 revolutions each and changing arm positions throughout. Love how he streches an arm in the air during his sit and it looks like he could balance a plate better than a restaurant waiter on that hand as the spin is so centered. Then the combo ends with a "headless" back scratch where he's tipped his head back and he's just a blur. Looked a bit tight throughout, but I'm glad he made his comeback. I've missed him! 162.09 free, 246.72 total.

Daisuke Takahashi - nice variety of positions in his sit spins, he works the changes in foot and edge by extending and pulling in while adding features to the spin; cute flying sit, but not the same height and tuck as others, good move to go from a low sit into an extended camel, that's difficult; back camel, back scratch with leg crossed behind into scratch. I enjoy his spins as he puts effort into unique positions instead of the same old same old. Similar to Lambiel but missing the speed. 156.98 free, 247.43 total

Johnny Weir - Spin stumble! He seemed to catch his toepick while on the inside edge in the sit, will be reflected in the GOE. Nice death drop into sit, love how he drapes his upper body with a beautivully arched back over his extended free leg in his sit spins. Running threes into a camel, the gorgeous sit position again, extended catch-foot spin. The audience roars! I've got tears in my eyes, thank you for that skate Johnny, that was wonderful. 156.77 free, 238.87 total.

Evgeny Plushenko - Death drop into sit, not as low as Johnny or Evan, back slouched over; fast sit spin combo, impressed; choreography looks so silly after the last few skaters; back camel, sit, funky upright spin, slooow camel, funky upright with contorted arms, scratch and it's done. 165.51 free, Lysacek wins! Frank Carroll coached a gold medalist! 256.36 total.

Oh Plushenko, so close! Only quad combo of the evening and an amazing comeback. I'm sure he's disappointed, but he should be proud of the comeback effort and still being able to land a quad combo under pressure.

Proud of you Evan!

To Quad Or Not To Quad, Part 2

NBC hasn't broadcast the men's long yet, although from tweets it appears Jeremy Abbott is already skating as I type.

Also as I type the quad hype continues. Since Tuesday the media has created an epic storyline of Plushenko's athleticism vs. Evan Lysacek's artistry. Evan Lysacek as an artist? That's another debate. Plushy is still lambasting those without a quad while commentators like Paul Wylie are quick to point out the difference in Evgeny's and Evan's component scores.

I thought the most interesting voice in the dialogue is Tom Zakrajsek's on his blog. Zakrajsek is coaching in his first Olympics with Rachel Flatt and has a few skaters practicing and completing quads. He seems to share the thoughts that skating is moving backward with fewer people attempting quads,

"Last I checked the Olympic motto was faster, higher, stronger....not risk-freeer, safer, lesser. When you add the suffix "er" to a word it means "more." If a man wins the Olympic figure skating title without a quad will our sport be advancing in the spirit of the Olympics?"

 Now, Zakrajsek is NOT slamming those who did not attempt a quad. He's a brilliant coach and is advancing the sport with his leadership and professionalism alone. He is merely expressing his opinion on the difficulty of completing a quad and how it could be rewarded in the judging.

However, it made me think the real tragedy in the quad debate is that few men seem to be seriously practicing the quad throughout the season. With so much risk to be penalized in the quad attempt and more opportunities to earn points on other components, I think we're seeing fewer quads due to a lack of focusing on them. It takes some pain to get a consistent quad and then it takes additional energy to complete one during the 4:30 min free skate.

Evan has faced injuries from training the quad and did not attempt one in competition until January. He said all season long he was building to put one in during the Olympics. However, as he laid out solid performances on the Grand Prix circuit, he didn't get the practice in of attempting a quad under pressure. I don't think he's mentally prepared for throwing down a quad much less physically prepared.

Evgeny, on the other hand, consistently practices quads and has put them in his programs in the few competitions he's entered this season. After three years away to come out with the quad took some serious blood and sweat that allows him to be mentally ready for the demands of completing a quadruple jump in competition. I expect to see it tonight and if he wins, I'm confident the rest of the field will take the time to practice a quad to get it competition ready and then start breaking them out next season.

Vancouver Men's Short

I'm so not going to be able to sleep tonight and tomorrow's my day to get up early and skate. What a night of skating. The hype for the men's event was worth it.

The broadcast started with fluff on Evgeny Plushenko interviewing him while driving through St. Petersburg with shots of old Lenin statues throughout. He said he bought a fast car just to have some risk in his life and now he wants to be like Dick Button y winning back to back gold. I would love to see Evgeny Plushenko live into his 80s as a commentator as well. Plushenko is a bit of a modern day Muhammad Ali with his smack-talk.

Plushenko looked a bit nervous and stiff tonight. He hit the quad-combo, triple Axel and triple Lutz. I've seen stronger landings from him before, but what cajones land those three jumps at the Olympics after being retired for 3 years! 90.85 points put him into the lead and he held on the rest of the night.

Daisuke Takahashi WOW! Triple flip + Triple toe, triple Axel, triple Lutz. Fantastic footwork to tango rhythms. 90.25

Stephane Lambiel has always had difficulty with triple Axels, so he only planned a double. He's generally solid with his quad, but he stepped out in the combination. The footwork and spins were classic Lambiel. Always impressed with how centered his spins are. 84.63

Nobunari Oda skated and I didn't find anything really memorable about it. I like his long better, this was very business-like and earned a solid 84.85. I did get a slight sense he was imitating Lysacek with big arm movements and leg extensions. Lysacek does those moves because he's tall and they didn't fit the compact Oda.

Brian Joubert came out with an opportunity as Lambiel missed the quad and Takahashi didn't do one. Oooh, he steps out! Swivels hips. Triple Axel easy! Triple Lutz... he's down. He went through the motions the rest of the skate. He picked up the energy a bit in the straight line sequence realizing he would need to earn some points... he earning all of 68 points. He put so much pressure on himself to do well at the Olympics, awful to watch his dream fade away.

Takahiko Kozuka makes it 3 for 3 for Japan. They make skating at the Olympics look easy. 79.59

Patrick Chan stepped to plate next to the roar of the Canadian crowd. He stepped out of his triple Axel but then executed a triple combo and triple Lutz. Sweet to see a circular footwork sequence go in the opposite (clockwise) direction, then a weird step on the straight line sequence where he nearly tripped. Finally, he ended the program after the music so it ran 2:51. One point time deduction and earns 81.12.

Johnny Weir skated to I Love You, I Hate You but the audience was all about the love. He earned much love from the crowd with triple Lutz + triple toe, triple Axel, triple flip. Playful program after the jumps were through. They played Lady Gaga's Poker Face while he sat in the Kiss'n'Cry, but then seemingly low scores popped up prompting boos from the crowd. He received a negative grade of execution on the flip so I'm guessing a wrong-edge takeoff was called there. 82.10

Watched the OT of the UK-Mississippi State game and missed Kevin van der Perren. I don't think I missed much other than his costume. Several tweets it would glow in the dark. 72.90

UK also took precedence over Tomas Verner. He doubled his planned quad and finished behind Joubert. 65.32

Evan Lysacek is back to the Edward Featherhands look and his program took off! Bad writing, I know, sorry. Textbook landings on his triple flip, triple Lutz + triple toe, triple Axel. Besides the jumps he commanded the ice with his deep edges and speed. Spins second best to Lambiel with speed and centering. So proud of him to be able to focus and perform while making it look natural. I thought it would be close between him and Plushenko and Lysacek might pull ahead. My mind tried to remember how many times Evan has been in the lead after the short in a major international competition, I think he does better as an underdog in the free. He'll be the best an underdog can be with 90.30 points right behind Plushenko's 90.85.

Jeremy Abbott skated next and I don't want to type about it. Crushing. Jeremy you're free sings and pigs can fly, Thursday's free skate is another day. 69.40

Good Night, try to go to bed!

To Quad Or Not To Quad

If Shakespeare was sweating under Broadway's lights or sipping coffee before a slam poetry reading today, I think he could find some inspiration in the stories of the men taking to ice tonight. Particularly as the ponder the worth of completing a quadruple jump as they take the Olympic ice.

The Quad
Baseball has the homerun. That amazing athletic feat of hitting a ball that took barely a second to travel from the pitcher's mound to the plate and to hit hit over 400 feet is hallowed by baseball fans. The difference between a hit and homerun a combination of the pitch, and the speed and strength of the batter in his swing.

Figure skating has the quad, any jump done completed with 4 revolutions in the air before landing on one foot. It takes speed and strength and the precision of setting up the jump and landing on a narrow steel blade.

A decade ago the quad was the future of the sport with top skaters conducting jump seminars in their skating programs. Elvis Stojko, Ilia Kulik, Alexei Urmanov, Michael Weiss, Timothy Goebel & Alexei Yagudin pushed the sport from quad toes to quad combinations, multiple quads in a freeskate, and a quad for the short just to be in contention. These skaters represented the best of North America and Europe. Everyone was training a quad.

As the quads increased, the age old skating debate of artistry vs athleticism heated up. Then came the IJS awarding points for completing a quad successfully, and the deductions for underrotating or falling on a quad. The base value of a quad toe is 9.8 points, but a fall counts as zero plus one point deduction. That debate of whether the quad is worth it is reaching a boiling point on the eve of the men's short.

Brian Joubert and Evgeny Plushenko have made statements of the quad being everything in men's skating. Brian Joubert maintains a quad should be worth more and worth the risk of performing one in competition. He says,

There is pressure when you try a quad and there is pressure after it, because it is more difficult to do the next jump.

He has also lamented the lack of quads in skating these days and insists it is the future of the sport.

For all of his talk of quads as king, it would seem that his skating has suffered. After the Torino Games, he was on top the world the following season. He was the first skater to land three quads in a free skate that 2006-2007 and he capped it off with win at the world championships. Since then, he's experienced some illness and injuries. He seems to be able to easily overcome those, but not overcome the weight of the expectations he's put on himself to complete all of his jumps.

His North American competitors have seemed to play some head games with him on the quad topic. Patrick Chan of Canada in particular has reminded reporters while mentioning Joubert that his countyman Jeff Buttle won a world title without a quad. In fact, no one since Joubert has won worlds with a quad. While Joubert lands one, he falls on a triple making the pursuit of quad perfection questionable.

Most of the North American men will not attempt a quad this week in competition. Nancy Amour tweeted that Johnny Weir busted out the quad in practice (nice head games Johnny!) and Jeremy Abbott completed one in his win at US Nats but is more focused on adding a second triple Axel in the free. Evan Lysacek won his world title last year without one and thinks the rest of his skating is strong enough that he doesn't need it.

The North American skaters have used transitions, solid triples, spins and footwork to their advantage under IJS. They read the rules and the great points from the quad, but did the math and saw more points are to be had with other elements. While the Europeans have focused on quads, the transitions between jumps have suffered.

Still, Evan was planning on adding the jump to his free skate until last week. He has chimed in with Joubert on occasion that a quad keeps up the challenge and pushes boundaries in men's skating. Recently, he said he feared he had reinjured his foot. X-rays proved he does not have the stress fracture that bothered him last spring, but he doesn't want to risk it with a quad in his free skate.

With so many top competitors not planning to do quads or willing to take their quad out, why all the fuss?

The Quad 2010

Brian Joubert's pining for the old days of 15 top skaters doing quads is coming back to haunt him. Evgeny Plushenko and Stephane Lambiel have come out of retirement and beat him at Europeans. Both have solid quads, and Plushenko will probably do a  quad-combo in the short and multiple quads in the long. Stephane Lambiel does more quads than triple Axels in his free skate.

Patrick Chan isn't scared, he said this week of Plushenko's skating,

He has the confidence that he doesn't need to do the transitions because he can do what I think is a magnificent quad. But he's old!

The pendulum still swings in the debate of artistry vs. athleticism.  Perhaps a better question is what is more athletic? Skating with complex and fast transitions that take deep knee bends to maintain the speed for four minutes or accelerating down the ice into a quad Salchow-triple toe-double loop combo during a four minute program?

Of course Daisuke Takahashi and Jeremy Abbott can do transitions and quads, proving you can have both and there's no need for debate!

What do you think, to quad or not to quad?

Things That Make You Go Hmm...

Following tweets today, it seems that Evgeny Plushenko had a good short and captured a record score. Multiple tweets that the score was inflated too.

Sasha Cohen took to the ice for a practice and ran through her short. She fell on a flip but otherwise the reports were good that she could be in contention.

Searching YouTube for evidence...

UPDATE
Found Plushy's Short - he did a triple Lutz for the first time this season, plus the usual triple Axel and a quad toe-triple toe combo. Spins a bit slower than the competition, good footwork.


Sasha's Short Run-thru - Nice to watch, worried about the fall on the flip, it was nasty.

Around the World of Figure Skating - European Championships

The Canadian Championship has wrapped up and the US Nationals are at the half way point. Over in Tallinn, Estonia the European Championships are beginning.

The compulsory dance took place today with Oksana Domnina and Maxim Shabalin winning that portion of the event. I'll be watching if they keep the lead and checking in our their scores. This is the first international competition for the reigning world champs due to Maxim's knee troubles. North American teams have dominated this season, but I keep hearing skating fans chatter that podium predictions for ice dance can not be made until the Russians have skated. Russians skating are the equivalent to a fat lady singing in the world of figure skating.

Articles and Blogs on European Ice Dancing Championship:
Domnina-Shabalin Open Strong in Dance


Required Elements by Laura

Beyond ice dancing, the most anticipated event gets under way tomorrow with the men's short program. It's billed as a match up between several past European winners who are either coming back from retirement or from an injury. Tomorrow we'll see if the hype is justified as Evgeny Plushenko, Stephane Lambiel, and Brian Joubert take the ice.

The much hyped trio of former champs have had various injuries whether retired or not. Plushenko has been working on a quad-triple combo, seven revolutions in a second, wow! However, I heard some rumors the training has been rough on his knees and his Lutz was doubled at both Rostelecom Cup and the Russian Champs. Lambiel only competed at Nebelhorn in early fall and Joubert is coming off a foot injury that kept him out of the Grand Prix Final and the French Nationals. He was said today that his foot feels better skating than walking because it's locked in his skating boot.

I suspect there will be some surprises from Samuel Contesti, Tomas Verner and Michael Brezina if any of the hyped trio falters.

Articles on European Men's Championship:
Plushenko, Lambiel, both on comeback trail, feature at European Championships

Plushenko, Lambiel in focus at European Championships

Skater of the Decade: Evgeny Plushenko

This decade saw a tranisition from 6.0 scoring to the International Judging System. It was also defined by an on going debate in men's skating, "To Quad or Not To Quad." Evgeny Plushenko was able to dominate under both judging systems and always answered with a quad. Sometimes he would put an exclamation mark on his quad-toe statements with a quad-Salchow.

He entered the decade the young challenger to Alexei Yagudin and heir to the Russian skating dynasty. The rivalry between Yagudin and Plushenko became fierce. Plushenko was the only one to beat Yagudin in a few years by winning his first World Championship in 2001. They were co-favorites going into the Salt Lake City Games in 2002. Plushenko had a rare fall in the short, and Yagudin went on to some of the highest scores in the 6.0 system history securing his gold medal.

After those Olympics, Plushenko went full steam ahead to win two more World titles, 5 European titles and the 2006 Olympics. He even became the first skater to land two different quads in a program, and quadruple toe-loop and quad Salchow during a Grand Prix event.

His off-ice life has kept in the spotlight as well. He's a Russian superstar, he's been elected to city councils, has had two weddings covered extensively by Russian media and even took time to help Dima Bilan win the Eurovision Song Contest. This is like being on American Idol here, he's a Russian Ellen Degeneres, he's everywhere. I'm sure Oprah was thinking about having him a cover of some magazine...

He's coming back this season to resurrect Russian skating. He's still hitting the quads and even attempting triple axels-quad toes. His knees will probably need to be replaced next year, but he's pushing through anyways. He returned to competitive skating after four years away with a win at Cup of Russia and then got a crazy 100.09 points for a short program that featured a turn out on triple lutz. Craziness! All the points, all the quads, all the chest-thumping leads to a lot of noise about being a medal contender and wild card in Vancouver. How you can you not consider Plushenko a Skater of the Decade?