Canada declares war on Switzerland

[Serb]

Yeah, right, my congrats. We needed this kick in the as$.
But you still have my prediction for the semis.
And I still curse Canada for absolutely unfair reffering in figure skating. That was a disgrace. Really.

[Guynemer]

Serb, you are just... precious.

[Asher]

Just to be clear to those watching...Russia just lost to Slovakia in hockey.

This comes right after Serb's gloating about how Canada needed a shootout to BEAT the Swiss.

[rah]

Yeah, since the break up, the Russians are just a ghost of their former selves.
Looking at the medal count just confirms it.
Maybe Russian figure skaters should put some of their tricks into the second half of their program for the bonus points, (assuming they read the new rules) instead of *****ing about the judges.

[xLast1alivex]

LOL awesome game last night though! w00t! and cheers to a fellow Toronto'nian

[-Jrabbit]

Hey Serb, your POV on Plushenko and the scoring is all wrong and every bit as prejudiced as you claim the judging to be.

Figure skating is much more than doing tricks. It's also about performance, about choreography, about emotive and interpretive skills - connecting those big jumps to the other program elements with smooth, creative transitions. Not to mention spins and footwork. It's interesting that Plushenko himself admits that he ignores transitions (one of 5 key scoring elements) in his program. In his own words (on absoluteskating.com)...

"If the judges want someone to place high, they can arrange it. Like (at the European championships) in Tallinn, (France's) Brian Joubert got more points for his transitions than me, although we did exactly the same transitions on the ice. In fact, we don't have any transitions because we focus on our jumps."

Yvgeny skated two strong programs this week, but his accustomed artistry was lacking, his footwork was desultory at best, and his program lacked cohesion. His time away from the sport definitely showed; this was not the Plushenko of years past. He is a very strong technical skater, but was bested - and fairly - by another technically strong skater with a superior artistic presentation of an intelligently back-loaded program.

In short, Lysacek deserved the win. IMHO.

The guy who really benefited from bad scoring: the Frenchman, Lambiel, who skated poorly in both the short and free skates, yet was still given 4th.

The guy who REALLY got screwed in the scoring (in both the short and free skates) was (the Fabulously Flamboyant) Johnny Weir, who skated clean in both events, with only one minor bobble (hitting some bad ice during a spin), yet was scored lower (6th!!) than several skaters with obvious, major flaws in their routines. His level of difficulty hurt him, but it should not have been to this degree. IMHO.

To be clear: Plushenko and Lysacek were very close. One was stronger in presentation, creativity and artistry. The other had a quad. Both skated without flaw under enormous pressure. Yes, it could have gone either way. To claim that Plushenko is somehow a victim of poor or prejudiced judging is something only a Russian - and one who does not know figure skating very well - would say. The "landing a quad" competition is only a small part of things, and is only a big advantage if everyone is attempting them. Triples in combination, especially in the 2nd half of the program, score nearly as well.

I feel that the three medalists were fairly and correctly ranked. And was not at all surprised to see Plushenko pouting, which he does whenever he doesn't win.

[Imran Siddiqui]

Oh Canada

And you guys want gold?


Swiss

A few hours after this was posted it became the greatest self-pwnage post ever.

[MRT144]

Slovakia is frequently in my dreams, by virtue of their gay porn production studios. Second only to Russia.

Czechs have straight porn, Slovaks gay porn. I see why they split.

[Asher]

LOL awesome game last night though! w00t! and cheers to a fellow Toronto'nian

I live in Toronto but I am not a Toronto'nian.

[MRT144]

It was clear few days before the free programm that refs gonna kill Plushenko. Damn two of your international refrefs placed him 22 and 23rd in his first programme. F*ck. None Olympic champion skate for 5.0 and still wins the short programme after even such two obviously unfair scores. These f*ckers were just f*ckers.
And today was really something. Plusheko was the only one out of all competitors who performed a four spin jump clearly and was flawless at his entire (MUCH COMPLICATED PROGRAMME) and they have placed him second after who?
Lysechek (or whatever his name is)?
Damn. This guy was flawless too, but his programme was NOWHERE NEAR as complicated as Plusheko's programme. Plushenko's programme was the best. NOBODY, NOBODY can do the same programme like hi did (4+3 is something - Lysechek was NOWHERE NEAR). This is the most complicated programme in the world. And Plusheko performed FLAWLESS.

These refs are disgrace.

Fair play, my ass.
Shame on them.
**** them.
God is their ref for what they have done.
Plusheko have been robbed. Clearly. Anyone who understands at least a bit in figure skating understands that.
Shame on Canada again.

Seriously, why are Russians always the most corrupt and yet complain about it the most when they aren't the ones benefiting from it (perceived or real)?

[-Jrabbit]

People conveniently forget that the big judging scandal from Salt Lake City involving a French judge was all to benefit the Russian pair, at the expense of the Canadians. (The president of the French figure skating association, Didier Gailhaguet, was behind the cheating and is a long-time ally of the Russians.) The French judge on the panel was instructed to vote for the Russian pair over the Canadians.

Gailhaguet, BTW, was banned from the sport for 3 years -- but is back in power and still lobbying for the Russians. Including, specifically, for Plushenko.

Judging in figure skating has been suspect for decades. I find it interesting that the new scoring system, use of video replay to catch bad takeoffs and landings, and generally greater transparency in judging, all seem to coincide with the fall of the Russian skating empire.

It's amusing and ironic that their supporters complain loudly that the judging must be at fault for their losses.

[Drake Tungsten]

Do you guys really expect intellectual consistency from a Russian? The older generations were nothing to write home about on the intelligence front (thanks to their inferior Slavic genes) and those of the younger generation like Serb are all retarded thanks to Chernobyl. Russia is the stupidest country on earth.

[-Jrabbit]

Is this your way of making excuses for Serb? If so, it's championship level passive-aggression.

[Guynemer]

Are you people seriously arguing about men's figure skating?


It is, indeed, a rare event where I feel like the manliest mother****er around; thanks to all of you.

[Drake Tungsten]

I'm not arguing about figure skating. That's totally gay.