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Sarah Hughes! (1 Viewer)

KeithH

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Mar 28, 2000
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What a performance by Sarah Hughes last night. Wow! She certainly deserved the gold in my opinion. She nailed every triple jump and was just on. Awesome. The only thing that bothered me is once again, the judging. It seems to me that because Hughes was one of the earlier skaters last night and was not one of the favorites for the gold medal, the judges may have held back on giving her the good scores (5.8s and 5.9s). The judges may have been holding the good scores in the event that the favorites (Kwan, Cohen, and Slutskaya) were better, which was anticipated. So, in the end, Hughes gave the performance of her life, but had to rely on the other skaters to make mistakes, which they did.

What I really liked about Hughes was that she was so relaxed going in. You could see that Kwan, Slutskaya, and Cohen were tight. Go Sarah!
 

Scott_G

Second Unit
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Jun 18, 2000
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268
Did any of you hear Costas when he closed. He talked about all the judging problems and mentioned how this time - the right person won and there were no prepicked winners.

No doubt she won that GOLD

You go Girl !!!!
 

Micheal

Screenwriter
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Apr 13, 1999
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Mike
I watched it on CBC, they were happy with the way it worked out. I'm sure the judges would have been lynched otherwise!
 

Kurt B

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Aug 16, 2000
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246
My wife and I watched this last evening also. I have to agree, she was 'spot in' in her performace. The others had miscues which guaranteed her the 'gold'. She most definately earned the medal.
It was fun to watch her reaction when they announced the final standings :)
 

Bill Catherall

Screenwriter
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Aug 1, 1997
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I was a little confused. Sure she deserved the gold for her performance in last night's competition (what did they call it...the "free something"?). But don't they combine the scores from previous events? After Michelle Kwan skated the score board showed her standing as 1st place. Then somehow Kwan got knocked out from 1st to 3rd by just one skater? Is this what I really saw? How is this possible? Somebody please explain this to a "figure skating newbie."
 

John Chow

Second Unit
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Sep 18, 1998
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312
I'm by no means an expert, but from how they were explaining, this is how it worked...

After the short program, I believe whoever in the top 3 wins the free skate, then they win the gold. Sarah was 4th after the short program. So, this means that she would not be able to win the gold on her own even if she got perfect 6's. She had to rely on Michelle being beaten by Irina, since Michelle was 1st after the short program. Basically everything worked out perfectly. Irina had good enough scores to beat Michelle, but not good enough scores to beat Sarah, so that's how it ended up with Sarah=gold, Irina=silver, & Michelle=bronze.
 

Patrick_S

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Bill when Kwan finished the free skating she was in first place so what you saw on screen was correct.

Last nights portion of the competition the long program is also know as free skate because there are no required elements for the program where as in the short program each competitor is required to do certain elements like a combination jump, foot work, etc.

Of course even in the short program the skater is allowed to choose which combination jump they are want but the point is they are required to at least complete one combo jump where as in the long program they are not.

Kwan was in first because she was in first after the short and her combined scores from the short and long programs put her in first. If the Russian had fallen during her long program and Kwan had finished second in the long Kwan would have won the gold.
 

SteveA

Supporting Actor
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May 25, 2000
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700
Now the Russians are crying foul, demanding that Slutskaya be awarded the gold - or else they're pulling out of the olympics. Boo hoo!
 

Jeff Ulmer

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Aug 23, 1998
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The reason they don't hand out 5.9s to early skaters is because the judges have to leave room for a better performance later on, just in case. What is supposed to happen is that the high score becomes the one to beat relative to the early high score, so if skater one got all 5.8s for a perfect performance, in oreder to beat it you'd have to have clean skate with a higher degree of difficulty and a better artistic presentation.

This is why start position can play such a big role, since the early skaters by default aren't going to get top marks, even if they are perfect, which allows marks to unfairly go higher later in the program. This time they didn't, thankfully.

And the bit about knocking Kwan out is correct, it was her defeat by Slutskaya that unseated her #1 position, allowing Hughes to win the gold.
 

TomF

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Mar 31, 2001
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Sarah's performance was great! It will be interesting to see how she handles the new-found fame as she is so young and this was so unexpected. She looks kind of like Dorothy Hamill. It wouldn't surprise me if sponsors all start clamoring to sign her on (although I didn't see as much of Tara Lipinski as I thought I would after her '98 gold).
 

Jassen M. West

Supporting Actor
Joined
Jun 22, 2000
Messages
528
flame suit on,,, i hate that stupid one leg down one the ice one leg raised way up high behind her with that stupid grin that has become Kwan's "trademark" it just irks me every friggin time she does it. why won't she realize that if it hasn't won't her olympic gold before why keep using it, that move is so ugly. flame suit off,,,

Go Sarah!!!!!
 

Bill Catherall

Screenwriter
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1,560
Kwan was in first because she was in first after the short and her combined scores from the short and long programs put her in first. If the Russian had fallen during her long program and Kwan had finished second in the long Kwan would have won the gold.
See this is where I get confused. Since Kwan was in 1st, that essentially put Hughes in 2nd, right? So if Slutskaya beat Kwan, wouldn't that move Kwan down to second and Hughes down to 3rd, giving the Russians the gold? Instead Hughes gets bumped up to 1st and Kwan gets knocked down to 3rd. It really doesn't make any sense.
 

Kyle Richardson

Screenwriter
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Jan 1, 1998
Messages
1,073
Keep in mind that the long program counts for 2/3 of their score so just because Kwan was in 1st after the first night the majority of their combined score occured last night. Sara picked the right night to do the skate of her life :)
Kyle Richardson
Acoustic Visions
 

Anthony Hom

Supporting Actor
Joined
Mar 24, 1999
Messages
890
Historically, the women gold medal skaters don't always bask in the glow of promotions. I think the advertisers are cautious.

Tara Lupinski didn't become a household name, but Nancy Kerrigan didn't last, Kristi Yamaguchi got on the box of Special K, and I'm sure Sarah will end up there, too if she chooses. Michelle did appear in a GM commercial during the free skate.

Also the reputations of other skaters, like Tanya Harding and Oksana Baiul, have given skating a dubious quality.

Sarah may change that, all-american from NY winning the gold. Her win will certainly bring back some good reputation to skating and add some partiotism to boot in this much needed time.
 

Darren H

Second Unit
Joined
May 10, 2000
Messages
447
Here's a link to an article at CNN/SI that explains the scoring better than I ever could.
Link Removed
Hope that helps.
 

Michael*K

Screenwriter
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May 24, 2001
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Hughes deserved the gold medal just based on her performance last night. Stunning! Any "controversy" would be a moot point if she had been given proper scores in the short program. Since she was one of the earliest skaters on Tuesday, the judges left her scores artificially low in order to give themselves "wiggle room" in case the following skaters blew them away.
although I didn't see as much of Tara Lipinski as I thought I would after her '98 gold
Then you were lucky, Tom. I was so sick of seeing that little brat in the months after Nagano, I was ready to put my foot through the TV. :angry:
 

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