If you land a good triple flip you win Olympic Gold

[Nathan]

I can't but notice every skater who has come up short for the Olympic gold medal has struggled with their 3flip in the LP.

Michelle 1998-02: Rough landing/Fall
Irina Slutskaya: 02-06 Rough landing/Rough landing
Sasha Cohen: 06 Fall

Nail the flip...get the gold.

Obviously it's not true. But that jump seems to be a nemesis of skaters who didn't win Olympic Gold.

[Erin S.]

And wasn't it the flip that Nancy doubled in 1994? If she had done a six-triple program she definitely would have won I think.

[scootie12]

I was just going to mention Nancy.

She did, however, do a very nice double that didn't even look like a pop, but we all knew it was intended as a triple :)


ETA: In defense of Cohen....she did not fall on the flip. She fell on the lutz, but put her hands down and had a pretty rough landing on her flip..........(unless you're counting her flutz in the beginning :P )

[Nathan]

I stand corrected Sasha didn't fall...but I will say that she and Michelle had amazing performances after they missed their 3flips. they both seemed to want to fight just for the sake of not giving up.

[Lisa Seye]

Interesting thoughts. Never thought about it in that light.

[taytay165]

...but I will say that she and Michelle had amazing performances after they missed their 3flips.

Yes, they did! They definitely fought to the finish. Man...2009 better be the year that all the ladies work on their 3-flip! lol

[attyfan]

IIRC, it was falling on the triple flip in the '94 Men's SP that killed Kurt Browning's hopes for an Oly medal.

[TangyTart]

I don't think anyone mentioned that Irina doubled her flip in 2006 in the double flip-double toe combo.

[Nathan]

You know what's kinda funny.
So many of us always define a good performance to be a clean, or relatively clean one. But yet we're always preaching that skating is about more than just jumps. But when it comes down to it, it you land your jumps you've given a great performance.

Kurt Browning said it at SA: It's amazing how much better a program looks when the skater is landing their jumps.

Perception VS Reality.

[millenniummagicz]

well, if u land your jumps, your PCS marks will magically go up, and the reverse is true also.

the funny thing is that the flip just isnt most of these ladie's nemesis jump. Kwan's nemesis jump is loop yet she did 2 of them in 98, and in 2002 she did it great. Sasha's nemesis jump is the triple toe and she didnt miss that.

[MKGrace]

Interesting observation. The flip has been the undoing of many skaters. I thought Kristi has the most consistent flip throughout her career. Michelle had the most beautiful flip jump the dozens of times she landed it clean in competition.

Unfortunately Sasha had trouble with all of the jumps at different times. hey were all nemesises for her.

[Erin S.]

I think when people say "it's not all about the jumps" they mean, it's not all about landing the hardest combinations or 3as. Landing jumps cleanly is a whole other matter. Those of us who love Michelle's skating probably admire her beautiful jumping technique and consistency in landing cleanly, and prefer that to having huge jumps with scary landings or falls. JMO.