Michelle's Strategy to win in 2006

[olympic]

What do you think?:rollin

1. Change her name to Michela Kwanskaya (skating while Russian/Eastern European will boost her CoP)

2. Get a mean-looking coach and add some juniorish 1920s flapper choreography a la Annett Poetzsch's win in 1980.

3. Get an outdated perm, don't really spin or spiral, 2 foot half of your triples, and finally wiggle your fanny and tap dance for choreography a la Oksana's win in 1994.

4. Wear R-rated skating costumes, and just vamp and pose for 1:16minutes of your LP; no skating just posing a la Katarina Witt in 1988.

I'm just being facetious, but seriously doesn't it seem like Eastern European skaters are held to a different standard than North American and Asian Skaters??

[Kwan Luva]

:rollin :lol

[mzheng]

5. Curse judges 'Pigs' when judges give her low mark at some pre Olympics comps.

[michelle02olympics]

and just "beware the wrath of kwan!"

[Teacher1]

Just skate around in the Biellman position and that should do it!

[Krista]

7. Skate to a compilation of Turandot, Malguena, Don Quixote, The Nutcracker, and Carmen...................blindfolded!

[olympic]

8. Get a sob story and cry a lot way before the Olys commence! Repeat over and over for the media your health problems, death of one or both parents, a sister, your pet gerbil, etc.

[Teacher1]

Make sure Scott Hamilton counts you out!

[Ice So]

I'm just being facetious, but seriously doesn't it seem like Eastern European skaters are held to a different standard than North American and Asian Skaters?? Oh yes, especially considering the last two OGM were American ladies, before Oksana Baiul it was Kristi Yamaguchi and there's quite a few of other American women like Dorothy Hamill or Carol Heiss-Jenkins who won Olympics LOL

I always remember hearing that in skating (not just Olympics), some of the expected things was Russians winning in pairs and Americans winning in ladies.

[ImJustAWittleGuy]

quit badgering Oksana...
that's just overkill..

anywho, MK should have a good shot, considering the 1995 and 2005 placements for her and her boost the following year (1996)... 2006 should be her "swan-season"

my mom would always joke-- write Michelle

*and i quote my mom*

"HEY MICHELLE! Do a triple-triple!"

hahahaha...

(my mom worked the night of the Ladies Final in 2002... when she came home that night she watched her performance 50 times until she went to bed at 4am)... (a sad night, indeed)

[berthesghost]

Exactly!

In pairs, the Russian still win because they outskate everyone and everyone knows that they are the best. NA pairs have to wait for a judge to admit cheating before they can even get duplicate golds.

It's the same for US ladies: everyone knows they are the best and they always outskate everyone, but somehow cheesy mistake ridden routines by EE women beat them (Anett over Linda, Kat over Roz, Oksana over Nancy, Irina coming this close to beating Sarah, etc...)

[olympic]

Ice So:

Sorry. My original post should've been more clear. What I meant was that whenever there is an East/West Duel in Ladies, usually the East came out on top. One exception is 2002 SLC but otherwise, like BGOI said, cheesey East Bloc routines seemed to get the Gold when there is a close head-to-head comp. My original post was a joke with a dose of unfortunate reality

Kristi won as an American in 1992 when there was zero comp emanating from Eastern Europe. The comp was her teammates (good ole Tonya and Nancy), Midori Ito and Yuka Sato (Japan), Lu Chen (China), Karen Preston and Josee Chouinard (Canada) and Surya (Western Europe).

Tara and MK were ahead of Slute and Bute in 1998 so there was not the justification of a close comp for some East Bloc maneuvering and manipulating.

Dorothy ruled in 1976, but her closest comp was another American competing for the Netherlands, Dianne de Leeuw.

Peggy beat Gabriele Seyfert of the GDR in 1968, but Peggy was light years in front of her.

Americans win when it's not close at Olys, so it seems.

[mary]

teacher1! That is the sure-fire answer, or in reverse, make sure Scott Hamilton doesn't announce your Olympic dreams are coming true, or you are 4 minutes from Gold!

[attyfan]

Sarah's win was pretty close. Also, if Worlds is a guide, then in 2000, it would have been really easy to secure a gold for Russia by putting Maria ahead of Irina in the LP -- and the judges didn't do it.

[olympic]

IMO, there were more politics in 2000 than East v.
West: I think Maria was always the redheaded stepchild of the Russian Federation, while Irina was the darling. I think the Russians would always put their weight behind Irina when it was feasible to do so. I don't think there was ever any love lost between the two of them, either.

Secondly, There seems to be a little less tension of East v. West in Worlds as opposed to the Olys....just a little less.