Yay! Japan Wins Gold in Women's Figure Skating

[erbiumfiber]

Shizuka Arakawa (hope I got that right) put on a great performance! She is really graceful. The Russian who was supposed to win gold took bronze. I think this is Japan's first medal in this Olympics.

[OaklandZoo]

Hey I don't want to hijack the thread with the first reply here, but you were talking about going to thie eikaiwa cafe in another thread. I'm thinking about visiting the place to check it out, how was it?

[羽之助]

It's about freaking time! She'll be the poster girl for Japan's sports now, say hello to modelling contracts ... wow, I didn't think Japan would win ANYTHING this time.

[Crowley]

It was fabulous that she won. After the russian woman finished and they realised she won, they showed footage of her celebrating backstage - she seemed quietly pleased, but her coaches and all the people around her were practically CRYING with happiness - I think one older guy was going to die, he was so excited.

[Pengy737]

First of all, I'm officially a newbie in the OP9 forums. Hi, everyone!

And I'm a huge figure skating fan. What's creepy is that a competition I went to see in late 2004 in Detroit practically foreshadowed this. Cohan cracked under pressure of going against Kwan the second time that season, and fell on three jumps. Arakawa, on the other hand, wasn't even well known at all, and she came in second behind Kwan, and everyone was like "WTF?" Then she went on to win the World championships that year.

And while I was rooting for Sasha, Arakawa did a very good performance. However, I felt very sorry for Shiguri (the other Japanese skater) who was so happy with her performance, and ended up getting lukewarm scores.

And heck yes, she can say hello to modeling. Kristi Yamaguchi had tons of modeling jobs after her gold, and she wasn't half as good looking as Shizuka is.

[Chinpokomon]

It did kind of bug me that Shiguri didn't get a medal as well. Cohen fell down twice. The Russian girl fell as well. Shiguri didn't fall in either of her programs. Meh, whatever.

[NERD]

I'm gonna sound really shallow, and though Arakawa had a great performance, I felt there was more room for improvement upon her face. Modelling contracts? Um, okay.

[Pengy737]

It did kind of bug me that Shiguri didn't get a medal as well. Cohen fell down twice. The Russian girl fell as well. Shiguri didn't fall in either of her programs. Meh, whatever.

LOL at Irina Slutskiya being called 'the Russian girl' in this thread.

After winning the World championships last year, getting a sliver in the last Olympics, and having 'slut' in her last name, people still don't know her name.

(I don't really expect anyone to know all the names of the girls, I just find it humorous.)

[erbiumfiber]

Hey I don't want to hijack the thread with the first reply here, but you were talking about going to thie eikaiwa cafe in another thread. I'm thinking about visiting the place to check it out, how was it?

No, I didn't go yet...I bought a kitten and that has taken up my life for now...

Back on topic- yeah, falling down just doesn't seem to be penalized all that much.

We kept hearing so much about Miki Ando here that I was surprised how low she scored considering we didn't hear as much about Arakawa.

[Pengy737]

I'm gonna sound really shallow, and though Arakawa had a great performance, I felt there was more room for improvement upon her face. Modelling contracts? Um, okay.

http://www.china.org.cn/images/107662.jpg

Shizuka Arakawa

http://www.alwaysdream.org/aboutkristi/images/kristigold.jpg

Kristi Yamaguchi


Now, Kristi isn't exactly ugly, but she certainly didn't seem like modeling material, but got tons of modeling contracts anyway. So, either modeling got very strict, or you're setting too high of a standard for an athlete who probably doesn't look their best during a performance.

[Masa the Masta]

I literally sat up after looking at the difference. Whoa.

[NERD]

Sorry, I guess I am being spoiled at looking some of the hawt figure skaters that are not Japanese. And thank God I don't even have to go to the ones under the age of 18.

But if I saw that mug on the box of Wheaties, hell no I ain't buying it.

But Pengy737, you've got me there. I never knew what Kristi Yamaguchi looked like.

[Masa the Masta]

She looks like she was a part of some freak metalshop class accident back in high school.

[jindojim]

Just curious question here. Not trying to provoke anyone. But do you guys love Japan that much that if they win a gold, you celebrate with them? While the US goes ahead and wins a lot more medals?

I was wondering about it because I'm so happy that South Korea is winning a bunch of medals in short track skating and stuff. But couldn't care less if US wins medals....hmm...

[NERD]

jimmy, don't make this a nationalistic thing- if you haven't noticed, this thread was brought up and discussed by people who are living in Japan at the moment. Chances are, if I was in Japan, I'd be interested in whether they got a medal or not. Hell, if I was in Jamaica, I'd be rooting for the bobsled team.

And actually, I was more distraught with the recent squabbles/injuries surrounding the US team than the achievement of the South Korean team, though they've been exceeding their own expectations, from what I've gathered.

[jindojim]

But the Olympics are all about nationalism. :P I'm not curious about people being interested in Japan winning a medal, especially if they're in Japan. But do non-Japanese people here celebrate with Japan for their lone medal? Just wondering.

[Masa the Masta]

But the Olympics are all about nationalism. :P I'm not curious about people being interested in Japan winning a medal, especially if they're in Japan. But do non-Japanese people here celebrate with Japan for their lone medal? Just wondering.


Jimmy's posts always remind me of this guy, I shit you not.

http://www.chugworth.com/comic/244.jpg

I thought you'd get a kick out of that Jimmy. :P

[koku]

Figure skating is not a sport. I am laughing at any Japanese person who will now take pride in winning the FIGURE SKATING part of the Olympics.

[Masa the Masta]

Figure skating is not a sport.

That's why it's an event. :watson:

[NERD]

I don't like Chugworth Academy, for the record.

And jimmy, do I have to go and mention the fact that you are in a message board created by an American teaching English in Japan. Are we gonna have japanophiles here? DUH.

Oh, and these people probably watch Japanese news, and from what I've gathered, Japan has been moaning and whining about the lack of medals in the Winter Olympic. They got a gold from a talented figure skater. Can't you let them celebrate that, and stop there?

EDIT:If it does not have a clear indication of winning, such as goals, and have to be judged by others who did better, then it is a competition.

[Rogue_7]

Yeah, it's been a huge topic of conversation. I was getting a haircut the other day and my non English speaking Barber still managed to get out..

" America lots of medals, but Japan no medals."

And personally, I hate the way America cleans up. Yeah, I'm American, but its like shit, we really don't have to win a medal in every f'n category. I just remember watching the coverage some years ago (98 maybe? I dunno it was a while) and the broadcasters are saying something like

"And America has won these 35 Gold Medals and aren't we just overjoyed hooray!

"but leslie, look, we didn't get the gold in these 4 events.."

"GODDAMN IT NOOOO! MY LIFES NOT WORTH LIVING!! how could they do this to their country. they have brough shame upon their families and.. *shoots self*

Ok, so thats a slight exaggeration, but you get the idea. I'm all for pulling for the home team, but good Christ let some other countries have a sporting chance! Go Latvia!

[jindojim]

Haha...that comic reminds me... I was studying abroad in Japan and watching a soccer match between Korea and Japan with other study abroad students. I was rooting for Korea, and some guy says, "You traitor! You're rooting for Korea!". So I reply back in a similar fashion as that Korean guy did in the comic. I'm touched that you found a web comic character that reminds you of me though ToT

Anyway, you don't get what I'm trying to ask, NERD. I know that people here will be happy that Japan won a medal. Hell, I'm happy that Japan won a medal because it's about frickin time. But is it a happiness WITH the Japanese or a happiness FOR the Japanese? Eh, I'm probably just nitpicking. -_-

[Frankey-eh]

Figure skating is not a sport. I am laughing at any Japanese person who will now take pride in winning the FIGURE SKATING part of the Olympics.

...at least it's figure skating! I consider it a sport...

China's sadder... they take pride in winning at table tennis. -_-

[Chinpokomon]

But the Olympics are all about nationalism. :P I'm not curious about people being interested in Japan winning a medal, especially if they're in Japan. But do non-Japanese people here celebrate with Japan for their lone medal? Just wondering.

This is a very interesting point.
I root for both Japan and the US to win medals. I'm happy when either one wins medals.

However, when Japan is competing with the US, I guess I root for Japan more.

Maybe it's because I'm a Japanophile.
Maybe it's because the US has enough medals already.
Maybe it's because they talk about the Japanese atheletes all the time on the news, including their backgrounds, their personal struggles to get to where they are.

I'm not saying the US atheletes don't have interesting backgrounds as well, but we just don't hear about them over here.

It's probably some combination of the above...

[Frankey-eh]

This is a very interesting point.
I root for both Japan and the US to win medals. I'm happy when either one wins medals.

However, when Japan is competing with the US, I guess I root for Japan more.

Maybe it's because I'm a Japanophile.
Maybe it's because the US has enough medals already.
Maybe it's because they talk about the Japanese atheletes all the time on the news, including their backgrounds, their personal struggles to get to where they are.

I'm not saying the US atheletes don't have interesting backgrounds as well, but we just don't hear about them over here.

It's probably some combination of the above...

...is it really that hard for japan to get medals? I never followed the olympic, but as some homework assignment, I had to look up Asada Mao, and it seems like she's going to pwn everyone at the next winter olympic.

[paul]

Dunno about Japan but my parents were telling me about chinese olympians and the contrast with canadian ones.

Alot of the canadian ones have to work part time, while training, as the government doesn't provide funding.

The chinese olympians are taken at an early age to Beijing, to train hard, everyday and some are not able to see their families for years. They seem to be treated as important though lol :P

Just a little interesting FYI I guess.

I dunno how it is in Japan, though I suspect it might be closer to the chinese way.

[mikem]

But is it a happiness WITH the Japanese or a happiness FOR the Japanese? Eh, I'm probably just nitpicking. -_-

This is totally just my own opinion, as always ... I've noticed that I tend to put more emphasis on nationals of countries I've visited or especially if I've dated a national of that country.

So if I heard of large scale disasters I tend to focus on the cultures I'm most familiar with. (The tsunami was a perfect example. I focused almost excusively on the Thai causualities because my girlfriend at the time was Thai!)

However, I'm no traitor like Chinpokomon. If the USA is involved I'm totally nationalistic. WE NEED ALL THE MEDALS!!! (I was seriously sad that we didn't sweep snowboarding again, but at least the 51st state won.)

:us: :us: :us: :us: :us: :us: :us: :us: :us: :us: :us: :us: :us: :us: :us:

[OaklandZoo]

But the Olympics are all about nationalism. :P I'm not curious about people being interested in Japan winning a medal, especially if they're in Japan. But do non-Japanese people here celebrate with Japan for their lone medal? Just wondering.

It isn't. Case in point.

1. The Pittsburgh Stillers won the Super Bowl. Hines Ward, who is half Korean suddenly becomes a Korean hero, because his mom is Korean.

2. Toby Dawson, an American who won the gold medal, was adopted from Korea. Now everyone wants their 15 minutes of fame by claiming that they are his real parents.

So it's not necessary about nationalism, it's more about race. And remember the Summer Olympics in Athens? Do you know how the Greek baseball team gathered their players? They were like, "ok if you have ANY greek in you, you can play for our team, even if you are an American".

[Pierrot le Fou]

I have been here for 3 years now, and I root against Japan every single fucking time.

I hate the coverage here. They were touting the wonderful skills of the Japanese olympic team because they were riding the success of the 2004 olympics where Japan exceeded all expectations. Then Japan just didn't win. And they kept sucking. The Japanese snowboarders were absolute shit, poor sports, and it was obscene.

The commentators blamed a Korean for mucking up the ice when a Japanese speed skater wiped out and started crying on the track.

The nationalism involved in this is obscene. Know how many times they showed Arakawa's win on ONE channel of the news this morning? 3 times in one hour. THREE TIMES. I'm not saying the athletes don't deserve it, I'm saying that the reaction to the athletes is obscene. It drives me bonkers.

I root against them, and revel in their failures because it just makes the Japanese shut the fuck up about sports.

They will have won ONE gold in all this. ONE medal. And yet they'll be touting it as a dramatic success of Japanese athletes. Fuck that. They did worse than Croatia for God's sake.

The pressure put on the athletes is ridiculous. The expectations for them to win for their country are ridiculous. The coverage is ridiculous.

I was hoping for no medals so that I wouldn't have to see the goddamned news gloating at me for the next 2-3 months as Arakawa comes on EVERY variety show, does interviews, has specials about her, and is otherwise hailed as a national hero.

[Masa the Masta]

Don't forget all the shows where she's forced to eat something and give the, "that's delicious!" face.

[erbiumfiber]

Dunno about Japan but my parents were telling me about chinese olympians and the contrast with canadian ones.

Alot of the canadian ones have to work part time, while training, as the government doesn't provide funding.

The chinese olympians are taken at an early age to Beijing, to train hard, everyday and some are not able to see their families for years. They seem to be treated as important though lol :P

Just a little interesting FYI I guess.

I dunno how it is in Japan, though I suspect it might be closer to the chinese way.


Actually, I think it's a lot more like the Canadian model. The women's volleyball team (which was supposed to do great in 2004) had people working in supermarkets, etc. Same thing with the soccer team. Sometimes corporations will sponser athletes who are actually employees of the company. But nothing like China (and the old communist bloc countries in past years- I am old...).

[Collapse]

Congratulations to the person. And no, this is not rooted by "OMG JAPAN WON SO COOL!!1111 PRIDE 4 LYFE!!!111 GO ANIMU!~" shit nor nationalism and all that.

I mean, the woman's a competitor and she won. It's not like everyone should turn face and shout GOGOGOGOGO every single time Japan wins. All I care about is the person won and it stays at that. No bullshit, no favoritism.

Again, good for the athete, bullshit for the hype.

[hanacker]

http://www.alwaysdream.org/aboutkristi/images/kristigold.jpg

Kristi Yamaguchi


That's the worst picture of Kristi Yamaguchi I've ever seen. She's not especially attractive, but she's not generally as bad as that picture. Did she model in Japan or America?

[hanacker]

I was hoping for no medals so that I wouldn't have to see the goddamned news gloating at me for the next 2-3 months as Arakawa comes on EVERY variety show, does interviews, has specials about her, and is otherwise hailed as a national hero.

The only person in the country to win a medal shouldn't be hailed as a national hero? She saved Japan from being completely shut out at the Olympics. If I were in charge I'd be naming towns after her.

[NERD]

Given she was American, I'm assuming both. Wasn't she on the box of Wheaties?

[RoxFontaine]

My wife was up at 5 in the damn morning watching this competition. The whole house is buzzing because this girl won a medal. Granted, I'm happy for her...but come one.......

That is NOT what I need to hear all day.

[erbiumfiber]

I was in an electronics store during lunch and, sure enough, there was a retrospective show on Arakawa's life- videos of her skating around age 5, 7, 10, teen years, etc. They showed a middle school where everyone had gone it at like 5AM to watch the finals (probably in Arakawa's home town) and then I saw people who might be her parents...or some distant relative, who knows.

I didn't watch the whole thing (was looking for a camera) but I imagine it's only the first of many (tonight's NHK broadcast may have to be extended to get in all the coverage).

[Pierrot le Fou]

The only person in the country to win a medal shouldn't be hailed as a national hero? She saved Japan from being completely shut out at the Olympics. If I were in charge I'd be naming towns after her.
Considering that everyone and there mother was rooting for Miki Andoh up until she blew it, I think this is excessive and disingenuous...

[crow-kun]

Am I the only one who thinks the winter olympics are a huge waste of time and money.

[gaijinalways]

You could possibly say that about a lot of televised sports. When I grew up, my father took me to lots of sports events. Sports athletes are entertainers. A lot of them train hard and deserve any success that they get. Personally no, I'd rather play a sport than watch it.

Being American, of course in one sense I like to see America win some medals, but they don't need to dominate (they bring a big enough team for both Olympics). Since my wife is Japanese, I also like to see the Japanese athletes do well. What I sometimes don't like is nations bragging about it or whining about a lack of chances, one way or the other. Yes, you do get excessive coverage, look at the Japanese golfer Ai-chan (don't confuse her with the ping pong player), who I don't think of terribly successful as yet, but she has a ton of endorsements in Japan.

So let the Japanese enjoy a gold :clap: . Just think, imagine if Japan won the World Cup, that would be on TV for maybe a month :duh: (or maybe a year)!

[NERD]

Am I the only one who thinks the winter olympics are a huge waste of time and money.

Dare to say that to the athletes who work their butt off all year long?

People gripe about commercialization of sports, but the truth is, it is nigh impossible to have almost every nation in the world to have a chance to represent them and compete athletically and to be appreciated by millions unless it was the Olympics.

[erbiumfiber]

So let the Japanese enjoy a gold :clap: . Just think, imagine if Japan won the World Cup, that would be on TV for maybe a month :duh: (or maybe a year)!

Well, at least we don't have that to worry about. Looking at the group they pulled for the first round, they won't advance...if they do, they will act AS IF they had won the World Cup.

[erbiumfiber]

Considering that everyone and there mother was rooting for Miki Andoh up until she blew it, I think this is excessive and disingenuous...

Yeah, all we heard about going into the Olympics was Miki Ando. Arakawa WHO? I think Ando can do a quadruple jump or something like that. Must not have worked too well...

[crow-kun]

Dare to say that to the athletes who work their butt off all year long?

People gripe about commercialization of sports, but the truth is, it is nigh impossible to have almost every nation in the world to have a chance to represent them and compete athletically and to be appreciated by millions unless it was the Olympics.
The Olympics are one thing but the winter olympics are just crap. Figure skating, down hill skiing, speed skating, snowboarding these are not things I think about when I think of The Olympics. Hell the Special Olympics have more merits than the winter olympics in my opinion.

[RoxFontaine]

Considering that everyone and there mother was rooting for Miki Andoh up until she blew it, I think this is excessive and disingenuous...

THIS IS THE TRUTH! The Japanese are just looking for someone to cling on to. It's a bunch of bunk.

Talk about exceptional mediocrity..... :duh:

"Look! We won A medal!"

[hanacker]

THIS IS THE TRUTH! The Japanese are just looking for someone to cling on to. It's a bunch of bunk.

Talk about exceptional mediocrity..... :duh:

"Look! We won A medal!"

Would you rather have them talk endlessly about how crappy their Olympic team did this year? When you underperform like this you take what you can get.

[羽之助]

Just thought I'd post this, it was on the board of the school I was at this morning.

And I'm happy for them. Better one medal than none at all. Hopefully people will be angry at the Japanese athletic system enough to institute reforms to actually do well next time. All countries have bad years - I think in the Summer Games in 2004 Canada sucked so much.

[kyaa the catlord]

China's sadder... they take pride in winning at table tennis. -_-

Apparently you've never played against anyone who is any good at table tennis, if you had, you'd realize exactly how much difference there is between table tennis and what normal people play (ping pong).

[Azrael]

I'm with PLF on this one. I was passively rooting against Japan. No, I take that back...I wanted Japan to win ONE medal...in curling. How awesome would that have been?

I guess if Japan was to medal in figure skating, I'm glad it wasn't Miki Andoh. From the beginning, Japan's main focus has been on ladies figure skating, and it's always been "Miki Andoh and those other two". It's kind of unfair to dislike her because of something that isn't particularly her fault. But, yeah, still.

Even then, now it's going to be "The 2006 Torino Arakawa Wins Gold Medal in Ladies Figure Skating For Japan" instead of Torino Olympics. We'd better strap in, we're going to be seeing A WHOLE LOT MORE of Shizuka Arakawa for awhile at least.

Either way, my highlight of the Winter Olympics was seeing the Japanese womens speed skaters get pounded hard by Manli Wang. (http://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/torino2006/chn/Manli+Wang/607976)

[rainman]

Dunno about Japan but my parents were telling me about chinese olympians and the contrast with canadian ones.

Alot of the canadian ones have to work part time, while training, as the government doesn't provide funding.

The chinese olympians are taken at an early age to Beijing, to train hard, everyday and some are not able to see their families for years. They seem to be treated as important though lol :P

Just a little interesting FYI I guess.

I dunno how it is in Japan, though I suspect it might be closer to the chinese way.
I don't approve of how China handles its athletes. The school newspaper ran a small article recently about how China fails to prepare its olympian athletes for life. They tend to be forced into only practicing their sport, and skip out on everything that is necessary for life after they can't perform anymore, whether from age or injury. China needs a lot of work in its ethics department. Their government is seriously piss poor.

[hanacker]

Considering that everyone and there mother was rooting for Miki Andoh up until she blew it, I think this is excessive and disingenuous...

So I take it you were equally angry in 1998 and 2002 when relatively unheralded Lipinski and Hughes won accolades over Olympic favorite Kwan?

[kyaa the catlord]

LOL at Irina Slutskiya being called 'the Russian girl' in this thread.

After winning the World championships last year, getting a sliver in the last Olympics, and having 'slut' in her last name, people still don't know her name.

(I don't really expect anyone to know all the names of the girls, I just find it humorous.)

The fact that you can't spell Slutskaya either is amusing.

[Chinpokomon]

Either way, my highlight of the Winter Olympics was seeing the Japanese womens speed skaters get pounded hard by Manli Wang. (http://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/torino2006/chn/Manli+Wang/607976)

heh heh, Manli Wang...

[ZaichikArky]

I have missed much olympics lately. Including this. *cries forever*. I wish I could have seen the womens singles. I was so looking forward to it. *siiiigh*.

[Pierrot le Fou]

So I take it you were equally angry in 1998 and 2002 when relatively unheralded Lipinski and Hughes won accolades over Olympic favorite Kwan?
Why would I? I don't care that Arakawa won over Miki, there is nothing frustrating about it inherently, it's the people hopping on this Arakawa bandwagon which was lost somewhere in the transition to Torino while Andoh had a whole slew of people talking about her damned quadruple jump. And after the first part of the program? Everyone kept talking about Andoh still, despite the fact that she was in 6th place, and about her damned quadruple jump.

The Faces of Japanese Skating:
http://mdn.mainichi-msn.co.jp/photospecials/graph/0602turinday12/31.jpg

http://mdn.mainichi-msn.co.jp/photospecials/graph/0602turinday12/42.jpg

http://mdn.mainichi-msn.co.jp/photospecials/graph/0602turinday12/19.jpg

[Pengy737]

The fact that you can't spell Slutskaya either is amusing.

Oh wow, an i instead of an a.

:clap:

[All-American Alfonse]

The faces of japanese figure skating *snip* Dear god no...., very, er....,aesthetic...?

Is Manli Wang a euphemism for a big butch guy rubbing one out hard?


I watched Ando spoon her quadruple rollypolly thingy, it wasn't just that but she buggered up pretty mcuh everything after that. I'm surprised she didn't socre lower!

[Hira-Kata to Sawa]

God. Day one of Japan's one medal shutout and it's driving me insane. Let's see, morning TV news, morning and afternoon radio, lunchtime TV news, afternoon TV news. On all of them? Yeah. Overkill? Fuck yeah. My JTE was all like, "Japan won a gold medal. Has America won any medals?" I was all, "Yeah, only like 7 of them. We have 20 medals." Give them one medal and you'd think they swept the whole fucking thing. Before the Olympics, all you saw on the news was that punk kid Narita saying how he was gonna destroy the snowboarding competition. That happened... right. I think the really annoying thing is how EVERY J-athlete has a sob story about making their way to the top. Enough...
As a side note, am I the only one who thinks Miki Ando's weird, square-jawed face is ridiculously unattractive?

[kyaa the catlord]

Dear god no...., very, er....,aesthetic...?

Is Manli Wang a euphemism for a big butch guy rubbing one out hard?

Manli becomes Manly. Wang becomes penis. Does that answer your question? :D

I prefer Phat Prik, the Thai Legend.

[Pierrot le Fou]

I was home sick all day.

My girlfriend comes home and says, "I want to see Arakawa skate!"

She tried to convince me to stop watching what I was watching, refusing to believe that it would be on another channel in 10 minutes.

It was.

And 10 minutes after that.

And 10 minutes after that.

I think I can quote the awards ceremony and the announcers upon finding out she won.

"Aa! Hajimete no standing ovation!"

[All-American Alfonse]

Manli becomes Manly. Wang becomes penis. Does that answer your question? :DI knew it!

I prefer Phat Prik, the Thai Legend.Holy shit, that made me laugh so hard I spat on my screen......doesn't he have a mate called Phaic Tan?

[Komachi Angel]

I'm quite glad they won a medal, although I was rather hoping the curling team might be the one. I have to agree that Arakawa is going to get a lot of screen-time from now on, though...

[Masa the Masta]

The Faces of Japanese Skating:

http://mdn.mainichi-msn.co.jp/photospecials/graph/0602turinday12/19.jpg


THE POWER OF CHRIST COMPELS YOU! THE POWER OF CHRIST COMPELS YOU!!!

[gyoza]

:rofl: Masa = win.

[Jay]

I'm with PLF on this one. I was passively rooting against Japan. No, I take that back...I wanted Japan to win ONE medal...in curling. How awesome would that have been?

I was totally rooting for Arakawa all the way through, but even more so because at that time Sasha Cohen was in the lead, and Americans winning [gold] medals is bad.

Which totally baffles me, because she fucked up the first two jumps and was shaky on the rest. I don't give a whore's twat if she's got the best technical steps in the world, her execution sucked arse so she should've been marked down lower than she was.

I absolutely fucking LOVED Arakawa's performance though. It was brilliant, it was just fucking brilliant.

Either way, my highlight of the Winter Olympics was seeing the Japanese womens speed skaters get pounded hard by Manli Wang. (http://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/torino2006/chn/Manli+Wang/607976)

Heh, Manli Wang's finally found the right stroke and is coming up hard on the inside.

:rofl:

...

..

.

...yep.

:rofl:

[NERD]

You are just sore that Aussies are not doing as well as Americans in this Olympic.

That's why figure skating is a competition, not a sport. If the judges thought Sasha Cohen had a good program despite her two falls, then she did. End of question. Don't forget she had the lead in the short program, so she had the advantage before the final round. Slutskaya also fell but managed to get a bronze, despite the fact that most of the figure skaters didn't fall once and finished their program.

Compared to Sasha or Irina, Arakawa played it safe and didn't try to pull of anything risky. If both of them didn't fall, I can tell you, Arakawa wouldn't have gotten the gold.

If you don't like it, become a judge.

[Jay]

You are just sore that Aussies are not doing as well as Americans in this Olympic.

Not at all. I know full well that Australia as a winter nation does shit and we have to import our Olympians if we want to do any good. :D

That's why figure skating is a competition, not a sport. If the judges thought Sasha Cohen had a good program despite her two falls, then she did. End of question. Don't forget she had the lead in the short program, so she had the advantage before the final round. Slutskaya also fell but managed to get a bronze, despite the fact that most of the figure skaters didn't fall once and finished their program.

Compared to Sasha or Irina, Arakawa played it safe and didn't try to pull of anything risky. If both of them didn't fall, I can tell you, Arakawa wouldn't have gotten the gold.

If you don't like it, become a judge.

Hell with the program. You have a program with a high skill level, whatever. But how you execute it is what matters; it's always what's mattered.

[NERD]

I do have a gripe with the American media's attitude about the Winter Olympics- they feel that they need to win medals in every sport participated. So sometimes it's not oh, they did better than us, it's oh, we didn't do well, so we let them win the medal. Which is fucked up.

But I didn't know Australia was that desperate. You know Japan got a Brazilian playing for their national football team for probably loads of cash?

[Jay]

I do have a gripe with the American media's attitude about the Winter Olympics- they feel that they need to win medals in every sport participated. So sometimes it's not oh, they did better than us, it's oh, we didn't do well, so we let them win the medal. Which is fucked up.

Yep.

But I didn't know Australia was that desperate. You know Japan got a Brazilian playing for their national football team for probably loads of cash?

Actually, we're not, that was just bullshit on the fly. ;) If you've seen our national football team for instance, you'd know what I mean. More Petkovices and Lazarinis and Schwarzers than you can shake a stick at. XD

[Crowley]

It's kinda sad this thread descended into aggression. You think it's bad with the coverage of the skating in Japan? Try being in England the last olympics when all we won WAS the curling. Can you imagine that much curling coverage? Horrible.

Just be happy for the girl. She skated incredibly elegantly, really deserved to win.

[atomiton]

The performances are on Youtube.com if anyone wants to see them.

Also, the 4th place Japanese skater... I know she was disappointed, but the overwhelming disappointing expression on her face really turned me off her performance. I admire slutskaya for smiling after her performance despite falling. It was much more professional.

[OaklandZoo]

But seriously though, is this type of media coverage anything new? It's not. It's not just the Olympics. Anytime there is a Japanese exceling at the top level we get this kind of coverage.

Ichiro
Hideo Nomo
Hidetoshi Nakata (especially when he was with Perugia and Roma)
Everytime there is a Japanese astronaut we go nuts too.

So I can see how you are all tired, but it's not like this is the first time it's happened.

[ZaichikArky]

The performances are on Youtube.com if anyone wants to see them.

Also, the 4th place Japanese skater... I know she was disappointed, but the overwhelming disappointing expression on her face really turned me off her performance. I admire slutskaya for smiling after her performance despite falling. It was much more professional.

yeah I did that just a few mins ago. She had a flawless performance. I was quite impressed by it. Now I wanted to see Sasha Cohan's performance.

I remember when Project Runway did an outfit for her. That was an awsome episode. Well, all are awsome but... that one was cool :p.

[Frankey-eh]

...I didn't used to care about Arakawa Shizuka

until I found out just now that she is from Sendai. Now I care ^^ Great job! Hopefully now people know where Sendai is... that it's NOT in Fukushima Prefecture :D

[OaklandZoo]

...I didn't used to care about Arakawa Shizuka

until I found out just now that she is from Sendai. Now I care ^^ Great job! Hopefully now people know where Sendai is... that it's NOT in Fukushima Prefecture :D

Sendai never was like a small city people never knew about til now.

The Rakuten Eagles and Begalta Sendai are two pro sports teams, and Sendai is THE city when it comes to tanabata events.

[OaklandZoo]

of course unless you are refering to people outside Japan

[Frankey-eh]

Sendai never was like a small city people never knew about til now.

The Rakuten Eagles and Begalta Sendai are two pro sports teams, and Sendai is THE city when it comes to tanabata events.

yeah, but some of the stuff I heard is mind-boggling...
some misunderstandings JAPANESE people have: (I'm not even talking about gaijin here)
-Miyagi is the capitol of Sendai prefecture
-What is 'Sendai'?
-Sendai is in Aomori Pref
-Sendai is in Fukushima Pref
-Sendai is in Yamagata Pref
-Sendai is in Toyama Pref
-Sendai is in Akita Pref
-All of Miyagi is considered part of Sendai
-Sendai have no street lights

looks like Japan needs better geography lessons...

[羽之助]

I used to live in Aichi. Half the people I talk to don't know where it is, the other half think I lived in Ehime.


-Sendai have no street lights


Canada has no paved roads.

[Frankey-eh]

The Rakuten Eagles and Begalta Sendai are two pro sports teams, and Sendai is THE city when it comes to tanabata events.

and don't forget the Light Pageant. It's absolutely gorgeous.
http://www.sendaihikape.jp/pc/event6.htm

by the way, hanenosuke,
I didn't know Aichi either. I guess... as much as the western japan don't know about eastern japan, I had no idea about western Japan. I used to think Hiroshima was at the southernmost tip of Kyuushuu... like until this summer? :P

[Azrael]

As a side note, am I the only one who thinks Miki Ando's weird, square-jawed face is ridiculously unattractive?
Co-sign 100%. I always thought her face was way too wide. Either way, it just doesn't work.

[hanacker]

Why would I? I don't care that Arakawa won over Miki, there is nothing frustrating about it inherently, it's the people hopping on this Arakawa bandwagon which was lost somewhere in the transition to Torino while Andoh had a whole slew of people talking about her damned quadruple jump. And after the first part of the program? Everyone kept talking about Andoh still, despite the fact that she was in 6th place, and about her damned quadruple jump.

So everyone in America jumping off the Kwan bandwagon (however momentarily) in the last two Olympics after the relative unknown won the gold is completely different?

[Pierrot le Fou]

Okay, the US, for all the shit it gets, generally puts athletes up that have a chance at competing in the top level of the olympic athletes. When you compare this with some of Japan's athletes, who while plenty good, just can't compete with the powerhouse athletes in the winter olympics from sweden, norway, austria, germany and the like, it's understandable why the US attitude would be, 'we had a chance and blew it' rather than 'they just did better than we could.'

For instance, the speed-skating 10,000 meters. The American has the world record in that event, and the Dutch guy (Bob de Jong I believe?) just ran an incredible race and was 11 seconds ahead of second place up until the American guy came up. He skated 3 seconds off pace to get the silver in the event, but clearly he had a chance to win as the Dutch guy didn't break said world record.

Personally I don't care if America wins or loses, and the fun was seeing the Dutch guy clean up and just fly through the first 7200 meters or so, followed by the guy who's theoretically best at it in the world having to try to match an incredible performance. He failed, but watching it was just incredible.

People who root against the US just because they get a lot of medals don't make any sense to me. Yes, the US gets a lot of medals. The US also has lots of good athletes from every corner of the globe. Most of the figure skaters in the world seem to train in the US, as do many of the snowboarders and other sports. Is it so wrong that they do well in the Olympics as a result?

If it were just a matter of fielding more mediocre athletes in hopes of thinning out the competition from other countries, that'd be one thing, but it seems like the US legitimately has more athletes that can compete on that level across multiple events than most other countries.

We're not talking about places like China which essentially decide that someone will become an Olympic athlete and provide them with training to that end whether they like it or not...

[Pierrot le Fou]

I seem to remember plenty of coverage of Tara Lipinski in the Salt Lake City games and how she had a legitimate shot. I don't really like the Olympics that much, and I don't know many people who get really hyped up about it (in the US). Those who watch it don't generally hop on a figure skating bandwagon either.

I'll have to wait 2 years for my next American olympics and then watch the coverage a little closer. I've been in Japan for the last 2 olympics...

[Cybren]

Dunno about Japan but my parents were telling me about chinese olympians and the contrast with canadian ones.

Alot of the canadian ones have to work part time, while training, as the government doesn't provide funding.

The chinese olympians are taken at an early age to Beijing, to train hard, everyday and some are not able to see their families for years. They seem to be treated as important though lol :P

Just a little interesting FYI I guess.

I dunno how it is in Japan, though I suspect it might be closer to the chinese way.
Wait wait wait. Ivan Drago wasn't chinese.

[Zensouken]

-Sendai have no street lights.

Sendai has no street lights.

I'm sorry but it was bugging me...

[Zensouken]

Rika, what?! I still haven't been to Japan, I was correcting the grammar.

This went off the track...

[Frankey-eh]

Rika, what?! I still haven't been to Japan, I was correcting the grammar.

This went off the track...

oh okay ^_^;;;; sorry

I missed your point... post deleted.

[Zensouken]

No problem, for future reference, in case you don't know this.

"has" is for 3rd person speech and when you are talking about things or saying "he" or "she" or "this" or "that"

"have" is for 1st person speech and when you are talking about yourself, "I" or "you" or "we" or "they" or "these"

He has... She has... This has... That has... Sendai has...

I have... You have... We have... They have... These have...

Again, "I'll have" to apologize in advance if this is something you already understand.

[NERD]

You tried your best and failed. The lesson is, don't try.

[six-eight-ten]

Canada has no paved roads.

Isn't that because all the moose walking around would tear the crap out of the pavement anyway?

This morning I got an email from someone in North America asking if I'd heard about the Japanese figure skater winning Gold. As if you could avoid hearing about it here.

[OaklandZoo]

But I didn't know Australia was that desperate. You know Japan got a Brazilian playing for their national football team for probably loads of cash?

1. The football association here didn't give them money to naturalize, I at least hope. It's not like you can just change your nationality whenever you want. The naturalized players all have spent significant amount of time in Japan, and/or have Japanese ancestry in their family trees. (most of the players you see today have been in Japan since high school, it's not like we're bringing people over and turning them into Japanese nationals overnight)

2. The Brazilians needed it more than the Japanese soccer needed them. They realized that they can't play in the World Cup as Brazilians, but finds themselves playing real well in the J-League, so they decide that they have a better chance going with Japan.

3. Yet the saddest part is, the Brazilians aren't even the best players on the team. Some don't even make the national team roster. So stop making these assumptions.

[NERD]

OaklandZoo- thank you for clarifying that. But, I do think Japan will need all the help in the world, be that Brazilians, English, French, whatever, to just make through the first round in the World Cup. I mean, being grouped with Brazil and Croatia?

And I don't care what people say, I do believe there may be some unofficial deals that make a person to switch nationalities and change teams. It may not be financial, but there are definitely something else going on. One good reason is that they couldn't play for the Brazilian national team, as you've mentioned.

[ZaichikArky]

mm. Ice dancing last night was so hot. It's one of my favorite events. I don't know who I liked the best. Possibly that hot Russian(Plushenko) because everything he was doing screamed Shounen Ai to me. dansing around this male violinist. Yes, so hot. My roomate and I were highly amused at this. He was like

"THIS IS THE GAYEST PERFORMANCE EVER"
"YES I KNOW DOESN'T IT ROCK IN AWSOME *SQUEE*"
"OH GOD. I knew you'd like this. "
"The thing is, he's not even gay! See, being gay, at least back in the USSR, got you sent to Siberia. I'm not even joking. That's why so many Russians are still homophobic like my parents. Also he won the gold metal in the men's short program as well as some other metal probably ^_^"
"Yeah, I'm well aware he is probably NOT gay..... the thing is, this is the gayest performance ever"
" AHHHH I KNOW!!!! HE'S SO FUCKING HOT!" *diez*

Man, I'm soooo getting flamed for this post XD;

[whispering]

Compared to Sasha or Irina, Arakawa played it safe and didn't try to pull of anything risky. If both of them didn't fall, I can tell you, Arakawa wouldn't have gotten the gold.
They dont actually lose that many points cause of falling. Zhang Dan and Zhang Hao got silver even though Zhang Dan fell really roughly, the whole program was stopped for 5 minutes, before she could continue.

Anyway, this topic needs more figure skating photos. My favourite "moves" (only the first one is from Torino):

http://img399.imageshack.us/img399/7913/51299939jd.jpg

http://img399.imageshack.us/img399/2794/51105273115281aa.jpg

http://img131.imageshack.us/img131/3274/shizukaex059oa.jpg

http://img131.imageshack.us/img131/186/shizukaex088qw.jpg

[ZaichikArky]

I loved the outfit arakawa(sp?) was wearing last night. It looked just the right mix of hoochie with sophisticated. I couldn't figure out whether it was more hoochie or sophisticated... so it was an awsome outfit :p.

[Frankey-eh]

http://img399.imageshack.us/img399/2794/51105273115281aa.jpg


I really like this outfit.

btw, what outfit was arakawa wearing last night?

[whispering]

I really like this outfit.

btw, what outfit was arakawa wearing last night?
http://www.nbcolympics.com/figureskating/5129623/detail.html

You can watch photos or the video from there, its the outfit on the first picture i posted :)

[Zensouken]

I'm not a fan of blue but that's a nice outfit...

[NERD]

whispering, I have no idea why you quoted me above. I don't see how my post goes in hand to hand with yours.

[whispering]

whispering, I have no idea why you quoted me above. I don't see how my post goes in hand to hand with yours.
I was going to reply to 2 of your posts, instead of 1. But left the wrong quote in... *oops*
*fixed*

[ZaichikArky]

btw, what outfit was arakawa wearing last night?

Mm. It was similar to that blue one posted here, but the one last night she did in the ice dancing competition was far more stylish. It also was blue and had this elongated skirt and much of the top was see-through. It was just a gorgeous design, from what I saw. I'll try to find a pic of it if I can.

[Jay]

On reflection (and after seeing the replay), I don't think Sasha's performance was THAT bad, but still not deserving of a medal for me.

She has brilliant technical steps, there's absolutely no denial there; but the exectuion of ALL her jumps was a little... off. She stuffed the first two, and she was feeling her way throughout ALL the other ones. Execution wasn't too brilliant in my mind.

But what's happened has happened, and we can only hope the judges learn from it for next time.

[Azrael]

Silly me, I kind of thought Miki Andoh doing so poorly would be the end of her extra-wide face on TV. Nope. Turned on the tube, and the first thing I see are reporters interviewing Miki Andoh about her loss and her feelings about Arakawa's win. Sheesh.

[Crowley]

Man, I'm soooo getting flamed for this post XD;

Since you asked

You shitcocking fuckstick, your idea of humour repels me as the stench of your mother's... oh I can't be bothered, to be honest.

[hanacker]

Silly me, I kind of thought Miki Andoh doing so poorly would be the end of her extra-wide face on TV. Nope. Turned on the tube, and the first thing I see are reporters interviewing Miki Andoh about her loss and her feelings about Arakawa's win. Sheesh.

Well Pierrot should be happy that people haven't forgotten about Andoh.

[Ichisan]

Well congratulations to Arakawa - Japan's first Winter Olympic medal ever? But Germany rules the Winter Olympic Games and Austria has been unbelievable.

Oh yeah South Korea too. My only question is - how did they miss out on the other 2 short track gold medals? Only 6 golds out of 8 possible golds in 8 short track events? Tsk tsk! :-D

Anyway, the biggest impression I'm walking away from this Winter olympics is - Sasha Cohen's hot and she floats on the ice like an angel too.

[Pierrot le Fou]

It wasn't their first medal ever -- just in this year's games. They were WAY off expectations for how many medals they'd bring home.

And hanacker, you're being passive aggressive for no apparent reason. Yes Andoh Miki is still on TV. That doesn't mean I'm happy, nor does it in any way change the fact that Arakawa who was barely heralded as a hopeful in comparison to Andoh is getting insane amounts of coverage and is being called a heroine by much of Japan.

[jindojim]

No....Japan has won Winter Olympic medals before, Ichisan...

Just this year they only won one. But they're treatin Arakawa like she's the 1st person ever to win a medal for Japan.

[Azrael]

Well, Japan didn't really care about any other competition other than the ladies figure skating. That's what the focus has been on from the start. They may give the snowboarders or the speed skaters or even the curlers some obligatory screen time, but it's always been about the ladies figure skating.

So, for them to win in the one sport they were banking on...and have it be their first gold ever in that sport...AND have it be the only medal they actually did win...they're going to make it a huger deal than it actually is, and it's not gonna go away for awhile. The only snag is that it wasn't their pre-chosen poster child Miki Andoh, but Arakawa instead. But that doesn't seem to be slowing them down too much.

Good lord, do they have to play Arakawa's life story on every freakin channel?! Thank GOD I've got satellite now.

[Pierrot le Fou]

No way Az, they had a whole list of athletes they had slated to win gold medals -- and it wasn't just figure skating.

I'll try to find the page when I get home, but it was a checklist of Japanese 'Athletes to Watch' put out by the JOC or somesuch.

[Frankey-eh]

Well, Japan didn't really care about any other competition other than the ladies figure skating. That's what the focus has been on from the start. They may give the snowboarders or the speed skaters or even the curlers some obligatory screen time, but it's always been about the ladies figure skating.

So, for them to win in the one sport they were banking on...and have it be their first gold ever in that sport...AND have it be the only medal they actually did win...they're going to make it a huger deal than it actually is, and it's not gonna go away for awhile. The only snag is that it wasn't their pre-chosen poster child Miki Andoh, but Arakawa instead. But that doesn't seem to be slowing them down too much.

Good lord, do they have to play Arakawa's life story on every freakin channel?! Thank GOD I've got satellite now.

well... I've noticed lately that, whenever they show the score board, it's always Germany with 9 gold, 21 total, then seven other countries with 8 gold and 18 total or something like that, and right underneath all that is Japan with just one gold and one total. THAT is kinda sad... and I guess I can understand why they're making such a big deal about it.

btw... is "pre-chosen poster child" the most frequently-used English word for someone everyone expected would win the competition? Just want to know because I was looking for a translation earlier.

[Pierrot le Fou]

No.

The person expected to win is the 'favorite.'

Ex. Sascha Cohen is the favorite going into the free skate portion of the program.

A 'poster child' is someone who is seen to represent some quality to the extent that they would be put up on a poster to describe some quality or the like.

Ex. Mao-chan is the poster child for the next generation of Japanese figure skaters.
Ex. Miki Andoh is the poster child for Japanese figure skating, competing on the top level with her quadruple jump.

[hanacker]

And hanacker, you're being passive aggressive for no apparent reason. Yes Andoh Miki is still on TV. That doesn't mean I'm happy, nor does it in any way change the fact that Arakawa who was barely heralded as a hopeful in comparison to Andoh is getting insane amounts of coverage and is being called a heroine by much of Japan.

I guess it's just that the idea that you shouldn't be allowed to celebrate something unless you've specifically been following it for a certain amount of time probably bugs me as much as bandwagon fans bug you.