There were two big surprises on February 18 while watching the long program in the men’s free-skating finals. One, by having Evan Lysacek win gold without doing a quad. That is preposterous. Two, Johnny Weir never skated better in his life, and he was horribly underscored in both the short and long program. So what does all this mean, figure skating like so many other events in the Olympics, are poorly judged. Unfair is an understatement!
Never do a sport that has to be judged by others, only do a sport that is judged by time; otherwise, you leave your fate in the hands of judges who are blind!
This also goes for snowboarding half pipe. Shaun White was the best and deserved gold, but Louie Vito did an excellent two runs and was poorly scored, and missed getting a medal because of the judges. The same for Weir, who skated incredible in both the short and long programs, skating so smooth, hitting every jump, with such artistic creativity, he got a standing ovation by the crowd. He was robbed. The low scores dumbfounded even his coach after a perfectly flawless skate. Weir should have gotten a bronze if not silver for his beautiful performance.
Then you have Russian gold medalist Evgeni Plushenko who was first after the short program and then last to skate for the long program. He seemed a bit nervous, but landed every jump including the quad, and should have been rewarded with the gold medal and not the silver. How do you win a medal without doing a quad? He too was robbed. His performance was exciting, getting the crowd into it, commanding your full attention as he skated with perfection.
Then you have Evan Lysacek, who did skate well, but his performance lacked inspiration. Sure, his jumps were smooth, but his performance lacked anything exciting, almost like a robot. He did not do a quad like Plushenko, his artistic creativity was less than Weir, but still he won the gold medal. He scored an incredibly high score in the short program, that was shocking, and then he scored an even higher score in the free skate long program, that shocked everyone. Sure his performance was good, but nowhere near Plushenko, and that is where the judges and the scoring system come into play.
After watching the horrible outcome, seeing Johnny Weir skate perfectly and not even get a medal, and watching Plushenko lose the gold, I turned off the television, and have lost complete interest in watching anymore of the Olympics. I need not watch the mundane commentary anymore that keeps cutting into an event, instead of showing it in its entirety. And without Weir and Vito getting the medals they deserved, some fans are crying, some are smiling, and some like me, have wasted enough of their time!
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By Davin Colten for Femme Fan
