Yu-Na Kim Wins Gold in Record-Breaking Skate; Asada Lands Two Triple Axels for the Silver

by LauraS on Feb 26, 2010 12:19 AM EST

South Korea's Yu-Na Kim withstood the pressure to break the all-time free skate record to win the gold medal in Olympic ladies figure skating on Thursday. She won by more than twenty points with a 228.56. Japan's Mao Asada landed two triple axels in the free skate, making that three triple axels total, to win the silver medal with 205.50. Canada's Joannie Rochette had a passionate, although imperfect skate, to easily hold onto third place and win the bronze medal. Rochette was skating with a heavy heart; her mother died unexpectedly on Sunday and Rochette was an inspiration here.

America's Mirai Nagasu jumped down to fourth place with a 190.15 free skate to "Carmen," while her countrymate and national champion Rachael Flatt skated a clean, but downgraded program, which dropped her to seventh place.

We saw amazing performances under pressure by each lady who was in the final group (NBC decided it was unnecessary to show us many others). There was not one fall. Yu-Na Kim was absolutely a dream, with an effortless skate that exuded artistry without even trying.

Unfortunately, this is the first time in more than forty years that the United States ladies leave the competition without a medal. However, both American ladies had great skates.

**Ladies Final Results**
1	Yu-na Kim	South Korea	228.56
2	Mao Asada	Japan	205.50
3	Joannie Rochette	Canada	202.64
4	Mirai Nagasu	USA	190.15
5	Miki Ando	Japan	188.86
6	Laura Lepisto	Finland	187.97
7	Rachael Flatt	USA	182.49
8	Akiko Suzuki	Japan	181.44
9	Alena Leonova	Russia	172.46
10	Ksenia Makarova	Russia	171.91
11	Kiira Korpi	Finland	161.57
12	Cynthia Phaneuf	Canada	156.62
13	Min-Jung Kwak	South Korea	155.53
14	Elene Gedevanishvili	Georgia	155.24
15	Sarah Meier	Switzerland	152.81
16	Carolina Kostner	Italy	151.90
17	Julia Sebestyen	Hungary	151.26
18	Sarah Hecken	Germany	143.94
19	Yan Liu	China	143.47
20	Cheltzie Lee	Australia	138.16
21	Elena Glebova	Estonia	134.19
22	Sonia Lafuente	Spain	133.51
23	Anastasia Gimazetdinova	Uzbekistan	131.65
24	Tugba Karademir	Turkey	129.54

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People are rabid at Yahoo site

People are going on and on saying Joannie Rochette got the sympathy vote and that’s why she got bronze.

JR 62.80 for technical
MN 65.83 for technical

So Mirai got more on the technical mark and she had less going into the long program.
Base score: 58.38 for Joannie and 57.33 for Mirai. So Joannie was marked down and didn’t get a better score than Mirai on required elements.

Joannie was already 7 points ahead of Mirai from the short. Joannie scored higher in the program components, which I think is fair. Her program was sophisticated and she was strong in this area.

I think she earned bronze over the two skates.

I’m sure I won’t convince anyone who thinks otherwise based on how they liked the program or who they think was better but when I look at the stats, I"m sure in my own mind that it was a well earned and judged bronze.

by kpaige on Feb 26, 2010 2:47 AM EST reply actions

I Saw the Same Things

And those opinions are wrong, in my eyes. What most of those people are basing their views on are two things:

1.The “cleanliness” of the programs.
2. Even more dangerously, nationalism.

As I wrote in another post, “The results are what the judges say they are.” And I for one am very happy and pleased with the results. The podium was completely correct. Yes, Mirai Nagasu skated a “cleaner” program than Joannie Rochette, but without the same style or grace or artistry. That-not sympathy-is why Joannie won the bronze.

Sadly, there are a lot of people who see things through the prism of what they believe. The judges, in this case, saw things through the prism of the truth. And that is what truly matters.

by Ironcurtianantihero on Feb 26, 2010 9:22 AM EST up reply actions