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“To be honest, when I first came here I didn’t know what to expect,” said Chen, 18. “I knew it was going to be big, it was going to be grand. I didn’t know what the media was going to be like, I didn’t know what the ice was going to be like, what the village was going to be like. It was all so brand new and different.
“The biggest change for me was not being able to see my mom 24/7. For me, that was something that I really missed.”
A Chinese mom hovering around her overachieving teenager 24/7? Not too surprising. That's typical Tiger Mom behavior.
Mark Zeigler's column in the San Diego Union-Tribune is brutal. But he has a point. I don't see how Mirai or Karen Chen could have possibly considered themselves as serious threats for medals. If you can't handle the externals surrounding a competition you aren't going to be able to handle the actual competition. All of the other competitors were dealing with the same issues (hello, Zagitova is 15 and she wasn't crying about missing her mommy).
I agree, Alina and Evgenia also skated on the team competition and I didn't see them whining.
It has more to do with the mindset and not the physical.
Karen and Mirai started skating around five. Alina and Evgenia started skating around three or four years of age. Kaetlyn Osmond started at three and Satoko Miyahara the fourth place finisher didn't start skating until seven years of age.
The Americans, and most of the other lower ranked skaters for that matter, just do not have it mentally. I sometimes think it is genetic, some people have the ability to perform their best under pressure, like Satoko, Kaetlyn, and the two Russians, and some just wilt under the pressure. The other Russian, Maria Sotskova, skated terribly under the pressure and finished 8th. Look at Mao Asada, a wonderful figure skater but just couldn't get it together when the pressure was too much.
If Americans want to be great in figure skating again, they need to develop athletes that can perform under pressure.
Korean police say they arrested athlete David Duncani, his wife and manager after stealing Hummer that was left running. Manager allegedly was driving drunk.
I agree, Alina and Evgenia also skated on the team competition and I didn't see them whining.
It has more to do with the mindset and not the physical.
Karen and Mirai started skating around five. Alina and Evgenia started skating around three or four years of age. Kaetlyn Osmond started at three and Satoko Miyahara the fourth place finisher didn't start skating until seven years of age.
The Americans, and most of the other lower ranked skaters for that matter, just do not have it mentally. I sometimes think it is genetic, some people have the ability to perform their best under pressure, like Satoko, Kaetlyn, and the two Russians, and some just wilt under the pressure. The other Russian, Maria Sotskova, skated terribly under the pressure and finished 8th. Look at Mao Asada, a wonderful figure skater but just couldn't get it together when the pressure was too much.
If Americans want to be great in figure skating again, they need to develop athletes that can perform under pressure.
Look at Carolina Kostner from Italy. She skated in both the short and free during the team competition and turned around and finished 5th in the individual.
It appears as though American will never have another Michelle Kwan.
Look at Carolina Kostner from Italy. She skated in both the short and free during the team competition and turned around and finished 5th in the individual.
It appears as though American will never have another Michelle Kwan.
It may be a while.
There's probably too many distractions and handicaps for many young Americans going into figure skating to devote themselves fully physically and mentally, to become the best of the best. A huge financial cost also of course.
Just finished watching the Gala skating event, a lot of fun performances (looks like NBC primetime is stretching it out as per usual). Yuzuru closed out the show with an amazing performance. The commentators were on the money about how Yuzuru showed that you don't need huge jumps to have such a moving and involving skate program.
Some of our athletes weren't very good ambassadors, that was a turnoff for me. I also didn't enjoy all the hype and chit chat on the main channel. The games on NBCSN were great though. It was also fun to watch the foreign athletes, what a hoot. Generally speaking, yes I'm going to miss them, for a few days anyway.
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It will be a long wait until Beijing. 
