Olympic Ladies' Figure Skating

Ok, WOW! The women's figure skating last night was incredible. The three medalists are mind blowing! Gold medalist Yu Na Kim broke a record with the highest score ever awarded to a female skater. She was over 23 points ahead of the second place girl. And she's from South Korea of all places! She trains in Canada with Brian Orser, but it's incredible that her talent for figure skating was recognized in a country not known for its figure skating and cultivated. Her performance was absolute beauty.

Silver medalist Mao Asada also made history by being the first woman to land three triple axels in one competition, one in her short program and two in her long. Most women can't even do triple axels. Axels are the most difficult jump because they're the only jump that takes off forward, and they're a half a rotation more than every other jump. When she was setting up for her second triple axel last night I was chanting at the TV "do it do it do it do it" trying to will my energy and positive thoughts to her. The rest of her program was great too. {On a side note, this is another example (*cough* Evgeny Plushenko *cough*) as to why having a bigger jump won't guarantee you a gold medal. You need the complete package to get one of those.}

And Joannie...the person everyone on the planet was rooting for. How do you pull off an excellent program like that under those conditions? I knew she was going to do it, though, when she smacked her coach's hands with two hard fives and took two hard fives back right before her skate. The crowd erupted and so did I. Such a wonderful performance. It wasn't a "sympathy" vote to put her on the podium. She earned that medal fair and square. Only a true world-class Olympic athlete could have accomplished what she did.

I also want to take a moment to explain why the American skater didn't belong on the podium. Mirai Nagasu did very, very well but she was generally less polished than the top three. The area where Joannie edged her out was the Program Components which includes choreography, interpretation, etc. Joannie was 8 points higher than Marai in this area, and Marai was only 3 points higher than Joannie in the executed elements. You also have to remember that they factor in the short program as well. Joannie was almost 8 points higher than Marai in the short program score. Watch out in the next Olympics though. Marai Nagasu will definitely be a force to be reckoned with.

I hope you all got a chance to watch this. It was truly an amazing night for figure skating.