NBC forced you to watch it on tv (because the tv ads will make more money for them than internet ads) so they wouldn't live stream it on the internet unless you had cable from a company that supported nbc (which I didn't). Therefore I spent 2 hours finding covert ways to stream the olympics when I should have been studying! I would only do this for Kim Yuna, seriously! I put up with lagging streams, foreign streams, crappy quality, vpns, and sheer frustration, but Thursday night just made up for all of it! :)

Watched it live and it was EPIC!

Although I felt SO bad for Mao (even though I was still rooting for Kim Yu-na) because she had to skate directly AFTER Yuna. Than she also tripped. Ouch.

I watched it on NBC, and I just wanted to watch Kim Yu-na's part... but somehow I waited 2 hours just to see it -_-
Had to go through men's skiing than all this other stuff just to get to the female's ice skating... But all that wait just made me loose my breath when I was watching it LIVE. That experience... than seeing Kim Yu-na break another record...

It was unreal.

Oh,

@ goldlilys: Mao Asada kinda "tripped" on the ice (didn't fall) and some other mistake. Which is why it's not towards favoritism that Kim Yu-na won, as she had a flawless and stronger performance.

It was epic listening to the announcers. They just made it more exciting, and when she finished her program, you could feel just how awesome it was when you hear everyone shouting.

Btw, how long do skaters usually last? Do they continue into their 30's? Because after two more Olympics, Yu-na will be 27...

Yu-na Kim's deserved gold with her performance, but I do not feel it was a full 22 points higher than the silver medalist from Japan. It was defiantly better so I do not dispute the metal standings, but the over scoring may affect the sport outside the Olympic bubble. I think Rachael was actually underscored by about 8 points and while it would not change the metal standings, it does affect world ranking. I think she got screwed in that department. Anyway, this Olympics the Judges did an amazing job. While we can sit here and debate a few points, but in every event I think the placing was accurate even if the scores were a little off.

@ Biscuit:
Favoritism or not goldlilys raises a valid point. Such huge difference between the two is simply unbelievable. Even the two mistakes can't explain it. They can't explain the huge GOE of Yuna, nor the minimal bonuses of Mao.
Something's wrong with the current system of evaluation. Mao set a record with 3 triple axels in one competition and performed almost flawlessly if you don't count the two mistakes.But even if you do, most of the 23 points between her and Yuna appeared out of thin air.

Congrats tp Yu-na! Really, she's reinvigorated her sport, plus with the added one-on-one rivarly with Mao, there are actually juicy showdowns in the future to look forward to and add spice to competitions. But it looks like Yu-na's gonna win everything under the sun in the near future.

I have to agree that I think Yu-na's score was a tad too high, 150, really? 140s would have been much more appropriate. Her spins, twirls and footwork was extraordinary, but not the best I have ever seen. I don't think Mao was underscored due to her mistakes, and she looked less free and fluid on ice than Yu-na in general, I felt Yu-na was a tad overscored, but hey, its the Olympics, even judges are in the moment.

Yu-na is my fave skater since Michelle retired, and before then, I loved Kristi, and bf Kristi it was Katarina. I see a trend, I adore the skaters who have a perfect combination of athleticism with more artistry. And I love the lissome, lithe skaters who make figure skating like a ballet on ice. Which is why as much as I am so happy Joannie Rochette won the bronze, I don't enjoy watching her skate.

But my fave performance of the night came from......Mirai Nagasu. I knew she had it in her! Woo hoo, the future of skating, you betcha! Her sit spins, camels and laybacks were absolutely exquisite, the best last night, wow! Sochi may be a three-way race btw Yuna, Mao and Mirai, mark my words.

Mirai is Michelle's heir apparent for US skating. And she has such JOY when skating, I love it! Michelle always looked pinchy in big performance, and Sasha, yikes, I love her artistry but she's got the bitch down perfectly. Anyways, looking forward to following how these skaters continue to push the sport.

@55 Penn
"Kristi Yamaguchi also has shown that skaters can still be successful and technically competitive in pro competition circuit."

Never mind also finding success in dancing with the stars.

I understand why Kim Yu-Na won, but I don't understand the huge gap between her score and Mao Asada's.

Perhaps it was the sky-high expectations, but I don't quite see what all the fuss is about. She is a talented, artistic, and technical skater, but I keep hearing things about how hers was one of the greatest olympic performances ever, and how she "elevated the sport." I'll be the first to admit that I'm no expert in skating, but I just didn't see it. Maybe it was the choreography/music combination that was lacking for me, but even though her performance was flawless and the commentators were mooning over it, it left me cold. I think I can only attribute my reaction to heightened expectations, because I had never seen her skate before and she was so, so hyped leading up to the competition.

That said, I think it was awesome the way she held her own under the enormous pressure of everyone's expectations. She has incredible nerves, she absolutely deserved the gold, and I am very happy for her.

"as i mentioned, i tend to find it hard to concentrate on what my feet are doing, which in turn affects everything else.. "

I would just start out working on catch/retrieval drills prior to hitting. Main thing is just to move around while keeping the trunk facing the net, and then getting used to which leg muscles are moving. I wouldn't worry about heel vs. toe. Again, that will come out of habit. Trunk facing net. Light feet.

I guess you can try this visualization during the catch/retrieval/movement drills. Imagine that this is Pong, and that your trunk is the paddle.

I emphasize the movement part a lot, because then you don't have to worry about the step-out anymore. Your feet -- whether from a step-out, a drop step, a shuffle step, etc. -- will always be ready to initiate the unit turn.

@nell123,

Begrudgingly, I say that Tara deserved to win 1998. And, yes, if Mao was allowed to compete in Torino, she would have pulled off a Tara. Mao didn't just have the leaping ability then, her actual skating was already light and blinding. Mao was a true pixie to watch on ice, and she wouldn't have the expectations that were hoisted on Miki Ando.

If it weren't for Tara's victory, though, Michelle Kwan doesn't become Michelle Kwan. And this also goes back to Yu-Na's future. Does she want to continue to the next Olympics? How much longer does she want to compete in the Worlds? How much more?

I was so blown away by Kim Yun A's performance last night. She totally deserved the gold medal. The South Koreans must be proud of her. Supposedly, she's the greatest ice skater of all time. I think Joanne Rochette got sympathy votes from the judges because of her mom's passing 2 days before the Olympics. It was an awesome night for female ice skaters and I enjoyed watching every minute of it. What an unforgettable night!

there have been a lot of people saying that the scores shouldn't have been so far apart. but if you go to the nbcolympics website, you'll see the details of the score. she was deducted for the two mistakes that she made in the program. And i don't know if this is true, but i heard one of her triple axel were downgraded to a double axel because she didn't rotate enough. so there's points off for her technical element. And the main thing is that she lacks artistry, unlike yuna <3 yuna looks very calm and artistic. she takes her own interpretation of the music and really puts her heart into the music. If you look at asada mao, she lacks that bit, which is why she got 5 points lower on the artistic element.
anyway, KIM YUNA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 대한민국의 자랑!!! ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ~~ I'm soooo proud of her!!!!!!!!! She's truly the FIGURE SKATING QUEEN <33333333333

Whoa. Gotta keep my multiple notepad/wordpad in check next time. Heh.

I was rooting for Kim Yu-na, I said a little prayer for her when she was performing and was so happy when she won. I noticed that your photo above is not the one from last night - same dress (or maybe same color) but definitely not the medal and bouquet from the 2010 Olympics. Maybe you can update later?

okay, i'm going to sound a little defensive here, but everyone who is saying that Joannie Rochette did NOT deserve the bronze and got it only from sympathy, simply does NOT KNOW WHAT THEY ARE TALKING ABOUT.

If you go to the olympics site, it gives you a MARK BREAKDOWN of every single element, and i compared Rochette's to Nagasu. Rochette was not given a high GOE (grade of execution) for her stumbles BUT her elements had higher base points. This means her jumps, footwork, combinations, automatically get higher points just for landing them BECAUSE THEY ARE MORE DIFFICULT. for example, rochette does a triple triple double toe loop vs mirai's triple triple double loop. Toe Loop > Loop.

That added to her 8+ point lead gave her the bronze. it had nothing to do with flawless vs. mistakes. the math is all there, so dont make assumptions.

FWIW, I thought Asada's score should have been quite a bit higher than Joannie's.

But, yes, it's about program content. Nagasu skated a clean, brilliant program, but it wasn't as loaded as the top 3 skaters. The new scoring system allows you to stumble here and there, as long as you go for broke.

@#3 - Oranges
Yes, I agree Mirai's smile is so adorable! She actually reminds me a lot of Nicole (fron Kara) when she smiles.

And (just a comment to you saying no one fell on their butts).. I didn't see all of the performances (because I don't believe NBC airs all of them) but when I turned on the TV I saw some girl (in red?) fall at almost every one of her spins. It was so sad to watch, but really once you mess up, I guess you really start to lose concentration.

Anyway- Kim Yuna was amazing, as always. It so great to watch her skate because I really feel like she's floating or something; she's so graceful!

Also, despite the 2 small slips, Asada Mao did great too! (:

The current scoring system changes the perception of your skate. Instead of perfection, you now chase ceiling. In that regard, it is good because it encourages skaters to push the envelope and accept risk taking.

The downside -- and this is considerable -- is that it can also create despair among the elite skaters. For somebody like Mao, because Yu-Na's score was so, so, so high, she kinda knows that no matter how she skates her program, she cannot catch up. Even if she skated her own program perfectly, she cannot put up enough points.

So now you have to go back to drawing board, chomp at the choreographer and for somebody like Mao, you end up asking yourself whether you're even capable of competing with Yu-Na.

"Never mind also finding success in dancing with the stars."

Speaking of that . . . time for Kim Yu-Na to start her singing career. ;)

Oh and LOL at the Chosun Ilbo's plastic surgery article about Kim Yu-Na. Only in Korea . . . . ;)

I couldn't help myself tearing up last night when Yuna was done with her beautiful performance. (yes, I'm Korean) Very proud of Yuna and Mao for enduring enormous pressure from both counties. It was amazing to watch how strong and courageous
young ladies could be on the ice. My heart goes out to Joanne and her family. And look forward to see Mirai in next Olympics. Standing ovations to all athletes.

Congrats to Yuna Kim! She was amazing!
As always figure skaters stupefy me and it seems the Koreans and Japanese have consecutively been blowing all other competition out of the water, yay, Asia!

I was secretly rooting for Mao though, I'm kind of mystified by her, but admittedly Kim is more consistent. Congrats to both of them anyway, yay!!

"Oh and LOL at the Chosun Ilbo’s plastic surgery article about Kim Yu-Na. Only in Korea . . . "
*googles*
Whatta...?! Really, folks, put appearance aside for a minute!
But I guess it's a good thing she is pretty.

Everyone did their absolute best. Everyone who commented above pretty much said what I wanted to say. Just, great job everyone!

(Was anyone else a little ticked off by on of the American male announcer with the deeper voice who kept commenting on Korea and Japan's rivalry/"hostility"? This is the Olympics, you don't mention that kind of stuff on a friendly sports competition even if it may be true. It's there, the tension and such, but don't go and talk about it so casually! It just made me groan to be honest, even if it's not a big deal.)

awww..that was some amazing performance by Yuna!!
I'm excited for Yuna and Korea on their first gold medal in figure skating..!!..
I also thought Asada was amazing as well..i can't imagine having the pressure from your country to bring home the gold..and being only 19 !! i hope Asada could see that she was amazing..and that her country will be proud of her regardless....that said..our 16 year old Mirai was spectacular too..she is really adorable..and likable.
including the very touching performance by Joannie i couldn't have asked for a better olympic competition. ^__^

@ nycgrl > totally agree with you on NBC coverage..it drove me crazy on tuesday when..friends got together to watch the skating..and i think we saw like 5 skaters all together..and we had to watch from 8 to 12..it was absolutely ridiculous..

last night however...i tried to record it..so i could fast forward everything..turned on the tv around 11 pm..and they were just starting the last group of skaters..unbelievable..how annoying is that..??

@Slim: Heh, me and my mom started at 9 pm. My mom wanted to see Kim Yuna, so we watched it... they showed a clip of some woman, than suddenly went to the men's skiing jumps. It was pretty entertaining... but I didn't really want to see it. I just wanted to get to the ice-skating!

2 Hours... later...

Sometime before it was like "24 minutes til Woman's Ice Skating!". Than they showed a girl from Austria, and that was it. So only til the very end they stated "We will show the top 6 skaters, uninterrupted etc etc".

I totally had no clue they were going to start at 11 pm... *sigh*.

I don't usually keep up with the Olympics... so... For Kim Yu-na, I wen't through all this-and-that to watch a single performance TT___TT

My mom's not really a nationalistic person, and sometimes argues with Korean culture.. being Korean herself, but for some reason, that totally changed when she saw Kim Yu-na. "Well, I guess she can just sit back and relax.. .etc etc... she kicked their butts..." XD

Only thing I didn't like was Miki Ando vs. Rachael Flatts... Miki was such a mechanical skater, yet I was so disspointed that she still beat Flatts.

Let's put it another way.

"Mao, I'll let you finish. You delivered two 3As, but Kim Yu-Na delivered the Greatest Skate of All Time!!! OF ALL TIME!!!"

People are complaining that NBC didn't show the final group of skaters until 11pm, but they showed it live, didn't they? So it's not like they could have moved it up. They could have made it clearer when the skating would start, but they of course want the ratings of people waiting to watch figure skating.

They also could have shown more groups of skaters, but not everyone wants to watch an entire night of skating, and USA medaled in the event they did show (the aerial jump).

@8 goldlilys, i have to agree with you on the whole biased scoring thing. i did think kim yu-na's performance was fantastic, but i thought mao asada's was awesome too. i mean, technically speaking, triple axels are supposed to insanely difficult, right? i mean, if only one woman in the olympics has ever done them... but anyway, although yu-na is great and everything, i think south koreans really go overboard with national pride sometimes. still, congratulations to yu-na and asada!

Wow, Yuna's performance made this year's Winter Olympic for me. Never heard of her and Mao before and hadn't been into figre skating since well... 2 Olympics ago.

Yuna siimply blew me away with her grace and eloquence on ice, she is like a swan on water that somehow doesn't feel human with the stuff she does and how she respond to music, her moves and tricks feels natural rather than rehearsed, something you definitely don't see in other skaters. Having caught Mao on the Short program first, i thought wow she was amazing, and then Yuna came on, then i know what magic is.

These girls are simply stunning and great rivalries will spark great competitiveness and they can only get better each time and pushing each other to do better.

Having done some research, i found this clip which I thought was really touching, photos of their story since kids on ice, and even more dramatic and epic than any Korean drama because it is real and so much more episodes to be told, as they are both still only 19.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=chxfpsJgtxY

I know much has been made about this Korean Vs Japanese rivalries, but that says to me more about the spectator looking for an excuse for competition and national pride rather than the competitors themselves. I suspect these 2 would not be as as good without the other. If they compete since children, they are each other's biggest motivators through the blood sweat and tears.

What they can do with their bodies is simply magic and we are really lucky to have these 2 girls pushing the envelopes of what is possible in this day and age. It is interesting how Asian women are doing so great these day in figure skating since Michelle Kwan who inspired all the little girls who followed. It would be interesting to see if Mao can boost herself against her biggest rival, it is a lonely place at the top, and one who stayed on top too long and young can only get complacent.

I read Yuna would be ranked number 9 in men' s program and she would still have 30 seconds to perform. Simply awsome!

truely this is a triumph for

@Figure Skating Coverage,

Actually a lot of guys bitched about there being TOO MUCH figure skating coverage. It is what it is. The biggest event of the Olympics is definitely going to be the Gold Medal Ice Hockey game. That's going to be KEERRRAAAZZYYYYY!!!!

I forgot to mention Mao scored over 200 at the Olympics which a year ago would have been the world record then and enough for a gold, except for the fact Yuna broke it already in 2009. The fact a score of over 200 is still not enough for gold, so one can imagine her utter devastation despite coming second at the medal ceremony yesterday.

What has the girl gotta do? It must have felt hopeless. It is time to go back to the drawing board and may be go for a quadruple :P

Kim was amazing and so was Rochette. Very inspirational! And they were Trending Topics on Twitter today! http://bit.ly/a9IaX7

I have yet to see the performance, but I saw the medal ceremony and loved the tears of joy. It was so moving because the Canadian bronze medalist was crying some bittersweet tears and we had Kim Yuna just glow with emotion as well.

I was a tearful mess before work this morning.

She and ALL the Korean skaters (short track and speed skating) dominated the ice! They are all heroes!!!!

Just to defend the guys a little: female athletes usually peak earlier than male athletes, especially mentally (tho, also physically). How many 19 yr olds or under males have ever won major figure skating titles? Then compare that with the females.

And as someone who only watches figure skating once every four years, I found it hard to believe that Asada's LP score was basically the same as Rochette's. Judges, really? Were they really that close?

If Kim wanted to get back to a normal college life now would be the time to walk away from figure skating in the afterglow of winning the gold. The hero walking off into the sunset, then perhaps coming back 3 yrs later to tune up for the next Olympics if she felt like it.

I smiled the entire time watching :)

@ 8 goldlilys & 81 blah - Triple axel is not the only thing the judges look at. There are many other elements figure skaters earn points for. Kim Yuna doesn't have the need to do triple axel since she earns enough points from other elements--speed, transition, artistic ability, the distance and height of each jump, etc, all of which Yuna excels in (and her triple lutz and triple toe combination is actually worth more points than triple axel and double toe combination Mao does, **surprise surprise** and that's why being the only one doing triple axel doesn't do much in terms of the score in the scoring system). I command Mao for taking risk by doing triple axel but I heard the reason she does it is also because she isn't so good at lutz technique so she needs triple axel to make up for it (notice that she didn't include any lutz jump in her program from the breakdown of points JB linked above). In addition to that, Mao made some mistakes while Yuna delivered a clean performance during the free skating, so that 18 points gap seems valid to me.

To all those people who don't understand why Yuna got such high GOE points..

I think the difference is that Yuna did much more to draw in the audience. There were points where you could tell she wasn't just skating but also performing. She had much more personality than Mao did in my opinion, and that's what made the difference. Yes, Mao's program was great. She did the triple axels. But hers to me felt like one jump after another, maybe because she was under so much pressure going right after Yuna. No to mention Yuna's triple-triple combination has a slightly higher base score than Mao's triple axel-double toe loop (I believe) combination. Her triple axels also seemed a little shaky to me, as Scott Hamilton pointed out right after the program. So I don't think the 18 point gap in the free-skating score was ridiculous.

I mean, the scoring is broken down to all the elements. If you look at those, it makes sense. What's amazing is that a point per element adds up. With Mao's little slips taken into consideration, the gap no longer seems too much. It's just Yuna and her team being smart about taking every point they can out of the judges, and again--they ADD UP

Has anyone seen torrents with the ladies short program? I can find the long program on several trackers but not the short one.

@flo

Plushenko won his first Olympic silver when he was 19, and his predecessor Yagudin won his first World Championships when he was 18. That said, some people - male and female - are late bloomers, so it's way too early to say what Patrick Chan is capable of.

Very touching clip of Kim Yu-Na's career, including her rehabilitation through injuries. Puts everything in perspective of the difficult journey she (and many, many skaters around world) travel to get to the Olympics.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4JQ8NCNyC6E

(And she's Catholic!! Her English name's Stella Kim!!)

hi am awesome hi i was bored..