Olympic Recap, Day 6: Men's Long Program

The Men's event this year was a bit of a let down. There were some great moments, but perhaps the pressure of Olympic competition left its mark as most skaters failed to skate clean programs. The quad was not quite the prominent feature that many anticipated.

Yevgeny Plushenko turned in a good, but not particularly inspiring, long program. His jumps and spins were first rate, and Plushenko definitely turned in the most technically proficient performance of the night. And in a field filled with some... interesting... costumes, it was nice to see that Plushenko again wore something understated. He skated to a jazzed up version of The Godfather. From the opening bars of the music, it's hard not to compare the choreography with that of Phillipe Candeloro's performance to The Godfather several years ago. Plushenko had some great moments -- in particular, I felt the choreography during his footwork sequences really worked. But there as still a lot of skate, skate, jump, skate, skate, spin, repeat. But the lack of inspired artistry did not hurt him, and Plushenko easily took gold.

Lambiel of Switzerland placed second, despite some technical flaws. He again had trouble with his triple axel - his nemesis jump, if you will - doubling his planned triple. He attempted a quad, which did net him some points (for completed rotation) despite his fall. The missed technical elements cost him points, but he had enough of a buffer from the short program to clinch the silver medal. I thought his artistry and connecting elements were very good, and he used the music (Vivaldi's Four Seasons) to good effect. But he wins my award for worst costume of the night. Honestly, you have to see it to believe it.

Jeffrey Buttle won the bronze. Though he had stumbles of his own, he attacked his program and really seemed to enjoy himself on the ice.

The story that most people in the media have been running with is the apparent self-destruction of Johnny Weir. He turned in an overall mediocre and lackluster performance. With no quad in his program, he needed a clean skate to keep up with the other competitors. But despite a strong start, Weir had troubles as his long program progressed. He was unable to complete some of his planned combinations due to shaky landings. Weir also did one fewer triple jump than the other skaters, which hurt his score considerably. He ultimately dropped to fifth place. One focus of the media has been Weir's remarks, and some of his final words at the Torino games are certainly a doozy:

"I missed the bus. They changed the schedule. It was every 10 minutes. Today it was every half-hour. I was late getting here and never caught up. I never felt comfortable in this building. I didn't feel my inner peace, I didn't feel my aura. Inside I was black."

Okay, first off, you might want to check the schedule to make sure you don't show up late to one of the most important skates in your life. Second, you didn't skate too badly two days ago considering you "never felt comfortable in [the] building." And your aura?? Just admit it - you didn't skate well yesterday. Don't make crazy excuses.

The other two Americans skated well. After a disappointing short program that left him in tenth place, Evan Lysacek skated an excellent long program which scored a personal best. His score for the long program was third, behind Plushenko and Buttle. He wound up fourth. If he had had a better short program, Lysacek would have secured a spot on the podium. The program didn't have as much technical firepower as Plushenko's, but the expression and artistry was very good. In my mind, Lysacek gave the most impressive performance of the night.

Matt Savoie also skated reasonably well, with a light and lyrical style and great lines. He improved his eighth place finish from the short program to seventh overall. Joubert of France turned in an uneven performance to finish sixth. And I just want to add that my (pirate) hat's off to Kevin Van Der Perren of Belgium, who skated a very entertaining program to Pirates of the Caribbean.

Overall, with the general exception of Plushenko, the men's skating in this Olympics has been a story of surviving - he who makes the fewest mistakes wins. This might be understandable if people were falling on the quad, but there were slips and spills on some of the more basic elements.

Two comments on the new scoring system as it applies to the men's event. I really like the fact that the system rewards more balanced skating, particularly the skating between elements. We're already starting to see more interesting footwork and choreography and more inventive spins. I'm a bit concerned about one thing though. An attempted quad will still garner more points than a clean triple; which I think will decrease the number of clean programs. But at least the points are only given for quads with completed rotation. Perhaps that's the proper middle ground for the issue.

Okay, tonight is the first round of Ice Dancing, which kicks off with the compulsory dance round. Check back later tonight for my highlights and to learn a bit more about the Ravensburger Waltz.