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Anjuli, it might not be the fault of the network, it might be the time difference. The ice skating has been taking place in the evening in Russia which means we have been watching it in the afternoon in the UK. Not sure how far behind you are in Dan Diego but it could be very late the night before if you see what I mean?

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Anjuli, it might not be the fault of the network, it might be the time difference. The ice skating has been taking place in the evening in Russia which means we have been watching it in the afternoon in the UK. Not sure how far behind you are in Dan Diego but it could be very late the night before if you see what I mean?

 

I would agree with you except they do this everytime no matter where the Olympics are held.

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The men's free skating programme was not so good tonight. I think they were all a bit tired and were making lots of mistakes even Jason seemed not so fresh in his performance. Personally I hope they dispense with this team competition thing as they are doing the same routines anyway and I think are getting a bit jaded by the end of the individual competition.

Am still looking forward to the ice dance though!

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I find that the ice skating that starts at around 5pm before the highlights at 7pm on BBC2 very good, watched the men's last night and wanted the Japanese boy to win although he had some falls, and then he did win because all the other men made errors too, they all seemed good natured though which makes a change from the tension and tears, even the German boy who rather threw it all away.

 

What I don't like is that the commentators keep droning on the whole time and the music is kept down, the only time that might not happen is the Gala.

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I enjoyed watching the ice skating too, although I did think the standard wasn't as good as other competitions I have seen.  I can't remember another occasion where all the leading men seemed to fall at some point during their routine.  I too think the team competition is a silly idea, personally, as skating has always been about individual performances. 

 

I think it was a case of Patrick Chen losing the Gold, rather than Yuzuru Hanyu winning.  Although the latter was dazzling, he did make some errors.  As the commentator said, having executed most complicated bits of his routine perfectly, all Patrick had to do was skate competently for the rest of the routine.  Yet the easier the turns, the worse he seemed to get.  Strange thing, pressure.  Happens in all sports, that they stutter and lose when victory is within their grasp.   

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Is it just me that physique actually played a big part of scoring in this round's men's figure skating? 

 

When I saw 3 young men on the podium, I was struck by how long Hanyu (the gold medal one)'s neck was, in comparison to Patrick Chan and Denis Ten!

 

By the way, now having read Plushenko's story, I hope he recovers from his injury and will still be walking fine by the time he is 60.  I never realised how harsh figunre skating at high level is.... Jumping so high and turning so fast on a pair of thin steel on ice cannnot be very good for you jonts and back!  Plus it is always so cold out there.

 

I wouldn't think of doing ballet on non-sprung floor and I am an amature.

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I would agree with you except they do this everytime no matter where the Olympics are held.

 

In the UK we have something called the 'red button' which allows you to access not only the main BBC chanel, but also an extra 2 channels, so there are 3 channels in total which always show different live events.

 

I have just been watching the Women's Snow Board Cross event live which was so exciting. This afternoon I'll watch the ice skating short women's programme live as well.

 

I guess you don't have anything like that in the US where you can see live events?

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In the UK we have something called the 'red button' which allows you to access not only the main BBC chanel, but also an extra 2 channels, so there are 3 channels in total which always show different live events.

 

I have just been watching the Women's Snow Board Cross event live which was so exciting. This afternoon I'll watch the ice skating short women's programme live as well.

 

I guess you don't have anything like that in the US where you can see live events?

 

Well, there are so many cable companies, so many choices through each cable company, as well as other ways of acquiring signal, so many "plans" and channel choices - I can't say for sure whether there is or there isn't.  It could be the cable we have and/or the plan.  There is also direct TV.  

 

We do get live events: news, sports, theater.

 

 But in this Olympics it is being controlled by NBC and I suppose they make the decisions as to what is shown and when.  It's a channel I usually never watch.

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I loved John Curry, too.

 

But my personal favorite - Toller Cranston

 

In this tape he says that he felt the public wanted something more than athleticism - and his choreographed response:

 

 

1976 Olympics:  

 

1982 Olympics (Firebird):  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pMsZZ6Wbap8

 

World Professionals  (go to about 60 in):  

 

 

This all shows how much we have lost.

Edited by Anjuli_Bai
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That was wonderful watching those clips again.  So much artistry and elegance.

 

To me, that was much, much better than anything I saw at these Olympics.  No comparison, as far as I am concerned.

 

No doubt, if John Curry turned up today and did that routine, he probably wouldn't even qualify.  Not difficult enough, I expect.  These days, people have to go for quadruple turns, and get more marks even if they end up flat on their backs. 

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It was watching John Curry that got me into ice skating (watching) in the first place. I thought he was so balletic and then he took a show round the UK of very balletic type ice skating which I was lucky enough to see somewhere in London.

 

Then when Torvill and Dean came on the scene and eventually won that gold medal....I decided in my late forties.......having not long before given up all my ballet activities that I must take up ice skating!!! Well I was enjoying it and had some lessons at the Queens rink in London but on the fourth or fifth lesson just as was able to build up a bit of speed...I fell over and broke my wrist so decided I had probably left it a bit late for the ice skating game!!

 

It's very difficult for people to get good at ice skating in the UK as there are so few rinks now.....there were a lot more in the 50's and 60's so it's a wonder anyone here gets to Olympic standard. I know my friends whose daughters were into ice skating for a number of years had a massive drive to get to the rink in Chelmsford (have no idea if still there) several times a week!! So even more difficult than ballet for taxi service mums and dads!!

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Anjuli, it might not be the fault of the network, it might be the time difference. The ice skating has been taking place in the evening in Russia which means we have been watching it in the afternoon in the UK. Not sure how far behind you are in Dan Diego but it could be very late the night before if you see what I mean?

 

Quite agree.  I've barely seen anything of the ice skating beause it's been on around 5 pm and I've been at work, or out if it was at weekends.  Loads and loads of skiing and curling in the mornings, though.

 

BTW, wasn't it Toller Cranston who put the back flip in his programme, or am I confusing him with someone else?

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Confession time. I wanted to skate more than I wanted to do ballet. I was only little and my father explained that there were only three rinks in our part of the country and as he did not drive at the time, they were unreachable. End of! The Chelmsford rink is still there but it isn't very good. I believe there are very few Olympic sized rinks in the country, which cannot help our skaters. Our girls wanted to learn but were too young. I was going to wait a couple of years and then the town council at our local rink said it was too expensive to run and shut it. Permanently! :(

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I'm not too well today and actually have time to watch the videos that Anjuli has posted. Toller Cranston is one of my all time favourite skaters and I have all of his books. I am boiling at the blatantly political marking of his second routine! It was brilliant skating yet he was marked down to suit the national and political ideologies of certain countries! This is what is wrong with skating as a sport. It cannot be marked fairly as it is also an art and how can you mark that? Thank you for posting them, Anjuli. I have sent them to our oldest ex dd and her father, both of whom adore skating.

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Yes, it is shocking that ice skating rinks have been shut all over the place.  I used to go with my school to Streatham ice rink, as did all the other schools in the area.  Then, the site was bought by.Tesco.  Yep, just what we all need, another massive supermarket.  There was a huge amount of uproar over this, and the original planning permission insisted that the skating rink to be included in the design.  Tesco successfully negotiated to have this removed once they had acquired the site.

 

And don't get me started on councils closing swimming pools right, left and centre.  They always say they are doing it because the old facilities are "need too much work doing to the building", and that "new, improved facilities" will be built elsewhere.

 

And then finally they open a new pool that is usually round and the size of a washing up bowl.  And when you point out that it is almost impossible to swim in a round pool, as you just get in each other's way, they say it is not a swimming pool, it is  a "leisure pool". 

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The purpose built rink that was mothballed was bought by Comet - and we know what happened to them! The building is empty again and the irony is that fifteen years later, the council still has not removed the signs for the ice rink. :(

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I can't understand why these things are being run by councils anyway.  Anything the council gets its hands on is doomed to failure IMO.

 

There are several charities who run various sports things, including a couple of Lidos in London, and I believe they get funding from the lottery.

 

It is disgraceful that existing sports facilities, which were well used and very popular, are just shut like that. 

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I thought a new rink opened in Streatham in November last year. Not sure if it's in the same place though.

 

A link to a news piece about it.

 

Yes, it is shocking that ice skating rinks have been shut all over the place.  I used to go with my school to Streatham ice rink, as did all the other schools in the area.  Then, the site was bought by.Tesco.  Yep, just what we all need, another massive supermarket.  There was a huge amount of uproar over this, and the original planning permission insisted that the skating rink to be included in the design.  Tesco successfully negotiated to have this removed once they had acquired the site.

 

 
 
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When I was living in Portugal, I met someone who worked for the individual who purchased the site on behalf of Tesco.  I know that they said some hard bargaining was being done, as Tesco were not keen at all at having to fund a new ice rink.  I am relieved that somebody somewhere managed to use some influence. 

 

Strange though, I haven't lived in the area for about 20 years, but I did drive down the main road the other day, and it looked to me as though the old site was derelict - no ice rink, and no Tesco either.  I assumed the whole deal had fallen through for some reason.

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There was an ice skating special called "Strawberry Ice" that was the creation of Toller Cranston in which he danced/skated with Peggy Fleming.

 

I have it on tape.  I remember it as being quite magical.  As soon as time permits I (we) are going to watch it.

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