http://www.denverpost.com/ci_14402678By John Henderson, The Denver Post 02/15/2010Quad jump embodies high risk, reward in men's figure skatingVANCOUVER — It's the home run of figure skating, the pick-six of men's singles. It draws as many cheers as a tomahawk dunk but is 100 times harder.
It's the quadruple jump, known more commonly as the quad.
It's the hardest maneuver in figure skating, and it is the subject of one of the most debated topics in the sport.
To quad or not to quad?Here at the Olympic Games, it could mean the difference between going home with a gold medal or just the neat national team gear.
The risk-reward factor of the four-revolution jump has caused many a skater to huddle with his coach and skating's rulebook that's thicker than the Moscow phone directory. Simply put, landing a quad is huge, but botching it can bring
Winter Olympics
"When I was competing, most of the guys were doing quads and/or attempting them in the short," said Todd Eldredge, the 1996 world champion. "Now you may see one or two."The men's short program here is Tuesday, and the division of quads is split down the Atlantic Ocean. Defending champion
Evgeni Plushenko of Russia will try many. So will runner-up Stephane Lambiel of Switzerland and Brian Joubert, France's 2007 world champion.
The United States' defending world champion, Evan Lysacek, will not. Neither will Johnny Weir, a three-time U.S. champion, nor Canada's Patrick Chan, a gold medal hopeful. Only Aspen's Jeremy Abbott, a two-time defending American champion, plans a quad in the long among North American contenders.
A month ago, shortly before he missed his quad at nationals, Lysacek said of these Olympics: "Whoever skates clean with a quad will win it. I don't think many will."
Since then, his problematic left foot has flared up, and he has shelved the quad. He was asked if he's worried that the lack of a quad will cost him gold.
"No, not at all," said Lysacek, who won worlds without a quad while recovering from a stress fracture. "This season has been very telling, so if you go back and look at how the international competitions have been scored, my strategy has just changed a little."
Here's the problem: Landing one quad toe is worth 9.8 points, a huge boost in a scoring system in which every correct step counts for points.
However, miss it and the downgrade is drastic. A skater doesn't have to fall — which scores zero plus a one-point reduction — but merely underrotate his fourth rotation by a quarter. Then the technical panel can downgrade it by as much as five points.
"And somebody else just did a plain ol' triple toe and they get a seven," Eldredge said. "And their attempt, their risk, was much easier than yours."This is the debate. Abbott has an unusual philosophy. He doesn't like the system but is risking the quad anyway. Hey, landing all of them won him his second straight national title.
"It's worth the risk," he said. "
If you fall and it's underrotated, you get zero points for it, which I think is stupid, because if you're taking that risk, there should be some reward. But if you do it, it's a lot of points and definitely worth it. You do that plus two triple axels, the point total is very good.
"For me, it's all about the training. If you land the quad then everything else will be there."
Weir has done the quad but is not doing it almost on principle.
"
It's a beautiful, wonderful thing when you can do it," Weir said, "but I'd rather show beautiful character and style and not have a struggle on an element that isn't 100 percent."
Lysacek is banking the biggest week of his life on a scoring system that will reward the smaller elements more than a failed quad. He and Weir will have to skate flawlessly and hope the quad kings don't.
In other words, they hope the home run hitters strike out.
Наиболее высокой оценки, по мнению американских экспертов, достойны российские биатлонисты Ольга Зайцева и Евгения Устюгов, а также лыжник Максим Вылегжанин на марафонской дистанции в 50 км.
It's up to me to continue to work on my transitions. I've made a lot or progress but I can still do better, that's for sure."
