http://www.absoluteskating.com/articles/2010ogmenlp.htmBy Kutay Eryoldas, Photos © Absolute Skating & AgehaThe Olympic Games 2010 - Kutay Eryoldas reports about Men LPThe Absolute Skating readers were recently introduced to Turkish skater Kutay Eryoldas through this interview with Nadin. Kutay now gives us all the opportunity to get to know him even better as he shares his thoughts on the men’s free skate. It was an event not entirely without controversy and Kutay’s view on the performances of the medalists is clear. Get ready for another part of skaters comment on Olympic events.I watched the competition from beginning to end and it was a very exciting Men’s Free.
I must admit I was very surprised by Evgeni Plushenko. While I didn’t enjoy his short program that much, he really put on an Olympic performance with his free skate.
Of course Evan Lysacek showed an almost clean skate, and especially his triple Lutz-triple toeloop combination was amazing.
There were some small errors in both performances though, that were very different in nature.
Evan’s landings weren’t always that safe, and he didn’t really hold his landings for long. But as opposed to Plushenko, he showed a three jump combination (triple Flip-double toe-double loop). Technically he was strong, but his skate didn’t feel free, as if he wasn’t there during his performance. I couldn’t see him become one with the music. And when that doesn’t happen, the excitement doesn’t really come across for the audience. Personally speaking, I found it very frustrating that a skater with a technically good performance but average program and most of all an inhibited skate could become Olympic Champion.
Plushenko meanwhile gave everything. I think that he showed amazing choreography and high technical content. Interestingly Evan’s and Plushenko’s PC scores were tied, and Plushenko was beaten on his technical score in such a big competition. Yes, there were small technical flaws in his program, but when it comes to the quad,
I share Plushenko’s and many other skaters’ point of view; an Olympic Champion should at least have a quad in his program. Since the quad doesn’t get the points it deserves, more and more skaters choose to play it safe and go for triple-triple combinations instead. Of course the quad alone shouldn’t be a deciding factor to hand anyone an Olympic Gold, but at the same time, skating skills alone shouldn’t either. It should be a combination of both that makes an Olympic Champion and therefore in
my opinion the skater that showed both and who should have won this competition, was Plushenko.The mistakes he made on the triple Axel and the triple Lutz made him miss that first place....