Community Chat

[Preds]

A rundown of highlights for Thursday, Feb. 20 (all times Eastern).

Women's Hockey: The puck stops here. Team USA faces off once again against Canada, this time for the gold medal (12 noon), while Switzerland plays Sweden for the bronze (7 a.m.).

Figure Skating: Yuna Kim of South Korea, Adelina Sotnikova of Russia, and Carolina Kostner of Italy are practically in a three-way tie for first place going into the free program. See who skates off with gold (10 a.m.).

Women's Freestyle Skiing Halfpipe: Team USA's Brita Sigourney and Maddie Bowman try and pull a David Wise as they go for the gold in the qualifications (9:30 a.m.) and finals (12:30 p.m.).

Women's Curling: Watch Sweden take on Canada in the gold medal game (8:30 a.m.) and Great Britain take on Switzerland for the bronze (3:30 a.m.).

[Vivian]

I was a figure skater years ago and taught kids' classes for awhile so it was a real treat for me to see all the performances in the short program. Unless something catastrophic happens, I think the current order will be the final medal order but since nerves play as much of a role as skill at this point, there could be a surprise. I'll be watching this morning. By the way, I think Johnny Weir and Tara Lipinski are doing an excellent job. They are able to explain the details of scoring so that viewers can understand what's happening. They also explain the mechanics as well as the artistry of skating in perfect balance. They've done a great job...even better than Scott Hamilton and Sandra Bezic, in my opinion.

[Deb1010again]

On 2/20/2014 Mistic said:

Hi ~ Does the Long Skate start today at 10am, like yesterday? Thanks

Yes, as Predsfan listed it starts at 10AM. All our skaters will be on in the last group.

[Deb1010again]

On 2/20/2014 Vivian said: I was a figure skater years ago and taught kids' classes for awhile so it was a real treat for me to see all the performances in the short program. Unless something catastrophic happens, I think the current order will be the final medal order but since nerves play as much of a role as skill at this point, there could be a surprise. I'll be watching this morning. By the way, I think Johnny Weir and Tara Lipinski are doing an excellent job. They are able to explain the details of scoring so that viewers can understand what's happening. They also explain the mechanics as well as the artistry of skating in perfect balance. They've done a great job...even better than Scott Hamilton and Sandra Bezic, in my opinion.

ITA!

[Deb1010again]

On 2/19/2014 Jules5280 said:

Hey Deb, glad to hear that you got to see Gracie skate, she really was lovely. The free skate program really is going to determine all of this, very exciting.

Sidenote, since Linders had posted some of Johhny's performances I came across his interview on Bethenny's show. Since I never watched many of her shows I missed it, and Johnny was on with his husband. It's quite the cute interview... about 9mins and his husband comes out about halfway through. For anyone that isn't familiar, Johnny and Bethenny had quite the dispute when she was on that show "Skating with the Stars" and Johnny was a judge. She didn't care for his criticism and both said some unkind things... so people thought they would forever have this feud. They explained themselves, hugged and made up, and Johnny was really endearing, plus he wore great boots. He and his husband could not be more cute. If you haven't seen it, and are a JW fan it is worth the watch.

ETA: oops forgot the youtube link

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sRxR6N7g310

Thanks for the link. Johnny and his husband make a great couple. So happy for Johnny, he deserves the best!

[MarthaStewardess]

On 2/19/2014 Sushismom said:

Ah, Phillipe. He was a great showman. My favorite male skater still remains Brian Boitano, though. I don't think I've ever seen a better death drop or spread eagle than his. Even to this day. I still get chills watching him skate to Nessun Dorma.

As for the women going into the long program, I hope Carolina Kostner has an excellent skate. She's so beautiful to watch. I will miss her when she leaves competitive skating. And I'm rooting for Polina Edmunds. I know she probably won't medal this time around, but she's fun to watch.

Carolina Kostner is my favorite to win the gold. I thought she was fantastic. Also liked the Korean girl. As far as the Americans go, I liked Polina the best. There's something about Ashley Wagner that I don't like.

I find NBC's commentators quite annoying, especially the female one last night. I wanted to shout to her to shut up. I wanted to hear the music and watch the skaters, not some of her chatter.

As far as favorite skaters, my favorite male skater is Kurt Browning and my all time faves are Torvill and Dean. I don't think I've seen a couple better than them.

[muttmom]

I'm anxious for the finals to start. I"m hoping either Yuna Kim or Carolina Kostner wins. The Russian in second place was very good jumping and spinning, but the skating in between is not pretty.

I read Ashley Wagner added a high point item to her program to help her get on the podium. I do not care for either. That lipstick and eye make-up are just too over the top.

I hope Gracie and Paulina do well. Actually I hope everyone does well after their years of preparation. I would love to see Mao Asada finish her career with her best skate ever.

[TaxyLady]

Although I do not think the USA has a great chance to win a medal, I hope they do. Go USA. I will be watching. I think we have three great skaters!!!!

[Linders Back]

Today is the anniversary of Tara's Gold Medal in 1998 when she became the youngest Gold Medal winner in Winter Games. One of the Russians (sorry don't have the name at my fingertips) has a chance to break that record today so I'm rooting against her.

Would love to see Italy get its first Gold (if we can't get it).

[JustJules]

I would love to see Gracie Gold get a medal, think she has a chance for Bronze. Polina skated so well, I hope she has another great performance to make her first Olympics a wonderful experience, but don't think this is her year. She is so young, she'll have lots of great skating in her future. I felt bad that little Russian skater Yulina fell, but again, she is young and has more Olympics. I think Yuna Kim will get the Gold medal, she skated so flawlessly in her short program and she is just beautiful to watch.