Re: [BigBrother_Survivor] The three-time national champion’s Olympic career could be over

 

I was also sad to see Jason Brown didn't make the men's team.
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On Sun, 1/7/18, C G ceegee2006@yahoo.com [BigBrother_Survivor] <BigBrother_Survivor@yahoogroups.com> wrote:

Subject: [BigBrother_Survivor] The three-time national champion's Olympic career could be over
To:
Date: Sunday, January 7, 2018, 1:10 PM























 
She was furious and IMO rightly so. cgAshley
Wagner fails to make U.S. figure-skating team in early start
to Olympic drama






Ashley Wagner
fails to make U.S. figure-skating team in early start to
Olym... After finishing just
off the podium at the U.S. championships, the three-time
national champion's Olympic career...


Ashley Wagner fails to make U.S. figure-skating
team in early start to Olympic drama The
three-time national champion's Olympic career could be
overSAN
JOSE, Calif. – Women's figure skating holds marquee
status at the Winter Olympics for its athleticism, artistry
and beauty – and occasionally, for the drama that extends
beyond the ice.By
those measures, the Games scheduled to being next month in
South Korea got an early start at this weekend's U.S.
Figure Staking Championships.Ashley
Wagner, a three-time national champion and 2014 Olympian,
was supposed to be one of the most endearing, most familiar
female athletes representing the United States at the
PyeongChang Games. Instead, she will not be there, giving
way to a new wave of talent with no well-established
star.Wagner,
26, stood a few feet away and a few feet below the podium
Friday night at the conclusion of the women's singles
competition at the sport's national championships, a
noticeable distance between her and the winners of the three
medals. The image could also linger as the uncomfortable end
of an era in American figure skating. Hours after Bradie
Tennell, 19, completed an unexpected run to her first
national championship, a committee of U.S. Figure Skating
officials announced that Tennell, nationals silver medalist
Miari Nagasu and bronze medalist Karen Chen will comprise
the U.S. Olympic women's figure skating team.The
13-member committee's decision came despite a selection
process adjusted in recent years to allow deference to
skaters such as Wagner with international track records.
Four years ago, the Olympic selection committee chose
Wagner, who finished off the podium at the national
championships, over Nagasu, a 2010 Olympian who finished on
it. This time, Tennell and Nagasu left them little choice
for two of the three spots, and Wagner did not provide as
strong an overall season as she did then."The
discussion between Karen and Ashley was pretty academic,"
U.S. Figure Skating President Sam Auxier said. "Karen was
fourth last year" at the world championships. "Ashley
was seventh. And then third versus fourth at this year's
U.S. championships. It was a very straightforward, clear
criteria for selecting Karen as the third member of the
team."Those
criteria to which Auxier referred are relatively new. U.S.
Figure Skating officially changed the rules for Olympic
selection a year ago, outlining the use of a skater's
recent body of work (including, his or her results in most
recent world and U.S. championships) as opposed to simply
choosing the top three finishers at the national
championships, as had been done in the past and is still the
method used in many other sports.This
year, the criteria couldn't save the native of Alexandria,
Virginia. She needed a strong performance at nationals to
cement an Olympic spot after a season curtailed by injury,
but entered Friday night's free skate, the more heavily
weighted portion of two-part figure-skating competitions, in
fifth place. She skated as if undaunted by the pressure,
unaffected by having only a month of training for her
program performed to music from the movie "La La
Land."She
wasn't perfect, but she was initially pleased with her
performance, enough to hide her face in her hands in the
immediate aftermath, overcome with emotion. When her
free-skate score of 130.25 appeared, the spunky veteran
shook her head in pointed disagreement. She had not erred
much. Her passion was palpable. She thought she deserved
better.

When
it was all over, Wagner told reporters she was "absolutely
furious," a word she repeated over and over."For
me to put out two programs that I did at this competition as
solid as I skated and to get those scores," said Wagner,
whose third-place finish in the free skate improved her
overall standing only slightly, to fourth. "I am
furious."Wagner's
program was not designed to score as many points based on
technique or athleticism as Tennell's or Nagasu's, but
she has never been known as one of America's best jumpers.
Instead, Wagner's trademark is her skating quality, her
performative skills, her transitions – in other words, the
little artistic elements measured as "component scores."
For a "La La Land" program that looked strong in all
those ways, Wagner earned a component score of 68.00 for her
free skate. Tennell, a strong technical skater who lacks
Wagner's polish and maturity in the more subtle aspects of
her skates, earned 69.71."I
understand her disappointment and reaction," Auxier said.
"As an ISU judge, frankly I agreed with the judging. I
think when she reviews what she did, her mistake in the
short program was very costly. Missing a level in the free
skate on a spin at the end, those points made the
difference."Whether
the points should have come, whatever the reason they
didn't, Wagner's Olympic dream – and probably Olympic
career – is over. The three-time national champion and
2014 Olympian was supposed to be one of the most familiar
American woman representing the United States in South
Korea. In her place will be Tennell, 19; Chen, 18; and
Nagasu, a relative veteran at 24 and perhaps the most
compelling tale of all of trio.Throughout
this week, Nagasu was asked over and over about what
happened four years ago, when the committee chose Wagner
despite a disappointing nationals that season. Between then
and now, the organization clarified its position, outlining
clear criteria for Olympic selection that weighted the last
year and a half of results in tiers. Asked whether she
thought the committee should simplify its selection process
and select the top three finishers at the U.S. championships
in an Olympic year, Nagasu paused before
smiling."That's a tough question," she
said.This
time, she rendered the selection procedures irrelevant to
her case. Nagasu, the second American woman to land a triple
axel in international competition, is as technically
advanced as anyone that could have represented the United
States in South Korea. She is as experienced as anyone. She
will be the only Olympic veteran on the women's
team."It's
hard for me. I'm ecstatic for myself because this was my
goal and my dream," Nagasu said. "But at the same time,
a part of me really feels for [Wagner] because she is an
amazing skater and one of our strongest
competitors."Whether
fairly or not, whether she was ready or not, Wagner's
Olympic career likely came to an inglorious end Friday
night, when she stood just outside the podium, smiling in
the face of deep disappointment, then railing against it,
faced with the frustrating reality of her near Olympic
miss.





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Posted by: "Donna M." <crow_donna2002@yahoo.com>

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