It was sad to watch...Rachael Flatt totally tanking in the free skate after a less than great short program. Then we learn after the fact that she had a stress fracture...diagnosed on April 22nd.The question is...should Rachael Flatt have immediately decided at that moment to quick call Mirai Nagasu and say "I'm under the weather...get thee to Moscow!" A conundrum indeed...
To add to the intrigue, Frank Caroll piped up yesterday and said of his student "Mirai is in great shape - better than she has been her whole life. She took the responsibility of being ready as the alternate very seriously. She was doing triple axels and triple lutz - triple loop in practice. She was ready to go." He continued "This cost us three spots." He even went further when Phil Hersh pressed him on the fact that Nagasu's presence at the competition couldn't necessarily guarantee three U.S. berths next season "She blew those other American girls (Flatt and Czisny) out of the water at Four Continents."
Ballsy!
Tom Zakrajsek contends that Rachael was capable of doing all the elements in both her short and free and that is why they made the decision to come to Moscow. Over the course of two shoddy skates and and a couple press conferences the news slowly came out that she was injured and then eye brows were raised.From my perspective, Rachael, injured or not, had the right to skate in Moscow. She outskated Mirai in Greensboro and earned her spot fair and square. I personally think she shouldn't have gone to Moscow but there is no rule in place that says she has to withdraw so I guess that's where it is. She could of been the bigger person here and put U.S. Figure Skating ahead of her wants/hopes...sad she didn't.
It brings up the bigger question however, should U.S. Figure Skating have a mechanism in place that automatically forces the withdrawal of a skater from major championships if there is a known injury that could affect performance? Food for thought...
9 comments:
I think Rachael should have had the team's quest for three spots more in mind. If she had been the third skater, no one would have cared, but since we only had two skaters who should have been able to gain back three spots....I know this was her last skate for Zakrajsek, athletes want to skate through the pain, etc. but she let her own desires get in the way of the team good. Too bad.
This is a non-story. Loads of skaters compete while injured, sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. The ladies' bronze medalist was injured and couldnt' do a lutz. Evan Lysacek had a stress fracture in his foot when he went to 2009 Worlds and couldn't train a quad. The gamble paid off for Kostner and Lysacek and didn't pay off for Flatt. She thought she could compete, and in fact she did do okay in the SP.
People wouldn't have said a thing if Flatt had kept her SP placement and then revealed her injury. If anything, she'd have been lauded for being so tough and not giving up. The only question should be whether or not she was pressured to skate. From what I know of Rachael, I doubt it.
I think you make the case that injuries shouldn't necessarily mean the automatic withdrawal of a skater.
The difference between Kostner and Lysacek with Flatt...they could actually do their programs, Flatt as we learned, could not.
I'm Anon 1:50, and actually, that's exactly my point - that it's not always possible to know ahead of time how a skater will perform with an injury. A lot of people are just Monday Morning Quarterbacking here because the result wasn't good, but most likely you had a skater who figured that she could skate through the pain, as many have done before her, and still represent her country well. She had the example of an American skater who won Worlds with a stress fracture. I bet Flatt wouldn't have gone if she felt she would be non-competitive.
I can give you a list of skaters who have competed and done well despite injuries as serious or even more so than Flatt's. To say that she specifically should have known ahead of time that she would skate badly and not hold others to the same standard strikes me as unfair.
And I'm not even a fan of her's, if that's at all relevant.
All the hating on Rachael is a little disappointing. She earned a spot at Worlds and showed strength of character competing in pain.
If the Americans have had enough of Flatt, we will gladly snap her up here in Canada. She beat out both of our ladies and we will only get to send 1 next year.
I'm not hating on Rachael...but I don't buy that she didn't have some inclination that things wouldn't go well. There is muscling through with grit and determination..and there is denial.
But like I said before...it was her spot, she earned, so she had every right to go and do poorly...just wish she hadn't.
I've never been a fan of Racheal's, but if Frank is upset because he thinks Mirai's skating could have gotten us 3 spots - she had her chance to do that and blew it at Nationals.
Sorry I didn't mean to imply that you are doing all the hating, Aaron. I just mean that the haters are out there, and it's not a vibe I really appreciate.
Actually, the States can keep her. Besides the fact that this is the last year she wants to focus on skating..she's going to Stanford next year for Chemical Engineering (and as an engineering student I can say it's a bit of work), she'll have less time to devote to her skating. As well, she's done progressively worse in her world's appearances going from 5th to 9th to now 12th. In addition, Mirai has frequently outskated her in international competitions (including placing 4th at the Olympics). As well, our best skater, Joannie Rochette wasn't there.
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