The women were in a league of their own really, Kim Yu Na was exceptional.

To respond to your question about Chris and Simon on Eurosport over Robin Cousins' commentry.

I find them a bit more interesting to listen to; they do the same thing as Robin at times but overall they are a bit more indepth; they disect the routine as its happening more and pick up on the technicalities more.

But I would suspect; and I may be making a sweeping generalisation here; that those who are really interested in the sport are probably watching on Eurosport rather than BBC highlights; and likewise the majority watching BBC highlights are probably those who are curious or have a mild interest; hence a dumbed down commentary.

I could of course be totally wrong and Robin might not be as good a commentator as Chris and Simon.

I do think it's just Robin Even a dumbed down commentary needs more than just calling out the jumps - it just isn't interesting!

The gala was good I thought. Virtue and Moir fab as always, and while I liked Lysacek in the free, I loved him in the gala. I'm now officially a fan! Why is it always left to the North Americans to use hip contemporary music? Domnina and Shabalin were pretty silly I thought though - not just the whole Matrix concept (which is pretty old now), but the choreography as well.

who else took part in the Gala as I only caught the end of it

I enjoyed the second US couple in the dance - that Charlie White guy sure can twizzle (although they did say that sometimes he is a bit accident-prone at speed!)

The top five, plus another american dance pair and an american male. I think all the competitors from the host country are nornall invited to participate regardless of where they finally rank.

No Kerrs sadly.

Virtue and Moir were fab as was Lysacek. I also enjoyed Joubert and Tomas Verner. What annoys me though in these routines though is that you can tell when the jumps are coming. I know because of technique that its hard to do a jump out of nowhere but it would make the jumps more exciting for me.

I agree the matrix routine was a bit rubbish. The thing is with the Matrix - if you are going to do it, its got to be really difficult and just blow people's mind away and i saw a move in the choreography that Todd Carty can do. Todd Carty was more entertaining whilst doing it as well.

Thrilled that Joannie Rochette picked up the silver medal The Korean girl (I'm very ignorant as I can't recall her name) was magnificent. She destroyed the field.

Had to feel for Carolina Kostner, though, she simply didn't do herself justice.

You and me too! I enjoyed her perfirmance but can't recall her name

Kim Yu Na. Or Queen Yu Na if you're in Korea

this was their dance at the Gala at the Euros


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

I've been really disappointed by the beebs coverage this year - I don't have Eurosport and haven't been able to view the interactive so have been reliant on the highlight programmes but they just don't seem to have shown much of it, particularly the dance (my fav bit!). Last year they showed at least 8 of the couples free dance so you got more of a feel for the competition, but this year it was only the winning 3 (thankfully Virtue/Moir came third) - I would have liked to have seen Davis/White performance properly too though, can see it on youtube but its much better on a proper sized screen

Anyways, that aside, it's been an interesting competition and a fascinating set up for next year's Olympics - really enjoyed the men's this year, Lysachek was a worthy winner I thought (felt sorry for Joubert but he does seem to lack constency). Not sure about the dance result - I do love Virtue/Moir (so am completely unbiased ) and enjoyed their free dance but it wasn't as complete as previous years with some of the transitions (think Valse Triste is my fav of theirs) still were the best for me - the Russians are good but over the top, their gala Matrix routine was plan dull and silly, and I'm just not a fan of Belbin/Agosto (they're gala piece made me cringe)

I didn't think much of Joannie Rochette in her free program but i thoroughly enjoyed her gala piece - absolutely fantastic!