Just watched Plushenko's short programme. Wow what a showman.

He's awesome. I was surprised it was so tight at the top in the end. I thought that Plushenko outperformed the rest of the field technically and in terms of the presentation of his routine and would have a 3 or 4 point lead going into the free.

Loved Lambiel's spins - so glad he decided to come out of retirement as well

Gutted for my bit of totty Joubert though

God that was interesting. So many big names and nearly all of them making mistakes, Joubert in particularly was shocking. He seemed quite unhappy to be there at all to me.

Was indeed a treat for me seeing Plushenko for the first time (I caught hardly any of the Euros this year) and I loved the confidence he had. It was quite difficult for my untrained eye to appreciate the difficulty of the footwork he was doing, it was all so fast. Glad Robin was there to help. xD I'm glad the other two are snapping at his heels though, makes the free skate really interesting.

I mentioned Takahashi before as someone I was really looking forward to and I'm so glad he had a clean skate. His footwork and musical interpretation is just wonderful but he often messes up his jumps so it's so good to see him at his best. I really hope he can keep up this standard for the free. Oh his dancing is glorious, I think I'm a bit in love with him. xD "Flamboyant" is the word Robin used, which I think describes it perfectly. He's a real contrast to some of the other Asian skaters who don't have that natural flair.

Lambiel's someone I really like as well, pity he didn't skate clean. Johnny Weir was a joy too. I liked so many of the skaters actually, even further down the leaderboard. That was really great to watch.

I'll stop going on now... as you can see I really enjoyed it.

Top three were all brilliant with no mistakes, but I would have thought a Quad was worth a couple of extra points. What do I know?

His technical mark was right above the other two wasn't it? It was the presentation marks that they caught up on I think.

One thing I remember is that the score difference between a quad and a triple isn't huge compared to a triple and a double, which is why skaters often don't include quads unless they really need them (something Plushenko had a moan to the press about last night).

I meant to give Johnny a mention. What a character! I thought he was robbed of a few points though The crowd didn't seem too pleased with his scores either.


That's what baffled me as well smude. And he did that clever switching edge thingy when he came out of his triple axel.

Maybe, as Robin pointed out, Plushenko's spins were more simplistic than some of the others hence why he wasn't further ahead.

It makes for an exciting free program though

oh my. HOW undermarked was Johnny Weir last night

I'm so annoyed, I thought BBC were showing it on red button and my Vision box is set up to record anything figure skating at all at the moment, but nothing recorded... and then to top it off I was watching the round up on red button which repeats in the hope of seeing some kind of men's free action, caught the end of one run of it and they bring up the medals table and go and say or something like that - brilliant! thanks BBC!

I put britisheurosport to record all night and caught it there. Find bbc red button too unreliable

Don't blame you, I would if I had Sky! Did Johnny Weir do well then? loved his Short Programme!

I was a little disappointed Plushenko didn't win. Yes the American skated clean but I thought he lacked panache and flare.

It's not as if Plushenko made glaring errors. I actually felt like he was in character and was telling a story, whereas the American was just going from one element to the next hoping to nail them.

Yes, and winning the Olympics without a quad doesn't ring right, to me anyway.

I was gutted Plushenko didn't win. No errors, a quad and artistically superior.

The main reason Plushenko (rightfully) lost was he didn't adapt to the new system. Lysacek may not have had a quad though he was able to make up those points with the other elements. Also, the fact Plushenko put most of his jumps in the first half while Lysacek put his in the second half hurt the Russian. Basically his program was designed to win in 2002 or maybe even 2006 (the current scoring system was in place but still relatively new so the skaters weren't maximising their scoring potential). The American's program was designed to win in 2010.

Given the system in place the right man won.

I thought he skated great but the judges didn't, I think he finished 5/6th.

Yes, I know you are right and he was really good but no quad in 2010. It's not as if they are new, they have been around a few years now. They should all be attempting a quad now imo. It's the Olympics

I must be in the minority but Plushenko leaves me cold. I always prefered Yagudin!

I LOVE Evan Lysacek! So balletic, so graceful, so musical, I always enjoy his routines. He is class.

Hang on...

Johnny Weir behind Patrick Chan?

Me no understand.

The judges really don't seem to like Weir's style do they?

Very strange, me no understand either Now if we are talking about overmarking, Patrick Chan would be a prime example and Johnny Weir was undermarked.imho.

I do feel for Johnny Weir, he couldn't have skated any better than he did and the judges still aren't on side. He got criticised for being overly flamboyant () for his short program, so he reigns it back for his free and they still don't take to him. I don't understand how people can find him OTT, it's figure skating for god sake! Oh well, I hope he's proud of himself at least.

I can see why Lysacek won, although he doesn't interest me in the way some of the others do. Plushenko relies very heavily on technical above presentation so if he makes a few small errors it can be very costly for him. He did seem to make a bit more effort with his presentation than before though but I guess it wasn't enough.

I'm sooo happy for Daisuke getting his bronze though, first ever Japanese Olympic medal for the men's. Given his reputation for falling under pressure I was surprised he only fell once. The rest of his performance really came together though, his dancing just makes me melt.

I wish there was a way of seeing the medal ceremonies, YouTube seem to have a vendetta against all things Olympics this year...

I don't think he was artistically superior, but that's subjective.

There is no reason why a quad should outweigh anything else a skater might do, and neither of them made errors.

I'm so gutted that Lambiel missed out on a medal by half a mark! Especially considering he had about 6 marks to make up. Not at all disappointed at Plushenko missing out, I can't warm to him at all, and I think it's bad form to be moaning about things afterwards. I loved Fernandez dancing to Pirates of the Caribbean, one of my favourites, and loved both of Amodio's programmes.
Totally not getting why Johnny Weir was scored so low, I thought he deserved more in both programmes, bit strange.

Lambiel... yum.

Sorry that just kinda slipped out!

Agreed

I do love his skating too though, he skates so beautifully with the music.