...in the Short Programme. The pressure finally got to her, but she did look a bit subdued before the routine started. I put it down to meeting Putin. That's enough to put anyone off their routine.

I am devastated, it's all that Putin's fault. Still Sotnikova is looking good and Mao Asada is out of it.

Lipnitskaya had the most amazing spins while Asada had the loveliest costume IMO. Sotnikova often does better in the short program than the free skate but Kim was just beautiful to watch.

I thought Valentina had the loveliest costume and, yes, Kim was beautiful to watch.

Dare I say it? I thought Carolina was overmarked

About 5 ish yesterday just before the comp was shown I saw Robin on TV talking to Katarina Witt.

Both from the old school of marking and Kati was clearly one who did well on "artistic impression" - but she made what I felt was a good point.

The old system of marking did make it clear to the spectator, who she thinks are just as much entitled to take something from the process as the judges, how well a skater reached out to their audience. Whilst the new system does try to take this into account in a different manner, it's not so clear to the lay person whether and how such efforts get rewarded.

I thought Carolina & Adelina were about the same level, with Sotnikova better technically & Kostner deserving of higher component scores. I think Yuna Kim should have been a bit further ahead though.

Apparently, that was only the second time Lipnitskaya had ever fallen in competition, so something put her off.

I agree about Yuna because she is excellent both technically and artistically. I really did enjoy Adelina thought, I just preferred her routine. I do love Carolina but I sometimes think the judges bump up her component scores to get her a higher position.

She looked a bit off from the start. Too much pressure for her young age. Looking forward to today.

She fell again and looked a bit dejected.

I felt bad for her but she'll come back even better. It was so brilliant that Adelina won and beat The Queen that is Yuna Kim. It was just fabulous.

Fantastic final. I was glad that Mao Asada came back strong after yesterday. Congratulations Adelina!.

I still can't believe that the judges gave it to Adelina, I was jumping up and down and shouting at the TV.:

All the pressure on Yulia took the pressure off Adelina, allowing her to perform to her absolute best.

You could be right and, of course, Yulia skated in the team event leaving Adelina fresh and with no pressure.

I have to admit I was exactly the same, I was stunned when I saw the marks! Not taking anything away from Adelina because she was fabulous, but for me I thought Yuna was stronger both in technical and in components, but not by much.

Watching the 'Today at Olympics' show it would appear most of the commentators who are ex Olympians (esp Katarina Witt) thought the same!

I think Adelina just caught 'her' moment, and that trumped all.

Apparently, Lipnitskaya was the only medal contender in the individual event who also skated in the team event; and her two falls, very unusual for her, may have been due more to tiredness and fatigue than the actual pressure of expectation. She has said that she felt tired in the short programme after the step sequence and did not have enough strength to do the jump on which she fell properly. So, next time she will have to just concentrate on the individual event. The Russians were expecting too much of her. And meeting Putin as well, that was too much.

Apparently Katerina spent most of the German broadcast ranting and raving over the result incensed at the scoring to the point you could still hear her as they cut to something else.

I really enjoyed the team event, more than I was expecting to. I wasn't sure about it as an Olympic event but I am definitely converted.

However, as with the relays in athletics I think it would be best suited at the end of the programme rather than the beginning. Let the skaters focus on their individual/pairs events first of all before having fun in the team event.

I must admit that, although Yuna should probably have been a minute degree higher in her marks than Adelina, I was still pleased that Adelina won.
Not only did I prefer her performance, I was also so pleased for her. She appeared to have been publicly sidelined by the media, who concentrated on her younger team mate and, although it may have put Adelina under less pressure, being seen as of second importance must have hurt.
So I am very pleased with the result.

Yuna will probably make her comeback very soon and Lipnitskaya has plenty of time left to conquer the World.

Lipnitskaya was simply not able to perform to the same standard in two competitions only one week apart. To fall in both the Short and Long programme was something she had never done before, so she was just too tired to pull it off. If Adelina had been chosen for the Team Event, and if Lipnitskaya had been fresh, she certainly would have been favourite to take the Gold in the individual event, especially after becoming European Champion, which meant that the international judges were prepared to accept her at the top despite her tender age, just based on the quality of her skating and performance skills.

Yuna announced her retirement almost immediately after the results so no comeback for her unless The Korean association tries to pressure her back into competing for their home Winter Olympics is 2018. Although a comeback for Mao Asada I most definitely hope for at the World Championshops before she retires from skating.

It mustn't be forgotten Adelina was not at fault for winning gold it's her to appreciate. However the judging was suspect and I'm frankly miffed that performance was considered good enough for the second highest points tally after Yuna's own record. A flawless skate it was not.

Not to mention that Adelina's win was also a very timely diversion from the current Ukrainian riots for Putin.

I feel the same, after she didn't properly land one of her combination jumps I was pretty surprised at her marks.

And even more surprised at the difference in marks between her and Yuna, especially in the technical, when they had a pretty similar standard of jumps/spins/combination. And Yuna was undermarked in her SP IMO.

To have Adelina's FP score at about the same level of Yuna's would have been more appropriate I think, especially, as you say, it was definately not a flawless skate.

Not saying at all Adelina didn't deserve her win, but the difference in marks between programmes doesn't quite sit right with me, especially when you look at the quality of Yuna's skating. Yuna had a very slight wobble in the exit of her triple ?lutz, and Adelina had an even worse landing. Otherwise much the same standard, with one or the other just above in each of the elements through out the routines.

Adelina did have the double axel/triple ?loop combo which Yuna didn't have, but overall Yuna's jumps were all cleaner (and much of the same standard IMO).

http://www.businessinsider.com/yulia...terview-2014-2

She says she was simply too tired to do well in the individual event.