MovieChat Forums > Turin 2006: XX Olympic Winter Games (2006) Discussion > Sandra Bezic - Figure Skating Announcers

Sandra Bezic - Figure Skating Announcers

posted 18 years ago by richard.fuller1
7 replies | jump to latest

Did anyone else think she was just making some unbelievably strange calls at times?

She said one skater, Yelena Liashenko of the Ukraine, landed after one turn on both feet, then admitted after watching the rerun that she was mistaken.

She called Shizuka Arakawa's final performance "flawless, but beatable" anticipating that one of the following women would do better.

I would go so far as to say she was deliberately rooting for an American skater, but I think she was just being shallow and was open to Slutskya doing the best as well. She was zeroing in on the intended favorites, no one else.

But clearly she wasn't focused on the possibility of Arakawa winning the gold.

She and one of these other fellows, Dick Button or Tom Hammond, kept totally contradicting one another. He would say good, she would say bad. She would say good, he would say bad.

I don't know which was which, as I couldn't recognize these guys' voices.

Scott Hamilton seemed to be making strictly skating calls, and even said that the little lady, Gedevanishvili of Georgia (the European country, not the southern American state) was a favorite of his to watch.

After Sasha Coen's final performance in which she had fallen twice, Beliz says "others skate to Romeo and Juliet, Sasha IS Juliet."

Wha . . . ?

I guess the most amusing bit was all the tiresome gushing over Emily Hughes during her performance, then Hughes fell and all the commentary went quiet.

[–] anya_angie 18 years ago

Sandra is always like that. In 2002 she said Berezhnaya/Sikharulidze made one tiny error, which is correct, then after they won she changed her call to "four." Where they came from I have no idea.

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"When daylight comes, my kiss shall break the silence which makes you mine!" Calef from Turandot

[–] richard.fuller1 18 years ago

I also meant to note her further comments about Emily Hughes and Shizuka Arakawa.

She went on about how Hughes was under no pressure, and how Arakawa and the other Japanese skaters were under so much pressure because Japan was winning no medals. Obviously that was incorrect.

This is why there is always an upset in figure-skating, women's anyway, I don't know about men or couples, or dance.

Okwana (sp) Baiul, Sarah Hughes, perhaps Tara Lipinski (I don't recall) and now Shizuka Arakawa, they have all been out of nowhere gold winners, because the focus is all on other skaters, who do indeed have too much pressure and spotlight on them.

Sarah Hughes said she was able to skate so well because everyone was looking at Michelle Kwan.

Baiul's year was the Kerrigan-Harding drama. No one was talking about Baiul.

[–] anya_angie 18 years ago

I think only the general public sees Baiul and Lipinski as "upsets." The general public was focused on Nancy and Michelle Kwan, few had heard of Baiul or Lipinski before their respective Olympics. The skating world knew that Tara and Oksana were the reigning World Champions going into the Olympic Games. Sarah was of course a fluke, having only won one ISU senior competition prior to the Olympics and nothing since. But Arakawa was the 2004 World Champion, and unfortunately she has had injuries, boot problems and a nervous breakdown since then. But this year has been a sort of re-emergence for her. But still, few expected her to win. There may have been some who expected her to medal perhaps but not win.

I think Sandra is just anxious to create drama.

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"When daylight comes, my kiss shall break the silence which makes you mine!" Calef from Turandot

[–] richard.fuller1 18 years ago

Well, I am more in the general public so that is largely all I was hearing at those times was Kerrigan and Kwan.

It is fun to hear a name as winning that no one anticipated.

But as you point out, the difference seems to be between the general public and the insiders, which these announcers should be, yet they seem to be speaking to the general public's opinion and thinking.

[–] anya_angie 18 years ago

Definitely agree with you there. They act like it's a shock that Cohen blew the long program, when most in the skating world knew her track record and were just waiting for it to happen. My philosophy with Cohen has always been this: Wait until she screws up, and if not, mark it on your calander, cause it doesn't happen often. I was looking more at Slutskaya, to be honest. It was so strange that she fell on that triple loop because those three-turns into triple loop is one of her signature moves. Seeing as how she should have gotten gold in 2002 I was really hoping she'd get it this time.

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"When daylight comes, my kiss shall break the silence which makes you mine!" Calef from Turandot

[–] richard.fuller1 18 years ago

I finally found where I had recorded the closing ceremonies (it is stuck between an episode of the 1980s "the Littles" cartoon and an episode of 1970s "Good Times") and am watching that now.

What is amusing me is the hilights. Shizuka Arakawa is shown skating in her long program, and I can tell you now there was more gabbing going on there than what they reshow AFTER she won the medal.

They cut the clip just before Bezic made her odd "flawless performance, but a beatable one" comment.

And interesting that they show Coen's short program, when she didnt fall.

I missed Coen's short program performance, and what I did see here puzzled me somewhat.

It seems that she should have done "Romeo and Juliet" first, and then done this fast stepping bit for her long program.

They would have contrasted better that way. Or maybe she thought the somber Romeo and Juliet number would be a grander finale.

[–] anya_angie 18 years ago

Dark Eyes, her short program, was the same short program she used last year, with her long program being The Nutcracker. She reprised it this year, though I don't know why. Great program, but repeating a program is not always a good idea. Sale/Pelltier found that out the hard way when they used 1999's Love Story in 2002.

Romeo and Juliet was a rehash of her exhibition from a few years ago to the same theme but different orchestra.

I can understand contrasting the styles but I don't think it would have helped much. Sasha is always a "short program skater." She will blow you away with a spectacular short program, then leave you cold with a terrible long. So regardless of which program she did when, I think it still would have had the same outcome.

One note though, you have to keep in mind the time limit for both short and long programs. I've seen skaters try to use The Mummy in long programs and have done terrible jobs because they cannot keep the speed up for 4 minutes.

I think finding a 4-minute-long version of Dark Eyes would be easy, or at least you could edit it into 4min, but whether the music would be good is another matter. As for Romeo and Juliet, it certainly could be edited into 2:50, but again you have to fit 8 elements into it. I'm the kind of choreographer who wants the skater to be one with the music, not skating in the background or foreground, so depending on the music, some elements might look out of place to me.

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"When daylight comes, my kiss shall break the silence which makes you mine!" Calef from Turandot