torah bright won gold awsome yay we won gold for once.

Can I just say WOW about how close the final for men's figure skating was? I was so nervous that

I stayed up until midnight to watch it, and when the scores for Plushenko came up and I learned that

I was bouncing around the room and cheering. He definitely deserved it. What a performance, and after being so tense in his warm-up too!

The choreography in his performance was a million times better than the choreography in

I just had lots more fun watching him; the artistry rocked! And the jumps were so clean!

As for Johnny Weir, I think that he's a very talented athlete. Just because he says and does things off of the ice that I may not approve of doesn't make me change my opinion that he's a stellar athlete. I enjoyed watching him, and I think he should have placed ahead of Chan.

Why is everybody putting there stuff in spoilers? There is no need. It's not like we found out ahead of the skate that Evan was going to win and we're on here talking about it. It's all over the front pages of the news.

Evan Lysacek won a very deserved gold medal last night and huge congratulations to him!

I also very much enjoyed Johnny Weir's performance last night. I thought it was the second best one and I wished he had placed higher, but ah well.

Did Russia get any medals yet?

So far, the US has 18 medals: 6 gold, 5 silver, and 7 bronze. They have more of each medal and more combined than any other country. The next highest is Germany with 11 medals: 4 gold, 4 silver, and 3 bronze.

Here's a link that has a medal summary.

http://content.usatoday.com/sports/olym ... ls/summary

Pleshenko got Silver last night. (He's Russian, De_de)

EDIT: Oops! I see N-a-h got you covered.

I'm so happy Lysacek got gold! Go USA! Go Illinois! Go Napervillians! Go Four Seasons Ice Arena skaters! Go former Candy Brown students!

Anyway, where were we? Ah, yes, Johnny Weir. He got all his jumps, and his program was much smoother and fun to watch that some of the others. It was one little hiccup coming out from the spin. Oh well.

I felt sorry for the poor Japanese skater whose laces got all tangled.

Man, Shaun White and his 48.4... it just doesn't get any better than that.

yeah he's insane, the air he got was incredible.

No kidding! At the very end I was like "Oh no! He's going to fall!" and then pretty much collapsed back in relief.

Kate, exactly. Johnny was VERY graceful and I felt relaxed as I watched him, (I wasn't on the edge of my seat thinking he was going to fall after every jump, because I knew he wouldn't) unlike with most of the other skaters.
And about Plushenko! Good grief! I really didn't like his show-offy behavior and performance.. (and what was up with the kissy things he did like 5 times? ) You could tell afterwards and during the medals ceremony that he was really upset, even though he didn't deserve higher. Whereas Johnny Weir humbly accepts his 6th place (even though he did deserve higher) and realizes he did his best: "Congratulations to the medalists. Thank you to the world for showing me love and I hope I didn't let you down. I am proud." (via twitter)

I'm just going to stick my neck out and say that Johnny is my favorite... it's too bad his only little mistake was that mess up coming out of a spin, but honestly, that wasn't enough to give him such a low score. He was underscored on his short program, and again last night.
I just need to go off and vent my anger

wow USA so far has the most medals! and the most gold medals!

Men's figure skating has definitely been my top favorite Olympic event. I can't express how ecstatic I am that Evan Lysacek won gold! Eeek!

I wasn't able to stay up to watch them Live so I had it recording so I would be able to watch in the morning without the media telling me who won. You know, the whole Fake Live History experience.

I was seriously holding my breath during every one of Evan's jumps but he landed them all beautifully. His choreography was great. His footwork timed really well with the music and he looked so into his program. You could tell right away that he knew he had skated an awesome program because he started victory fist pumping during his last spin. His expressions were priceless.

Johnny Weir... he's great even with his eccentricities.

His free skate was amazing, landing all of those jumps. Despite that small wobble in one of his spins, he really skated a clean program so I was surprised that his score wasn't somewhat higher. However, he took it with humility and he looked so happy at the end of his program anyway. Accepting all of those roses from the people in the stands (including that giant rose crown ) was really sweet.

Ah, Plushenko. I was kinda nervous watching him for the first few minutes there. After he landed the quad though, my program cut off because the event went overtime. So much for the element of surprise in finding out who won.

I had to finish his program online. It didn't live up to his short program at all, even with the "magic quad" at the beginning. He really is an extremely well-trained skater but his free skate just seemed kinda... lazy? After how well he did the other night, his free skate just seemed really off to me.

Anyway, huge congrats to Evan!! YAY! First USA gold in Men's figure skating since Brian Boitano in 1988!

Men's figure skating has definitely been my top favorite Olympic event. I can't express how ecstatic I am that Evan Lysacek won gold! Eeek!

^^ I am also happy that he won gold! I flipped out when it happened.....he is amazing at figure skating! he deserved the gold!

Johnny Weir... he's great even with his eccentricities.

His free skate was amazing, landing all of those jumps. Despite that small wobble in one of his spins, he really skated a clean program so I was surprised that his score wasn't somewhat higher. However, he took it with humility and he looked so happy at the end of his program anyway. Accepting all of those roses from the people in the stands (including that giant rose crown ) was really sweet.

That's what I really admire about Johnny. I may not like everything about him, but I have to applaud him for his humility. When the audience started booing at his score because they thought it was too low, he motioned for them to quiet down. The way he handled everything with such class greatly contrasted with Plushenko's constant sulking afterwards... did you all hear what Plushenko said?! "Quad is quad. If the Olympic champion doesn’t know how to jump the quad, I don’t know. Now it’s not men’s figure skating, it’s dancing. That’s my point.” Goodness!
The rose crown was great

*add me to the list of people overwhelmingly, ecstatically, unbelievably happy about Evan Lysacek's gold medal* I was so nervous while he was skating; I could barely watch. I was so relieved when he got all those jumps safely out of the way. When Plushenko had finally skated, and the final results were being posted, I could barely stand the suspense. And when we found out that Lysacek had won, I came very near to hooting and hollering for joy.

I was disappointed that Johnny Weir got so low a score; it seemed to me that his score should have been much higher, for he did excellently.

I'm not sure how much more Olympics I'll be able to watch, as we'll be busy these next few nights, but we'll see.

Poor Plushenko. He sounds like a first grader after a kickball game, "First is the worst, second is the best!" Honestly, he is very good at this sport so I've been trying to give him the benefit of the doubt but his comments are just sounding extremely childish. He's won two Olympic medals in the past and he didn't lose this time either, he won silver. It's his poor sportsmanship that ruins the experience- for him and for the other winners.

I've actually learned a few things by watching this. Scott Hamilton has been a really fun and helpful commentator. He always sounds like he's trying to land the jumps for them. I totally loved watching him skate when I was little.

It isn't about single elements, it's about the entire program. How well you perform your jumps, your spins, your footwork, and the strategy you implement to acquire the best score you can. I wasn't aware that the last half of the free skate was worth bonus points, so saving a few jumps for last is not only wise, but also difficult after skating your heart out for the first half of the program.

Everything fits together like a puzzle. Just because one element is super hard and worth a smidgen more doesn't mean that it guarantees you a higher total score.

And ice dancing is a completely different venue.

*add me to the list of people overwhelmingly, ecstatically, unbelievably happy about Evan Lysacek's gold medal*

^Me too!!

I honestly always enjoyed Woman's and Pairs skating much more than Men's, but I was COMPLETELY enthralled with it this year. Mostly I think because Plushenko REALLY ticked me off. I did NOT want him to win. Anyone who calls his fellow competitors his "enemies" has some serious ego problems.

Evan Lysacek on the other hand was entirely humble and gracious. Last night my family and I watched an interview where Bob Costas read him quotes of all the mean things people were saying about him and he was so nice about it! My Mom even remarked that she couldn't believe any human celebrity could be that genuinely nice. Bob Costas also said (and he's interviewed hundreds of Olympic athletes) that he was as impressed with the way he handled the rudeness of Plushenko and other people as he was with his Gold winning performance!

It's so much easier to be excited about a win when you can generally respect the athlete, of course there's no guarantee that this win won't go to Lysacek head and he'll do something to lose my respect *cough* Micheal Phelps *cough*
But currently I am SUPER excited about his win

The short track 1000 meter final was pretty intense last night. The South Koreans were really dominating, but Apollo Ohno managed to squeeze in to get a bronze at the last minute. I'm hoping he gets a gold in the 500 meters so he can get a gold medal to finish off his carrer...there isn't much of a chance in the relay.