Women’s Figure Skating Wraps Up Competition

With only the long program remaining in the women’s figure skating competition at the Vancouver Olympics, most people were certain that the medals would come down to the final group of skaters that consisted of the top six from the short program. These skaters included, Kim Yu-na of South Korea, two Japanese skaters, two American skaters, and the hope for the Canadians, Joannie Rochette.

Rachael Flatt, the 17-year-old American, skated first in this last group. While she delivered her personal best and an enthusiastic performance, it wasn’t enough to put her into medal position. She ultimately finished the night in seventh place overall.

American skater Mirai Nagasu finished slightly better than Flatt. After skating the final performance of the night, Nagasu earned enough points to finish fourth overall.

Everyone expected Kim Yu-na to win, but I don’t think anyone could have predicted just how much she would win by. After a phenomenal performance, she posted a score of over 150 points for her long program, putting her total score at just over 228. Judging from the look on her face, I don’t think even she believed that it was possible to put together the result that she did.

She was a hard act to follow and one that Mao Asada of Japan didn’t seem happy about. Though the skater performed well except for a few minor stumbles, her impressive score of over 130 was not enough to put her in first place.

The really important skater of the night for me was Canadian Joannie Rochette. She was in third after the short program, and her story was one of the most heart touching because just days before the women’s figure skating competition started, her mother died. The tears in the eyes of both Joannie and her father after her short program performance showed just how hard it was for her to go on and just how much it meant for her to continue competing. Rochette performed a good routine and finished just a few points shy of silver.