Obama: Russia doesn't make anything

[amandabeech]

40. Many people who really know skating thought that Yu Na Kim outskated her.

There were some iffy calls on under-rotation of jumps and of wrong-edge take-offs for a couple of Sotnikova's jumps that really knock points off the tech mark. There were even more questions about the sudden escalation of the presentation mark for Sotnikova at Euros and then at the Olys. Have you skated yourself or followed skating very closely for a good length of time?

Sotnikova showed early promise as a junior, but did not place all that well through in the senior ranks until this year. We'll see if she is a one-hit wonder or not. It takes more than one Olympic or World gold to be a true champion.

Yu Na Kim retired after the Olympics with an Olympic Gold, an Olympic Silver, two (?) World Championships and skads of other lesser medals. She leaves gigantic skates to be filled. Sotnikova may fill those skates or she may not.

The Russians who won pairs, Volosozhar & Trankov, proved themselves over and over, and deserve considerable respect in an extremely difficult skating discipline. Better that you put up their win rather than Sotnikova's.