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Post by Admin on Jan 15, 2014 6:11:59 GMT
From L-R: Polina Edmonds, Gracie Gold, Mirai Nagasu, and Ashley Wagner. Despite her rocky performance on Saturday night, the U.S Figure Skating Associate named Ashley Wagner to the Olympic team over Mirai Nagasu. Wagner will join Gracie Gold and Polina Edmonds in Sochi next month. The decision is a controversial one as Nagasu performed better and placed higher than Wagner at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships over the weekend. Nagasu won the bronze medal while Wagner placed fourth; Gold and Edmonds placed first and second, respectively. “I really wish that we had four or five spots going to Sochi,’’ Gold told the Today show this morning. “It’s so hard just to have three. The ladies’ field in the U.S. is so deep, and they’re all wonderful skaters. There wasn’t a dry eye in the audience [at the nationals]. I’m really good friends with Ashley and Mirai and so we talked and we hugged and we cried, and it’s been a long journey for everybody.” While the U.S. Championships can often serve as trials to determine the Olympic team, it is not the only thing the USFSA takes into consideration. The organization also looks at each skaters’ competitive record from the past year. “If you look at Ashley Wagner’s record and performance, she’s got the top credentials of any of our female athletes,” USFSA president Patricia St. Peter told AP. Although Nagasu competed in the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics (Wagner failed to make the team), she had struggled in the competitions leading up to the national championship. And Wagner’s two falls during Saturday’s free skate were overshadowed by her portfolio of performances–placing in the top five at both the world championship and Grand Prix. “I’m not that skater that everyone saw last night,” Wagner said. “I’m a fierce competitor. I’m tough as nails.”
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Post by Admin on Jan 15, 2014 22:38:45 GMT
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Post by Admin on Jan 24, 2014 22:41:05 GMT
Ashley Wagner finished fourth overall at U.S. nationals earlier this month. Wagner knows some people will look at her change in course with a bit of skepticism because there is so little time left to train the program before the Winter Games begin. To an extent, she would agree. “The decision I made to change my program is probably … it is insane,” she said. “Absolutely insane.” But she knew the change had to be made. Wagner said she actually been thinking about the change for quite a while, but waited until after nationals to make the final decision with coach Rafael Arutyunyan. “I feel I skate with so much more conviction in this program, and I really believe in this program,” Wagner said. “The character of Delilah is such a strong, powerful woman,” said Wagner, who at 22 is the oldest of the three women figure skaters on the U.S. Olympic Team. “That mindset is going to help me in Sochi.” At that point, Wagner sounded resolute about sticking with "Romeo and Juliet" but was still struggling with making her character "bigger than the music" -- selections from the complex, occasionally thundering and somewhat dark version by Sergei Prokofiev. "The first couple months I had this program, I was afraid that I had bitten off more than I could chew," she told me. "It's very easy to make it look like it's overpowering me. If you try and play the story of Juliet as this young, innocent, soft girl who's falling in love, it doesn't go with that big piece of music. Up until Skate America, I was very lost with that character. I never want to be the victim. I was portraying this weak person. One thing my Army dad always said was, 'Don't be weak.'" Ashley Wagner performs her exhibition program at Trophee Eric Bompard on Nov. 17, 2013 in Paris. "[Juliet] is actually a very strong character because she's going against what everyone is telling her to do, and she will do anything and everything to get what she wants in the end," Wagner said. "We had to rework the program mentally, emotionally, physically so that this character could become something that matched up with the music more. It was a risk to use this. Now, I feel like I'm starting to get this under control." Wagner smiled a tad wanly. "Right now, I'm very ambivalent," she said, with a small laugh. "There is a lot to be discussed with Raf, and we're going to end up making the best decision for the small amount of the time we have going into the Olympics. I need to change things around for myself."
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