Ashley Wagner's Olympics Rant: Furious About Russian Skater's Win

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Ashley is furious about skaters who fell, yet still placed above her, in the women’s figure skating individual program, including 15-year-old Yulia Lipnitskaia.

Figure skaters toil their whole lives to hopefully one day get a shot at an Olympic medal, so of course tension runs high and disappointment is inevitable for all but three lucky and skillful women. But at this year’s Sochi Winter games, American ice princess Ashley Wagner is questioning if the women who made her sport’s podium really deserved to be there.

Ashley Wagner, Who Never Fell, Feels Cheated

That’s right, Ashley is not happy about the Feb. 20 figure skating finals results, but before you start calling her bitter — she placed 7th — she does have some legitimate reasons to be feeling icy about the outcome.

There is nothing like the anticipation of a viewer when a skater is about to go for a jump. We know they might falter, stumble or even end up on their bums in the landing, and when this happens, we know their chances to win are grim.

Or are they? Ashley, 22, did not once fall on the ice and yet she finished two places behind Russian 15-year-old, Yulia Lipnitskaia who fell in all three of her programs. Ashley also placed behind Mao Asada and fellow US teammate, Gracie Gold, both of whom tumbled to the ice during their shots at Olympic gold.

Although judges’ scores are based on “the complete package”, a combination of technical skill and artistry, it does seem a bit strange that a skater who fell three times managed to pummel the score of one who didn’t fall at all.

It’s no wonder Ashley complained, “I feel gypped.”

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The biggest upset of last night’s finals however, was Russian Adelina Sotnikova getting the gold over South Korea’s defending Olympic gold medalist, Yuna Kim, a decision that Ashley feels calls for an end to the process of anonymous judging.

Even commentators were confused by this one! They took to twitter with statements like, “@cbrennansports: Lost Internet for quite awhile but headline is that this is worse than Salt Lake City. Terrible decision.” and “@billplaschke: Kim didn’t win…unbelievable…scandal written all over this…Russian Sotnikova wins, fans going crazy, Kim disappears, wrong, wrong.”

Well… What happens in Sochi…

– India Irving

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India Irving, this is an inaccurate article. I watched Ashley and in her interview with the Today show (2/21) she states that she feels like the top three are very deserving of their title. She doesn’t question it. I’m not sure where you got your information, but as a journalist, this is disappointing.

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Ashley, in all her complaining, is not acknowledging the fact that her programs did not have the same level of technical difficulty as her competitors. Agree that artistry should have won over grunt in the case of Yuna Kim (who was robbed of gold) but Ashley is no where in the same league as Gracie Gold, the Russian 15yr old sensation Yulia or Mao Asada who all fell in their routines which were more technically difficult and polished. Ashley should also remember that she was awarded a spot on the US Olympic team even with all the falls she had at US Nationals.

But MAGG, Ashley had “the best chance to medal for the US”, according to the experts. Funny, though…complains about people falling who placed in front of her at Sochi, but mum from falling at Nationals and making the team. A brat to say the least.

Wagner is dead wrong, she deserved what she got. Her technique sucked as well as her sportsmanship. She needs alot of work.

I could not agree more. She has cussed on international t.v. in protest of her score, claimed she was gypped at the Olympics, and is generally acting entitled when her artistry and technique will never approach that of any of the medalists!

I feel Ashley is correct. The ISU needs to do away with the anonymous judging system. his will make each judges scoring able to be reviewed separately for inflated scoring. It also happened with Plusinko in men’s short, team event. I am sorry he never earned that many points, he stopped footwork to take breather’s etc.
I realize Ashley is a little out spoken, but if someone does not speak up , it will never get fixed.
I for one an disgusted with the judging system for US Figure Skating.

I cannot believe that the girl who got the Olympics on a wing, prayer, and politics is complaining. She was very unsportsmanlike throughout. Caught on camera cursing about her score, now she says she’s been cheated. No Ash, you weren’t. If you need to know what it feels like to be cheated, close you mouth and listen to Mirai.

She’s talking about KIM not herself try reading the article before posting next time.

Amen.

Ashley need to learn to lose with grace. Gracie Gold and Polina Edmunds were gracious in their comments and are the future of US skating. Wagner shouldn’t have been there anyway. Her program WASN’T as difficult as the Russians, Yuna or Carolina. For Ashley to infer she merited a place on the podium is ludicrous. She’s so selfish, she made it all about her and imo took a swipe at Gracie Gold, (not just the russians) who outskated Ashley once again.

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This woman has a very vulgar nature, unkind face. She should be quiet since she made it to Sochi without earning it. She is nowhere close to any af the top skaters.

I saw the expressions on the other USA skaters faces when Ashley was named to the team in the first place. They did not think she deserved it as a skater but also as a person. They were all so visably upset.
I agree she comes across as unkind, arrogant and self-possessed.

STFU…you don’t know anything. An “unkind face?” You sound like an idiot. She is not vulgar. You obviously are not American, because your choice of words is really stupid. She wasn’t trying to be on the podium, she thought the top three were correct, but the Korean girl should have won.

I hope your knowledge of other languages is better than my English.

Sorry, I thought Ashley was very boring lacking artistry and smooth flowing routine, her arm positions were lacking gracefullness.
the Russian deserved the Gold , she was exciting and captivating racking up extra points on her height of jumps, and holds no one ever had done, you didn’t feel lost between jumps like you felt during Ashley’s performance

The Korean girl deserved the gold, and alot of experts agreed with that. The judges panel had a couple of questionable people who were directly connected to the Russian Federation. One of them even had been suspended for unethical judging in the past.

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This is so untrue. I just saw her interviewed and she said the complete opposite of what you are printing. She said the three at the top completely deserve to be the medalist s. your reporting is wrong

Nope, this site was right. She did say the three deserved to win, then did a 100% about face and said everyone needed to be looked into. Total two-face. Please look things up before you whine if you REALLY “want truth reported.” Dummy