Oh, Sasha!
It was so painful to watch the rest of her program, knowing what could have been. She wasn't perfect after the falls, but her artistry was just unmatched by anyone else. In contrast, Arakawa was rather boring. It wasn't the sort of gold medalist performance people will be talking about for years to come, but there is no question that she deserved to win. I'm just a sucker for the artists, or at least the skaters who seem to put their whole heart out on the ice.
And someone needs to tell Irina Slutskaya that the only reason she got silver in Salt Lake was the judges tinkering with the placements to give Sarah Hughes the (much-deserved) gold. Under the old system, Sarah not only had to beat Michelle in the long, but someone else had to finish ahead of Michelle. Irina was fortunate that Sarah's long program was so good, because Michelle really outskated her in the long program, and I can't say I'm sorry she didn't win gold this time around, either. In women's figure skating, at least, it seems that artistry still matters.
In other news, it turns out that it is really impossible to build an elven castle (Sims2) while watching the Olympics and even harder to write stories. I need to get serious about my JuC Day fic and stomp hard on the nasty plot bunny that wants me to work on another story that has been in WIP status since last May. It's a perpetual WIP for good reason, but my muse isn't very reasonable.