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The end of the quadruple jump.

It's been proved, perhaps conclusively, that skaters should not attempt the quad in competition:

An analysis of all quadruple jumps attempted in major international competitions in the last four seasons shows that only about a third of them would earn more points than if the skater had performed a triple lutz, an easier jump, but worth as many points when performed well. 

Evan Lysacek ? the American gold medalist ? excluded the quad from his program:

"For me, it?s just as difficult to have the intricate program that I have and execute everything as it would be for me to execute a quad... I guess if you asked a speedskater if there is one stroke they do that?s more important than any other, they would say no, that every stroke is equally important. I feel that way about my program, that each stroke I take, each step I take, each jump, each spin, is of equal importance. Sometimes it?s easy to forget about the simpler moves and to take them for granted."

And so it is with life... I feel like saying. It sounds like a general personal philosophy, doesn't it?

Full post as published by Althouse on February 19, 2010 (boomark / email).