This program and his performance of it gives me chills. I’m completely furious at how low the judges scored him. He was clearly the best of the competition in this Short Program and they marked him in 4th place. Absolutely robbed. How on Earth could that one judge justify giving him a 5.1??? He landed all of the jumps here cleanly, including a HUGE Triple Axel, and his footwork and spins were excellent!
It completely boggles my mind. Watch the performances of Timothy Goebel, Johnny Weir, and Evan Lysacek from the competition here on Youtube. Savoie was better than all of them. What’s even more insulting is that one of the judges gave Lysacek a 6.0 for presentation. I’ve never seen anything so ridiculous. Lysacek was still skating like a Junior in 2005! Savoie should have had 6.0’s for presentation with this performance!
Really, this performance moves me to tears and the way Savoie got no credit for it is incredibly sad. One of the most underscored skaters ever.
29 Comments
One of the greatest short program performances ever at US Nationals, yet the judges inexplicably placed him 4th on the night. He was never fully appreciated by American judges. His presentation marks alone should have been all 6.0s.
I was there and it was one of the most performances I have ever seen live. Unbelievable judging – craziness.
I truly agree with the description of your upload, definitely underscored and underappreciated. I would have placed him first as well and definitely one of the few whom have original skating artistry and technically one of the most sound skaters. His elegance and presentation draws me to his skating and still wish I could skate just like him, but as an adult skater, can only admire those technically and artistically great skaters =) Wishing there were more competitions to see the old pro's.
This program was skated in the last year of the 6.0 system – I seem to recall that the skaters that places before him had the almighty QUAD in their programs (except for Johnny Weir…) so yeah, it was completely disappointing at the same time being totally uplifting. The transitions in this program are amazing and might have fared much better under IJS… but we can still enjoy the skating.
hauntingly and achingly beautiful, a true poet on the ice
someone please explain to me what the judges were thinking here….
The best SP ever by any male skater! Terrible judging.
One of the few skaters that can actually perform and yet never on the podium. I totally respect him for finding that motivation from within to keep on going even after the judges did not appreciate his skating much.
But lets be fair, figure skating judges ALWAYS suck.
One of the best programs ever skated at US Nationals. Oh Matt…
Watching Matt's old videos makes me so happy but so mad at the same time. The way he was undermarked all thruought his career was simply unforgivable.
Matt Savoie was such a beautiful presence on the skating scene. It would have been wonderful to see him skate Pro for a couple of years. (And I love this choreography by Tom Dickson.)
Really ridiculous judging! Poor judging has turned off many spectators for! So pathetic. What an amazing performance!
I thought this was the best short program that night. Quiet, steady, calm and sublime. Understated and underrated.
Unfortunately I think the judges just saw him as an old journeyman skater by this point. He had been on the scene a long time and not even made it to a Worlds yet. People like Weir and Lysacek were seen as the future.
Still gives me chills. Beautiful!!
I miss Matt…
Gosh, I love this program. Love it !!!
Brilliant performance! I am grateful that Matt finally got to skate @ the Olympics in 2006. Quads are NOT everything (and shouldn't be)!
Is that a flip @2:03? That's some of the best footwork ive seen going into a jump!
Underscored and undermarked.. yet again
damn that triple axel!
Wow…underscored. The transitions…he was ahead of his time.
Love, love, love! They don't make skaters like this anymore!
Q.T.M.S. was a bit surprised with the 5.1 for the technical element from a person from the judges' panel. It is not like he fell down or anything. Yet, Q.T.M.S. is very pleased to see that his presentation marks were dramatically higher! He is just such an exceptional skater! #SkatersSkater #QTMS
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He deserved a 6.0
Gorgeous
Just spectacular. Breathtaking. This truly was the hey day of figure skating. I wish we could bring back the shorter, more effective step sequences like both of them in this program. I have both tears and chills. Love it.
For years I have wondered why the judges were so hard on him, even domestically like here. Did they want to favor the skaters with quads because they felt they would have a better shot at worlds? Did the fact he came from a low-key skating club without a big name coach hurt him? Either way I think he was truly underrated. Its just too bad he was a bit past his prime when the new ISU judging system took over fully because it was well-suited for his style. Oh well. At least he got to the Olympics and had a good showing there.