I made my gripes in the other figure thread about how Val got screwed.
But I should explain myself. Honestly, Gina and Amanda brought the best packages to the stage, the very package that the judges rejected at the Arnold, saying that was too hard, and that they were pushing a softer look. I'll call it the "Lado look." (Not the 2006 Arnold Lado look, rather the 2007 Arnold Lado look, which was NOT a good look). I don't agree with that, but OK, I'll take their word for it.
So Val brings a softer look to the Olympia stage, and gets beaten handily by the very physique she brought to the 2007 Arnold (Gina and Amanda). Isn't that the very package the judges were telling the girls to abandon? I guess not.
The fact of the matter, the judges don't agree on judging criteria, and are not consistent from show to show, leaving it to the girls to guess what they want at any given show. That's not fair to the girls who spend a lot of time training, dieting, etc. for these shows.
Why not tell the girls to come in ripped and hard, then ask them to pose in a truly relaxed pose with quarter turns, as well as the traditional "flexed" relaxed poses, and then the judges can evaluate more stuff in grading the ladies. With all the work they put in, I think they deserve a few extra minutes to be honestly critiqued.
Also, screw the call-outs, and how that predetermines everything. I think they can continue to mix the call-outs and have the girls in a lot more comparisons. Give the judges the time necessary to truly ID the distinctions, so they can do a better job judging.
If you use my standard for figure, Gina won the show. If you tell Val to bring her "A" game like she did at the Arnold, then you have
Val, Gina and Amanda all at about a tie.
Amber is not balanced. She needs to bring her shoulders down, or everthing else up. That lack of balance should not be rewarded.
Sonja is a JPM girl, so she gets top 5 automatically. So does Jenny. Jenny Lynn may be a super person, but she wasn't the best figure competitor on Fri/Sat.
