(9 February 2014)  The team event here in Sochi, the Olympics' first, was more than an historic new competitive event.  It was also a final tune-up for skaters before their individual events, and one last chance to handicap the chances of the contenders in those events.  It was also a chance to assess how the skating programs of the participant nations stack up.

Following their embarrassment at results from the Vancouver Games, Russia set out on a four year plan be competitive in each discipline.  Their results in the team even show that have mostly succeeded, with realistic medal chance in three of the four disciplines, and even an artificial chance in the fourth if the judges continue to give Evgeni Plushenko a free ride.

The vibe coming out of U.S. Figure Skating is that the U.S.'s bronze medal result refutes the doubts in the media about the health of the U.S. skating program. On winning the team bronze medal, Team captain Charlie White said that the result "sent a really positive message for U.S. Figure Skating now and in the future."

But is this the real lesson from the team result?

The way the Team Event is structured, only the team gold medal really demands that a team have medal contending skaters in most of the disciplines.  To challenge for the silver and bronze, however, a country only need have strength in one discipline as long as they are uniformly middling in the other three -- that is, have skaters capable of placing fifth through tenth place in the individual events.  Such was the case for Team USA, whose result was anchored by Meryl Davis & Charlie White, the favorites for the gold in the dance event.

One should also keep in mind the team competition is limited to those countries that can field skaters in all four disciplines, leaving out some top skaters, and many of the teams did not use their best skaters in each segment of the team event.

The message from the team event may be that the U.S. Figure Skating glass is either half full or half empty, and the questions is whether water is running into the glass or out.

After strong performances in both the team short and long, Julia Lipnitskaya enhanced her reputation beyond being a skater who is competitive for the bronze, to a skater who can compete for the gold.  Based on her free skate, U.S. media have started hyping Gracie Gold for the gold medal, but that seems like a pipe-dream base on scoring history and rankings for the several skaters who currently stand in her way.  Gold is likely to break into the top five in the individual event, and strong skates will cement her identity as the future of U.S. ladies (as well as push Ashley Wagner out of U.S. Figure Skating's back door).  But the gold medal?  Not likely.  Not this year.

In the Men's event, it is clear Patrick Chan though still a favorite, is very beatable.  The Men's individual event should be a wild ride, with Yuzuru Hanyu taking on the role of favorite after his short program performance in the team event.  For the U.S., Jeremy Abbott demonstrated yet again he does not have the mental strength or the consistency to compete with the big boys; while Jason Brown, in his first year in the senior ranks, looks to be the future of Men's U.S. figure skating (also bidding Abbott goodbye).  But for the glass to be half full in men's, Brown (or another U.S. man) had best add a consistent quad or two to his repertoire in the next two years, otherwise, U.S. men may end up consigned to fifth to tenth place for the next Olympic quad.

After the team event, the Russians look unstoppable in the Pairs event, and the Germans appear to be running scared.  Tatiana Volosozhar & Maxim Trankov are on fire.  On the U.S. team, Marissa Castelli & Simon Shnapir have clearly improved since last season, and their international scores show it, but their placing much higher than tenth in the individual event would be miraculous.  The future of U.S. pairs remains a discouraging picture.

In dance, Meryl Davis & Charlie White crushed Tessa Virtue & Scott Moir.  It would now be a stunning upset if the Canadians managed to pull off a victory in the individual dance event.  In the fight for the dance bronze medal, the team event also seemed to send the message the French team of Nathalie Pechelat & Fabian Bourzat are doomed.  Look for a Russian team to take the bronze next week.

Once all the old-timers retire after these Olympics (not all announced, but the most likely scenario) who is the future of dance? Probably the Russians, and maybe Canadians Weaver & Poje, but certainly not the U.S., which has no one standing in the wings with a strong international buzz.

U.S. Figure Skating may find itself after these games in nearly the same position as the Russians after Vancouver -- in charge of a program in disarray that will require a concerted four year plan to turn things around for the next Olympic quad.