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· By Christine Brennan, USA TODAY VANCOUVER — With Olympic men's figure skating five
days away, USA TODAY has learned the Russian skating federation was so
concerned about reigning Olympic gold medalist Evgeni Plushenko's bid
to win again, it demanded that the International Skating Union remove
criticism of him from a series of judges' educational videos that were to be
released last summer. The Russian protestations
were heeded by the ISU, and two critiques of Plushenko's 2006 Olympic
performance were taken out of the DVDs, resulting in a two-month delay in the
organization' NEW COMMUNITY: Brennan covers
women in sports VIDEO: YouTube clip
of Plushenko at 2006 Games Russia's complaints about Plushenko's
appearance in the videos were confirmed by three people with knowledge of the
creation of the videos who spoke only on the condition of anonymity over
concern of reprisals from the Russian federation. Plushenko was not the
only current or former skater to have his artistry criticized on the videos,
but the Russians were the only federation to have their skater removed from
the DVDs before the videos were circulated to judges worldwide. The five DVDs — each
focusing on one of the "artistic" program components in the sport's
5-year-old judging system — were created by some of the sport's most esteemed
international and Olympic judges and skating experts by using video clips of
skaters' performances over the past two decades, including Plushenko's
Olympic long program in 2006, which clinched the gold medal for him. Copies of the
"before" and "after" versions of the DVDs were made
available to USA TODAY. The first minute and a
half of Plushenko's long program was severely criticized in the initial version
of the ISU's videos on two of the components: interpretation of the music and
transitions, which are movements between elements. The interpretation video
highlighted the first 1 minute, 37 seconds of Plushenko's long program from
Torino and said that while he "was a technical skater of the highest
level and had many good qualities," he was disconnected from any kind of
interpretation of his music for 1:04 and connected to it for just 33 seconds.
This critical assessment
of his interpretation skills comes nearly four years after Plushenko received
the highest interpretation scores, ironically enough, in the Olympic men's
competition. In the new version of
that DVD, Belarus' Sergei Davydov has replaced Plushenko, although the
graphics assessing Plushenko's program remain. As for his transitions,
the original version of that DVD offered a scathing review of Plushenko's
Olympic performance, assessing it to be worthy of only a 3.75 to 4.0 on a
10-point scale for some of the requirements. But in reality, Plushenko
received a much higher mark in Torino — 7.75 — a sign of the inflated scoring
of well-known skaters that the creators of the ISU videos had hoped to
address. In the new version of the
transitions DVD, a performance by Canada's Elvis Stojko is in the
place where Plushenko's program once was. Plushenko, a magnificent
jumper who was officially retired from the sport when the experts were selecting
examples of skaters' work to show on the DVDs, may have been purged from the
videos, but the controversy over his artistry — particularly his transitions
— continues to rage, fueled in part by Plushenko himself. In a transcript from a
Jan. 27 news conference posted on AbsoluteSkating. Plushenko's artistry, or
lack thereof, and the high scores he continues to receive for it are likely
to be the most significant topic of conversation heading into the men's short
program Tuesday, with as many as eight men having a chance to win the Olympic
gold medal. Judges and experts from
five countries worked on the DVDs: Germany's Sissy Krick; Finland's Hely Abbondati
and Mika Saarelainen; the USA's Charlie Cyr, Joe Inman and Gale Tanger;
Italy's Paolo Pizzocari; and Canada's Ted Barton, Louis Stong and Anne
Shelter. |
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· By CHRISTINE
BRENNAN, USA TODAY VANCOUVER — Video of three figure skaters who are
competing in the Winter Olympics was allowed to remain on controversial
judges' educational DVDs, contradicting comments from an International
Skating Union official who said Russian Evgeni Plushenko was
removed because the ISU didn't want to include current skaters. USA TODAY, citing three
people with direct knowledge of the issue, reported this week that Plushenko,
the 2006 gold medalist and a favorite here, was taken off the videos last
summer after Russian officials complained, citing pointed criticism of his
artistry on the DVDs. The performance that was
criticized was Plushenko's gold-medal-winning free skate in Torino. DVD CONTROVERSY: Brennan column
on Russian complaints Nevertheless, critical
reviews of the artistry of Johnny Weir of the
United States, Carolina Kostner of
Italy and Tomas Verner of the
Czech Republic remain on the DVDs, which were made available to USA TODAY.
All of them have extensive international resumes and are listed on their
respective countries' Olympic rosters. The Associated Press
asked ISU event director Peter Krick about the USA TODAY report, and he said
ISU president Ottavio Cinquanta took an interest in the case. "Our president was
very concerned that the video is properly done, and that we must be very
careful not to have a current skater," Krick is quoted as saying.
"We discussed with him Plushenko's involvement." Three people with direct
knowledge of the creation of the videos told USA TODAY that the three skaters
remain on the DVDs because unlike the Russians, their nations did not
complain. Russia's complaints about Plushenko's appearance in the videos were
confirmed by those same people who spoke only on the condition of anonymity
over concern of reprisals from the Russian federation. Peter Krick's wife,
Sissy, a veteran German judge, was among the judges and skating experts who
created the DVDs last year. |
BEVERLEY SMITH
VANCOUVER — From Wednesday's Globe and Mail Published on Wednesday, Feb. 10, 2010 12:00AM EST Last updated on Thursday, Feb. 11, 2010 3:11AM EST
A series of private
e-mails sent by a U.S. figure skating
judge to his peers have set off an international firestorm of accusations that
there is a North American bias against European figure skaters in the men's
event at the Vancouver Games.
And, in a preview of the on-ice intensity to come,
charges are flying that the lobby is hostile to European skaters Evgeni
Plushenko and Brian Joubert in particular, two medal contenders.
Joe Inman, a veteran Olympic-level skating judge,
acknowledged yesterday that in recent weeks he sent e-mails to 60 judges and
officials - some of whom are likely to be involved with the Vancouver Games -
reminding them to mark presentation scores accurately.
Mr. Inman sent the e-mails after he heard that Mr.
Plushenko, the defending Olympic champion from Russia, was quoted in an
interview, saying: "If the judges want someone to place high, they can
arrange it. Like in Tallinn [in Estonia at the European championships last
month] Brian Joubert got more points for his transitions than me, although we
did exactly the same transitions on the ice.
"In fact, we don't have any transitions because
we focus on our jumps."
Transitions are part of the presentation mark in
figure skating's new judging system, which deems that transitional moves linking
elements together make skating more difficult and should therefore be worth
more marks.
Mr. Plushenko and Mr. Joubert, of France, have long
been criticized for a lack of these linking moves in their routines, but this
isn't always reflected in their marks.
In his e-mails to the international judges, Mr. Inman
said it is telling that Mr. Plushenko acknowledges having no transitions in his
routine, "but the judges seem to miss what he is saying."
"We as judges should think about what we saw
before putting that mark down."
The French sports magazine L'Équipe picked up on the
e-mails and wrote a story with the headline: "The hostilities begin."
The article goes on to say the North Americans are launching an offensive
against European skaters, aiming specifically at Mr. Plushenko and Mr. Joubert.
"It just proves that the North American lobby is
on its way," Didier Gailhaguet, president of the French skating
federation, told L'Équipe. Yesterday, Mr. Gailhaguet told The Globe that he was
surprised by Mr. Inman's e-mail. "Why at this particular moment of the
season such comments become so important?" he said.
A Russian newspaper added that Mr. Inman believes
athletes from "the Old World" use too many artistic techniques to
help hide weak jumps. Russian skaters could not be reached for comment.
Mr. Inman, who is not a judge at the Vancouver Olympics,
often conducts international seminars on presentation marks - also known as
program components. Yesterday, in an e-mail to The Globe, he said he was
surprised to see his words "twisted" to imply a hostility toward
Europeans.
Mr. Inman said he sent the e-mails only as teaching
tools for people who had attended his seminars.
"Does this sound like trying to put down the
Europeans?" he asked. "It was about judging, not even about the
skaters."
Mr. Inman was a judge on the panel of the women's
event at the 2002 Olympics at Salt Lake City. He placed U.S. favourite Michelle
Kwan third. "Does this sound like I was being biased toward North American
skaters?" he said.
He said the new judging system, which came into play
after the judging scandals of the Salt Lake City Games, has increased the
difficulty of all skating elements, not just jumps, and that step sequences
have been far more complex.
Canadian skater Jamie Salé, who won an Olympic gold
medal with partner David Pelletier, has also been critical of Mr. Plushenko's
skating style. In an interview yesterday, she said judges were extremely
generous with his presentation mark at the 2006 Games.
"He was just throwing his arms up in circles all
the time," Ms. Salé said. "There's nothing there. ... That's not
skating. There's no edges. There's nothing to his program."
****
How to score
The International Skating Union introduced a new
scoring system that took effect internationally in the 2005 season. It is
intended to shift focus away from the judges and onto the skaters.
Judges: The system is designed to allow judges to
focus on the quality of each element performed and the five program components.
It also eliminates the scoring of skaters in relation to other skaters.
Referee: Oversees the judges to make sure they follow
the proper procedure
Technical specialist: Identifies each element as the
skater performs it
Technical controller: Supports technical specialist
Assistant technical specialist
Program components
-Transitions
-Interpretation
-Choreography/
-Skating skills
-Performance/
Grade of execution: Awarded on a scale of up to plus
or minus three points
Base value: Each technical element has a pre-assigned
base value
Program component score: Sum of points awarded for
each of five components; points given on a scale from 0.25 to 10
Technical score: Each element performed receives a
base value plus a ìgrade of executionî
Total score: Seven of the nine judges are randomly and
anonymously selected by computer. Scores of the other two judges are thrown out.
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· By Kelly Whiteside, USA TODAY VANCOUVER — It wouldn't be the Winter Olympics
without a figure skating controversy. On Thursday U.S. skater Johnny Weir sharply
criticized a veteran U.S. judge's actions and questioned whether American
skaters might be judged more harshly as a result. Earlier this month Joe Inman, a top
international judge, sent an e-mail to friends, including some judges, about
comments made by Russia's defending gold medalist, Evgeni Plushenko. The
intent of the e-mail has since been misconstrued, says Inman, and has set off
an international firestorm … that there is a North American bias against
European figure skaters," according to Toronto's The Globe and Mail. CONTROVERSY: Video critique
draws fire VIDEO: YouTube clip of Plushenko at 2006
Games Weir joined the chorus of
criticism after his first practice, saying, "I am very offended that an
American judge started this whole thing. I think it's a smear on my face and
my reputation as an American figure skater and I hope he's banned from
judging for the rest of his life. Coming into the Olympic Games, America
already has an iffy public image and for him to basically attack every other
skater in the world … "Even though he did
that trying to support American skaters, it's my reputation. Am I going to be
judged differently because of what some stupid American judge did? Because
I'm an American, am I going to be judged more harshly than somebody else? It
wasn't the time or the place. Politics in figure skating isn't an abnormal
thing but you don't do it and smear your team a week before the Olympic
Games." Inman, who is not a judge
at the Vancouver Olympics, said in a phone interview Thursday that the intent
of the e-mail has been "twisted." "I love this sport
and I'm in it to make it better and to be fair to the athletes and it's being
twisted in so many directions," Inman said. "It was a private,
Plain Jane e-mail to friends. They've asked me to send things that they don't
necessarily get. I don't know who on that list is judging the Olympics, I
don't even care." When asked about Weir's
comments, Inman said, "Whatever reason he wanted to say that, that's
fine. He's entitled to free speech." U.S. Figure Skating
doesn't share Weir's concern about possible backlash toward Americans from
Olympic judges, said spokesperson Scottie Bibb. Plushenko and France's
Brian Joubert, both excellent jumpers, have long been criticized for lacking
transitional moves between their elements. Last month Plushenko said,
"If the judges want someone to place high, they can arrange it. Like (at
the European championships) in Tallinn, (France's) Brian Joubert got more
points for his transitions than me, although we did exactly the same
transitions on the ice. In fact, we don't have any transitions because we
focus on our jumps." Inman forwarded that
quote, writing: "I find this an interesting observation of his own
skating and the judges' marking of his transitions." Inman's seemingly
innocuous comment then escalated into a controversy. "It just proves
that the North American lobby is on its way," Didier Gailhaguet, the
president of the French skating federation, told French sports magazine,
L'Equipe. Given the depth of the
men's competition, which begins Tuesday, the event was already considered a
must-see of these Games. Now, it might be even more explosive for different
reasons. Does Weir's sentiment
have merit? Will Plushenko be more closely scrutinized? "The program
component (artistic) scores are where you can 'cheat' regardless of whether
you do transitions or not," Weir said. "If you're Evgeni Plushenko
then you're going to get high scores. You're reigning Olympic champion, you
deserve those high scores. A lot of people are often over-marked. If you
don't jump that well, they have to keep the big names at the top somewhere.
If Plushenko missed his quad and if everything is based on reality, you're
getting Plushenko in 10th place? I don't think so. That's not going to
happen." Pointed criticism about
Plushenko's artistry was also voiced in a series of judges' educational
videos which critiqued Plushenko's 2006 Olympic performance. The Russian
skating federation demanded that the International Skating Union remove
Plushenko from the videos, three people with knowledge of the videos told USA
TODAY. Plushenko had retired from the sport when the experts selected examples
of skaters' work to show on the DVDs. The issue isn't likely to subside. Mike Slipchuk, Canada's director of high performance, said he hopes the issue doesn't distract from the competition. "These athletes have worked so hard to get here," Slipchuk said. "When comments like that come out it pits the athletes against each other. They're just out there to do their job. Hopefully we can move on from this." |
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INMAN'S
E-MAIL
POSTED: February 11, 2010
Controversy over
figure-skating judging
VANCOUVER - Olympic figure
skating, beset eight years ago by a judging scandal that resulted in days of
hand-wringing and a completely revamped scoring system, has already produced
more controversy here, days before the Games even begin.
A U.S. judge, who
will not be at Vancouver, told the Toronto Globe and Mail that he had sent
e-mails to 60 judges and officials reminding them to pay careful attention to
scores for such elements as the transitions between jumps.
The judge, Joe Inman, said he
did so after hearing Evgeni Plushenko, the defending Olympic gold medalist,
criticize judges at the European championships for scoring his transitions
lower than those of France's Brian
Joubert and suggesting that sometimes judges ignored those moves
entirely.
The Russian still
won that competition.
The sport's revised
scoring system gives points to every element, including those transitional
moves that link them.
Didier Gailhaguet,
president of the French skating federation, reacted to news of Inman's e-mails
by suggesting that the sport's "North American lobby" already was
busy politicking the judges.
Gailhaguet, you may
recall, was at the center of the 2002 scandal in Salt Lake City, where a
Canadian pairs team that appeared to have skated flawlessly finished behind a
Russian duo that had not.
A French judge later
conceded that Gailhaguet had pressured her to give the Russians better scores.
After days of press conferences and blaring headlines, officials decided to
award gold medals to both teams and to change the sport's 6.0-based scoring
system.
Colbert to Olympics
Comedian Stephen Colbert,
whose Colbert Nation helped generate sponsors for U.S. speedskaters, is headed
for Vancouver while The Colbert Report is in repeats next
week.
Many Canadians,
though, have been put off by Colbert's frequent mockery. As a pseudo pundit,
Colbert likes to elevate the United States above all other countries, making
the Olympics prime fodder for parodic patriotism.
He has called
Canadians "syrup-suckers" and "Saskatche-whiners," and said
Canadian history is a euphemism for a sex act so depraved, he can't say it on
TV.
Colbert still jokes
that he's going to Vancouver to find out "What is Canada? Or more
importantly, why is Canada?"
But now that foreign
athletes have received more ice time, Colbert says, "I've forgiven Canada.
... I'm there to celebrate Canada at this point."
As part of an
arrangement with NBC and NBC Universal Sports chairman Dick
Ebersol (who recently appeared on "The Report"), Colbert
will be allowed to film inside the Richmond Olympic Oval. In exchange, he will
join Bob Costas for commentary Feb. 17 on NBC.
But for all his satire,
it's clear Colbert has a genuine love of the Olympics.
"It's a
festival," he says. "What a great, rare honor it's been to be helpful
in any way to these beautiful athletes. I'm really in awe of what they do and I
want to be there to support them."
Trash-talking Ovechkin
Russia's Alex Ovechkin says
he's not thinking about it yet. Nor, he says, has he begun talking trash with
his Swedish, Czech, Canadian, or American teammates on the Washington Capitals.
"No, not
yet," Ovechkin said yesterday in Montreal before the Capitals played the
Canadiens.
But a friend of
Ovechkin's, linemate and Olympic rival Nicklas Backstrom of Sweden, tells a different story.
"There's a bit
of trash talk going on," Backstrom said. "But nothing that big."
Ovechkin will be
joined on the Russian team by Capitals teammates Alexander
Semin and Semyon Varlamov, with Backstrom and Tomas Fleischmann of the Czech Republic
rounding out Washington's list of five Olympians.
When asked about the
14-game winning streak the Capitals were riding into Montreal and whether he
had ever been on a similar run at any other level of hockey, Ovechkin didn't
have to think long to come up with a snarky answer.
"World
championships, probably, when we beat Canada," he said, referring to the
2008 tournament with a big gap-toothed smile before adding, "in the final."
International
Skating Union sports directorate chair Peter Krick (file photo).
Photograph
by: Ward Perrin, Canwest News Service
VANCOUVER — Because the notion of cheating in figure skating is neither new
nor absurd, conspiracy theories abound.
The latest unfortunate buzz to hit the worldwide ether suggests the
compulsory dance draw conducted at a practice rink last week was rigged to
select Tango Romantica over the Golden Waltz, which was the only other
possibility for these Olympics. The theory goes that selection of the Tango
Romantica favours Russian dancer Maxim Shabalin, whose bad knee would have
hampered his ability to perform the more difficult steps in the Golden Waltz.
“I’ve read it that there is something on the cheating part, that this was
manipulated and I tell you honestly this is an insult to everyone who was
participating,” said Peter Krick, the International Skating Union sports
directorate chair. “I am very insulted by hearing that. I personally conducted
the draw and I think it’s not nice.”
An indignant and combative Krick blamed the controversy on unnamed
journalists, though it appears rumours of malfeasance have surfaced only on
Internet message boards, issued by posters asking themselves why U.S. dancer
Tanith Belbin said in mid-January that the Tango was the likely compulsory
dance for the Olympics.
Is she merely an ice dancing psychic? Or is there something more sinister
afoot?
Krick said he supervised a blind draw at the Trout Lake Community Centre, a
procedure he said was witnessed by Bev Viger, manager of figure skating for the
Vancouver organizing committee, as well as a Russian judge and a Russian team
leader.
Viger said she did indeed witness the draw. She then said she would call
back to offer comment but had not immediately done so.
Was she muzzled by higher-ups? Or does she not have a redial button on her
phone? We’ll let you decide.
“The draw was done when the dance teams were not here,” said Krick. “It’s
mandatory according to the rule to have the draw before the first compulsory
dance practice but none of the teams participating at the Olympics were here so
we have chosen the junior team from Vancouver, witnessed by one Russian judge
and witnessed by the team leader of Russia and others from Canada and (the
ISU).”
The actual draw itself was left up to Vancouver-based ice dancer Madeline
Edwards, who pulled the Tango Romantica chit out of a cloth bag. Krick said it
was one of two chits in the bag. Presumably, the other chit was the Golden
Waltz chit.
“What do you think we do when we do a draw, we put only one chit into it?”
said Krick. “There are only two dances to draw. There are only two chits in it.”
Edwards and partner Zhao Kai Pang are the Canadian pre-novice ice dance
champs and are coached by former senior medallists Megan Wing and Aaron Lowe.
On Wednesday, Krick said Lowe attended the draw.
“Aaron Lowe was here. I saw him at the arena. I think he was here (for the
draw).”
Apparently not.
“I wasn’t there,” Lowe said Tuesday.
More grist for the rumour mill? Mistaken identity? A doppelganger? Again,
it’s your call.
“We are open. We are honest,” said Krick. “We would like to show to everyone
what the draw is and the little kids are the last to cheat. The little kids,
definitely they do not do anything (wrong).”
Nobody was suggesting the kids had any part in any conspiracy. Please. But
the ISU is an easier target and has been ever since the pairs scandal in Salt
Lake City in 2002 ripped open a portal to the seedy world of judging. But there
has to be a point where sanity rules the day once again.
“Fixed? No, I don’t believe that,” said Lowe.
©
Copyright (c) Canwest News Service
The athletes are supposed to be the focus during any Olympic Games. But an
unfair playing field or biased judging can quickly change that.
Too often, the people who act as watchdogs for these athletes go unrecognized.
One person that will be looking out for the good of United States Olympic athletes
during this month’s Winter Olympics in Vancouver is Richard Dalley.
Dalley’s principal role during the Winter Games will be to serve as manager and
technical advisor for the ice dance competition.
“If anything goes bad, I’m going to take care of it,” Dalley said. “I’ve always
got a place to be and I’m always looking out for the skaters.”
Whether it’s making sure skaters stay out of trouble or verifying that the
playing field is fair, as a team leader, Dalley will be wearing many hats for
the next month.
And that comes at a perfect time.
During the winter months Dalley doesn’t work much at his everyday job.
The 52-year-old is owner and manager of the Wesburn Golf and Country Club in
South Rockwood.
The past year has been hectic, though.
Preparing for his job at the Winter Olympics has taken the majority of his
focus. Long before the Games, he visited the Olympic Village in Vancouver
twice, traveled to Spokane, Wash. for the selections of the U.S. figure skating
team and ironed out every detail of what he’ll be doing over the next month.
“I can tell you every minute of every day for the whole month,” he said.
Being dedicated to the sport of figure skating is something Dalley knows very
well.
He was a world-class ice dancer and participated in the 1984 Winter Games.
Partnered with Carol Fox, the pair earned a fifth-place finish at the Olympic
Games in Sarajevo.
“I’m sure when they light the torch and march into the arena then it will bring
back a lot of memories,” he said.
Another memory that Dalley has is of the housing he stayed in as an Olympian. A
very different structure from what the athletes will stay in this year.
“This village is unlike any other village at the Olympics,” Dalley said of
Vancouver. “It’s going to be a high-end kind of project. The condos will start
at about $500,000 or $600,000 and go up to $5 million. So this is not like the
village I was in in Sarajevo.”
Dalley, who became an Olympic level official in 2000, applied for the position
as U.S. team leader for the Olympics that year. The team leader job can only be
served once in a lifetime and Dalley’s application process took nearly a
decade.
After Dalley was recommended by U.S. Figure Skating, the U.S. Olympic Committee
accepted his recommendation and he was notified nearly a year ago that he had
selected.
Dalley said the time and hard work has been worth it, and that there isn’t one
part of the journey that he hasn’t enjoyed.
“Watching those kids go through the orientation with the Olympic committee was
pretty exciting,” he said. “Just watching these kids get all geeked-up to
represent the country is pretty cool.”
Beginning last Monday and running through March 2, Dalley says, he will be
living in the “bowels of an ice arena.”
Because he was an ice dancer, his primary job will be working with Meryl Davis
and Charlie White, who have been training in Canton.
The pair is the No. 1 ranked team in the world and the favorite for the gold
medal.
Davis and White bringing home a gold medal would mean a lot to someone that was
once in their skates. That would probably make all the overseeing of travel
plans, checking passports, helping with medical paperwork and monitoring judges
all the more worth it.
“Michigan is well-represented,” he said. “We should bring home a few figure
skating medals to the state of Michigan.”
Figure skating competitors Manley and Witt reunite on ice, without the
spectacle
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VANCOUVER,
B.C. — Some 22 years after the Calgary Olympics, Elizabeth Manley found herself
worrying that she would once again finish second to Katarina Witt.
As
the former figure skating rivals laced up Sunday for an on-ice reunion at a
downtown outdoor rink, Manley wasn't sure what to expect from her former rival
from Germany.
"We're
not 20 anymore, so you've got to give us credit just for being out here,"
said the former Canadian star, who finished second to Witt at the Calgary
Games. "I was more concerned - I'm not going to lie to you - I thought she
was going to really upstage me today."
Only
the narrowest of margins separated the two when they squared off in '88,
prompting friendly goading from spectators for a rematch.
But
all Manley needed was a smile, a wave and a stunning spin to remind the crowd
of how her spunky moves made her an unanticipated national hero in Calgary.
"I
promised I'd do one spin - I hope I don't fall," the 44-year-old Manley
joked, a slight tremor in her voice.
And
suddenly her leg flexed out gracefully, and her body twirled in a pirouette,
arms raising in the air as her whirl got ever faster until she became a blur.
With
that, she encouraged the fawning crowd to welcome Witt. Hamming it up, Manley
got down on her knees, raising and lowering her arms in teasing homage as the
German appeared.
"I
don't skate anymore," Witt said as Manley hugged her.
Manley
was pleased to hear it since she has also been off her skates for a while.
"I
haven't skated in a couple years because of my mom's illness, so I was like,
phew, good," she said, wiping imaginary sweat from her brow.
The
reunion was more emotional than technical as the pair glided around the rink
making cutesy small talk for the fans before speaking to a crush of national
and international reporters convening for the 2010 Winter Olympics.
Witt,
who is in the city to cover the 2010 Games for German broadcaster ARD, said it
wasn't until several years after the '88 Games that she understood the
significance of Manley's medal.
Manley
was ranked fourth in the world in 1987 and was viewed as one of several skaters
in the running for bronze. She arrived in Calgary with a nasty case of the flu
but ended up putting on a daring and athletic performance.
"She
didn't feel so well and then she skated so great," Witt recalled Sunday.
"I know how it is when a country, really, (finds) a hero in their sport
and she was perfect at this time."
Health of Team USA is Moeller's primary care
BY JO-ANN BARNAS
FREE PRESS SPORTS WRITER
·
The walls and bookshelves of Dr. Jim Moeller's office in
Auburn Hills offer a glimpse of a passion that goes beyond his job as one of
the nation's leading sports medicine physicians.
Autographed and framed photos are everywhere. Included in
the collection are 2006 Olympic medalists in short-track speed skating and
figure skating (Alex Izykowski, and ice dancers Tanith Belbin and Ben Agosto,
respectively) and Hockey Hall of Famers Ted Lindsay and Steve Yzerman.
Across from his desk is another picture from the Torino
Games, where Moeller served as team physician for speed skating. That one
includes Dr. Eric Heiden, an orthopedic surgeon and five-time Olympic gold
medalist in speed skating at the 1980 Lake Placid Olympics, and Chad Hedrick,
who won three medals in the sport in Torino.
Another Olympics are upon us -- the Vancouver Winter Games
start Friday -- and Moeller is in the mix again. He has been on the ground in
British Columbia since Wednesday preparing for his latest assignment: He was
tabbed by the U.S. Olympic Committee to be its chief medical officer for its
200-plus athletes who'll compete over 17 days in Vancouver.
Moeller also is the media spokesperson for athletic
injuries, working with trainers and therapists.
Although the USOC will cover his expenses, team doctors
are not paid.
Moeller, 44, a former Michigan State soccer player,
discussed his assignment with the Free Press last Monday. Here are some
highlights of the conversation:
On his other duties at the Games: "I make up the schedules. I make sure everything is covered. I have
to review the injury data day by day, and I have to represent the USOC at
International Olympic Committee medical functions. The top thing is, to make
sure all our athletes are covered at all times."
On the importance of teamwork for his 47-person medical
staff (which includes Dr. Jolie Holschen of Ann Arbor, the team physician for
women's hockey): "You're assigned to a team, but
one thing we want to make sure our medical team understands is, it's not that
you're just the hockey person, the figure skating person, the snowboard person.
It's Team USA, and you're responsible for all the athletes; anybody who walks
in is your patient, any person who needs your help is someone you need to help."
On living in the Athletes Village: "My living quarters -- my room is a little bigger, so I can have an
office in front. My room shares a wall with the training room, so I will be --
if I'm not at a venue or a meeting -- in the training room the whole rest of
the time. I'll fill water bottles if I have to."
On his love of Olympic sports:
"I travel with speed skating in off-Olympic years, too. For many people,
the Winter Olympics are just something that happens every four years, and they
wonder what these people do the rest of the time. They don't know that there's
World Cups going on all the time, and these kids are training and competing for
many years to get ready for this.
"I'm fortunate in that, as chief medical officer, I
have basically an all-access pass to the Games. The question is, will I have
time to use it? My hope is to get to one event of every sport. At the very
least, I'm going to try to make one practice of every sport. My hope is to
spread myself out as thin as possible, then get my rest when I get home."
Contact JO-ANN BARNAS: 313-222-2037 or jbarnas@freepress.
Art or Sport? Figure Skating Strives to Be Both
Critics complain judging
system sacrifices artistry, but some keep balance in figure skating
By NANCY ARMOUR
The Associated Press
Rachael Flatt's free skate would have the
best athletes in any sport gasping for air, their leg muscles spasming in pain.
Seven times she launches herself into the air, doing three quick turns before
landing on a blade no thicker than a pencil.
Mirai Nagasu's program, meanwhile, would
draw raves from art critics. Every movement from the tips of her fingers to the
blades of her skates is fluid and light, as if she's dancing across the ice,
and her spins have one breathtakingly unique position after another.
"One is a great athlete, one is an
artist," Nagasu's coach, Frank Carroll, said after Flatt and Nagasu's 1-2
finish at last month's U.S. championships. "They're nothing alike."
Figure skating has long struggled to
balance the art that makes it so captivating with the athleticism that makes it
a sport, and the current judging system has only heightened the debate. With
everything — jumps, footwork, spins, transitions, expression — now
quantifiable, some complain that artistry is being sacrificed in the effort to
crunch every last decimal out of a program.
Indeed, the big tricks — quadruple jumps
for the men, triple-triple combinations for the women — can produce
medal-winning scores. But do them without intricate footwork, fine edge quality
and beautiful spins, and a performance seems hollow, little more than a
blueprint.
"That debate has been going on for
years," said Canada's Joannie Rochette, the world silver medalist.
"Personally, I like to watch a performance where you can see artistic with
athleticism together.
"Everyone has a different definition
of what art is and what athleticism is," she added. "The most
important thing is that you enjoy your own skating, and then other people will
enjoy it, too."
The current scoring system was implemented
after the Salt Lake City pairs judging scandal in hopes of reducing cheating.
By assigning numerical values to every jump, spin and section of footwork, it
gave judges an objective way to evaluate at least some of what skaters were
doing.
The fear, though, was that it would turn
skating into a jumping contest. The base level of a triple toe loop, for
example, is higher than that of any spin, spiral or footwork sequence. Do a
bunch of jumps and do them well, and even a first-grader can understand that
math.
"I was one of the men afraid it would
become a jumping contest, like men's gymnastics," said Jeff Buttle, the
2008 world champion and 2006 Olympic bronze medalist.
In fact, it's been quite the opposite.
Buttle and reigning world champion Evan Lysacek both won their world titles
without even trying a quad in either the short or long programs — a complete
reversal from earlier in the decade, when Tim Goebel did three quads in the
free skate alone to win the bronze at the 2002 Olympics.
The risk, many skaters had decided, was
too big. A quad, if done well, can earn a skater big bonus points. Fall or do
it poorly, though, and you're out of the medals hunt.
There also isn't the time to devote to the
quad like there once was — during the program or in training. It takes many,
many hours of practice before a quad is consistent enough to put in a program.
But with every other element being counted, a skater can't afford to focus so
much energy on just one thing.
It's the same for the women. Mao Asada is
the only top woman even trying the triple axel these days, and quad sightings
are as elusive as Bigfoot. Even triple-triple combos, which Kristi Yamaguchi
was doing back in '92, are no longer a must-have.
"We work on the quad, we practice the
quad, but it's never been the main focus of my career," Johnny Weir said
at last month's U.S. championships, explaining why he doesn't have one in his
program. "It's a beautiful, wonderful thing when you can do it, but I'd
rather skate a clean program and show something that's beautiful and excellent."
That attitude, though, doesn't sit well
with all skaters. Brian Joubert has been at the center of dustups at the last
two world championships for bemoaning the lack of quads among the top men.
"The competition was completely
different. It was more fun, more exciting, and I think we have to change
it," the 2007 world champion said in March, nostalgic for the days when
the quad was king.
Which brings us back to the art vs.
athleticism debate.
The big tricks are enjoying a resurgence
this season. Reigning world champion Kim Yu-na has been doing triple-triple
combos the last few years to keep pace with Asada, her longtime rival. Olympic
champion Evgeni Plushenko and Turin runner-up Stephane Lambiel are back, and
quads have long been a staple of both of their programs.
But this still isn't freestyle skiing.
When Plushenko broke his own world record
for the short program at last month's European championships, it wasn't simply
because of his jumps. His spins went on for what seemed like days and were so
perfectly centered the tracings looked as if they'd been made by a protractor.
His footwork was exquisite.
When Jeremy Abbott won his second straight
U.S. title, some people might not have even noticed he'd done a quad.
Everything, from that quad to his footwork, was of the highest class, done with
ease and elegance.
"When I saw him skate, I was so
happy," Buttle said. "He married (art and athleticism) together. It
wasn't about that one jump; it was still about the whole program."
But there are plenty who are concerned the
system is stripping the sport of its beauty and individuality, and creating
formulaic, cookie-cutter programs.
"It's turned everyone into robots out
there doing the same spins, the same jumps," Weir said. "I don't think
it's the most beautiful thing for figure skating. We've lost our individuality
and our chance to be artistic."
Some have figured it out, though.
As choreographers — and skaters — get more
comfortable with this system, they are finding that balance once again.
Abbott, for example, did a quad at the
beginning of his long program at nationals at virtually the exact same spot on
the ice as four other guys. But nothing in his program remotely resembled
anyone else's.
Lysacek spent weeks this fall tinkering
with his programs to change the entrances into his jumps, doing them out of
steps or spread eagles. Not only does that bump up his point total, it makes
his programs more unique.
"I'm trying to do layer upon
layer," said top choreographer Lori Nichol, who has done Lysacek's
programs for years. "I'm trying to appeal to those that I know have spent
the hours and time and really understand the incredible difficulty of some of
the things we're doing on the ice. And then I try to do it so that anyone can
enjoy it. I think of what my mom's watching and think of what my neighbor's
watching.
"How do I make this program enjoyable
for them?"
Figure skating never will completely solve
the art vs. athleticism debate. Skaters will always come in different shapes
and sizes, with different abilities and strengths. And you can crunch numbers
on everything from jumps to interpreting music, but you will never be able to
tell someone how to feel about what they've seen.
But there is some common ground.
"I think good skating is the answer,
and I think doing great performances is the answer. You have to have a complete
package," said Carroll, who also coaches Lysacek. "It's like baking a
pretty good cake. It doesn't matter how much flour you put in if that's all you
put into it."
VANCOUVER
Mon Feb 8, 2010 5:48pm EST
Related News
·
Mon, Jan 25 2010
VANCOUVER (Reuters) - Judging controversies and a baffling scoring system have left figure skating struggling to pull in the fans, and Olympic champion Jamie Sale believes there is one good way to regain its popularity -- more scandals.
"We need some fights!" That scandal (involving) Nancy (Kerrigan) and Tonya (Harding) made skating popular. We need some fist fighting," Sale told Reuters in a telephone interview as she burst into laughter.
"It's silly. I'm just kidding. But every sport has got its problems. TV (figures) and live (attendance) is down. I don't know what it's going to take to make it really, really popular again."
Officials are likely to roll their eyes at Sale's suggestion but any die-hard figure skating fan will know that the 2002 Olympic pairs gold medalist is not too wide of the mark.
Whereas once a mesmerizing performance could turn competitors such as Britain's Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean into household names, over the past two decades the only skaters to have left a lasting legacy are those who have hit the headlines for all the wrong reasons.
Remember the year Alexei Urmanov and Oksana Baiul won the men's and women's gold medals at the Winter Games? No?
While their powerful jumps and artistic choreography may not bring back a flood of memories, few can forget the Kerrigan-Harding saga that overshadowed the whole of that 1994 Olympics.
Kerrigan gained worldwide sympathy when, just a few weeks before the Games, she was hit in the knee with a baton in an assault planned by rival Harding's ex-husband Jeff Gillooly.
The ploy to sideline Kerrigan backfired and the American became the story of the Lillehammer Olympics when she grabbed the silver behind Baiul.
Similarly Sale and her now husband David Pelletier were thrust into the spotlight at the 2002 Games when a judging controversy erupted and they were belatedly awarded duplicate gold medals in the pairs competition after a French official admitted she had been ordered to mark them down.
"As much as it wasn't a pleasant thing to go through, it turned out better for us as we became household names, in the U.S. especially. People still talk about it today and that wouldn't have happened if we won the gold outright," said Sale, who will be in Vancouver as a commentator.
That incident led to a major scoring overhaul, with the old 6.0 system replaced by an accumulative scoring system that has bewildered fans and pundits alike ever since it was introduced following the Salt Lake City furor.
All this has hit figure skating hard.
"There was so much pressure to make changes that they felt that they needed to do something," said Sale.
"Just like they gave us the gold medal to shut people up, and with people going 'this has gotta change, this sport is so bad, it's been like this for so long, I don't want to watch it anymore'. So they thought, if we make the (scoring) system a little different, it seems more fair.
"People always felt (before) it was biased but now the (revamped) scoring system, I don't understand it. It all seems contrived. It seems (the judges) can hide now. It's even hurt pro skating (in ticket sales).
"It impacted the whole sport. It totally hurt our sport. Everyone I
know is fed up with skating."
February 08, 2010 9:29 AM
ABC’s “Good Morning America,” the Emmy Award-winning
morning news program featuring Robin Roberts, George Stephanopoulos, Sam
Champion and Juju Chang, airs live Monday through Friday from 7:00-9:00 a.m.,
ET on the ABC Television Network. Jim Murphy is the senior executive producer
and Tom Cibrowski is the executive producer of ABC’s “Good Morning America.”
Elaine
Thompson/AP
Vancouver Olympians: Figure Skater Johnny Weir
February 08,
2010
American figure
skater Johnny Weir is known as much for his personality as his athletic prowess
and artistry. His comeback is generating significant interest leading into
Vancouver.
No Guarantees for Weir
Weir is a
three-time U.S. champion, but 2009 has not been his year. According to Frank
Fitzpatrick of The Philadelphia Inquirer, Weir took fifth place at last year’s
national championships and did not qualify for the world championships, despite
taking the bronze there in 2008.
Nonetheless, Weir has secured a spot
on the U.S. Olympic team, thanks to his “renewed resolve” and love of
competition. Fitzpatrick explains how Weir clawed his way back onto the skating
scene after a nearly yearlong absence in which self-doubt threatened to end his
career. Weir, 25, says he is now in the best shape of his life, but he faces
significant competition from countryman and “arch-rival” Evan Lysacek.
In fact, the showdown between Weir, Lysacek and the rest of the men’s field is
shaping up to be more popular among American viewers than the women’s figure skating competition, according to Amy
Shipley of The Washington Post. Lysacek’s coach, Frank Carroll, notes that
neither competitor will “be sitting back, saying ‘I’m the favorite,’” which
should make for an exciting Olympic showdown. Jeremy Abbott, a 23-year-old
American skater, should also pose a threat in Vancouver.
Beyond the Games
Sources
in this Story
o The Philadelphia
Inquirer: Skater Johnny Weir's new resolve
o The Washington Post: Men Skating
Beautifully
o The Daily Beast: Blogs & Stories: The
Outrageous Johnny Weir
o Refinery 29: Olympic Figure Skater Johnny
Weir’s 8 Craziest Fashion Moments
o Out of Bounds: Johnny Weir caves to PETA
'threats,' will not wear fur for Olympics
o The New York Times: The Difference Between
Glitter and Gold for Johnny Weir
Weir recently
spoke with Choire Sicha for The Daily Beast about his “regimented”
life and his future aspirations, including becoming a fashion designer and
writing a tell-all book about the ugly side of professional figure skating.
Will Weir’s Style Hold Him Back?
He is known, loved
and hated for his confident, colorful style and personality. Weir's costumes, as depicted in this Refinery 29 slideshow,
are typically unorthodox, and he doesn’t shy away from posing for the cameras.
PETA and other animal rights organizations have lambasted Weir for his
fur-trimmed costumes. According to Out of Bounds, Weir has decided to go fur-free in Vancouver because the
threats had become a serious distraction. Weir said in a statement that his
costume designer Stephanie Handler “was repeatedly sent messages of hate and
disgust,” and he doesn’t “want something as silly as my costume disrupting my
second Olympic experience and my chance at a medal, a dream I have had since I
was a kid."
That unique brashness helped Weir get his own reality show on the Sundance
Channel. Episodes are posted online. Some in the skating world wonder whether
“the glitz has overwhelmed this skating,” perhaps threatening his chances of
winning an Olympic medal, The New York Times reports.
Phillip Hersh, a Chicago Tribune Olympics writer, contends that not too long
ago, “there was a balance in the contrast between the compelling, understated elegance of Weir’s skating and the too-too costumes he
prefers,” the Times reported. But now, that balance is less intact, Hersh
noted.
Weir’s Route to the Games
Weir was a late
bloomer for a figure skater; he didn’t start until he was 12 years old, and
played several other sports, including horseback riding and soccer, before
deciding to focus solely on skating. According to Weir’s profile on his official Web site, his first on-ice
experience was during a “harsh winter when the corn field behind his house
froze over.” Later, Weir began taking lessons at the University of Delaware,
and he quickly progressed to the Junior Olympics as a freestyle and pairs
skater before switching to singles.
Weir felt disappointed with his 2007 season, which included a bronze medal in
the U.S. Championships and an eighth place World Championships finish. He
decided change was in order, and “[h]oping to advance his results heading
toward the 2010 Olympics, he left longtime coach Priscilla Hill.” To train with
his new coach, Galina Zmievskaya, Weir relocated from Delaware to Wayne, N.J.
by Mandi
Bierly
Categories: Olympics, PopWatch
on Ice, Sports,
Television, Unfortunate
Developments, Waiting, Why Am I
Crying?
1. Kurt Browning’s Short
Program in Albertville 1992. The fall on the triple axel cost him any chance of winning the Gold.
He came in as the reigning World Champion and left without a medal of any
kind.
2. Barbara Underhill and
Paul Martini in 1984. They looked unbeatable all week but ran into each other during a
simple sit spin in the short program. They didn’t medal in Sarajevo, but
came back to win the World Championships a month later.
3. Tai Babilonia and
Randy Gardner in 1980. Randy had a leg injury and got an injection to get some pain relief.
The falls he took in the warm up for the short program broke the hearts of
everyone in America. They had to withdraw from the competition moments
before they were to compete for the Gold as reigning World Champions.
4. Laetitia Hubert from France fell
MANY times in the 1992 Albertville Games in front of her home country. What
made it memorable was the fact that Verne Lundquist and I were imitated by
Phil Hartman and Dana Carvey the week before calling a program with many
falls. Oooh! And now he’s going to Ooooh. And Ooooh! You get the idea. By
her third fall, I stopped talking all together. All Verne could muster
was, after her fourth fall, “Bless her heart she’s exhausted!!”.
I laughed for an hour!
5. I guess looking back
over all the Olympics I have called, the one fall that seemed so unfair
was Michelle Kwan’s triple flip in Salt Lake 2002. It ended up being her
last chance to win an Olympic Gold Medal. She just leaned a little forward
on the takeoff and that lean amplified in the air. It was that ONE
mistake that cost her the only title she wasn’t ever able to achieve.
Skater Alissa Czisny splits with coach
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Alissa Czisny has split from her coach of more than 10 years, Julie Berlin.
(Rick Bowmer / AP)
By JO-ANN BARNAS
FREE PRESS SPORTS WRITER
One
of the longest coach/student tandems in figure skating is no more.
Alissa
Czisny, 2009 U.S. ladies figure skating champion from the Detroit Skating Club,
has split with her coach of more than 10 years, Julie Berlin, according to U.S.
Figure Skating through icenetwork.com.
Czisny,
22, has had an up-and-down career at the elite level. Two months after winning
the national title, she placed 11th at the world championships -- a placement
that contributed to the U.S. having only two instead three ladies entries at
this month's Vancouver Olympics.
She
placed 10th at the U.S. championships last month in Spokane, Wash. Czisny has
also been mentored the last couple of years by Linda Leaver and Brian Boitano.
According
to icenetwork.com, Czisny has not named a new coach.
The family of
two-time Olympic figure-skating medalist Nancy Kerrigan insisted Tuesday it
does "not blame anyone" for her father's death and criticized a
medical examiner's finding Daniel Kerrigan died of a heart-rhythm problem after
a fight with his son at their home in Stoneham, Mass. Daniel Kerrigan's death
was ruled a homicide by a state medical examiner.
Figure skating
Father's death is ruled a
homicide: The family of two-time
Olympic medalist Nancy Kerrigan insisted Tuesday it does "not blame
anyone" for her father's death and criticized a medical examiner's finding
that Daniel Kerrigan died of a heart-rhythm problem after a fight with his son
at their home in Stoneham, Mass.
Daniel Kerrigan's death was
ruled a homicide by a state medical examiner.
The findings could prompt new
charges against Nancy Kerrigan's brother, Mark, 45, who has pleaded not guilty
to assault and battery on an elderly person and is undergoing a psychiatric
evaluation.
Middlesex District Attorney
Gerry Leone said an autopsy determined the cause of death was "cardiac
dysrhythmia" after a physical altercation with neck compression that
damaged Kerrigan's windpipe. The findings noted Kerrigan, 70, had high blood
pressure and clogged heart arteries.
Kerrigan's family issued a
statement through its attorney, Tracey Miner, calling the findings "premature
and inaccurate."
"The Kerrigan family is
extremely disappointed that the medical examiner would release a cause of death
without having all of the relevant facts," Miner said in the statement.
Daniel Kerrigan died Jan. 24
after what authorities said was a struggle with his son. According to a police
report, Mark Kerrigan said he wanted to use the phone and his father would not
let him.
CHICAGO
Tue Feb 9, 2010 1:45pm EST
Snowboarder Shaun
White of the U.S. looks up after winning the finals of the half pipe
snowboarding competition at the 2010 U.S. Snowboarding Grand Prix at Park City
Mountain Resort in Park City, Utah January 23, 2010.
Credit: Reuters/Lucas Jackson
Shaun White, the top U.S. snowboarder, and South Korean figure skater Kim Yu-na both earned $8 million last year, leading all athletes for the Winter games, according to Forbes magazine. The list excluded all salaried professional athletes, including players from the National Hockey League.
White, known to many as "The Flying Tomato" because of his long red hair, is a favorite to repeat as a gold medalist at the Winter Games in Vancouver this month. Among his sponsors are such companies as Target Corp, Red Bull, Oakley and AT&T Inc.
Kim, the reigning world champion and known as "Queen Yu-na," is
South Korea's hope for its first figure skating gold medal. The 19-year-old'
Rounding out the top five were skiers Lindsey Vonn ($3 million) and Ted Ligety ($2 million), and speed skater and "Dancing with the Stars" 2007 champion Apolo Anton Ohno ($1.5 million), Forbes said.
Olympic athletes rely more on corporate backers for their earnings than winnings from competition, but the recent downturn has made it harder to turn gold medals into lucrative sponsorship deals, the magazine said.
Forbes looked at earnings derived from prize money, endorsements, licensing
income and bonuses in 2009 and does not deduct for taxes or agents' fees. The
magazine's full list can be found here
Figure
Skating: The Olympics' Broken Sport
February 10, 2010
Enlarge Jonathan Ferrey/Getty Images
Mirai Nagasu's performance at the U.S. Figure Skating
Championships in January electrified the crowd, but it wasn't enough to win
first place.
Remember the town in Vietnam that, they said, had to be
destroyed in order to be saved? Something like that applies very well to figure
skating, a sport with a judging system so corrupt that changes had to be made.
Unfortunately, instead of trusting that they could change
the judges, they changed the whole system and thereby destroyed the sport's
popularity.
Ah, the old system, where perfection was a 6. And here
came the judges' marks, one after another: 5.8 … 5.7… 5.9! It was as dramatic
as an Oscar envelope, as simple as a touchdown, and the cheers and sighs would
roll out.
For years, the Olympic figure skating championships were
about the only other competition to approach Super Bowl ratings. Figure skating
was the tent pole that held up the whole Winter Olympics.
The prime purpose of the new and unimproved scoring
system was to better quantify the various elements in a program — required
jumps and spins — so that the famously nefarious judges would have less
latitude to cheat.
More
On The Vancouver Games
Alas, this created a scoring system so arcane, it makes
computing the Standard & Poor's index child's play. Moreover, by
emphasizing compulsory obligations, the new system diminished the emphasis on
artistry.
To me, what always made figure skating so special was
that it came at that wonderful confluence of art and athletics.
Of course, to a lot of Americans who think 350-pound
slugs momentarily grappling at the line of scrimmage is the essence of
athleticism, figure skating, with music and sequins to boot, just isn't a real
sport. Yeah, try it out there all by yourself for 4 1/2 minutes, jumping and
spinning on a blade — and having to do it all in time to the music.
Worse, in forcing an emphasis on the basics, the new
rules reward playing it safe, celebrating the ordinary rather than risking the
difficult. And grace has been ostracized.
The other day I asked Johnny Weir, the most lyrical of
American skaters, how much time he could really afford to show off his original
artistry in a long program. "Ten seconds," he replied straightaway.
Ten seconds out of 4 1/2 minutes to express himself, in a sport where
expression was as much the glory as axels and Salchows were the power.
At our national championships three weeks ago, virtually
the entire audience rose in acclaim, thinking Mirai Nagasu had won with a
lovely, fluid performance. The air went out of the arena when the judges' tally
gave the victory to Rachael Flatt, who'd skated merely safe and solid.
Figure skating used to attract tens of millions of
dollars in rights fees from TV. Not anymore. The ice shows are going the way of
vaudeville.
NBC could lose as much as $200 million on these Vancouver
Games. Obviously, part of the reason for that is the economy. But, sadly, as
the soul has been legislated out of figure skating, so, too, has the heart of
the games been stolen from the Winter Olympics.
Thomas Sobell
603-881-3487 universal tel#
TSobell@Comcast.
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