Mary Wehmeier: Skating Diva

Ice Skates for Christmas

Thu, 12 Dec 2002 21:17:15 GMT

Personal Plug: Skate Sale

As a former competitve skater every year at Christmas I get asked by friends and family what type of skates should they buy for their kids or girlfriends. While my taste and needs in skates are far more demanding than the occasional skater, I thought I'd jot down a couple rules in buying proper skates still apply and I thought I'd share them with everyone and give you a link to some great prices.

In today's market a decent pair of beginner skates with good leather boots starts at $90-$100. Depending on your budget, buy the best skates you can afford. If you can't spend the money-- put the kid in rentals until you can afford good skates, or investigate the used skates or special sales that are available at your local skating center. Because children grow so quickly, they rarely break down a boot before needing a new size. So don't be afraid of looking at good used skates. There are some great bargins out there today.

Buy skates from skate shops with fitters. Do not waste your money by buying inferior quality skates at discount stores or sporting good stores. The price savings isn't worth all the pain and suffering of putting a kid into misfit skates. Skate shops will work with you to insure proper fit and sizing-- They are worth the couple extra bucks.
Do not ever buy boots with "room to grow into." Boots that are too large or poorly made, do not support the foot and ankle properly and can cause serious foot problems down the road. Buy what fits with just a "scooch" of room to wiggle the toes.
You can buy via mail order from good skate shops, if you send them tracing. Here's a tip from me the skating pro: Have the skater stand on a piece of 8.5 x 11" piece of typing paper for each foot with their weight centered over both feet. have the skater wear a light weight sock. Do not let them look down. (It changes the weight distribution.) Hold a pencil vertical and trace the outline of the foot. Mark each tracing for the right or left foot, and put their name, address, phone number, age, date, level of skating and shoe size on each page. You can take these tracing to a skate shop or fax them for mail order fittings. 90% of the time this method works well for most skaters including pros like me. You can also con a kid into thinking you're looking at how much their feet have grown so they are clueless about what you're up to.

Skate Sale: Right now my former skating partner Burt Powley has a sale on complete skate packages, clearance boots, as well as boots and blades for the holidays. Check out his prices if you need skates for Christmas. He's email friendly-- and tell him I sent you!

Why I Ended Up Being a Skater

Sun, 22 Sep 2002 22:31:29 GMT

Why I Ended Up Being a Skater

John Robb has pointed to the NYT article about the elimination of walk-ons for college sports.

What a shame, but this report points to a bigger problem with the entire system: the US sports system from 9th grade on is much too elitist. We restrict access to athletics like it was a scarce commodity, treating it different than any other basic education.

He goes on to comment about Intramural Sports and today's high school sports programs...

In contrast, the USAF Academy (my alma matter) had a strong three season intramural program. They created this program because they felt that every graduate should graduate with some training in sports (and participate in its health benefits). This great experience is why I am so disheartened at watching my son traverse his large and expensive high school sports program. While I am confident he will make a team (basketball), he is unlikely to be able to participate in all the other sports he likes because the competition is too fierce for slots. He is one of the lucky ones. The overwhelming majority of other kids in school won't be able to play at all. Given the huge numbers of participants in the jr leagues for almost all sports in my town, there is obviously huge demand for an aggressive intramural program and the support to make it happen.

Unfortunately, it won't happen. The entrenched interests of the minority of parents that support the semi-pro elitist culture of high school sports will ensure that all of the towns sports funds get spent on the few and not the many. This elitism in high school and college sports is a hold over from the bad old days when only a very few were provided access to basic education and most were sent to trade schools (if at all). The time is ripe for a change in mindset. The first step is to change how sports are played in high school. We need to press the point that we would never restrict access to education in math and english education in the same way we restrict access to sports. We need to create an environment where sports education through three season intramurals is extended to all students as if it was a basic educational requirement. If we can change the way high school sports are played, college is likely to follow.

John, I couldn't agree with you more. However where I'm coming from is a little different, naturally. When I was in high school there was no competitive women's sports programs with the exception of Women's Golf. Yes, we had Intramurals but the Illinois High School Athletic Board thought competitive women's sports as "unlady-like" or some such hogwash. Golf wasn't ever going to be my sport. Because... one look at me and you'll understand why I could never get a golf club past my chest without slicing the ball ala Jerry Ford. Trust me. I tried.

My sport was skating. However my family demanded that if I skated, my grades in school A's and B's. My skating was never considered a career choice, it was a sport and nothing more. My parents were deliberately removed from the elitist mentality of being "rink parents." But I shocked the hell out of my folks because I ended up by becoming a very good skater, despite their attempts to get me to stop skating several times. (Another day another story.)

However times have changed today... If you want to talk about expensive, time consuming and political-- put your daughter in Figure Skating, either Roller or Ice. If you are lucky enough to have a child that excels at the sport, you will find yourself looking for a second job or a second mortage real quick. (Ask Rod Kratochwill, who has TWO daughter skating. God bless him.) The average competitive skater who is past the beginner stage and training for the USFSA or Roller Skating USA Association events on a Regional or National level spends an average of $25,000 a year training. There are very few educational or college scholarships around to help pay the freight, so most of it is absorbed by the good olde' family.

Personally I wish schools would focus on EDUCATION. Especially when so many people today in the job market lack the basic skills of being able to write a complete sentence or do basic math. Intramurals and privately operated sports are in my opinion better getting on the hoop-dreams/pipe-dreams mentality where many parents are living their fantasies through their kids. In the end when the kid doesn't make the cut many parents become so alienated from their kids it starts an entire new set of problems.

Skating Diva Speaks: When Pigs Can Skate or Why I Quit Skating... Part 2

Mon, 06 May 2002 11:08:55 GMT

Skating Diva Speaks: When Pigs Can Skate or Why I Quit Skating... Part 2

This week the International Skating Union pronounced judgement on Olympic Pairs Judge Marie-Reine Le Gougne of France and French Skating Federation President for Didier Gailhaguet. Le Gougne was found guilty of misconduct in fixing an Olympic event and Gailhaguet was found guilty of pressuring a judge (Le Gougne) to fix an Olympic event.

Now at this point you would think the ISU in the face of all the world attention would lower the boom and ban them for life-- right?

No! The ISU in the face of all this attention and enough evidence to convict another celebrity murder case handed down a mere 3 year ban to include the 2006 Olympics on Le Gougne and Gailhaguet.

Jeeze they have got to be kidding! This is insane!

If they play it right, this little slap on the wrists would leave Le Gougne back to judge the 2006 World Championships-- and Gailhaguet could continue his backroom dealings in exile, like he has in the past.

So, excuse me? Am I missing something? Were we not subjected to nearly a week of non-stop Olympic scandal and armchair judging by nearly everyone who has ever laced up a pair of skates, over the reasons why Sale and Pelletier should have placed first ahead of Berezhnaya and Sikharulidze of Russia or vice-versa? Did we not hear about the ISU's Executive Committee trying like hell to bury any hint of previous judging problems? Were we not subjected to the daily blow-by-blow details of ISU President Ottavio Cinquanta trying to blow off the media and their honest questions, or watch him try to upstage and overpower the IOC's President Jack Rogge when it was suggested the deal with "the matter" as quickly as possible? Amazing! I remember it as if it were yesterday!

As far as I am concerned at this point Le Gougne and Gailhaguet should be stripped from all credentials and barred from the Sport of Figure Skating for life. And from what I have heard from ISU Technical Committee members Sally Stapleford and Britta Lindgren, the judge Jon Jackson and Ron Pfenning, the referee of the Olympic pairs competition, all have said that they believed Le Gougne should have been barred for life. Other well known skaters and officials have expressed similar opinions.

The fact remains that Stapleford, Lindgren, Jackson and Pfenning heard Le Gougne confess in the Salt Lake City hotel that she had voted for the Russians because of outside pressures. That confession, which Le Gougne now denies making, was made in a hotel lobby on the night of the pairs final and confirmed at the post event judges meeting the next morning. Le Gougne signed a "confession of wrong-doing" inwhich she affirmed what the other officials has said.

Isn't this enough to get her booted for life? Afraid not.

Now is when we get to the interesting part...

The angry and over emotional Le Gougne has stated to the media that she has had her personal and skating reputation, as well as her honor and dignity tarnished for life. (Jeeze I wonder why?) She is now promising that she intends to "tell all" about the backroom dealings, lies and political interworkings of Figure Skating. "I will explain how it functions," she said. "It is a system that is extremely slanted, dictatorial and even corrupt."

Do I smell a book deal coming on? You bet ya!

Le Gougne and Gailhaguet are telling everyone they intend appeal the convictions with the IOC's Court of Sports Arbitration, which has the final say in these matters. They have 28 days to file their appeal.

In the opinion of Gailhaguet and Le Gougne, exonerating them of wrongdoing would have left the skating union no way of justifying the duplicate medals.

"Cinquanta never wanted to give two gold medals; he was forced to do it," Gailhaguet said. "And now he has to live with it."

Also they were upset about the ISU's failure to summon and pay the travel expenses of witnesses and the remaining Olympic Pairs Judges who might have been more favorable to their cause than the majority of the 13 men and women who testified during the hearing.

While personally I loath what Gailhaguet and Le Gougne did, there are points in their argument inwhich I have to agree with. ALL of the Olympic Pairs judges should have been called to the hearing. The reason they weren't was because Speedy Cinquanta never wanted to deal with the fact the pairs event might have been "fixed" from the start. It would create too much of a scandal on the ISU and the event. God knows the IOC was sitting right there in Salt Lake City, and Cinquanta and the ISU Executive Committee has no quick escape. They did escape the IOC's prying eyes at the 2002 World Championships one month after SLC, over a situation at Dance event. It is a well known fact Cinquanta handled the entire Salt Lake City Olympic Pairs situation poorly, and as the scandal went on-- it went from bad to worse and shows no sign of getting its creditability back soon.

The ISU's creditability is at stake. Even after the hearing, Cinquanta and other ISU council members have continued to declined to comment on what method they used to determine the length of the penalties the levied or even on whether they had voted unanimously or by a simple majority to determine guilt.

Again the ISU is hiding behind closed doors. This cloistered "closed club" mentality is killing the sport and if the ISU doesn't go public with the facts soon, the IOC will have no option but to take action against the ISU. The entire reputation of sport of Figure Skating is at stake.

From where I sit, it is long overdue but the International Skating Union must clean up its act from top to bottom.(I'm not the only figure skating alumni saying this.) It is no longer acceptable for the International Skating Union or any national skating federation to hide their rules from the public. Everything must be out in the open and accessible to everyone for free. Use the www.isu.org site to post the rules publicly.

Furthermore the sport of Figure Skating needs to understand on a molecular level that it is no longer is it acceptable for any of the participating national skating federations to play footsies and politics, as well as swap votes or play favorites. The game of "I'll vote for your skaters, if you vote for mine" is no longer acceptable behavior.

And furthermore I still stand on my opinion that Cinquanta has to go. This man is completely Clueless.

The Canadian press has stated, "The pair brought shame and infamy not only on their own sport but on the whole Olympic movement, the organization's executive director, Jeremy Pope, said in a statement. For them to be merely slapped on the wrist is, frankly, absurd and exposes the Olympic movement to ridicule. Pope suggested the ISU should be suspended from the Olympics until it eliminates corruption in the sport."

If Figure Skating wants to remain an Olympic sport, it MUST clean up its act and skaters need to break their silence and speak up publicly about cleaning up the sport. Or we all lose.

Question: Does anyone have the transcripts of Marie's "60 Minutes" Interview with Ed Bradley? What was said?

And People Wonder Why I Quit Skating... Part 1

Sat, 04 May 2002 12:07:40 GMT

[This was written this week while the Radio Userland Server was having problems. I'm posting it now after speaking with other skating friends about the ISU's Board of Inquiry over the Judging Problems at 2002 Salt Lake City Olympic Pairs Event. Tomorrow I'll post my real opinion.]

And People Wonder Why I Quit Skating...

The Board of Inquiry, AKA the Kangaroo Court convened at the International Skating Union Headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland on Monday and Tuesday this week to investigate the judging scandal involving judge Marie-Reine Le Gougne and French Skating Association President Didier Gailhaguet and their conduct regarding the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympic Pairs Event.

Typical for the ISU, no media were invited. Neither were any other officials, skaters or coaches to represent the members of the sport. I'd say the ISU is a little gun shy considering how Christine Brennan of USA Today has been talking to other judges who have said Gailhaguet attempted to influence their votes at previous championships. But Brennan is not the only one putting the heat on the ISU to clean up its act. There are literally hundreds of skaters, past and present, who have voiced the concern this situation be corrected immediately in order to renew the public's faith in the sport.

However the closed door Board of Inquiry went on as scheduled, and people who have taken time out of their "normal lives" have testified and began to talk to other skaters about what took place, despite the ISU's stance such a hearing is "confidential."

At this point here is what we know...

The ISU heard testimony from 13 witnesses, nearly all made allegations against Le Gougne or Gailhaguet.

Prior to the Hearing attorneys for French judge Marie-Reine Le Gougne released a letter they sent to the ISU attacking the decision to suspend Le Gougne and award the Canadian pair team a second Olympic gold medal. Arguments in the letter include statements such as the following: That Le Gougne was suspended without evidence. That even without Le Gougne's marks the panel still had the Russian pair first. That interviews during the ISU investigation were biased, and that the ISU refused to hear allegations that Sally Stapleford pressured Le Gougne to accuse Didier Gailhaguet of influencing her vote. The letter also said the decision of the ISU to award a second gold medal was made under pressure from the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and North American media.

Olympic pair referee Ron Pfenning and Jon Jackson, both testified at the hearing as witnesses to French judge Marie-Reine Le Gougne confession of pressure by her federation, and requested that the ISU Council bar U.S. council member Claire Ferguson from the ISU hearing on Monday April 29th. The two claim that at last month's World Championships in Japan, Ferguson said that she had not seen all the evidence against Le Gougne and French federation chief Didier Gailhaguet, however she felt that Gailhaguet acted the same way as many other federation heads and should receive a light penalty.

Bruce Edwards, SLC volunteer driver for Gailhaguet during the Olympics, testified he heard Gailhaguet engage in a "suspicious" conversation while talking with a Russian woman on his cell phone on Feb. 9. "I can't tell you exactly what he said. . . . It sounded like he was planning something,"

Letters were sent to the ISU Board of Inquiry from Swiss judge Christine Blanc saying that in November, at Skate Canada International, French judge Marie-Reine Le Gougne said she would vote for the Russian pair team over the Canadian pair team at the Olympic Games. She also testified.

Alain Miquel, another French judge has accused French Federation President Didier Gailhaguet of pressuring his vote. Miquel said Gailhaguet instructed him on how to mark the French, Russian and German pairs at the 1998 World Championships.

Other judges have written letters stating Le Gougne's behavior at other championships she has judged. None are very flattering and repeatedly express how Le Gougne says she is "under so much pressure."

The ISU council deliberated for five hours before coming to their decision and by late Tuesday handed out their judgement. Here is the direct text of their decision:

Decision of the Council of the International Skating Union in the disciplinary matter of Ms. Marie Reine Le Gougne and Mr. Didier Gailhaguet

On April 29 and 30, 2002 in Lausanne, Switzerland, the Council of the ISU, in continuation of the disciplinary enquiry commenced in Salt Lake City, held a hearing at which further evidence was heard and presented.

Following this hearing the Council has evaluated all the evidence and arrived at the following decision, in accordance with rule 104, paragraph 16 of the ISU General Regulations:

1. Ms. Marie Reine Le Gougne is suspended as ISU Referee and Judge and excluded from participation in any ISU event, e.g. ISU Championships, international competitions, exhibitions and all off-ice events, in any capacity for a period of 3 years, beginning on April 30, 2002:

for misconduct committed on February 11, 2002 in violation of ISU rule 426, paragraphs 4 and 5, by giving the pair Berezhnaya/Sikharulidze from Russia first place in the free program of the pairs event of the 2002 Olympic Winter Games upon the instruction of Mr. Didier Gailhaguet, the President of the Fédération Française des Sports de Glace, although in her own opinion the pair Sale/Pelletier from Canada presented a better performance, and

for violation of ISU rule 125, paragraph 3 by not reporting immediately and before the end of the pairs event of the 2002 Olympic Winter Games that Mr. Didier Gailhaguet, the President of the Fédération Française des Sports de Glace and an ISU Council member, had instructed her to give the first place in the pairs event of the 2002 Olympic Winter Games to the pair Berezhnaya/Sikharulidze from Russia.

In addition, Ms. Marie Reine Le Gougne is excluded from participation in any capacity within the ISU in the 2006 Olympic Winter Games.

2. Mr. Didier Gailhaguet is suspended as an ISU Council member and excluded from participation in any ISU event, e.g. ISU Championships, international competitions, exhibitions and all off-ice events, in any capacity for a period of 3 years, beginning on April 30, 2002:

for misconduct committed by instructing Ms. Marie Reine Le Gougne in his capacity as the President of the Fédération Française des Sports de Glace, which nominated Ms. Marie Reine Le Gougne as judge for the pairs event of the 2002 Olympic Winter Games, to give the first place in the pairs event of the 2002 Olympic Winter Games to the pair Berezhnaya /Sikharulidze from Russia.

In addition, Mr. Didier Gailhaguet is excluded from participation in any capacity within the ISU in the 2006 Olympic Winter Games.

3. An appeal against this decision or any part thereof shall have no postponing effect. (Art.22, paragraph 10 of the ISU Constitution).

The period for filing an appeal shall commence after the reasons for this decision have been received in writing by the persons concerned.

[END]

French judge Marie-Reine Le Gougne and French Federation President Didier Gailhaguet have each have been found guilty of misconduct and banned from the sport of figure skating for three years each. They are also banned from the 2006 Winter Olympic in Turin, Italy.

The suspensions are effective immediately and will last until April 30, 2005. It is still uncertain if Gailhaguet can remain in charge of the French Skating Federation.

Le Gougne and Gailhaguet plan to appeal the decision. Le Gougne and Gailhaguet both denied any wrongdoing and sought to clear their names. But they claimed they didn't get a fair hearing, maintaining the ISU (specifically ISU President Ottavio "Speedy" Cinquanta,) stacked the case against them to justify the decision to give second gold medals, which they say was done because of pressure from the International Olympic Committee and the American media.

Le Gougne and Gailhaguet have 28 days to file an appeal. They first have to go through the ISU's internal appeals process. Then the case could go to the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne, where the two may not have such a sympathetic jury.

The interesting part is coming... this story isn't over yet.

Skating Diva: Women's Final Results - 2002 World Championships Nagano, Japan

Sun, 24 Mar 2002 01:28:20 GMT

Skating Diva: Women's Final Results - 2002 World Championships Nagano, Japan

Final Standings
1. Irina Slutskaya, Russia, 2.0 factored placing.
2. Michelle Kwan, United States, 4.2.
3. Fumie Suguri, Japan, 5.0.
4. Sasha Cohen, United States, 7.8.
5. Yoshie Onda, Japan, 8.6.
6. Elena Liashenko, Ukraine, 11.2.
7. Victoria Volchkova, Russia, 15.4.
8. Julia Sebestyen, Hungary, 16.4.
9. Jennifer Robinson, Canada, 18.4.
10. Silvia Fontana, Italy, 18.6.
11. Susanna Poykio, Finland, 19.2.
12. Laetitia Hubert, France, 22.4.
13. Zuzana Babiakova, Slovakia, 22.8.
14. Idora Hegel, Croatia, 28.6.
15. Tatiana Malinina, Uzbekistan, 29.6.
16. Miriam Manzano, Australia, 32.0.
17. Galina Maniachenko, Ukraine,32.4.
18. Julia Soldatova, Belarus, 33.0.
19. Marta Andrade, Spain, 33.0.
20. Dan Fang, China, 35.2.
21. Vanessa Giunchi, Italy, 37.6.
22. Julia Lautowa, Austria, 38.2.
23. Asa Persson, Sweden, 41.2.
Jennifer Kirk, United States, Withdrawn - injury

Results by IceCalc.

Skating Diva: Slutskaya Wins 2002 Worlds, Kwan Silver, Suguri Bronze

Sun, 24 Mar 2002 00:43:00 GMT

Skating Diva: Slutskaya Wins 2002 Worlds, Kwan Silver, Suguri Bronze

After three silver medals in the past four years, Irina Slutskaya of Russia finally claimed her first World title with a determined effort. The Olympic silver medalist stepped out of Kwan's shadow by landing six triples in a clean performance that was awarded with six first place marks. Slutskaya, who is only the second Russian woman to win a World title, has now won five World medals including three silvers and one bronze since 1996.

"I am just happy," Slutskaya said. "This is my seventh World Championships and first gold medal so I am just happy."

Four-time World champion Michelle Kwan (Torrance, Calif.), was unable to defend her World title but added her name to the U.S. record books by winning the silver medal at the 2002 World Figure Skating Championships in Japan March 22.

The Olympic bronze medalist entered the free skate in third place and needed a great performance and some luck to win her third straight and fifth career World title on Saturday night. As she has done before, Kwan delivered a clean performance although she doubled the tail end of her planned triple toe-triple toe combination. Kwan received marks ranging from 5.7-5.8 for technical merit and 5.7-5.9 for presentation with only three judges awarding her first place marks.

"I am happy with what I have done," Kwan said. "The important thing is that I came out and skated well … the only thing I messed up was leaving out the triple-triple."

With her seventh World medal in nine appearances, Kwan now moves ahead of Dick Button, Carol Heiss, Hayes Jenkins and Todd Eldredge for the most World medals by a U.S. skater.

For Kwan, the World Championships ended a long and, at times, difficult season. In October, Kwan stunned the figure skating world when she announced that she had parted ways with longtime coach Frank Carroll. After a slow start by her standards, Kwan gained momentum throughout the season and captured her sixth career and fifth straight U.S. title. In February, Kwan again failed to realize her dream of Olympic gold but was successful in claiming her second straight medal.

"It has been a long season," added Kwan. "I had to take one thing after another after the Olympics. I know I love to compete. I know for sure I don't want to turn pro, but I don't know how much I want to do."

In second after the short program, Japan's Fumie Suguri was unable to hold on and claimed the bronze medal -- the first World medal by a Japanese woman since Yuka Sato won the World title in 1994.

In her first World Championship appearance, U.S. silver medalist Sasha Cohen (Laguna Niguel, Calif.) rebounded from a difficult short program to finish fourth overall. Cohen, who placed fourth at the Olympics, had another tough night as she missed the tail end of her opening combination -- triple lutz, triple toe -- and later fell on a triple loop. Cohen, who landed five triples, received marks of 5.2-5.5 for technical merit and 5.5-5.7 for presentation to overcome Japan's Yoshie Onda in the final standings.

"I am disappointed," Cohen said. "I was just trying to go for it. I really didn't have anything to lose. I would have like to medal here, but it doesn't always turn out how you want."

Jennifer Kirk (Newton, Mass.) withdrew prior to the free skate on Saturday night due to a muscle strain in her left hip. Kirk, who placed fifth in the 2002 U.S. Championships, was in 15th overall after the short program. Kirk had been bothered by the hip all week and the injury increased following the short program on Friday where she had difficulty landing jumps and missed two of the eight required elements.

Based on the results, the U.S. is eligible to enter three entries in the ladies competition at the 2003 World Figure Skating Championships in Washington, D.C. next March.

For complete Results Click here.

Skating Diva Speaks: ISU President Cinquanta Says He Will Handover the Documents

Sat, 23 Mar 2002 09:22:56 GMT

Skating Diva Speaks: ISU President Cinquanta Says He Will Handover the Documents

AP's reporting that ISU President "Speedy" Cinquanta will turn over the documents, regarding the Olympic Pairs judging scandal before the Hearing set for April 29-30 at the ISU Headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland. However when Max Miller, attorney for suspended judge Marie-Reine Le Gougne, will receive the documents was not given. Miller has filed a complaint regarding the matter, and his inability to defend his client because the evidence is being withheld.

Cinquanta is also plugging his plan to revise the judging system as to how events are judged. His new system is a reverse of the current system in which skaters will be given points for each element (jump, spin, footwork) is accomplished. He has also spoken of a "factoring" for the difficulty of the element done, similiar to gymnastics or diving. He has spoken little of the artistic score for performance, which is causing concern in the skating community.

The ISU President is hoping his new system will be in place within the next two years. However many national skating unions, including the US Figure Skating Association are expressing their concerns and asking for public comments and suggestions.

This is far from over.

Skating Diva: Report from World's Ladies Short - Dance

Sat, 23 Mar 2002 08:21:40 GMT

Skating Diva: Report from World's Ladies Short - Dance

Four-time World champion Michelle Kwan (Torrance, Calif.), stumbled in the short program on Friday in her attempt to claim a fifth career and third straight World title at the 2002 World Figure Skating Championships in Japan.

The Olympic bronze medalist entered the short program in good position to defend her World title after winning her qualifying group on Wednesday. Kwan, skating to "Rachmaninoff," had difficulty on the first of the eight required elements when she fell out of the triple lutz. Kwan recovered quickly to complete a double toe, but the damage was done. Facing a mandatory deduction in the short program for the error, Kwan received marks of 5.2-5.4 for required elements and presentation marks of 5.7-5.9, to finish the day in third overall. Kwan must now win the free skate and have Irina Slutskaya finish no higher than third to claim her fifth World title.

"Going into the combination, I felt a little too fast – I think I just leaned back too much," said Kwan. "I'll just have to come back strong tomorrow. I have been in this position before (2000 World Championships in Nice, France), the difference is this time I am aware of it."

Three-time World silver medalist Irina Slutskaya of Russia received two 6.0s for presentation to take one step closer to an elusive World title that has eluded her in six previous attempts. Skating last in the final group, the Olympic silver medalist was clean on all eight elements and received unanimous first place marks from all nine judges. The perfect marks were the first of Slutskaya's career at a World Championships.

"It's the first time I have received a 6.0 for presentation in the short program at Worlds," said Slutskaya. "I skated well today but I will now forget this and focus on skating well again tomorrow."

Japan's Fumie Suguri capitalized on the mistakes of the day by skating a clean program to finish in second overall. Suguri, who received second place marks from eight of the nine judges, can claim her first World title and first ladies title for Japan since 1994 with a win in the free skate on Saturday.

Reigning U.S. silver medalist Sasha Cohen (Laguna Niguel, Calif.) suffered a similar fate shared by her U.S. teammates in the short program. After skating clean through the first five elements, Cohen fell on her double Axel attempt and fell to fifth overall. Cohen, who was second in her qualifying group, must now have a clean free skate and hope for help to have an opportunity to claim a medal at her first World Championships.

"I was disappointed by my performance today," said Cohen. "I really don't know what happened. I have been skating good programs all week and I felt prepared."

Jennifer Kirk (Newton, Mass.), had a difficult short program in which she fell on her first two jumps - a triple lutz and a triple flip. Kirk, who is in 15th overall, complained of a left hip injury that has been bothering her all week and presented itself again during the warm-up.

"My hip was hurting a little during warm-up," said Kirk. "The problem started this weekend, but it really hit me during the warm-up. Hopefully I will be able to forget about today's performance and finish strong on Saturday."

Note: 1999 World champion Maria Butyrskaya of Russia officially withdrew from the 2002 World Championships on Friday morning. According to an official communication from the event organizers, Butyrskaya withdrew from the event due to "physical and mental fatigue". Butyrskaya placed sixth in qualifying group A on Wednesday.

Skating Diva: Final Results Dance - 2002 World Championships Nagano, Japan

Sat, 23 Mar 2002 07:55:34 GMT

Skating Diva: Final Results Dance - 2002 World Championships Nagano, Japan

1, Irina LOBACHEVA / Ilia AVERBUKH , RUS (left)
2, Shae-Lynn BOURNE / Victor KRAATZ , CAN (right)
3, Galit CHAIT / Sergei SAKHNOVSKI , ISR (lower left)
4, Margarita DROBIAZKO / Povilas VANAGAS , LTU
5, Albena DENKOVA / Maxim STAVIYSKI , BUL
6, Elena GRUSHINA / Ruslan GONCHAROV , UKR
7, Kati WINKLER / Rene LOHSE , GER
8, Tatiana NAVKA / Roman KOSTOMAROV , RUS

9, Naomi LANG / Peter TCHERNYSHEV, USA
10, Marie-France DUBREUIL / Patrice LAUZON , CAN
11, Sylwia NOWAK / Sebastian KOLASINSKI , POL
12, Isabelle DELOBEL / Olivier SCHOENFELDER , FRA
13, Tanith BELBIN / Benjamin AGOSTO , USA
14, Marika HUMPHREYS / Vitali BARANOV , GBR
15, Kristin FRASER / Igor LUKANIN , AZE
16, Federica FAIELLA / Massimo SCALI , ITA
17, Alia OUABDELSSELAM / Benjamin DELMAS , FRA
18, Veronika MORAVKOVA / Jiri PROCHAZKA , CZE
19, Stephanie RAUER / Thomas RAUER , GER
20, Weina ZHANG / Xianming CAO , CHN
21, Zita GEBORA / Andras VISONTAI , HUN
22, Valentina ANSELMI / Fabrizio PEDRAZZINI , ITA
23, Tae-Hwa YANG / Chuen-Gun LEE , KOR
24, Rie ARIKAWA / Kenji MIYAMOTO , JPN
25, Alla BEKNAZAROVA / Yuri KOCHERZHENKO , UKR
26, Jessica HUOT / Juha VALKAMA , FIN
27, Anna MOSENKOVA / Sergei SYCHYOV , EST
28, Natalie BUCK / Trent NELSON-BOND , AUS

Results by IceCalc.

Skating Diva: Russians Win Ice Dance Gold - Slutskaya Passes Kwan in Short

Sat, 23 Mar 2002 01:40:23 GMT

Russians Win Ice Dance Gold,
Slutskaya Passes Kwan in Short

Russian champions Lobacheva and Averbukh scored mostly 5.8s and 5.9s for presentation in a moving free program dedicated to the victims of the September 11 attacks on the U.S. to improve on their Olympic silver medal and became the 24th ice dance champions from Russia or the former Soviet Union since 1970. For the results, click here.

As for the Women's short program: Irina Slutskaya is ahead, skating a clean program that earned her 2 - 6.0's Michelle Kwan missed her triple lutz and did not skate well. Skaters have said, "You could count the clean ladies short programs on one hand at this World Championships, but by far the most heart warming moments of the event were the superb performances of the two Japanese ladies, Fumie Suguri and Yoshie Onda, who thrilled their countrymen here in Nagano. As they say, "that was worth its weight in gold." For the results, click here.

**Note: The US Television Viewing Schedule for all Figure Skating is at http://www.usfsa.org/sponsors_tv/tv_sched.htm

Skating Diva: Women's Short Program Standings

Sat, 23 Mar 2002 01:31:59 GMT

Skating Diva: Women's Short Program Standings
News on the competition is here, here and here.

1 Irina SLUTSKAYA RUS
2 Fumie SUGURI JPN
3 Michelle KWAN USA
4 Yoshie ONDA JPN
5 Sasha COHEN USA
6 Elena LIASHENKO UKR
7 Julia SEBESTYEN HUN
8 Viktoria VOLCHKOVA RUS
9 Tatiana MALININA UZB
10 Silvia FONTANA ITA
11 Zuzana BABIAKOVA SVK
12 Susanna POYKIO FIN
13 Laetitia HUBERT FRA
14 Jennifer ROBINSON CAN
15 Jennifer KIRK USA
16 Idora HEGEL CRO
17 Marta ANDRADE ESP
18 Miriam MANZANO AUS
19 Julia SOLDATOVA BLR
20 Dan FANG CHN
21 Julia LAUTOWA AUT
22 Vanessa GIUNCHI ITA
23 Asa PERSSON SWE
24 Galina MANIACHENKO UKR
25 Lucie KRAUSOVA CZE
26 Gintare VOSTRECOVAITE LTU
27 Natalie HOSTE BEL
28 Sabina WOJTALA POL
29 Georgina PAPAVASILIOU GRE
R Maria BUTYRSKAYA RUS
31 Anne Sophie CALVEZ FRA
31 Yea-Ji SHIN KOR
33 Roxana LUCA ROM
33 Daria ZURAVICKI ISR
35 Hristina VASSILEVA BUL
35 Shirene HUMAN RSA
37 Christine LEE HKG
37 Gladys OROZCO MEX
39 Diana Y. CHEN TPE
39 Ksenija JASTSENSKI YUG

Results by IceCalc.

Skating Diva Report: 2002 World Pairs Final Results

Fri, 22 Mar 2002 00:15:33 GMT

Skating Diva Report: 2002 World Pairs Finals

1 Xue SHEN/Hongbo ZHAO CHN (left)
2 Tatiana TOTMIANINA/Maxim MARININ RUS
3 Kyoko INA/John ZIMMERMAN USA (right)
(AP did a nice story on Kyoko here)
4 Maria PETROVA / Alexei TIKHONOV RUS
5 Qing PANG / Jian TONG CHN
6 Dorota ZAGORSKA / Mariusz SIUDEK POL
7 Tiffany SCOTT / Philip DULEBOHN USA
8 Jacinthe LARIVIERE / Lenny FAUSTINO CAN
9 Dan ZHANG / Hao ZHANG CHN
10 Anabelle LANGLOIS/Patrice ARCHETTO CAN
11 Katerina BERANKOVA / Otto DLABOLA CZE
12 Valerie MARCOUX / Bruno MARCOTTE CAN
13 Yuko KAWAGUCHI/Alexander MARKUNTSOV JPN
14 Mariana KAUTZ / Norman JESCHKE GER
15 Viktoria BORZENKOVA/Andrei CHUVILYAEV RUS
16 Tatiana CHUVAEVA / Dmitri PALAMARCHUK UKR
17 Viktoria SHKLOVER / Valdis MINTALS EST
18 Maria KRASILTSEVA / Artem ZNACHKOV ARM
19 Jelena SIROKHVATOVA / Jurijs SALMANOVS LAT
20 Marina AGANINA / Artem KNYAZEV UZB

Results by Icecalc

Skating Diva Report: World Championships OSP Round Finished Lobacheva - Averbukh lead.

Thu, 21 Mar 2002 23:43:17 GMT

Thu, 21 Mar 2002 22:56:01 GMT

Skating Diva News: Yagudin Wins His Fourth World Title

AlexeiYagudin is the 2002 Men's World Champion, (Ctr), Timothy Goebel, (Lt) Silver and Takeshi Honda (Rt) Bronze show their medals during ceremonies at the M-Wave in Nagano, Japan. (AP Photo/Shizuo Kambayashi)
For complete results click here.

Ice Dancing: OSP Round Finished with Russians Lobacheva and Averbukh in the lead. Second were Canadians Shae-Lynn Bourne and Victor Kraatz. Third were Lithuanians Margarita Drobiazko and Povilas Vanagas. The Free Dance Final round is Friday. For complete results click here

Maria Butyrskaya of Russia has withdrawn from the World Championships due to illness. Butyrskaya, a former World Champion, had a disasterous qualifying round when her coaches were unable to get the the M-Wave due to a traffic problems around the MWave and placed 6th in ladies qualifying group A and was tied for 11th overall.

Skating Diva News: Final Results Men's 2002 World Championships - Nagano, Japan

Thu, 21 Mar 2002 22:35:52 GMT

Skating Diva News: Men's 2002 World Championships - Nagano, Japan
FINAL RESULTS

1 Alexei YAGUDIN RUS (left)
2 Timothy GOEBEL USA (right)
3 Takeshi HONDA JPN (lower left)
4 Alexander ABT RUS
5 Chengjiang LI CHN
6 Michael WEISS USA
7 Anthony LIU AUS
8 Jeffrey BUTTLE CAN

9 Min ZHANG CHN
10 Andrejs VLASCENKO GER
11 Frederic DAMBIER FRA
12 Matthew SAVOIE USA
13 Brian JOUBERT FRA
14 Kevin VAN DER PERREN BEL
15 Ben FERREIRA CAN
16 Song GAO CHN
17 Ivan DINEV BUL
18 Stephane LAMBIEL SUI
19 Roman SKORNIAKOV UZB
20 Vakhtang MURVANIDZE GEO
21 Markus LEMINEN FIN
22 Dmitri DMITRENKO UKR
23 Sergei RYLOV AZE
24 Sergei DAVYDOV BLR
25 Juraj SVIATKO SVK
26 Tomas VERNER CZE
27 Yosuke TAKEUCHI JPN
28 Gregor URBAS SLO
29 Kristoffer BERNTSSON SWE
30 Sergei KOTOV ISR
31 Yon GARCIA ESP
31 Zoltan TOTH HUN
33 Clemens JONAS AUT
33 Aidas REKLYS LTU
35 James BLACK GBR
35 Milos MILANOVIC YUG
37 Panagiotis MARKOUIZOS GRE
37 Dino QUATTROCECERE RSA

News Reports included:
21 MARCH 2002 - Yagudin Skates To Fourth World Title- Goebel Second, Honda Third Story by Judy Blumberg for iSkater.com (Great report from Nagano)

Skating Diva Report: Pairs Final Results

Thu, 21 Mar 2002 01:24:35 GMT

Skating Diva Report: Pairs Final Results

Pairs just finished up a short while ago according to IceCalc, the official scoring system. And while this is fine to know where the placements are-- it does little to tell you exactly HOW people skated. So I waited a bit for Judy Blumberg's report on iSkater. Below's the final placements and links to the gory details-- are here, and here .

2002 World Pairs Finals

1 Xue SHEN/Hongbo ZHAO CHN (left)
2 Tatiana TOTMIANINA/Maxim MARININ RUS
3 Kyoko INA/John ZIMMERMAN USA (right)

AP did a nice story on Kyoko Ina here

For complete results click here. (To Skating Diva Section)

Skating Diva Reports: Wrap up on Women Freestyle Qualifying Rounds A & B

Wed, 20 Mar 2002 10:11:38 GMT

Skating Diva Reports: Notes on Wrap up on Women Freestyle Qualifying Rounds A & B

The Women's Event today was a marathon. 37 Ladies had to take the ice today to qualify for ranking. What the Japanese hosts in Nagano and the ISU did not realize or plan-- is that many of the ladies would have to ready to leave their dormitory housing and board the buses to the M-Wave Arena BEFORE 5 AM for a 9 AM start time.

What on earth were they thinking? This is the World Championships, right?

Add to this traffic jam around the arena that left no special transportation for the coaches, and it's no wonder that Russia's Marina Butyrskaya coaches Elena Tchaikovskaya and Vladimir Kotin were unable to get to the rink on time to see Marina skate first in Round A. Skaters at the Championships said that Marina did not skate as well. It appeared that Marina became so upset because her coaches were not there to attend to her, she failed to warm up properly. Marina, age 29, has been skating for years and should be able to get herself ready to skate. Also Marina was so upset with her performance that she refused to sit the Kiss n Cry area for her scores and left the arena.

The rest of top skaters in Round A all had mistakes, and it was evident that keeping up the energy and training schedules around the Olympics in a major problem. Why the ISU plans the World Championships so close to the Olympics is still a mystery to me.

My inside sources did note that Michelle Kwan appears to have gone home after SLC and buckled down on working SPEED and height back into her jumps. "IF only has she skated this well in SLC, she'd have the silver at least." Michelle is in 1st place of the A Group.

Fumie Suguri the home town girl from Japan received a warm welcome on her first performance since SLC. Her short program to "Moonlight Sonata" was nearly flawless, except for a small slip on her triple Lutz. While Fumie placed 2nd in Group A, one judge placed her 5th. This placement caused a serious buzz in the M-Wave as to why Fumie was placed so low. It turns out the Judge who scored her so low, was none other than Alfred Korytek, of Israel, and used to judge for Ukraine. In 1999 Korytek and Sviatoslav Babenkowere of Russia were suspended for "collusion" after the Helsinki World Championships.

It was also noted that the top flight skaters in Round A were well polished and presented well, despite some errors. This included Julia Sebestyen of Hungary who's jumps are outstanding, Jennifer Kirk of the US (last minute alternate for Sarah Hughes,) presented herself very well for her first World's and despite changing coaches from the Ivy's to Detroit's Richard Callahagan. And Jennifer Robinson of Canada also skating her in first World's did not skate as nicely or as assertively as she presented herself in SLC. It is reported Jennifer bobbled her first triple Lutz and never got her momentum back.

After Group A finished, a dinner break was called for a short time. Then the warm ups for Group B started about one hour later.

Irina Slutskaya, Olympic silver medallist lead Round B in first place. Irina started hot, with her triple-triple toe combination. However it appears Irina has problems with maintaining her power levels during the program. People have noted that she is continuing to take extended set ups for her elements which got her into doubled one of her triples.

In second place was Sasha Cohen, who was the last skater of the event. The rumormill reports Sasha's presentation was "right on" tonight. Her spiral sequences were inline and artistic pleasing. However the only faux pas was when she singled her triple Lutz.

In third place for the B Group was Japan's Yoshie Onda, who attempted a Triple Axel, but quarter marked it and this caused timing problems with her next triple Lutz. The rest of her program was left unscathed and artistically well executed.

The remainder of top skaters in the B Group included nice performances from: Elena Liashenko from the Ukraine in fourth, Tatiana Malinina of Uzbekistan in fifth, Susanna Poykio of Finland in sixth and Julia Soldatova of Bulgaria and Laetitia Hubert of France placing eighth despite another intimate encounter with the boards.

All in all it's reported the skaters did well skating the bugs out of their legs from the long trip to Nagano. Hopefully the Hosts and the ISU will get the bugs out of the transportation system as well in order to insure the skaters are treated with the respect and courtesy that should be afforded them as World Championship participants.

Ladies Short Program will be Friday, the long on Saturday.

Women's Freeskating Event - B Level Qualifying Round Placements.

Wed, 20 Mar 2002 08:50:52 GMT

World Championships Results -
Women's Freeskating Event - A Level Qualifying Round Placements

The first qualifying round for World's ended a short time ago. More news as to how they skated when I get it. Placements are as follows.

1 Irina SLUTSKAYA RUS (left)
2 Sasha COHEN USA
3 Yoshie ONDA JPN
4 Elena LIASHENKO UKR
5 Tatiana MALININA UZB
6 Susanna POYKIO FIN
7 Julia SOLDATOVA BLR
8 Laetitia HUBERT FRA
9 Viktoria VOLCHKOVA RUS
10 Idora HEGEL CRO
11 Asa PERSSON SWE
12 Dan FANG CHN
13 Miriam MANZANO AUS
14 Georgina PAPAVASILIOU GRE
15 Natalie HOSTE BEL
16 Yea-Ji SHIN KOR
17 Daria ZURAVICKI ISR
18 Shirene HUMAN RSA
19 Gladys OROZCO MEX
20 Ksenija JASTSENSKI YUG

Women's Freeskating Event - A Level Qualifying Round Placements

Wed, 20 Mar 2002 02:56:23 GMT

World Championships Results -
Women's Freeskating Event - A Level Qualifying Round Placements

The first qualifying round for World's ended a short time ago. More news as to how they skated when I get it. Placements are as follows.

1 Michelle KWAN USA (left)
2 Fumie SUGURI JPN
3 Julia SEBESTYEN HUN
4 Jennifer KIRK USA
5 Jennifer ROBINSON CAN
6 Maria BUTYRSKAYA RUS
7 Silvia FONTANA ITA
8 Lucie KRAUSOVA CZE
9 Julia LAUTOWA AUT
10 Galina MANIACHENKO UKR
11 Zuzana BABIAKOVA SVK
12 Gintare VOSTRECOVAITE LTU
13 Vanessa GIUNCHI ITA
14 Roxana LUCA ROM

Results by IceCalc.

The Skating Diva Speaks - Marie-Reine Le Gougne's and ISU President Cinquanta are Back in the News-- Again

Wed, 20 Mar 2002 01:32:13 GMT

The Skating Diva Speaks: Marie-Reine Le Gougne's and ISU President Cinquanta are Back in the News-- Again
[Worlds News is below-- scroll down]

Max Miller, attorney for former Olympic Pairs Judge Marie-Reine Le Gougne, (left) is talking to the press again, during the World Championships in order to garner more public media attention and expose a few of the ISU's warts in public. While Miller doesn't have one of the more popular people in the skating world as a client, he is still claiming that Referee Pfenning and ISU Technical Chairmen Stapleford "exercised undue influence'' over Le Gougne and made false accusations.

At least Max is keeping his story straight. It might be nice if he reminded his client to keep her mouth shut, because everytime she opens her mouth, it's not helping her case.

However as much as you might not care for Max Miller, he does have one major valid complaint.

Since the ISU has announced a hearing date for April 29-30th, they have yet to provide Miller with one shred of the evidence from the investigation against his client, despite the ISU's promises to provide the copies to Miller in a message he received on or about March 16th. Miller has publicly stated he feels like he's being ambushed. I'm not surprised.

On the other side of things Ottavio "Speedy" Cinquanta, ISU President is telling USA Today that Le Gougne "or any individual involved or concerned, will receive in due time, and of course before the hearing, the adequate number of documents related to the hearing in order to put these people in the position to defend themselves.''

Well Speedy the major questions is WHEN? And what is an ADEQUATE NUMBER OF DOCUMENTS? Ut Oh... Speedy's in over his head, again.

I am very sure the ISU Executive Counsel is well aware the court of public opinion is not smiling on the ISU or its governance of Figure Skating. I'm heard the USFSA isn't thrilled either. It stands to lose big time if this isn't resolved soon. [in Red Box] But Cinquanta's dragging his feet again. The last time we had to get to the heart of the judging problem and resolve the issue, it took Skating Diva Reports: IOC President, Dr. Jack Rogge pushing Cinquanta to do the right thing with a cattleprod. May be we need to get Dick Pound, IOC Rep. from Canada on board with the ISU to explain how "due process" works?

Personally I'd vote for Dick Pound. He's a take-no-BS lawyer (and a good one at that,) who's played in this type of arena. I'm quite sure Pound would be able to assist ISU Vice President, Gerhard Zimmerman, who heading the investigation. (I believe Zimmerman is an lawyer.) Between Pound and Zimmerman, they would have no problem through a fair investigation and insuring a fair hearing would take place getting that would stand the test of public scrutiny.

But I'd venture to guess Speedy Cinquanta would give birth to a cat on the spot, if that were suggested.

Why? It is rumored that the ISU President has more than one skeleton and dirty deal in his closet, which would come out in any investigation. Cinquanta's backroom deals and attitude of entitlement are rumored that if they ever saw the light of day, would put the IOC-SLC kickback investigation to shame. Cinquanta's treatment of the figure skaters and the demanding "grand prix" competitions for world class elite skaters is well known and hated by all the skaters. This Grand Prix Tour has virtually stripped the skaters of their earning power, completely killed the professional-amateur competitions we saw after the Nagano and Norway Olympics. Why? Because Cinquanta and the ISU gets a cut of the money from every Grand Prix event. And the ISU refuses to allow the amateurs to compete in the pro-ams on weeks the Grand Prix events take place, in order to line the ISU and Speedy's pockets with new money.

In reality everyone involved in the SLC Olympic Pairs Judging scandal needs to be heard in a open manner in which everyone who's involved with this judging problem gets fair and an equal opportunity to see all the facts from all the people interviewed PRIOR TO THE HEARING and WITH ADEQUATE TIME TO REVIEW THE MATERIAL. Anything less would be unethical for the sport.

And... Yes, and that includes Marie-Reine Le Gougne and her attorney Max Miller.

Skating Diva: Report on the World Figure Skating Championships in Nagano

Tue, 19 Mar 2002 22:41:20 GMT

World Figure Skating Championship Report - Men Nail Quads in Qualifying at World's

It appears the calling card to enter the top levels of the Elite Mens Freestyle Event at the World Championships are to land at least one quad-revolution jump-- and preferably in a combination. On Monday the qualifying rounds and Tuesday's Short Programs for the Men's event heated up Nagano's M Arena.

Note: Unlike the Olympics where the number of skaters per nation are limited by a specific formula based on previous national and individual world ranking, the World Championships has an additional qualifying round that splits the 39 skaters into two groups by draw. (They are referred to as the A & B Groups.) These two qualifying round ranks the skaters and reduces the field to the top 30 skaters in the world for the short program by taking the top 15 in each group. The skaters perform their short programs. The groups are then combined for the short program and after the short program is scored, the group is again reduced to allow only the top 24 skaters in the world to skate the final free skating event.

Tim Goebel - USA Olympic Bronze Medallist, was ranked 1st in Group B.

Michael Weiss - USA 2 time World Bronze Medallist was ranked 2nd in Group B.

Matt Savoy - USA 4th place US National Championships ranked 6th in Group A.

Yag's Nails FIVE 6.0 in Short Program

In First: Last night the Men's short program was skated and Olympic champion Alexei Yagudin of Russia skated his "Winter" short program to perfection and became the first man to ever receive a 6.0 mark at the World Championships for required elements. Yagudin also received five perfect 6.0s for presentation to earn the most 6.0s for a short program by an individual in World Championship history. Yagudin, the World champion from 1998-2000 looks well on target to reclaim his world title.

In Second: European silver medallist Alexander Abt of Russia made it a 1-2 finish, as he performed an thrilling program hitting on all the required elements. It's reported that his jumps were huge and technically thrilling. Abt now enters the free skate in good position to claim his first World title by winning the free skate event on Thursday night.

In Third: Tim Gobel SLC Bronze Medallist is placed fourth in the short program, but combining the scores from the qualifying rounds is ranked third. It is reported that Tim's program while technically sound still lacks the artistic skills of a more mature skater. However he completed his quad-Salchow-triple toe.

Other skaters rank after the Short Program:

4 Takeshi Honda - Japan (left)

5 Michael Weiss - USA (right)

6 Cheng Jiang Li - China

7 Jeff Buttle - Canada

8 Brian Joubert - France

9 Kevin VanDer Perren - Belgium

10 Frederic Dambier - France

11 Anthony Liu - Australia

12 Andrejs Vlascenko - Germany

13 Min Zhang - China

14 - Matt Savoie - USA

For the complete results you can bypass the slug-slow World' Championship site and go directly to Scorers Program tabulating the results in live-time at www.Icecacl.com.

Pairs Short Program Results and Comments

Monday was also the start of the Pairs Event. Olympic Co-Gold Medallists Sale and Pelletier of Canada and Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze of Russia not competing, only 20 teams were registered to skate so no qualifying rounds were required. So the judging began with the Short Program.

It's reported by former skater Judy Blumberg, that the top five world ranked teams put on a good show. Judy further said:

"Olympic Bronze Medallists, Xue Shen and Hongbo Zhao of China, performed aggressively and opened with a huge throw triple loop, solid side by side triple toes, and a split double twist that has more air time than Michael Jordan."

Shen and Zhao are in first place at the end of the short. (left)

Results of the top skaters went:

2. Tatiana Totmianina and Maxim Marinin - Russia

3. Kyoko Ina and John Zimmerman - USA (right)

4. Maria Petrova and Alexei Tikhonov - Russia

5. Pang and Tong - China (left)

For the complete results you can bypass the slug-slow World' Championship site and go directly to Scorers Program tabulating the results in live-time at www.Icecal.com.

Compulsory Dance - Oh Bouy!

With the absence of Olympic Gold medallists, Anisina and Peizerat, and Bronze medallists, Fusar-Poli and Margalio, the normal buzz was lacking in the air of the arena when the compulsory dance event started. However the tension build up as time to start drew closer because the first dance to be skated was The Golden Waltz. This dance made up by former Olympic Gold Medallists Klimova and Ponamarenko, who are known for the intricate footwork. It is a truly beautiful waltz. But to say they created a dance with Murphy in mind would be an understatement. Honestly I love it! It adds a little challenge to the event.

To you non-skaters this means if something could go wrong-- it could and it did!

For those of you who skate dance, this dance lent itself to the serious potential for a fall pool. Say $5? The list of error, falls, missteps and bumbles read like a who's who in international ice dance world . Read on...

Even Canadian Skater Shae-Lynn Bourne had a major costume failure, exposing a little more of her top than planned. But to have it replayed on the in-house Jumbotron while sitting in the "Kiss 'n Cry" area was both embarrassing and uncalled for! However Shae Lynn took the embarrassment in stride by saying, "I tried to not be cautious even though I knew I was revealing a little bit too much of myself. I think a lot of girls, at least in ice dancing, do experience it at some point in your career. It doesn't feel so good when it happens." No lie.

Needless to say, once this dance was over everyone, including the judges were happy they'd survived that round.

The second compulsory dance was the Quickstep.

It's been reported that everyone was thrilled to be doing the QS. However reports from other dancers in attendance, I know said, "The entire group couldn't skate a good Quickstep to save their butts! It's time to go back, take out the Dance Book and review the steps with everyone who skated it!" The Choctaw, which is a major element in the dance, was never done correctly and consistently by any of the teams. While the dancers could present a good dance, they could not skate the required steps on the proper edge or timing. It is pity that Senior Elite Dancers of this level can not translate a simple, powerful dance onto the ice.

Hopefully the Optional Set Pattern Dance scheduled for Thursday will get the skaters back on track and next year the teams will learn the dances as written.

The current results are:

1. Lobacheva and Averbukh - Russia (left)

2. Bourne and Kraatz - Canada (right)

3. Drobiazko and Vanagas - Lithuania.

Lang and Tchernyshev of the USA are in 7th place.

For the complete results you can bypass the slug-slow World' Championship site and go directly to Scorers Program tabulating the results in live-time at www.Icecal.com.

More as we know what's cooking in Nagano...

One more thing: Can we get a decent website online for worlds?

Figure Skating is one of the most plugged in sports in the world. However the creators of the 2002 World Championship Website, never once learned a damn thing from Jakob Neilsen. I highly doubt they've even seen his books. But I'd highly recommend someone reads one.

The Problem: Because of the time shift in Japan to the rest of the world, and lack of real time coverage outside Japan to the rest of the world, the World Championship 2002 website has been hit hard by many people around the world who are interested in keeping track of the standings from the official source.

However, the ISU site and the 2002 Worlds site are some of the best examples of Worst Practices in usability. Flash screens, Java Scripts, frames, and remote data half a world away makes the users experience a real trauma to experience. With all the wonderful computer people who are within the skating community and others who love the sport-- you'd think the ISU would get a clue.

Tue, 05 Mar 2002 12:25:50 GMT

Slippery Ice-

You can tell the Olympics is over, because life in the skating world is not running smoothly. The slate of entries for World's still isn't posted on the World Championship site as of tonight. It appears they're having the same type of problems with their ISP I've been having. (more later)

The "Welcome Home" parade in Great Neck, NY for Sarah Hughes had to be postponed, due to rain. It's rescheduled for next weekend. (Weather permitting-- of course.)

And it appears Amy Fisher has bowed out of the Celebrity Boxing on Fox match against Tonya Harding. Paula Jones is going to stand in for Fisher next Wednesday night. Pity they just didn't cancel it-- or let Tonya fight Danny B'.

Martha! Set the VCR!
Saturday March 9, 6-7 PM Hallmark Channel is showing 1988 Gala of World Champions
Sunday, March 10, 2-4 PM ABC is showing the Ladies and Mens Long Programs Four Continents Competition
Monday, March 11, ESPN is showing the Pairs Long Program and the Free Dance of the Four Continents Competition.

Something to do if you're in LA this weekend-- The 6th Annual United SKATES Synchronized Skating Challenge will take place on Saturday, March 9, 2002, 6-8PM at the Glacial Garden Ice Rink, Lakewood, California. I plan on being there. If you're coming, email me!

The envelope, please?

[RIP!] And we have a tie! After SLC, What else is new? The Co-Awards for the Best Olympic Parody Song of the Year are "Russian in Nature" by Capcomop and "Blame Canada" by Trudi Marrapodi

Congradulations to the winners! And thanks to the Usenet group rec.sport.skating.ice.figure (or RSSIC) and Ron Narciso the webmaster who inshrined these tunes for all time. We hope we can work with the group and Ron again to bring a little humor to everyone.

News:
Business Wire reports: Michelle Kwan has signed 3 year contract with the Walt Disney Company Kwan will be a representative for numerous Disney products and services for the next three years. In the past, she has starred in Disney and ABC television specials and has contributed to several figure skating-related books published by Disney. The amount of the contract was undisclosed.

Skating Diva: Who's Not Going to Worlds

Sun, 03 Mar 2002 13:21:16 GMT

REMINDER to Now VOTE VOTE VOTE for your favorite Best Olympic Parody Song of the Year:
Swipe the URL and tell your friends! Voting ends March 2, 2002 at Midnight Pacific Time.

The deadline registration for the World Championships in Nagano, Japan are Monday. The following skaters have announced they are not skating Worlds

Peizerat and Anissina - Dance France (Announced Retirement)
Sale and Pelletier - Pairs Canada
Berezhnaya and Sikharulidze - Pairs Russia
Lobacheva and Averbukh - Dance Russia (Withdrawn due to injury)
Todd Eldridge - Mens USA (Announced Retirement)

On Sunday, Great Neck, NY will finally get the opportunity to welcome their hometown girl, Olympic Gold Medalist, Sarah Hughes home with a parade.

The Skating Diva Daily

Fri, 01 Mar 2002 08:57:32 GMT

REMINDER to Now VOTE VOTE VOTE for your favorite Best Olympic Parody Song of the Year:
Swipe the URL and tell your friends! Voting ends March 2, 2002 at Midnight Pacific Time.

Michelle Kwan announced on Jay Leno's Show tonight that she is definitely going to the World Championships, March 18-24, 2002 in Nagano, Japan next month. She also announced she is touring in Champions on Ice until she goes back to UCLA this fall.

You knew it wouldn't take them long...

Tank McNamara by Jeff Millar and Bill Hinds http://www.ucomics.com/tankmcnamare/ is doing a rip roaring series on the Judging of Olympic Ice Dance Event. It started on Sunday Feb 24, and is going to run all week. The cartoon of the skater's face on the 28th and the judges reactions are priceless.

It looks like someone didn't teach Austria's cross country ski team to clean up before they left their rented condo for home. The homeowner pricked herself on a hypodermic needle sticking out of a plastic bag that contained a blood transfusion setups on Wednesday. It appears there was enough bags and setups for at least 3 people, as well as a medalists certificate for one Olympic Medalist. The whole situation stinks of blood doping. IOC President Dr. Jack Rogge is HOT, to put it politely. He's vowing to use any and all scientific evidence to find out who was involved. Translation: DNA evidence.

Looks like SLC is getting back to normal. The mayor is trying to get people back downtown. SLC is readying to host Paraolympics which will start March 7.

Thu, 28 Feb 2002 23:56:26 GMT

REMINDER to Now VOTE VOTE VOTE for your favorite Best Olympic Parody Song of the Year:
Swipe the URL and tell your friends! Voting ends March 2, 2002 at Midnight Pacific Time.

Olympic Pictures You Won't See Everywhere - Sarah's Coming-out Party - A Night of Champions Dinner - The Night of Champions Dinner is best described as "the Alumni Dinner for Former Champions." This year's dinner was to honor all of the previous American Women who had won the Gold Medal for the Women's Singles event... (read more about it)

It appears Sarah has signed with Tom Collins for the "John Hancock's Champions on Ice" Tour. As of today, Sarah is listed in the 2002 Olympic Tour. Other SLC Olympic Figure Skaters joining the tour include: Michelle Kwan, Sarah Cohen, Michael Weiss, Tim Goebel, Irina Slutskaya, Alexi Yagudin, Bourne and Kraatz, Anissina and Peizerat, Lang and Tchernyshev, Elvis Stojko and others. Tickets are available for public purchase now for the 80+ city tour.

And in the Things We Wish We Wouldn't See Department - Fox Television has announced a Celebrity Boxing special on March 13, featuring none other than Tonya Harding and Amy Fischer in a Battle of the Bad Girls. Jeeze. 'Nuff said.

It appears I wasn't the only one in town. Doc Searls pointed out that Marc Brown was actually WORKING and Blogging in SLC over at the Speed Skating Venue. (Wish we could have met, Marc! I'd have bought the beverage.) His blog from the inside puts the Olympic experience in total perspective . Marc-- a personal thanks for taking good care of our local Derek Parra. It's fun to read the antics of the people actually protecting the athletes. It's a different perspective than being "one of the protected." I love his recap of the Closing Ceremonies... and the story of the Olympic Outhouse! I have to agree with you the people of Salt Lake City need to be congradulated for being such wonderful and gracious hosts.

Doc isn't the only one with access speed online today. Adelphia's email servers are suffering from being unable to authenticate passwords nationwide. Translation: My email's down and it can't get up. Is "Customer Service" an oxymoron? Must be! Every time I call Adelphia I get put on hold for at least 45 minutes and they can never-ever tell me what is really wrong! Between this situation and a loss of all Net access, or very s-l-o-w access in the past few weeks, I'm telling Adelphia I want CREDIT for loss of use... AND looking for someone to put a damn DSL in here-- pronto. Suggestions? Email me! Oops, I can't get email!

Just put up some of the SLC pictures here. More to come.
I'm off to drink coffee, go snag some money from the bank run errands.

Oh Mah Gawd! Just when you think it's safe to log off, I find David got interviewed by Keith Hammonds of Fast Company. I shall read it when I get home.

Everyone play nice!

Mary Wehmeier: Skating Diva

Ice Skates for Christmas

Why I Ended Up Being a Skater

Skating Diva Speaks: When Pigs Can Skate or Why I Quit Skating... Part 2

And People Wonder Why I Quit Skating... Part 1

Skating Diva: Women's Final Results - 2002 World Championships Nagano, Japan

Skating Diva: Slutskaya Wins 2002 Worlds, Kwan Silver, Suguri Bronze

Skating Diva Speaks: ISU President Cinquanta Says He Will Handover the Documents

Skating Diva: Report from World's Ladies Short - Dance

Skating Diva: Final Results Dance - 2002 World Championships Nagano, Japan

Skating Diva: Russians Win Ice Dance Gold - Slutskaya Passes Kwan in Short

Russians Win Ice Dance Gold, Slutskaya Passes Kwan in Short

Skating Diva: Women's Short Program Standings

Skating Diva Report: 2002 World Pairs Final Results

Skating Diva Report: World Championships OSP Round Finished Lobacheva - Averbukh lead.

Skating Diva News: Final Results Men's 2002 World Championships - Nagano, Japan

Skating Diva Report: Pairs Final Results

Skating Diva Reports: Wrap up on Women Freestyle Qualifying Rounds A & B

Women's Freeskating Event - B Level Qualifying Round Placements.

Women's Freeskating Event - A Level Qualifying Round Placements

The Skating Diva Speaks - Marie-Reine Le Gougne's and ISU President Cinquanta are Back in the News-- Again

Skating Diva: Report on the World Figure Skating Championships in Nagano

Something to do if you're in LA this weekend-- The 6th Annual United SKATES Synchronized Skating Challenge will take place on Saturday, March 9, 2002, 6-8PM at the Glacial Garden Ice Rink, Lakewood, California. I plan on being there. If you're coming, email me!

Skating Diva: Who's Not Going to Worlds

The Skating Diva Daily

Russians Win Ice Dance Gold,
Slutskaya Passes Kwan in Short