Wednesday, January 13, 2010 10:02 PM EST
Kids get chance to see Chan skate
Link to this postTuesday, December 29, 2009 2:45 PM EST
Russian pair losing race against time
Sigh. Watching the reigning world ice dancing champions from Russia try to recover from injury is painful, very painful indeed, especially with the Vancouver Olympics only weeks away.
Oksana Domnina and Maxim Shabalin are in a race against time and they’re losing, although you wouldn’t know it by the stellar marks they received by homeland judges, giving them an easy victory in their national championship last week.
Domnina and Shabalin haven’t been seen all season, because Shabalin is the one with all the injury problems. His knee in particular is in shatters, and ice dancers, above all, need their knees.
Monday, December 28, 2009 4:14 PM EST
Plushenko's 'record' offers more judging questions than answers
Evgeni Plushenko is still king of Russia.
But the world? We don’t know yet.
The sports pages yesterday hailed that the defending Olympic champion from the Turin Games had set a world best mark of 271.59 points in winning his eighth Russian title at his national championships on Saturday. But good thing that the International Skating Union doesn’t count domestic scores in its records, because sometimes the home side gets a little overenthusiastic before a big event, particularly an Olympic Games. And Russian judges are the most devoted, even ebullient, of all in regards to supporting their own before they go off to war.
If Plushenko’s score was to be considered an actual world record, it would mean he had blasted the top mark set by the expressive dervish Daisuke Takahashi of Japan, who stunned everybody at the 2008 Four Continents Championships with a 264.41 score. And that was a mark handed out by international judges, with no nationalistic cards to play (hopefully).
(Also last Saturday, Takahashi won his fourth national title with 261.13 points, and he was disappointed with his performance, downgrading a quad to a triple, stumbling, and then fumbling his way out of another triple later. So high scores there, too, but with Takahashi, they have a lot of content to mark.)
And how did Plushenko skate to earn such a mark as 271.59, which is 7.18 points higher than the actual ISU record? Not bad for a guy who had an old war wound surface in the weeks before the national event, probably from training unthinkable jump combinations, like a triple Axel-quadruple toe loop (You can watch it on Plushenko’s website, evgeni-plushenko.com, and if you ask his coach Alexei Mishin nicely, he might let you see it on his iphone.) He was able to train only a week before nationals, and is faced with getting painful shots into his joints to deaden the pain en route to the Olympics.
But his performance wasn’t great enough for a score like that.
Plushenko won the short program with 100.09 points, a world best, too, even though he stepped out of a triple Lutz, and broke at the waist to land his other jumps. (Plushenko has the world record of 90.66, set in Turin.) Plushenko himself says his performance didn’t match the score he got, and he also shouldn’t have been getting bonus marks for execution. (Takahashi won the short program in Japan with 92.85 points, which would have beaten Plushenko’s world record - but it’s a domestic score. Takahashi went into the long program more than 12 points ahead of his nearest competitor.
Plushenko’s long program, to a tango that rarely became evident, was similar to his short. There were the endless crosscuts to gain speed, then the long windups to launch himself into jumps, when choreography and expression disappeared. The spins were ordinary, not crisp or fast. His famous Biellmann spin - invented by a woman and rare for a male - is long gone.
By comparison, Takahashi’s jumps come out of nowhere, suddenly, explosively. And boy, does this son of a hair stylist throw himself into a show with his whole heart. His footwork is swift and complex.
The wild and crazy marks at the Russian championships are a perfect illustration that scores cannot be compared from one competition to another, as the ISU hoped when they set up the expensive judging system system, because every judging panel is different. And the wild marks also illustrated that when judges are willing, they can do anything with the marks that they want, and the marks don’t have to reflect what actually happens on the ice.
Best place to throw on extra marks? In the presentation marks, and in the grade of execution marks for elements.
In his short program and long programs, Plushenko was getting presentation marks that ranged from averages of 9.00 to 9.32 out of 10, marks that are reserved only for the very best, the stars, the accomplished. Few get them. That means some of his hearth-home judges gave him marks in the high nines for his nearly non-existent transitions, his interpretation (of the tango?), his skating skills, his choreography.
Think the judging scandals of the Salt Lake City Games are over? Not by a long shot.
Our only hope is that when all of the skaters of the world get together, in front of international judges - that hopefully don’t exhibit biases in the world’s most important skating event - that these sort of performances aren’t rewarded. If they are, the sport is in trouble.
Tuesday, December 1, 2009 7:32 PM EST
Finally an Olympic preview . . . sort of
Sunday, November 22, 2009 1:36 PM EST
Underhill, Duguay reprise 'Battle of the Blades' number
It was an exhibition practice like no other during the final morning of Skate Canada Sunday.
Who should show up but Barbara Underhill and her Battle of the Blades partner Ron Duguay, wearing a Rangers sweatshirt, and looking very much like a hockey player on his hockey skates (Did he know that he was skating in the rink of another Rangers team – the Kitchener Rangers?) with Underhill wearing hockey skates as well.
Duguay, who admits he now feels more comfortable on figure skates than hockey skates, wanted to don the fancy skating blades for the exhibition practice, but he could not. As part of the exhibition gala for Skate Canada, Underhill and Duguay were to do their first number from Battle of the Blades, in which they wear both hockey skates.
Duguay knew they were thinking: “Who is this guy in the blue jeans?’’ Patrick Chan stopped by for a chat. He had come to see Battle of the Blades in Maple Leaf Gardens and he’s a supporter.
By the end of the series, Chan thought the hockey players looked like novice or junior pairs. “The top three guys in the final episode even looked like figure skaters,’’ he said. “They dressed like them and they skated like them. It was really cool. I was very proud of them and I respect them a lot to have the guts to do that. It’s totally different. It’s night and day, figure skating and hockey.’’
During the practice, most of the world’s top skaters paid little heed to the odd couple, but once in a while, they’d get a cursory glance. Duguay, 52, taller, bigger, stronger, more rugged looking than the rest, took a long careful look at Jessica Dube and Bryce Davison, doing a complicated lift. When Duguay wasn’t looking, Davison was watching him, sporting a grin.
But when Underhill and Duguay were to do their routine and were announced as the competitors from the Battle of the Blades, the waves parted, the rest of the skaters stood by the boards and watched, and the crowd gave the interlopers the biggest reaction of them all.
Afterward, Russian pair skater Maria Mukhortova applauded. So did Daisuke Takahashi, the men’s silver medalist here.
Many of the international skaters may not have known what Battle of the Blades was. It aired only on CBC in Canada.
If there is another Battle of the Blades, the producers will have to find eight hockey players who are the equal of the ones in the first series: good skaters and entertainers at heart.
“And the wife has to agree,’’ Duguay said. “The ladies are very attractive, and there’s a lot of touching and holding.’’
“We’re so used to it,’’ Underhill said. “It’s a job.’’
The butt lift to Underhill is more than a butt lift to Duguay. “It was very uncomfortable when I had to do a butt lift,’’ he said. That’s the one where the man supports the woman – up in the air – with his hand beneath her butt.
Duguay admits he never was a figure skating fan although his parents were. His father was a tried and true hockey man, but Duguay couldn’t figure out why his father enjoyed watching figure skating with his mother so much.
Now he pays attention. He watches figure skating.
Duguay said he’ll keep his figure skates. Whether he’ll skate again in them is another question. Now that Underhill has come back, she said she’ll continue to skate and train. “I’m so happy when I skate,’’ she said.
“My daughter was devastated when I retired. She was five. For her to see me on the ice again was huge.’’
And not only that, her daughter sang for Underhill and Duguay’s exhibition on the final show of the Battle of the Blades. Underhill’s longtime partner, Paul Martini, was a major part of the exhibition.
Underhill had long wanted to skate again with Martini to her daughter’s voice, but Martini had flatly said no.
But as a coach on Battle of the Blades, with his skates on again, working on ice, Martini gradually became convinced to skate the exhibition on the final show.
It was the highlight of the entire series.
Thursday, November 12, 2009 12:56 PM EST
Lake Placid special place for Poetsch
The Olympic arenas in Lake Placid, N.Y., still hold special memories for athletes who competed there.
The Americans will always remember the scene at the 1980 Olympic Arena when the U.S. men’s hockey team upset the then-Soviet Union to win the gold medal. It was and is still referred to as the Miracle on Ice.
But Americans aren’t the only ones stirred by the sight of the rink.
One fall day this year, Canadian figure skating team leader Louis Stong stumbled across Annett Poetsch of the former East Germany, who won the women’s gold medal in 1980. She showed up at Lake Placid early in the Junior Grand Prix season as a coach. Stong found her one day standing in silence, by herself, staring quietly at the USA arena where the compulsory figures were held.
There was something about her mien and body language that prompted Stong to ask her: “Are you okay?’’
She nodded, but tears were in her eyes.
Suddenly it dawned on him. “Have you not been here since 1980?” he asked her.
She shook her head.
She was looking at the USA arena, not the Olympic arena, but it was in the USA arena at the complex that she actually won her gold medal, Stong said. She won the compulsory figures there.
She hadn’t laid eyes on the scene in 29 years.
Since then, she’s been married twice. And her daughter competed as a pair skater. She also works as a technical caller in the new judging system and a good one by all reports.
Friday, November 6, 2009 2:15 PM EST
Watching the skate wars from afar
I’m about as far away from the figure skating wars as possible, sitting at Santa Anita Park in Los Angeles, with a foggy view of the San Gabriel Mountains hovering above my laptop.
This is horse heaven here today, at the Breeders’ Cup world thoroughbred championships, with nary an ice chip or a skating blade in sight. Across the Pacific Ocean, Canadian skaters are struggling to find medals at Big Hat arena in Nagano, site of the 1998 Olympics. These are two different worlds.
Canadian horses are here this weekend, searching for “medals” too against the best in the world. It is their Olympic Games. Already at 8 a.m., cars were lined up to get into Santa Anita. The chef at The Carvery on the first floor was brandishing his knife. And for some reason, Breeders’ Cup folks still think it’s a good idea to charge $10 for grandstand admission, at a time when the American economy isn’t at its zenith. It’ll be interesting to see how many people show up for this spectacle today and tomorrow.
Santa Anita itself? Beautiful racetrack. VAST grandstand, with wooden chairs that remind you of a 1940s setting. Stunning views. A special place.
While I’m gone, Battle of the Blades continues apace this weekend, with Katarina Witt as guest judge. Both I and two-time world champion, Stephane Lambiel of Switzerland, have been at just about every Sunday night event. He’s quite amused by it all. So am I.
Last Sunday night, the entertainment didn’t start with the CBC show. Co-host Kurt Browning decided to get a little exercise before the show started, not an easy task in the spotlights and the lighting display of rotating logos. Once the lights went up, Browning set to work, astonishing people who were filing to their seats. He landed several triple toe loop – triple toe loop jump combinations. And then a couple of double Axel – half loop – triple Salchow sequences. Not bad for a 43-year-old who has had knee surgery.
True to form, Browning took some pratfalls, and made them look as if he did them on purpose. He has a particular skill at making people laugh and entertaining them.
Browning wrapped up his show with one last bit of showmanship. Donald Jackson was sitting in the front row of chairs on the ice. This is the Donald Jackson who was the first man to land a triple Lutz in competition in 1962 and who won Canada’s first world figure skating title among men with a gutsy come-from-behind performance – the ultimate competitor. Jackson started a train of ground-breaking Canadian males in the sport: Donald McPherson, Toller Cranston, Vern Taylor (first man to land a triple Axel), Brian Orser, Browning, Elvis Stojko, Jeff Buttle, and why not? Let’s throw Gary Beacom in there.
Browning swirled up to Jackson, knelt down and kissed his shoe.
Enough said.
Go Figure Contributors
Beverley Smith
Beverley Smith has covered 28 Canadian figure skating championships, and 22 world figure skating championships for The Globe and Mail and has written four skating books, one of which, Talking Figure Skating, won an award as Canada’s best sports book of the year in 1997. She won the Doug Gilbert Award for coverage of amateur sport in 1988 and was a finalist for a National Newspaper sports award in 1999.
