Thursday, February 25, 2010

MY SAFE PREDICTION? YET AGAIN, MICHELLE KWAN WILL NOT WIN GOLD: Open thread for discussion of tonight's ladies free skate, with a few of my favorite links to tide you over: the Surya Bonaly illegal backlip from Nagano (FF to 3:15); Sarah Hughes reflects on her 2002 win (with video now here); Gretchen's recap of the 2006 long program; Chris Farley's skating routine; some Oksana Baiul and, for the guys, Katarina Witt's long programs from 1984, 1988 and 1994 And since I only tell these stories every four years, a 1992 flashback involving figure skating and decapitation, after the break:
The first day of their competition Wednesday at the Olympic Ice Hall featured intimidation, last-minute strategy changes and more than a few hard knocks. There was no body checking, but it is possible that one of the women tried to decapitate another.

... Although [Surya Bonaly] did not enter the Winter Olympics as a medal favorite, the teen-ager from Paris who once booed the judges when they gave her low scores in the World Championships proved again earlier in the day that she is not one to go gently into the second tier.

During a practice, she performed a back flip that seemed designed to sever Midori Ito's head at the neck. There was no contact, but Ito, the favorite from Japan, obviously was shaken.

"She didn't do it on purpose," said her coach, Didier Gailhaguet. "I apologize to (Midori) if it bothered her."

After the incident, Ito landed only three of the 10 triple axels that she tried, which might have been the reason that she decided to leave that jump, the most complicated of the triples, out of her original program.
One male figure skating link, because Johnny Weir is awesome.

7 comments:

  1. Meghan8:14 PM

    I loved Katarina Witt back in the day.  How come she's only for the guys?

    Surya Bonali always seemed nuts to me.

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  2. Fred App9:31 PM

    I don't follow figure skating, so I need someone to explain: Why would the backflip be "illegal"?

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  3. Too dangerous; they didn't want kids trying to learn it. (And, technically, if you can't land it on one foot it's not a jump.)  So they dock you points if you do one.

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  4. calliekl9:56 PM

    How about the women's free skate known as hockey? Another fantastic hockey game, albeit with some disappointing results and uneven officiating (not really sure the official knows what offsides is or when she was supposed to call it). I am LOVING all of the Olympic hockey, it's made me more excited for the game than I have been in years...

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  5. D'Arcy10:39 PM

    Oh, I don't know, I wouldn't say the results are disappointing :)  And uneven officiating?  USA had two five on three power plays and they called a diving penalty on Canada.  I'd say the difference was goaltending - Szabados was just unbelievable.

    I know why Witt's for the guys.  At the university I went to, the faculties of mathematics and engineering didn't get a week off for Reading Week (our Spring Break) so my friends in those programs (mostly guys) were at school together during the 98 Olympics.  They created a new shooter in honour while watching the figure skating, called Witt's Tits.

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  6. calliekl7:33 AM

    I didn't mean that the officiating was more in favor of Canada than not, and I'm definitely not saying they didn't deserve to win- the goalie for Canada was amazing, she stopped many shots that would have gone in against other teams. I just meant that I could definitely see what the commentators were saying about needing 2 officials to watch the action around the puck- 1 person tends to miss alot.

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  7. Natalie10:49 AM

    Do you remember when Surya landed it on one foot though? That was tres awesome.

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