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Thursday, November 29, 2012

The Old Man and the Ice: Evgeni Plushenko en route to Sochi



Let me start this post by assuring all of you readers that I chose the title of this post in deep respect and in the knowledge that old in figure skating terms does not say very much about a person's actual age. Just look at the fellow in the picture above and then bridge the gap to one of my earlier posts about the 1998 Olympics. That guy here did compete back then and he faced off and beat, amongst others, Candeloro at 1998 European Championships. Talk about longevity incarnate.

Monday, November 26, 2012

Way to Spin, Ladies & Gentleman


Now that's what I call a great sit spin position, there's no fake sitting here.

Granted, I was never a fan of spinning, in fact I mostly didn't pay much attention to it. Until the man in the picture came along and changed it all for me..

Lambiel 2010 Gala

I dont know why it was Lambiel's spins that made me a "spinaholic" when in fact there were quite a few great spinners before him. Maybe it was the fact that the best spinners were unfortunately not the best jumpers and hence have never risen so high in the ranks. But, ever since I became a spin fan, I never stopped searching the best spins ever.. Here is a list of my favourites, in no specific order:

1) Lambiel 2007 Worlds Final Combo Spin

This spin is probably my favourite spin ever. Maybe it is not the best ever in terms of centering or speed but the timing of the final upright spin with the music crescendo is so incredible, I find myself getting goosebumps every time I watch it.


2) Lipnitskaya 2012 TEB Combo and Layback Spins 

The first time I saw these spins, I fell off my chair. Talk about insane flexibility!  Sasha Cohen called and she wants her signature I-spin back!


3) Czisny 2011 TEB Combo and Layback Spins

Czisny's speed and centering is almost as good every time. I especially love how she never loses speed when she is changing positions (not edges).


4) Krieg 1994 Olympics Combination Spin


Krieg was an amazing spinner, has great centering, wonderful speed and interesting positions throughout. Where was she from again? Oh, of course.. Switzerland.. Where else!


5) Ruh 1999 Worlds


I don't think I can pick a single spin among the five wonderful spins in this programme. For me, what makes her spins so delightful is not the incredible centering or the speed but the variations and wonderful nuances she created in these spins highlighting the music she was skating to. This is what spinning to music looks like.


6) Vorobieva 1998 Worlds Combo Spin

Another great example of a somewhat obscure skater with beatiful spins.


7) Zhang and the Pearl

Last but not least, a tribute to Zhang's beautiful Pearl Spin


Wednesday, November 21, 2012

Laying the foundations: My 1st Olympic experience

On a February weekend in 1998, skating history was made. Not only at the White Ring, Nagano, in distant Japan, but also on my couch in front of the telly.

In those days, I did not care very much for the Winter Olmypics. If anything, my family was more into the Summer Olympics. It is for that unfortunate reason that one of my most vivid Olympic memories from 1988 is not one of the epic battles of the Carmens or Brians. No, it is rather the memory of Jürgen Hingsen's three consecutive false starts in the 100 metre segment of the decathlon event and his subsequent disqualification. (Yes, believe it or not, you could get away with 2 false starts back then) Sports memories to cherish, I know.

Fast forward ten years, I'm aimlessly zapping around and, for want of better alternatives, stay with whatever sports are on. While I slowly accomodate into the day (I slept in that Saturday), figure skating is on and a slightly disappointed guy, Todd Eldredge, is sitting there and awaiting his marks. Afficionados of the sport probably know who took the ice next and made me watch the Men's free programme until the very end.



My 1st skating hero: Philippe Candeloro. I was in awe. So many nice details, flourishes, well matched music, dynamic and exiting and building choreography with a Cloak and Dagger theme to boot. And that skater was a performer who enjoyed what he did. It was done so well and it resonated with me. To put it shortly, I was enthralled by that performance. I loved that guy, and I thought him to be a man of great sophistication and taste. Honestly, I did.

Next up was Elvis Stojko. I remember our commentator being a little biased and calling him a "jumping machine" only. As we all know, he was injured at the time, so it was a somewhat restrained performance, in addition to the famous Stojko intensity Elvis projected. The Medal ceremony was exceptional as well, with Elvis limping onto the ice in his sports shoes.



These two skaters alone had made a great impression upon me. One a man of great sophistication and artistic taste, the other an athletic miracle who skates through the pain without any mistake. A sport with such characters and where you can find all that in only two performances just had to be great. What did I do the following day? Needless to say, I watched the exhibition. And the free skate re-run, of course.

That was the defining event in my genesis as a skating fan. Those two days were enough to lay the foundation of enthusiasm that has kept me interested in the sport ever since. It was purely a matter of chance and I lucked out.

Tuesday, November 20, 2012

Once Upon a Time in Show Skating

The demise of figure skating viewership been an ongoing complaint, many blaming the introduction of IJS and declining creativity. However, another aspect of the decline that has been mostly ignored is show skating's quality. I am not just talking about professional tours but also the exhibition shows for competitions. Spending my adolescence and young adulthood watching the golden age of skating, I find it difficult to stomach most of the exhibitions programmes today.

I know all about the financial difficulties most skaters face today, the high requirements of COP and the limited remaining time and resources to dedicate to decent exhibition programmes but for me, all of these reasons still don't excuse the lackluster programmes put out on the ice. Since 2006, I have been trying to follow exhibitions but end up finding myself distracted or bored to sleep.

The thing is, I do believe creating innovative or groundbreaking show numbers like this one below for instance is time and money consuming:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pb6C_Kq9yxM

However, I believe creating something entertaining and fun without stretching your resources shouldn't be that difficult. Perfect examples:


Unfortunately, I see very little of these performances as of late. Granted, Verner has an innate showmanship but one needn't rip off his/her pants or show off his arm muscles for the desired effect, nor does one need to twirl around his partner on top of his head like Bonheur (although they are always welcome. :)) ) Nevertheless, picking an interesting showpiece music and integrating a few different and interesting moves to that music should usually suffice. I find it ironic that most top skaters seem to lack this ability or desire, while some of the lower ranked skaters in competition can come up with the most entertaining show numbers. And it really wasn't the case before, which is more depressing.

I think ladies are the worst in this respect. Most are too afraid to leave their safe zone of skating with generic moves to romantic slow pop music and thus temporarily curing my life-long battle with insomnia. For me, the most surprising of those skaters was Yuna Kim, precisely because she is anything but generic or boring in competition, she is the fire and grace on ice at the same time. I am curious if this is a cultural thing, although given Mao Asada's show numbers, I highly doubt it:

So I wonder, will the skating gods ever grace us again with such lovely and sometimes highly LOLsy show numbers:
 



Introducing: Grays Sports Almanac 2000-2050

"Grays Sports Almanac 2000-2050" will be our recurring column for previewing and, more importantly, accurately predicting upcoming events from the world of figure skating. With a little help from this book, which btw. came into our possession under quite mysterious circumstances, we'll be able to foretell any result in any segment with 100% accuracy. Unfortunately, divulging this information here may cause a divergence from the original timeline, which may prevent our predictions from coming true in the first place. However, as we don't give a rusty hoot about the time-space continuum, we'll gladly indulge in entertaining you with what at least very well might have been. And before anyone asks, the almanac is neither for sale nor for loan. We gave it away once, roughly three years ago, and still regret it.