Torino - Figure Skating Drama

Figure skating alway seems to create the news stories at the Olympics. In Salt Lake it was Jamie Salé and David Pelletier and the French Judge scandal. Now, today, Michelle Kwan announced that she is withdrawing from the US Team due to injury. The unscheduled news conference and follow-up interview in the studio here, had us all scrambling this morning in Comms.

At the US Nationals, Sasha Cohen took 1st, Kimmie Meissner took 2nd, and Emily Hughes took 3rd, all three earning spots on the US Olympic team. (Thanks to Andy, for the correction on this!)

Michelle Kwan did not compete, as she was recovering from injury, but petitioned the USOC for a spot on the team based on past performance and the hope that she would recover in time for the Olympics. The petition was granted, with the provision that she be evaluated by the USOC a week before the games. She passed the evaluation, and Emily Hughes was bumped from the team for Michelle Kwan.

At practice yesterday, Michelle only practiced one of her triples, two-footing once, falling the second time, and turning the third attempt into a double. She was visibly distraught after the practice, and this morning announced that she would withdraw, allowing Emily Hughes to compete.

Disappointing for Michelle, but the right thing to do, as many people had thought that Emily had earned the right to compete at the Nationals.

Susan, Caitie, and I have been watching a show on TLC called Ice Diaries which has been following some up-and-coming US Figure Skaters as they hoped to qualify for the Olympics. The show is a neat insight into the world of competitive Figure Skating. Of the skaters on this show, 2 are on the USOC C-Team, and 1 is on the B-Team (where Emily Hughes had been).

Here's a photo of a young Canadian up-and-coming Synchronized Skater (Caitie) during the warm-up at a recent competition with her Iced Energy team...



The team skates to the music from My Best Friend's Wedding, and they are dressed as bridesmaids. The team won gold at their first two competitions this year, and silver at a competition this past Saturday (with many of the team sick with the flu)...