I'm having an amazing time in India...it's great! Many of the people that I'm meeting here are asking me about my interests and of course figure skating comes to the forefront. When I mention figure skating, many of the people here immediately bring up Elvis Stojko.
How weird that Elvis Stojko is a slight celebrity here in India (or at the very least Hyderabad, India!). I asked a friend, Anand, why he liked Elvis Stojko so much and he replied, "he is very cool, has great hair, and very fashionable."
I'm not kidding...I couldn't make this up if I tried!
As I write to you, I'm currently in Terminal 3, K Concourse, at Chicago O'Hare preparing to board a flight to London and then to India (see my other blog!)!
So as I pondered what should be the pic of the week, I thought it should be Indian themed! But what about India has anything to do with Figure Skating! And then I remembered.
Meet Ami Parekh. Ami is the first figure skater from India to compete in the World Figure Skating Championships. She placed 44th (due in part to a back injury) in the short program in 2007 and while she may not have been a medal contender, she certainly put India on the map!
For all you U.S. skating buffs, the name may sound familiar as she has been a Junior National competitor here in the U.S. She has dual citizenship both here and India and choose to compete for India when they became provisional members of the ISU.
Today, Ami is attending college and hopes to become a doctor. What a wonderful success story!
National figure skating competitor Melissa Bulanhagui dispenses advice about balancing skating, school, prom, community service, church and everything else. This is from an interesting and innovative figure skating website.
It has been such a sad week in figure skating. I wanted this pic of the week to be happy and uplifting. I decided to feature the happiest moment in figure skating.
But what is the happiest moment in figure skating? This question alone could be quite a topic of discussion on this blog! It's a matter of opinion I suppose so I decided to settle it the only way I know how...Google! I went to Google, typed in "happiest moment in figure skating" and Google returned with a quite appropriate answer via the Encyclopedia Britannica website!
Apparently, as per Google, the happiest moment in figure skating belongs to Irina Slutskaya at the 2005 World Figure Skating Championships in Moscow! To understand why this might in fact be the happiest moment in figure skating, we have to go all the way back to the 2002-2003 figure skating season.
She was coming off of a win at the 2002 World Championships and skating very well. However, as the season progressed, her mother was becoming very ill. To care for her mother, Irina decided to not compete in the 2003 World Championships. As her mother recovered, ironically, Irina became ill and was diagnosed with debilitating vasculitis.
Determined to not give in, she took advice from her doctors, and sat out of figure skating competition for an entire year. She made a competitive re-debut at the 2004 World Championships where she finished 9th. It was at this point that many said, "Well...she's done."
But determined beyond belief, Irina trained hard, worked through her illness, and showed up at the 2004 Cup of China on a mission. She won that event and went on to win Cup of Russia, the Grand Prix Final, Russian Nationals, and the European Championships which brings us back to the 2005 World Figure Skating Championships.
She had to this point an undefeated season, coming off a season where she had finished 9th at worlds! She was in her hometown, and there was no way Cohen, Kostner, or Kwan was gonna get in her way! She not only won the competition, she blew through the competition! Landing 7 triples including a triple lutz/triple loop combo (a feat she hadn't accomplished in competition since the 2000 Grand Prix Final).
It couldn't have been scripted any better for the headlines! "Skater makes amazing comeback caps undefeated season and crowned World Champion at home!" After the event, Irina remarked: "I'm very happy because I think nobody else in this championship had to come back so many times and to go through as many hard moments like I did. I was really ready, and did it! It's what I've been waiting for all season. For the first time I won every competition I entered." It was really a very happy moment! I'll let all of you decide if it was the happiest!
p.s. I bet if you ask Irina what her happiest moment is, she'll tell you November 15, 2007! Need a clue...it's a boy!
Goodness, a very sad week in figure skating indeed. Just yesterday, Joan Manley has passed away at the age of 73. Joan, of course, is the mother of Canadian skating star and Olympic Silver Medalist Liz Manley.
Memorials may be sent to:
National Ovarian Cancer Association 101-145 Front St. East, Toronto, Ontario, M5A 1E3
Horrible news indeed. Apparently Wednesday last, Bernadette LaRoche was killed by her estranged husband, William LaRoche. He then killed himself after the terrible murder.
Apparently the news sent shock waves through the skating community around Templeton, Massachusetts where the murder took place. The couples son, Nicholas LaRoche, is a senior-level competitive figure skater, most recently finishing 7th at the 2007 U.S. Figure Skating Championships.
It would seem, in December, Mrs. LaRoche had a restraining order put on Mr. LaRoche and had it renewed in April. According to the Worcester Telegram, Templeton police were called to the home about 1:40 p.m. after a business acquaintance of Ms. LaRoche could not get anyone to answer the door at the Cape Cod-style house, which is in a wooded section of town about one mile from Templeton Center. Police forced entry and found the bodies.
Anyone wishing to send Nick messages of condolences may do so at his website here, or by postal mail at:
Toyota Training Center Attention: Nicholas LaRoche 555 North Nash Street El Segundo, California 90245
How very terrible this situation is. It's just unbelievable.
So the ISU has published all the changes they have made to the figure skating rule book. I'm usually very good at deciphering these but there are a couple I find quite confusing.
If you care to see the whole list, do so by clicking here.
Dick Button has finally gotten his way on sit spins. A sit spin will only be counted as a completed spin if the buttock is not above the knee and the upper part of the leg is parallel to the ice (as demonstrated by The Grinch)!
Also, the wrong edge deduction for skaters has been scaled back a bit. Skaters will only receive the nasty "e" on the jump if it was one of those clearly flutzed things with a long, drawn out entrance. If the flutz is shorter or not as prominent, than skaters only get an "!" and the judges can decide what to take off, if anything. Meaning, flutzes no longer mean mandatory point loss.
This is the part I don't get, maybe someone can explain:
Have one element less in a Well Balanced Free Program of all the categories with the following result: a) Senior both Men and Ladies: maximum of three (3) spins, one of which must be a spin combination, one a flying spin and one a spin with only one position; b) Junior Men: maximum of one (1) step sequence; c) Junior Ladies: maximum of one (1) step sequence and no any Spiral Sequence; d) Senior and Junior Pairs: maximum of 1 Step Sequence and no Spiral Sequence (seasons 2008-2009, 2010-2011); maximum of 1 Sequence of Spirals and no Step Sequence (season 2009-2010).
Junior skaters can now do a Triple Axel in their short programs...that's fun! And Pairs Teams will now get more points for lifts after the halfway point in their programs in addition to the jumps.
Also...no more dramatic waiting and pacing around the ice after they call your name...now you get 60 seconds!
Oh no, apparently the string of Russian car thefts amongst the figure skating community continues. First it was Alexei Yagudin...now it's his former coach, Tatiana Tarasova.
Much like Alexei, thieves made away with personal items and her luxury car, with estimated losses of several million rubles!
IMPORTANT NEWS BULLETIN...ALL RUSSIAN SKATERS...KEEP YOUR CARS SAFE!
UPDATE: Oh, very interesting. It appears it was a Lexus RX300 Tarasova has had stolen from her. And even more intersting, it was a gift from Yagudin after he won the Olympics! I'm starting to think this may be a high end job for someone who likes expensive Russian memorabilia!
All this talk about Katarina Witt last week got me thinking about two other figure skaters that I count amongst my favorites. And I dearly miss them from competition but that is the way of things I suppose.
My favorite moment for Kati Winkler & Rene Lohse came at the 2004 World Championship. This event was their final competitive event as eligible skaters and it was in Germany, their home country.
To understand how special an event this was for this Ice Dance team, you must understand their history. They made it to the World Championships as often as they didn't. This team had so many fluke injuries over the years it's amazing they made it all the way to 2004 competitively. Also leading up to the 2004 World Championships, they had missed most of the season due to injury so it was simply a blessing they were there.
But the amazing part is they skated so well! Three teams that had given them a run the past season, Grushina and Goncharov, Belbin and Agosto, as well as Delobel and Schoenfelder, were unable to get past the Germans who gave the performances of their lives! In the end, Kati and Rene won the Bronze Medal, and, most importantly for them, the crowd! Just to bring this full circle, their biggest fan cheering for them at the event...Katarina Witt (Apparently Katarina and Kati go way back).
Below is another favorite program of mine they performed during the 2000-2001 season. It's Gospel inspired and quite original!
I'm having an amazing time in India...it's great! Many of the people that I'm meeting here are asking me about my interests and of course figure skating comes to the forefront. When I mention figure skating, many of the people here immediately bring up Elvis Stojko.
