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Yesterday marked the first day of
the inaugural Olympic figure skating team event – an event that has mystified
even the hardest of hardcore skating fans, most of whom associate “team figure
skating” with cheesy
televised events from the 1990s starring Oksana Baiul and Nancy Kerrigan. Here
is a decent breakdown of how scoring works, but the main idea is that each
of the ten qualifying countries fields one skater or pair per discipline (men,
ladies, pairs and ice dance) in the short program. The top five scoring
countries across all four events will advance to the long program, which will
combine with short program results to determine the medals.
Really, the team event is an
excuse to get one of the Winter Olympics’ highest-rated sports on television
for a few more nights. It also adds shades of camaraderie and a bit of
nationalism to a traditionally individualistic sport. As a skeptic of this
event coming into the Olympics, I must admit that I’ve loved the cute little
country seating sections and seeing my favorite skaters cheer each other on in
the normally tense and dramatic Kiss and Cry. The men’s and pairs’ short
programs proved to be wildly entertaining and unpredictable. Here is a brief
recap of how things went down:
1.
Russia
– It was no surprise that reigning World Champion pair Tatiana Volosozhar and
Maxim Trankov threw down a textbook perfect short program that put them in
first place by over ten points. They even caused a minor
stir in the Twitter-sphere with their Cinderella and Prince
Charming-inspired look. However, few expected reigning Olympic silver medalist
(and self-proclaimed
platinum medalist) Evgeni Plushenko to finish second in a difficult men’s
field after suffering countless injuries over the last four years. My jaw
dropped when he landed a flawless quad toe-triple toe combo on what I can only
assume is a bionic knee. From a presentation standpoint, Plushenko’s skate was
the same old, same old – not a lot of speed, few transitions between technical
elements, too much posing and flailing without purpose – but reputation
inflation is nothing new in this sport. With strong ladies and ice dance teams,
Russia should have few difficulties staying on top.
2.
Canada
– As expected, Canada already looks to be Russia’s strongest challenger for the
gold. Things did not go entirely according to plan yesterday, as three-time
reigning World Champion Patrick Chan had a rough skate. His superior basic
skating skills and interpretation gave him enough of a cushion to finish third
(fans call his ability to score well no matter how he skates “Chanflation”),
but this is not the start Chan had hoped for in his quest to become Canada’s
first Olympic men’s gold medalist. The pairs’ event went better for Team
Canada, as Meagan Duhamel and Eric Radford turned in their best short program
of the season for a second place finish. These two make up for their relative
weakness in artistry with insane technical difficulty. As the Olympics progress,
take note of Meagan Duhamel’s extreme OCD as she frantically breaks down every
performance in the Kiss and Cry and attempts to calculate her score.
3.
China
– Team China definitely overperformed yesterday, especially in the absence
of World Champion pair Pang Qing and Tong Jian, who are resting up for the main
pairs’ event. Their replacements, Peng Cheng and Zhang Hao, are a classic
“gorilla and flea” pair. He is a big, hulking 29 year-old, while she is a
petite, limber teenager. The physical differences are jarring, but they make up
for it with stunning overhead lifts and eye-popping throws. This is one
performance I wish had made the main NBC broadcast, as they really were
terrific in their Olympic debut. China also got a boost from teen phenom Yan
Han, who landed a beautiful triple axel followed by a clean quad toe in an
impressive Olympic debut. He still lacks the polish and maturity of the other
top men, but he proved his competitive worth and established himself as a force
to be reckoned with over the next Olympic cycle.
4.
Japan
– In a star-making performance, Yuzuru Hanyu firmly took the lead in the men’s
competition. Hanyu has had an army of screaming Japanese fangirls for the last
few seasons, and if
Twitter is any indication, he gained plenty of American fans last night. Japan’s
lead in the team competition was to be short-lived, as their strengths are
strictly limited to the individual events. Despite a noble effort from Narumi
Takahashi and Ryuchi Kihara, they could not overcome their lack of technical
difficulty and poor unison.
5.
Germany
– With a bit of a messy contest that resulted in a three-way tie for fifth,
the Germans wound up on top thanks to the tiebreaking procedure. They can
probably thank an out-of-nowhere great skate from Peter Liebers – a man who
tends to toil in the 15th-18th range of the World Championships. Liebers landed
a quad toe and triple axel to a muzak arrangement of Coldplay while his
teammates enthusiastically
rang a cowbell from the sidelines. Former World Champion pair Aliona
Savchenko and Robin Szolkowy sat this contest out to focus on the real pairs’
contest, but replacement husband-wife team Maylin and Daniel Wende saved the
day with disco-ball inspired costumes and a Guns N’ Roses program.
6.
France
– The always-amusing Florent Amodio served us some amazing man cleavage and
all sorts of sass on his step sequence. One wonders if he could have landed
that quad salchow if he spent more time training and less time acting.
He still managed to land in the top five of the men’s field, but a
near-meltdown from pair Vanessa James and Morgan Cipres put them in a difficult
spot halfway through the short programs.
7.
United
States – I don’t even know what to say. Jeremy Abbott is a wonderful
skater, but he doesn’t know how to hold it together in major international
competitions. I was thrilled he had the competition of his career and won U.S.
Nationals in January, but deep down I knew he would collapse when it really
mattered. His fall on the quad toe early in the program was not a total deal
breaker, but that single axel showed a complete lack of fight that is
unsettling to see from an Olympian. On the pairs’ front, Marissa Castelli and
Simon Shnapir were always going to be the weak link for the U.S. in the team
event. Despite a stumble on the side-by-side triple salchows, their fifth place
finish was likely their ceiling anyway. Team USA will have to rely on their
strong ladies and ice dancers to dig them out of this hole and put them in
medal contention.
8.
Italy
– Team Italy got off to a disastrous start when Paul Bonafacio Parkinson
crashed on two of his jumping passes (while skating in Armani to a very
Eurotrash-y arrangement of Beethoven) and finished dead last in the men’s
event. Stefania Berton and Ondrej Hotarek had a clean skate to music from the
Jim Carrey classic The Mask – a more
common figure skating selection than you might think – to finish fourth in the
pairs’ field. With strong contenders in the ladies’ and dance events, Italy
still has a shot to move up and claim a spot in the coveted top five.
9.
Ukraine
– The Ukrainians fall firmly in the “happy to be here” camp, as they lack
top international contenders in any of the four disciplines. Both of their
entrants on day one skated respectably, but suffered from a lack of difficulty.
At least they aren’t last!
10. Great
Britain – Once a skating powerhouse, Team Britain also came into this
competition without much of a chance at advancing to the long program. Matthew
Parr only attempted a double axel in the short program, leading some of the
cattier members of the skating community (i.e., yours truly) to label him a
“ladies’ skater.” Stacey Kemp and David King are an internationally ranked pair
with World Championship experience, but they made major mistakes on their side-by-side
double axels and throw triple flip, thus landing them in last place. The Brits
at least deserve a prize for sportsmanship, as they all showed admirable
enthusiasm in the Kiss and Cry throughout the event.
The figure skating team event will
continue on Saturday with the ladies’ and ice dance short programs, followed by
the pairs’ long program. What did you think of figure skating’s newest
competition? Will you join me in lighting a candle and saying a little prayer
for Team USA?
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