Winter Olympics: Pairs Figure Skating Live
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA—The feeling in the room is electric. Maybe it’s the years of watching figure skating as a little girl or maybe it’s because there is a little magic in the air tonight.
Here at the Pacific Coliseum, the second night of pairs figure skating is about to get underway. The first group of couples is warming up on the ice, the crowd is buzzing and the press tribunes are packed. So stay tuned for the free program live from Vancouver!
5:17 p.m.: The first two pairs from Germany and Ukraine have taken the ice, but the pairs to watch are yet to come. Xue Shen and Hongbo Zhao come into the free program in first place after a flawless performance in the short program last night. But the room is also buzzing about Aliona Savchenko and Robin Szolkowy of Germany in second and Yuko Kavaguti and Alexander Smirnov of Russia in third. Canadian hometown favorites Jessica Dube and Bryce Davison are in sixth, while Team USA’s Amanda Evora and Mark Ladwig are in 10th, and Caydee Denney and Jeremy Barrett are 14th of 20 couples. 5:25 p.m.: We’re in the middle of group one and a pair from Poland is ready to take the ice. She looks like a ballerina. And appropriately so, they’re skating to Romeo and Juliet.
5:30 p.m.: Ooh, she just stumbled. The reporter next to me snarks, “I think we’re gonna not want to watch this one and just listen to the music.”
5:35 p.m.: An “Oooooh” from the crowd as Mateusz Chruscinski tumbles to his knees. And that will do it for Poland.
5:40 p.m.: Americans Caydee Denney and Jeremy Barrett will be in the next group of fours pairs to take the ice. At 16 years old, Denney is the youngest athlete on all of Team USA. She and Barrett have been skating together since June 2008. Fun fact about Denney: She began as a roller skater and was a national juvenile roller singles champion and national elementary pairs roller champion. Who knew there was such a thing? Her favorite part of the Olympic experience other than competing? “Getting all of the Olympic clothes was really, really fun,” she said.
5:41 p.m.: Group 2 is on the ice warming up. I see some funky, funky costumes out there.
5:47 p.m.: Great Britain, what’s with the super traditional costume and music? It’s not bad, it’s just not exciting.
5:49 p.m.: They made up for a boring costume with a beautiful Throw Triple Toeloop.
5:52 p.m.: I feel bad when skaters stumble. How they do what they do boggles my mind. I trip over my own feet on solid ground. On ice? Forget it.
5:54 p.m.: I just heard that the Princess of Jordan, or some member of Jordanian royalty is sitting a few rows in front of me.
5:57 p.m.: Team France’s Triple Lutz Twist Lift got a hugh “Ooooh” from the crowd, in a good way. The crowd is digging them.
5:59 p.m.: Scandal! Team France and Team Poland both skated to Romeo and Juliet. When that happens, you know it’s time to retire the music, okay figure skaters? There are hundreds of years of great music out there. Pick something else from the canon.
6:01 p.m.: The crowd is going NUTS for Team France. It was a really beautiful routine. Wow, standing ovations from about half the audience. Our first standing ovation of the night.
6:03 p.m.: Between pairs they’re playing a really bad ’90s-era hip-hop version of “Stand by Me.”
6:04 p.m.: France just got the highest free skating score of the night and moves to first place. Lots of pairs to go. Next up is Switzerland in the aforementioned funky, funky costumes. It looks like fake Burberry with suspenders. There has got to be a happy medium between Britain’s costumes and this.
6:08 p.m.: Switzerland takes their second tumble of the night. Not looking good. My heart really breaks for them when they fall.
6:10 p.m.: Switzerland gets polite applause. This is a tough crowd.
6:12 p.m.: Next up is Team USA’s Denney and Barrett! Okay, these costumes are the happy medium. A little bit traditional, a little bit modern. A little bit country, a little bit rock ‘n’ roll if you will.
6:13 p.m.: They’re skating to Scheherazade. Traditional, but I always love it. So far so good…
6:15 p.m.: They have a huge cheering section off to my right. They loved the Throw Triple Loop.
6:18 p.m.: The crowd really liked them, too. But did the judges? Enough to surpass Team France? We’ve got at least 10 full-size American flags that I can see in the crowd. Yup, best free skating score of the night and they move into first place. But we still have 12 teams left to skate–12 teams that placed higher than them last night.
6:20 p.m.: Halfway through the competition, we take a 15-minute break while they resurface the ice. When the skaters come back, the second pair from USA will skate their hearts out.
6:25 p.m.: Amanda Evora and Mark Ladwig train in Ellenton, Fla., with Denney and Barrett. Like so many male figure skaters, Ladwig started out playing hockey and switched to figure skating when he was 12. Here’s another fun fact: Amanda Evora and Barrett are dating. They spent their Valentine’s Day as rivals on the ice. Evora said she’s going to enjoy her first Olympics: “It’s like a celebration performance,” she said. “You’re out there, you made the team, you’re representing your country and you’ve done all of the work.”
6:37 p.m.: Group 3 is now warming up on the ice. While we wait, how about some fun facts? There are six basic jumps in figure skating: axel, flip, toe loop, salchow and loop. The ideal ice conditions for skating is “soft and thick.”
6:43 p.m.: I can hear cheers for “Mark and Amanda!” So far so good…
6:45 p.m.: Oops, a little bobble by Evora, but they got it back together. Come on guys!
6:47 p.m.: Gorgeous finish to the program. Suddenly I can’t help thinking of “Blades of Glory.” Best ice staking movie since “The Cutting Edge.” Maybe the only ice skating movie since “The Cutting Edge”?
6:51 p.m.: Evora and Ladwig just moved into first place with a season’s best score. USA is now one and two. But lots of skaters to go.
6:52 p.m.: Apparently there were two sequels to “Cutting Edge:” “Cutting Edge: Going for the Gold,” and “Cutting Edge: Chasing the Dream.” I did not see either.
6:55 p.m.: Russia’s costumes look curiously like the “Blades of Glory” fire costume Will Ferrell wears. Coincidence? Power of suggestion?
7:00 p.m.: The press tribunes are located right behind the judges, giving me a great view of the competition near center ice.
7:02 p.m.: Russia’s scores are in and Team USA is still in first place. Ukraine takes to the ice next. I like their military inspired costumes. Very understated. They’re skating to “Pearl Harbor” by Hans Zimmer. Good idea not to be too flashy.
7:05 p.m.: The Ukrainian guy is not very flexible. I mean, like, oddly inflexible for a figure skater. But they move to first place, pushing Evora and Ladwig to second. Get used to it guys. I think it’s going to happen a lot. Italy takes to the ice next.
7:10 p.m.: I have to say, overall, the music has been really lackluster. I know that the actual skating comes first and some might say costumes second, but come on. The music should be just as important. These are bad arrangements of either bad or classic–but overplayed–orchestrations. If the music isn’t relatable or doesn’t draw the audience into the performance, then what’s the point? They might as well be skating a cappella.
7:17 p.m.: Group 4 takes to the ice. It includes Canadian skaters. This makes the crowd very, very happy. It’s nice to see unabashed patriotism coming from someone other than Americans for a change.
7:24 p.m.: The Canadian flags are a-flying. There have to be a few hundred in here. Team Canada takes the ice!
7:26 p.m.: Anabelle Langlois takes a fall, but they continue with some really elegant skating to music that is actually engaging: “Grand Canyon Suite.”
7:28 p.m.: She stumbles again on the Throw Triple Lutz. You dream about a day for four years. That’s not how you imagine it going. But the crowd gives them hearty applause nonetheless. The little skater girls who scoop up the flowers are super cute. What a gig to land.
7:33 p.m.: The Canadians skated well enough to move into second place, moving Evora and Ladwig to third. Dan Zhang and Hai Zhang of China are on the ice now. Oh no. They’re skating to Scheherazade too. As mush as I like it, it officially needs to be retired. These teams need to dig a little deeper into the instrumental canon.
7:38 p.m.: The crowd really liked that routine, despite a couple a bobbles. Actually, lots of bobbles on the whole across the field. I guess that’s what happens when you walk on ice with samurai swords strapped to your feet, as Stephen Colbert so eloquently says. Colbert is bringing his show, “The Colbert Report” to Vancouver Feb. 17 and 18.
7:43 p.m.: A Russian team is on the ice now. The crowd really likes it. They even brought a hornlike-sounding noise maker. They’re skating to “Love Story.” Oh, Oliver and Jenny. The characters, not the skaters.
7:46 p.m.: You can really see the improvement from pair to pair as we move up the ranks. Maria Mukhortova is simply glowing. She moves as much like a dancer as an ice skater, and I love Maxim Trankov’s simple, white button-down shirt and gray trousers. I heart them. For a really great version of the theme from “Love Story,” check out Shirley Bassey’s “Where Do I Begin” the Awayteam Mix. It’s one of my all-time favorite songs.
7:50 p.m.: Team Canada part 2 takes to the ice. I can picture Barbra Streisand and Robert Redford now. K-k-k-k-Katie! They’re skating to “The Way We Were.” Love the costumes–same white button-down shirt, her costume has a neckline reminiscent of the ’30s. They’re skating beautifully (save two falls). But the crowd loves it anyway. It was really lovely.
7:58 p.m.: And Canada’s Dube and Davison are now in second place. USA is well out of the medals. Another 15-minute break for ice resurfacing. When we come back, the top four pairs take to the ice. This is where it happens.
8:08 p.m.: Not much going on in the coliseum during the break. This is where watching the games on TV is actually nice–when there’s downtime, they cut to another sport where something is happening. Here people are just talking and milling about. The ice has had another visit with the Zamboni. They’ve got some Olympic trivia playing on the jumbo screen. And “Takin’ Care of Business” is playing on the loudspeaker.
8:17 p.m.: The last four pairs are warming up on the ice. First up will be Kavaguti and Smirnov of Russia. I can count at least 12 full-size Russian flags waving in the audience.
8:21 p.m.: I like their costumes, but they don’t go together. These two skaters, however, definitely go together. It’s another level of competition. They are perfectly in sync.
8:24 p.m.: Ooh, three bobbles. And they’re out. Thanks for playing.
8:26 p.m.: Well, the routine had heart–and I’m not talking about the big one on her costume–but at their level of competition I don’t think it will cut it. It’s enough to push them into first place, but with three top-notch teams left, they may be out of the medals.
8:28 p.m.: The reigning World Champions, Savchenko and Szolkowy of Germany, are up next. They’re in second coming from the short program. Can they best it for a gold?
8:30 p.m.: It’s music from another Robert Redford movie! “Out of Africa.” I love, love, love, her costume. But with a big fall and terribly out of sync sequence, they may have just left the gold up for grabs.
8:34 p.m.: It just dawned on me that I’m watching the world’s best skaters. Or rather, I just felt it. And that is a remarkable thing.
8:36 p.m.: Germany is now in first, which means they’ve got themselves a medal. What color is up to the two Chinese teams skating now. First up Qing Pang and Jian Tong.
8:40 p.m.: Their music? “Impossible Dream” from “Man of La Mancha.” It’s an appropriate title.
I hate it when crowds clap along and don’t keep the rhythm.
8:42 p.m.: They just nailed that Throw Triple Loop and Throw Triple Salchow. This has got to knock the Germans out of first. That was like a master lesson in pairs figure skating.
And the crowd is on its feet!
A standing ovation throughout the house, and a well-deserved one at that.
8:45 p.m.: Pang and Tong knocked it out of the park! They’re in first place. It all comes down to Shen and Zhao of China. They were in first after the short program. Can they keep it after that dazzling performance from their teammates? They need to nail this routine to top that absolutely dazzling skate.
8:47 p.m.: A little off on their sync, but a gorgeous Death Spiral. I love the back on her costume. It shows her lines beautifully.
8:50 p.m.: I’m actually getting a little verklempt. I’m not a particularly romantic person, but wow. That took my breath away.
8:51 p.m.: Another standing ovation for China. Whoever wins, it looks like China has its very first pairs figure skating gold.
8:52 p.m.: Germany’s got to be in bronze medal position. The question is who has the gold?
8:53 p.m.: Shen and Zhao did it! They hung onto first place from last night. China scores gold and silver, with Germany in bronze. That was truly breathtaking.
8:56 p.m.: Evora and Ladwig finished in 10th and Denney and Barrett finished in 13th. I can’t believe four hours has gone by! It felt more like two.
Well, that’s all from pairs figure skating at the Pacific Coliseum in Vancouver. Tomorrow I’ll be coming to you from Women’s Snowboard Cross at 12:15 p.m. West Coast time. Lindsey Jacobellis of Team USA will go for gold to bring the U.S. a snowboard cross sweep–Seth Wescott won his second consecutive gold in men’s cross earlier today.
Then tomorrow night, it’s the first night of men’s figure skating. Jeremy Abbott, Johnny Weir and Evan Lysacek all will be gunning for the title of Olympic Champion. Til then!
This post originally appeared on the Washington Times Communities on Feb. 15, 2010.
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