February 11, 2002

[TV] Those Darned Russians

So, anyone but me watch the Olympic Pairs Free Skate tonight? Anyone else disgusted at the way things turned out?

With no Americans in contention, I was pretty unbiased going into the short on Saturday. I thought that the Russians skated well, as did the Canadians. I was amazed at the Chinese throw jumps and thought that Ina and Zimmerman skated far better than the marks they got. But, I was pretty sure, going into tonight, that it was still anyone's game.

Ina and Zimmerman were the first couple that "mattered" (that is, that had a prayer of winning a medal) that took the ice and they skated magically. They were innovative and the program was gorgeous. I was convinced when they left the ice that the bronze was within reach.

Then the other Russians skated and put me to sleep. Literally. I fell asleep on the chair, they were so boring. Of course, the judges, after applying the mandatory "American" deduction to Ina and Zimmerman, placed the boring Russians (so boring that I am not even going to bother looking up their names) in third place. So much for the bronze.

Berezhnaya and Zikharulidze skated next and they were OK. They were a little bobbly and didn't seem to be skating with much passion. Anton stepped out of a jump at one point and I looked at John and said, "well, that's the gold". Boy was I wrong.

Anyway, without the mandatory American deduction, their marks were way, way too high. I was getting nervous.

But then Sale and Pelletier skated. And I wasn't nervous anymore. Their program was, to quote another famous Canadian skater, from the blade. They were flawless, they sold the program, acted the shit out of the material and landed all their jumps clean. They won the gold. They knew it, the announcers knew it, the crowd knew it, I knew it.

Only they didn't. The Russians won. Oh, and the Chinese pair, Shen Xue and Zhao Hongbo, blew the quad throw sal, which was actually good because if they had landed it and won the bronze anyway (there is a mandatory Chinese deduction, too, you see) there would have been a riot.

And so, for 11 olympics a Russian or Soviet pair has won the gold. Many times before, that has been deserved. It wasn't tonight.

Even the Russians seemed embarrassed. I'm not a good lip reader, especially when those lips are speaking with a Russian accent, but Anton seemed to be apologizing to the Canadians during the medal ceremony. To me, it looked like he was saying something like, "it was all you tonight."

Which it was. So here's to Sale and Pelletier, Olympic Gold Medalists in every world except the Bizarro Land that is Park City Utah.

Posted by Lori at February 11, 2002 3:07 PM