February 22, 2006

Figure Eight is Double Four

Well as DCFoodBlog pointed out, last night the lady ice skaters took main stage.

What first struck me was how young these girls seemed to be. Like gymnasts, they seem to get younger every year. Remember when Debbie Thomas skated in the late 80s? I swear she was in her late 20s. Now we have tweens!

Anywho, this was the short program, which puts more emphasis on technical elements, less on artistry. But there were some nice moments.

First I enjoyed the American pixie Kimmie Meissner, who although tiny, pulled off a triple-triple combination, which put her in top tier for the finals. She's from Bel Air, Maryland - right around the corner!

Then I liked Fumie Siguri from Japan. She was not as powerful in her jumping, but she had a lovely lyrical quality to her skating, not to mention an adorable smile. But she KICKED ASS when she was skating off to get her scores - someone threw a stuffed animal from the upper bleachers, and she caught it! It was awesome. She will be the first skater turned softball player in history.

I'm sure the media pressure has to be tough on Emily Hughes - she's the alternate who came in to replace Michelle Kwan, and she has a gold medal-winning sister. But she really did quite well, and landed in seventh place, which is damn good.

Oh Irina. Why are you so angry? But seriously, the Russian was very strong, and had a real "don't fuck with me" attitude to her skating. If she loses the gold, it will be because she pushed to hard - mark my words.

The evening ended with Sasha Cohen, who we know makes questionable choices in life - I mean, the girl picked Zulema's dress on Project Runway! But apparently she sensed my criticism and was AWESOME, landing each jump with military precision. She has the tiniest lead on Slutskaya, which sets up what should be the best night of skating for this Olympics. I can hardly wait!

And final comment - shut up, Dick Button.

I should be mad that Lost is a rerun tonight, but there is the premiere of Project Jay, so I'm content.

4 comments:

ScottE. said...

You need to say Slutskaya more often. Slutskaya Slutskaya Slutskaya Slutskaya Slutskaya Slutskaya Slutskaya Slutskaya! Fun!

Dancer in DC said...

What's great about her name is you want to call her a slut, but that's not how it's pronounced. She's tricky, that one.

DC Food Blog said...

When Maria Burtyskaya was on the scene we used to call her and Irina, Slut and But. Once again GO FUMIE!

Stef said...

Oh, too bad Sasha fell last night, but she still ended up with the silver!

Love your new pic!