The Post-Oly Shuffle: Men

After the rush of the Olympics, it seems kind of crazy that Worlds is only something like three weeks away. There will be, or has been, the rush of retirements, or skaters wanting to take some time out after the Olys, who here is a list so I can keep track of who's in and who's out, of Worlds and of skating, full stop. Of the men, we have:

- Evan Lysacek is officially not going to Worlds, but he is not retiring, which I am not exactly overjoyed about. I doubt that he will continue onto Sochi though, whatever he is saying at the moment.

- Ryan Bradley will take Lysacek's Worlds spot, and then, I would imagine, he will retire, even though I would seriously love him to stay another season at least. I am just happy to see him get another chance at Worlds; I love his FS this season and am so excited to see it one more time!

- Johnny is definitely going to Worlds and has even been making noises about possibly continuing next season, which I would love to see. I think he's just starting to get his 'Johnny' back, if you will, and next season potentially holds great results for him.

EDIT: Johnny has announced that he is in fact not going to Worlds, which means that Adam Rippon gets to go! I am very excited about this because I love him. Hopefully Jeremy, Ryan and Adam (or at least Jeremy + 1 other) can all hold it together at least well enough to earn the USA the usual three spots.

- Jeremy will also be skating at Worlds, and more than likely next season, too, which is good because this Olympic showing would not be a good one for him to go out on. Going by his up-down-up-down pattern so far this season, he could turn up in Turin with another couple of perfect programs, a la US Nationals.

- Joubert is apparently continuing until 2012, when Worlds will be held in Nice, which I am so happy to hear. I assume this means we will see him Turin, but I think all the French men except Amodio have to have a test skate to see who will take the second spot. I will be really sad if Jouby doesn't get to go. I also think it is kind of stupid to make him have some sort of 'skate off' with Ponsero and Préaubert. I can see that they would want to monitor him and check that he is mentally and physically capable after his depressing showing in Vancouver, but really, he is very clearly of a higher standard than both Ponsero and Préaubert, especially Préaubert. France is going to want those three places next season and as far as I can tell, Joubert and Amodio are going to be the guys most likely to win them. Hopefully Brian can get it together and come back strong!

- I'm not sure what Ponsero or Préaubert will do next season. I think Préaubert is relatively new onto the scene but Ponsero seems to have been around for a while and may feel he is ready to retire, I really have no idea. I'd be perfectly happy to see either or both of these two back next year, though.

- I was not expecting him to, but apparently Plushenko is also heading to Worlds. I will love it if he gets silver - or worse - again. I am assuming that he will go back into retirement after this season, but I wouldn't put it past him to stay in, especially if he doesn't get the results he thinks he deserves.

- Takahashi is to skate one more season, which, I would assume, includes a showing in Turin, but I'm not positive on that one.

- Patrick Chan is aiming to continue until Sochi. Like Daisuke, I assume this means he will be at Worlds. I doubt that Canada will send Vaughn in the second spot though, given his performance in Vancouver.

- Stéphane will not be at Worlds and it doesn't look like he'll be continuing to skate competitively next season, which is not exactly a surprise but is still sad. Jamal Othman will go for Switzerland.

- I think both Tomas and Michal will go for the Czech Republic. I really hope that Tomas can get himself together and skate two clean or near-clean programs, but at this point, I don't hold out much hope. I can't remember the exact criteria, but if Tomas bombs as spectacularly as he has been doing all season, I think they will struggle to get two spots for the Czech Republic next year, which will be a real shame if both boys are still competing.

I will continue to update this post as more men confirm their plans for the rest of this season and the next few years!

xxx

Vancouver 2010 - Exhibition

It is so sad to think that the exhibition really does signify The End! Apparently the skaters all felt the same since they mostly all skated to slow, sad, angst-y songs, which was kind of a let down since I always think it should be more about having fun. I don't really have all that much to say about it, actually, but in-keeping with tradition, my thoughts:

- Takahashi was just gorgeous, he is so soft and smooth and gorgeous. By the way, what was up with the random skate order? Since when does Men's bronze medallist open the exhibition?!

- Pang/Tong were nice but kind of boring. I didn't like the wailing over the music. I did like her dress, though.

- I thought pretty much the same about Faiella/Scali; nice enough, but not exciting and definitely not fun.

- When I'm not worried that he'll steal a medal or a placing from my favourites, Patrick Chan is very lovely to watch. I still would have preferred to see Johnny, though.

- I love Sav/Szol so much. I wasn't sure about Aliona's outfit, but I liked her hair, and I loved Robin's outfit. Their song choice also made me smile - presumably they wouldn't have skated that if they'd won? Either way, loved the program. I really hope these two don't retire. They are the only pair team that I really love and get behind in the same way that I love Stéphane, Jeremy et al.

- Joannie's program was just gorgeous. I think it is impossible to to put into words just how incredible she has been this week. She will be carrying the flag in tonight's closing ceremonies which I think is a great honor for her. What an amazing lady.

- I have loved Sasha Smirnov ever since seeing his little face on the Euro podium and everytime I see him I love him more. I am also convinced that Yuko is superhuman; how does she get herself into those positions? Anyway, fun program that I liked a lot. I love that these two look so mis-matched, they remind me a little of Meryl and Charlie like that.

- I loved Mao's little fan. She had really cute footwork too. Mao is so cute and dynamic, I don't know why her programs are so heavy and ominous when she has such a light presence on the ice. It was nice to see her smiling, too, since she looked so disappointed in herself on Thursday.

- I much prefer Plush doing hilariously arrogant than 'passionate', which is just kind of nauseating. His jumps are absolutely looking less sure than before; I will die of joy if he goes to Worlds and doesn't win that, either. Anyway, as much as I kind of hate to say it, I did also kind of enjoy his steps.

- I like how DomShabs' exhibition now consists mostly of Maxim lying on the floor. I like their Matrix program, though, and I stand by my support of them for pushing through a rough, rough season and coming out with Olympic bronze at the end. Hopefully they (especially Maxim) feel it was all worth it.

- Eurosport called Stephane's an 'exhibition to die for' and I could not agree more. He is exquisite. Thinking about it, he never really got his jumps back this season, which is such a shame because if he had been able to, he almost certainly would have at least medalled. But whatever, he didn't, and it's all done now. Artisically, he is absolutely in a class of his own and whatever his results are, I would watch him a million times over Plush or Evan.

- I love, love, love Meryl and Charlie's 'Billie Jean'. Her dress is gorgeous and really, I just love them in general.

- I was hoping that Yu-Na would do something a little more fun but I figure she's the champion, she can do whatever she wants and it's always lovely.

- I didn't write anything at all for what I thought about Shen/Zhao. They were really cute at the end, but honestly, I can hardly remember their actual skating. I assume it was perfect as ever, though.

- I seriously do not understand why Evan does not have a real exhibition program. Is it really that difficult for him to have one? Sure, we get that he won the World title last year. That does not mean we want to see his program again at every event he skates at. It does make me laugh how you never hear anything from the commentators about Evan's talent or his artistry, like you do with Stéphane, Johnny, even Plush - with Evan, it's all about how hard he works. Which, you know, good on the guy for putting in that effort, and God knows it's gotten him exactly where he wants to be. I just do not enjoy him. And anyway, it's not like the others don't try hard, too.

- I think I am in love with Tessa and Scott. I love that program and I was so glad that they brought it out here! Physically, they are seriously the most beautiful team around; that girl is way too pretty. And obviously, their skating more than matches up to that. I love their 'goose' lift. I just loved the whole program.

The Eurosport broadcast I watched cut Tanith & Ben and the Zhangs, who I wasn't too upset to miss, but then they also cut Mirai, who I really wanted to see, and I also wanted to see that little Canadian kid, Nam Nguyen, but they didn't show him, either. I also think that they absolutely should have invited Johnny to skate, just because if there was one thing that gala needed, it was a little dose of Johnny Weir.

I'm debating whether to watch the closing ceremonies live tonight. I kind of feel like I've watched everything so religiously for the last two weeks, what is one more night gonna do? But I also think I might not manage to stay awake through the whole thing. I don't know. I'm really hoping there'll be some sort of epic montage of winning moments at some point, because I am an absolute sucker for those things.

xxx

Vancouver 2010 - Ladies Free

Well, it's hard to believe, but the figure skating competitions of Vancouver 2010 are officially over, and if I do say so myself, we have four (or six, I guess, what with pairs/dance) well deserving champions. I think the judging of the competition as a whole, across all disciplines, has been as well-received as I have ever seen FS judging be, even in dance, which has to be some sort of miracle, and the quality of the skating has been better than I'd ever expected. For the most part, the ladies continued to bring their 'A' game last night in order to give us what will surely go down as one of the best competitions in Olympic history.

- Things did not get off to such a good start, however, with poor Tugba, who was kind of a mess. Honestly, I don't really see the appeal of her, and although I appreciate her story, I don't really see why NBC seem to champion her so much. Not that I even see NBC coverage - and I just want to drop in how much I have appreciated the BBC these games, showing entire and uninterrupted coverage of every single FS event.

- Sonia Lafuente fell on her first 3F and I did worry that she and Tugba may have been leading us off to an epic splatfest of a night, but no, she held everything together well after that. She doesn't have great spark or presentation skills though, especially considering how striking looking she is physically, and had very little connection to her music. That could have been mainly down just to nerves and concentration, though, since I remember finding her a lot more interesting at Nebelhorn.

- Yan Liu hit most things but Christ, that was dull.

- Glebova's dress looked like something even Mao would have rejected. Nice easy 3T-3T but her jumps were not really there otherwise. It's a shame, because she has a fun personality and she's a good performer.

- Gimazetdinova fell on her steps and looked so surprised that she seemed to forget to get up again for a while, which was really the highlight of the program. Hopefully she will not get it into her head to try and beat Sebestyen's record of four Olympics and will retire either now/after Worlds, because it really does not look like she is going to get anywhere at this point.

- Sarah Hecken has been irritating me of late but I quite enjoyed her program and I loved that she looked as if she'd just been presented with the gold medal itself at the end. I love seeing skaters skate their absolute best in big competitions.

- Kiira showed more speed and attack in the first twenty seconds of her program than most of the other girls did in their entire program. She popped her 3-jump combination but managed to turn her 2A into one and other than that it was a great program, really nice to see her skate well after something of a disaster on Tuesday. Very well done for her, she pulled way up to eleven, so not too far off where she probably expected to end up.

- Cheltzie Lee looked like she was absolutely running on empty by the end, but apart from the fall on the last 3T, that was a great program from her. She has such nice fight and attack, and she also wins the prize for nicest dresses. Top 20 in the Olympic games, for a 16 year old from a 'non-skating' country who only found out she was going to Vancouver 4 weeks ago, is definitely not a bad showing.

- Sarah Meier made a pretty Juliet and has lovely quality to her skating but did not have the jumps at all, which is a shame. She had, what, two triples? It's a sad way for her to go out, especially after she's had such a rough time with injuries and the like. Hopefully, like so many others, she can have a second chance at Worlds, but still.

- I enjoyed the tiny Korean, Min Jung Kwak, a lot more last night, she has a beautiful spiral sequence and spins and really nice rotation on her jumps. Hopefully she doesn't have a growth spurt or anything, she was fantastic. She was also absolutely adorable in the KnC, I don't think I've ever seen a non-medallist look so genuinely delighted with their scores before.

- Leonova seems to have lost a lot of the freedom that she used to have but she skated clean enough and she looked very pleased with herself which was nice to see, I was worried that she'd peaked way too early and would have a Euros-repeat in Vancouver, but luckily that didn't happen. I would like to see her try some more sophisticated choreography in at least one of her programs but then I'm not sure how well she would carry that off.

- Wonderful program from Suzuki, just one doubled jump and everything else perfect, and that step sequence is just fantastic. Huge score, rightly so. Last night was the first time I have really 'got her' without having to try to.

- Carolina depresses me. I will never know where these girls find the strength to keep selling their step sequences when it's all gone so horribly wrong. Poor thing, she dropped like a stone to sixteenth place, and to think, she featured in my potential top-five. I would also imagine that Valentina Marchei is furious that she didn't get to go.

- Yay for Laura! I was so happy for her! Just one doubled jump and everything else lovely. She is such a beautiful skater, I could watch her forever. Lovely to see her so excited in the KnC too. Fourth in the free and sixth overall is definitely a huge achievement, especially considering that she doesn't even have a lot of the more difficult jump content. She was also the highest-finishing European lady, which I was happy about. Good for her!

- My girl Ksenia didn't let me down. I like to think she fell out of her spin out of solidarity for Johnny. Beautiful jumps and spirals and she is one of the few girls who actually has a nice picture as her athlete ID. She's so pretty. She could absolutely be the face of Sochi 2014 and I'm calling her right now as future European champion if nothing else. She just needs to fix her spins.

- I was really hoping that Elene could keep up this fantastic streak she's been having, but apparently it was not to be. She has the most lovely spirals and I love her entry into her 2A, it's such a shame to see her drop so hard. Still, she should definitely be proud of herself for her Olympic short, and of course her European medal.

- Our UK commentators never once mentioned Rachael's school career, which is refreshing after watching/following US coverage all season; Robin Cousins was actually telling us how feisty and bubbly she is. Her spins were both quite hideous, but she had an especially lovely 3L in amongst her usual 'solid' jumps. I prefer her SP but I thought it was a fantastic program from her, as did most everyone else, but apparently her flips were downgraded and she went in below Lepisto, which I never thought would happen in a million years.

- I just found Miki Ando kind of meh. Actually, I'm not even sure I watched her entire program. I did like her new dress though, much better than that blue thing she was wearing earlier in the season.

- Straight up BEAUTIFUL from Yu-Na. That was just exquisite. Gorgeous. I've never seen anyone make anything look so easy as she made that program look. What a score. I don't even know what else there is to say. Great reaction, too, it was lovely to see behind that cool facade she keeps up and wow, how well did she handle that pressure? Just perfect.

- I had a horrible feeling that Mao was going to melt down after hearing Yu-Na's score or at least her crowd reaction, but then she landed those 3As and I thought she was going to kill it, and then there were just those two random mistakes in the middle, and oh, she looked so sad. I felt so sorry for her, but at the same time, a silver Olympic medal is nothing to be ashamed of, especially when you consider that really, her disastrous season only started coming together at 4CC last month. Good job, Mao.

- Joannie Rochette is an absolute inspiration. Nice to see her smile, and wow, what an amazing competitor. Her bronze medal was so, so deserved. These games are hers.

- I can't help but love Mirai more and more everytime I see her, what a fantastic smile. Love her Ina Bauer into 3L and spreadeagle into 2A. And that layback is fabulous. She was great in the KnC, as ever - "I'll be back for the next Olympics!", "Thanks for all my make up, doesn't it look great?" Too cute. I really love Frank Carroll, by the way. It was amazing to see her take fourth, looks like she's definitely putting herself back in the game!

What an incredible way to round off these Olympic competitions. Those last four girls in particular are all absolute superstars, and I think that Vancouver 2010 will definitely be remembered as one of the best Olympic competitions ever.

Oh, one more thing - I am so excited to see Ryan Bradley at Worlds! I wish there was some way Adam could go, but there is definitely nobody I would sacrifice from that Jeremy-Johnny-Ryan team, so yay! If my calculations are right, there is less than a month to go, right? Exciting - and yet at the same time, I can't believe that this season is nearly over already!

xxx

Vancouver 2010 - Ladies Short

Last night the Ladies carried on the trend of these Olympics by seriously bringing it and giving us a fantastic competition with some truly spectacular - and emotional - performances. It is sad to think that last night's SP is the beginning of the end of Vancouver 2010, and that tomorrow night will be the last figure skating competition of the games.

- Sonia LaFuente started things very nicely with a nice clean program. She looks so diva-ish, I love it.

- I love Miriam Ziegler and she seems like an absolute sweetheart, I saw her around a lot in Oberstdorf in September and also a bit at Euros and she always looked so bouncy and cheerful. She is lovely to watch and has really pretty spirals especially, but her jumps are not consistent at all. Such a shame for her. Still, she's really young - she looks like such a little girl in the KnC - and there is potential there if she can get her jumps consistent.

- I also love Cheltzie Lee, I'm so happy that she got to go and wow, she did a great job. Her dress was really pretty, too, and I loved how delighted she was with herself. Eighteenth out of 30 is pretty good, especially considering she only found out she was coming about three weeks ago. Hopefully she can deliver in the free.

- I think Ksenia Makarova may officially be my new favourite lady. She is beautiful and her skating, especially her jumps, are beautiful. Her spins travelled a lot though. Loved her shoutout to 'everybody at school' and the way that she said Johnny in a Russian accent! I also love that Johnny made himself her honorary coach or whatever and was at the boards for her, love that guy.

- Min-Jung Kwak looks way too skinny, I thought she might actually snap during her program. She has pretty jumps and a stunning Biellmann, though.

- Jenna looked like an elephant after the minute Korean. Triple splat and a double flip; it's not a good season for her this year. Sad to see her looking so deflated in the KnC, and that she doesn't even get to skate the free when she was probably shooting for top fifteen. Maybe she will go to Worlds and redeem herself a little.

- Now that I wasn't secretly rooting for Ashley I could really enjoy Mirai, and I definitely did. Her layback spin and spirals are just gorgeous, obviously. There are a lot of people skating to Pirates this year and I never get bored of it. I love her smile.

- Elene G was wonderful! It seems like this is really her season. She just oozes charisma and fantastic-ness.

- I love the opening choreography of Sarah Meier's program and her spin at the end but I can't say I really loved the rest of her program. I also usually like both Elena Glebova and Kiira Korpi but both lost me after that spectacularly popped sal/fall respectively.

- I loved the audience singing along with Sweet Caroline during the resurface before group 5. Olympic moment!

- I love Laura Lepisto. I could watch her just skate around looking pretty forever. Loved her dress, too. It's a shame she didn't get the 3-3 out but other than that, a good clean skate.

- Absolutely fantastic program from Mao! Best I've seen her all season, she really looked like she was happy again. Her 3A was absolutely gorgeous, everything else beautiful, just lovely. I like her new dress, she just needs to take that collar off. And killer score. Love how shocked she was.

- Equally as lovely from Yu-Na. She's so light and easy and beautiful. I think Mao is more exciting to watch but Y-NK is gorgeous. I was kind of worried that she wouldn't be able to stand up to the pressure but she seemed to manage it. It will definitely be interesting to see if she does the same in the free, there have been a few times this season where she's made mistakes that could cost her. She does have quite a margin over Mao but she is skating before Mao this time so Asada will know what she will need to do if there is a chance that she can beat her.

- Suzuki has great musicality but wasn't completely on form with the jumps, missed her combination and had to make one later. Also her eyes really, really scare me. She looked like she was having a great time though.

- Leonova didn't quite have the same spark she had at the beginning of the season / end of last and looked a little tight on her jump landings but it's nice to see her landing things at all, I was afraid she'd fall apart after Europe, and she looked delighted at the end.

- The showdown between Mao and Yu-Na became kind of redundant after the news of Joannie's mother's death. It was always going to be her night and it wouldn't really have mattered how she skated but wow, she showed such absolutely incredible strength and had absolutely the performance of the night. I think she brought basically the whole skating world, and no doubt many others watching, to tears. Truly amazing.

- Julia Sebestyen kind of paled into insignificance after Joannie but it's impressive enough that this is her fourth Olympics and she seemed happy enough with her skate. It must have been difficult and a little awkward for her to have to skate after Joannie, so she did well.

- I really like Rachael's program for her, especially the steps, and she landed everything as usual. Plus, just look how cute she was in the KnC. I would really like to see her hold onto fifth tomorrow.

- I so wanted Carolina to kill it out there, but she just didn't really bring it. Still, she didn't bomb, which is a step up for her given her general performance over the last two seasons.

- Ando just is not that exciting to me. For Joannie's sake, I am kind of hoping that she doesn't pull up to take bronze, although I'm sure that Joannie is not really so concerned about her medal anymore.

Tomorrow will definitely be an interesting night. It seems at this point that Kim is basically assured of the gold but there is definitely space for an upset. Joannie may or may not be able to hold it together for the free, but either way, I think she will be what defines this Ladies competition and one of the main things that I will remember about Vancouver 2010.

xxx

Vancouver 2010 - Free Dance

I have officially crowned the Ice Dance competition 'Best Event of Vancouver 2010 (so far)'. The OD was fabulous, the CD was even vaguely interesting, and last night was just absolutely amazing. I could not be happier with the result (unless the Kerrs had somehow landed on the podium, of course).

- First off, once again, I loved Coomes & Buckland. They have great lifts; she needs to fix her twizzles and they sometimes have a couple of synchronicity issues, but I definitely think these two have potential. 20th place is absolutely not a bad result for them, especially as the Olympics is only their second major international competition, as far as I am aware.

- I was distracted by my dying laptop during the Reeds, but what I saw looked good. I didn't see Crone/Poirier's OD and I was wondering why they were down so low, but they definitely made a good 'comeback' last night. Her posture is a little off, but other than that, I loved their program. His smile and some of his mannerisms remind me a lot of Adam Rippon, which is no bad thing!

- I wish that Anna Cappellini hadn't dyed her hair that shade of red. It looked so nice last season. LOVE these two and their program though, they are fierce. I think it's actually possibly my favourite Requiem program. Was his shirt ripped at the beginning or did it happen during the skate? Same question for that ladder down the back of her tights? Anyway I'm thinking that these two will benefit from the rash of retirements that we're sure to see from the top teams between now and Worlds/next season.

- Hoffman/Zavozin's program is a lot of fun and I like it but it just seems kind of like an exhibition. I think it was probably a risky choice for an Olympic season but it got the crowd going, and the judges seemed to go with it, too, so good on them for doing something different and fun.

- Samuelson/Bates have grown on me a lot this season. I love Emily's flexibility, extension, and her general charisma. She looked so overcome in the KnC, which reminded me what is so special about the Olympics and how much it means for these athletes even to have made it to the Games.

- I love Schindler's List, it's one of my favourite pieces of music ever, but I just cannot get behind the Zaretskys. Especially not now Alexandra decided to cut all her hair off.

- I love the Kerrs. I never ever want them to retire. John dropped his foot on his twizzle and he looked so angry at himself in the KnC, but the program as a whole was just wonderful and a lot better than at Euros. Also, words cannot describe how much I love Sinead for lifting John. If they can hold it together in Turin - if they're going, and I really hope they are - I think they could possibly land top 5, depending on who else is there. Sinead Kerr is another one that needs to go back to her original hair colour, though; her, Anna C and Nathalie P should all get together and dye their hair dark brown again.

- I also love P/B a lot. I think they could be Euro champions next year. They did have one hell of a scary exit to a lift, but apparently it was supposed to be like that. I just love her and her brilliant presence on the ice. In fact, I love French dance teams in general; I wished that Blanc/Bouquet could have been here, because I love their FD. Hopefully/presumably they will be at Worlds, though.

- Wow on DelSchoes. I loved that program. They were skating like they didn't really care about the competition, just the performance and the fact that it was their last ever, which I think was probably the perfect way for them to approach it. This event turned into another where I would really have liked them to award a medal to each of the top ten. It's really sad to think that that was the last we will see of them, but what a lovely way to go out.

- K/N's Firebird is fabulous. I couldn't believe that they stayed behind the Kerrs; I thought that their program had something truly magical about it. Jana in particular is just brilliant, I love her.

- Davis/White = PERFECTION. They had a deduction but wow, what a program. Twizzles were gorgeous, that lift is wonderful...I just love, love, love them. I loved Meryl's smile when they finished, too. Robin Cousins, commentating for the BBC, calls her an 'exquisite creature' and he is absolutely right. They may have wanted gold, but to go from not even having a World medal to having an Olympic silver is pretty amazing in itself, and I can't see that they won't be happy with their performance and the overall result. Just stunning.

- I liked F/S more than at Euros but I still think it fell a little flat after D/W. Also I have gone off them even more since reading Massimo's comments since last night on how Tessa and Scott should not have won gold as they are not 'real ice dancers', which is an absolute joke. [EDIT - an article by Lynn Rutherford of Ice Network has since cleared up that these comments were taken way out of context and that Massimo seems to be a bit of a sweetheart, so now I feel bad.]

- Speaking of Virtue/Moir - they were, of course, absolutely incredible. I wish they could have skated last so we could have ended on that high. They were absolutely foot-perfect throughout the entire thing, the program could not have been better, they are both gorgeous (especially Tessa, who looked stunning), and they were absolutely beyond adorable right after they finished - especially Scott saying 'thank you so much' to Tessa - and in the KnC, not to mention at the very end when it was confirmed that they'd got the gold. I wish British TV showed the medal ceremony, I would have loved to have seen it. I actually don't think I have ever been so happy for a team as I was for these two last night.

- I liked Belbin/Agosto a lot more than I thought I was going to while they were skating, but then I could hardly remember anything about the program afterwards. Tanith's twitter a little while before the competition suggested that that would be their last skate ever, i.e they are retiring before Worlds. If that is true, I'm really pleased for them that they had such a good competition, even without a medal, and they both looked more than happy in the KnC.

- I have huge respect for Shabalin for even skating. I'd almost award D/S a medal just for that. I hadn't even noticed the Requiem sneaking into their program before. They got bronze, which I'd definitely agree with. I'm also kind of glad that they got a medal with what is presumably their last performance, because to go out on a low note, with pretty much everybody hating on their OD and not even a medal to show for everything they have gone through, would have been pretty horrible.

What an incredible competition. I think it surpasses men's as my favourite event of the Olys, because I was absolutely satisfied with the podium. The ladies competition starts tonight; it's sad to think that the Games are drawing to a close and that this time in three days, all our medallists and champions will have been crowned.

Finally, I just want to note this down so that I don't forget it. One of my absolute favourite quotes of 'Be Good Johnny Weir' actually came from Stéphane, when they showed him explaining his 2006 costume: "It's a zebra, like a magical zebra. With wings." I honestly don't know what I will do next season without these guys.

xxx

Vancouver 2010 - Original Dance

Turns out I lied when I said I wasn't going to watch the OD live. I literally could not resist. I missed Cappellini/Lanotte because I was out until late and the Eurosport coverage, which I had recorded, didn't start until the Czech team skated, but I managed to see everybody else that I like. Not sure when I will get to see C/L, though, and I really do want to because I love their OD.

- I think there is something very likable about Samuelson/Bates, Emily in particular. I think it's unfortunate that so many top teams picked an American country dance, but their program is definitely cute and fun and suits their personalities well.

- I actually really liked the Reeds' program. I thought that their use of the fans was clever and interesting, rather than tacky and distracting, which is always a plus. I am also a fan of the Beiers' Hawaiian effort.

- I love Coomes/Buckland, and it looked like the audience did, too! Their score got huge boos and Penny was too cute 'shh'-ing them. They were cute in the KnC in general, actually. They seem so excited to be there, as well they should, and I love their Irish folk dance. I'm a little worried for them, though, in that if and when the Kerrs retire after this season, Chitwood/Hanretty will likely take GB's spots in international competition, but they probably aren't good enough to earn enough spots that C/B can continue to get international exposure. Still, it's great that both British teams are so well received by the crowd, and I think that C/B definitely have great potential.

- As soon as I saw Khokhlova/Novitsky take the ice for their warm-up, I remembered their program. How could I forget Jana's skirt? I like these two, but I can't say I was disappointed to see them drop under the Kerrs. I love their Firebird free, so I'm looking forward to watching that one tonight.

- I am pretty much in love with Delobel/Schoenfelder's can-can. If they'd had more time this season, I think that could have been something really special. I loved the costumes and the choreography and the whole program in general, and they did a great job of selling it, but unsurprisingly, their smoothness/technique is just not quite up their with the very top teams. I'm not sure if they're skating Worlds. If they are and they have enough time to get the program as polished as it needs to be, we could have an epic battle on our hands between these two, Davis/White and Virtue/Moir for the world title.

- The Kerrs changed their twizzles to make it easier on Sinead - she'd been rotating the 'wrong' way originally, which is why she's been having so much trouble with them this season - but last night John went back to his old ways and messed up the sequence. It didn't seem to have too big an effect though, and their program is a lot of fun and I just love them. I also think that, after skating, John should definitely become a model.

- I was trying really hard to like Faiella/Scali, and it worked, to a certain extent, because I enjoyed their program and I especially loved Massimo's costume, but I figure that I shouldn't have to try to like a team. They just don't do that much for me.

- On the complete other end of the scale, even though I feel like I shouldn't like Domnina/Shabalin's controversial OD, I still kind of love it, in a vacuum. That does not mean that I want them to win, though, so I was more than happy with their scores. I also feel so sorry for Maksim, who is obviously in a lot of pain.

- What is there to say about Davis & White? They were fantastic. I would have loved that program no matter how they'd skated it last night, but wow, they were foot-perfect. Charlie is adorable and Meryl is so composed all the time and they are just wonderful together. Love them.

- Nathalie Pechalat is one of my absolute favourite figure skaters of any discipline, but I really wish she'd go back to her natural hair colour, or at least dye it brown. I love P/B's music and I love them but, like S/B, I just wish that their program was a little different. I already have a hard enough time liking this team as much as I do, whilst still wanting the Kerrs to beat them all the time, without them having a very similar style of program ;). Anyway, once again; nice fun, clean, program. Their 'Requiem' free grows on me everytime I see it so I can't wait to watch them tonight.

- The Zaretskys inspire literally no comment. They did pretty well for them, I think, but just...blah. For me, Emily and Evan had more charisma and presence, but like I think I've said, I know basically nothing about the technical side of dance so I would guess they are better in that way.

- I thought that Davis/White were amazing and I didn't think that anyone could possibly beat their performance - but I didn't think that Virtue/Moir were overmarked. They were just as great as D/W, if not better, and I think any 'Canadian bonus' they may have gotten is not undeserved and probably won't have that huge an effect on the overall result. The two of them right after they finished were adorable. Tessa's beautiful, even if she does insist on wearing such long, generally frumpy-looking skirts (I'll let her off on the flamenco though). I think they'll probably take the overall gold tonight, and as long as D/W remain on the podium, I think I'm going to be delighted with the result.

-Belbin/Agosto always fall a little flat for me and I wasn't at all surprised to see them below D/S, but I always feel sorry for the fourth-place finishers. I'd be perfectly happy to see them on the podium, I just don't think it will happen.In other news, 'Be Good Johnny Weir' finally became available on iTunes, so I spent this afternoon watching Popstar on Ice and all the rest of the normal-length episodes, and came out of it loving Johnny even more than I already did. I highly doubt it will happen, but as of now, my dream podium at Worlds goes Joubert, Johnny, Jeremy, preferably in that order. Love that guy.

All my sympathy goes out to Joannie Rochette, whose mother just died. Such a terrible thing to happen at any point, but especially so suddenly, and right before Joannie's competition begins. It seems like these Games have been tinged with tragedy, but hopefully Joannie, as well as Elene Gedevanishvili, can stay strong and skate the skates we know they both can.


xxx

Vancouver 2010 - Compulsory Dance & OD Speculation

I hadn't planned to, but I ended up watching the whole CD last night. I know basically nothing of the technical side of dance so I can't really comment on whether or not I thought the judging was fair, but I did actually find myself enjoying DomShabs more than Davis/White, which I never thought would happen. I do know, though, that this is said to be the weakest part of the competition for Meryl and Charlie, and the strongest for D/S. I enjoyed Virtue/Moir even more, so I was fairly surprised to see them go into second. Still, there's not too much in it between the top few teams, and judging politics aside, I would fully expect at least D/W to pull up in the OD and then V/M will probably reign in the FD. Delobel/Schoenfelder are currently sitting in 6th, which is pretty impressive for their first international competition in what, almost two years? After having a baby? They may have wanted to challenge for a medal but I can't imagine that they'll be too disappointed with their placing.

What actually prompted me to write this post was not the CD, which like I said, I don't really know anything about, but the draw for the OD skate order. I think Cappellini/Lanotte have some sort of curse on them or something. They skated first last night, and despite the fact they're currently sitting in 12th, they're scheduled to skate second tomorrow. Their Italian folk dance is really cute, and I love these two, so I'd like to see them pull up above the Ukrainians and the Zaretskys, who I do not get at all, but I'm not sure if that will happen or not.

Our baby Brit team, Coomes/Buckland, somehow managed to draw to skate 13th, right at the end of group 3. I liked their OD at Euros so hopefully they can skate well. They're obviously only really there for the experience and they seem really excited, which is good. Loved him in the KnC last night shouting out to 'Grandma and Grandad'!

Group 4 is basically Euros all over again, with four of the top five teams skating (Pechalat/Bourzat are in group 5). Not a particularly good draw for the Kerrs. Hopefully they can hold themselves in eighth place, but I wouldn't be surprised to see P/B overtake them. Delobel/Schoenfelder, of course, are a wildcard here. I have heard that their can-can is good, but the judges didn't seem to really go with them yesterday so we'll see.

Probably the team that everybody is waiting to see, of course, is Domnina/Shabalin. I'm so interested to see both their new costumes, and what the judges will do with them. There is also always the chance that the huge controversy surrounding the program will have gotten into their heads, which could definitely affect their performance.

I am a huge fan of Davis/White's OD (isn't everyone?) and would love them to take the lead with it. I haven't seen as much of Virtue/Moir's but what I have seen looks pretty good and I'd be equally happy to see them take the lead. I really cannot get into Faiella/Scali but everyone else in the world seems to adore their program so I'll give it another try, and I love Pechalat/Bourzat as a team but I'm undecided on their program. I'd actually like to see theirs next to the Kerrs, but I also think that it will probably benefit both teams that they're skating in different groups.

Khokhlova/Novitski will probably have been disappointed with their marks yesterday. I honestly don't remember much about their OD in Tallinn. I remember loving their Firebird FD but their OD doesn't seem to have left a mark on me. Then there is Belbin/Agosto. I am kind of indifferent towards these two, I just find them a little bland, but as long as they don't overtake Davis/White and Virtue/Moir, I'll be happy.

I really don't think I'll be able to watch this event live due to school clashing with the time difference, so I'm going to do my best to avoid looking at the results or reading anything about it until I get back Monday afternoon. Whether I will actually manage to do that or not is yet to be seen.

xxx

Class of 2014

The men's event has always been the one that I was going to get most excited about these Olympic games, and in the void that it has left, I am looking ahead to the next four years. Looking down the 24 competitors from the free last night, these are the ones that I believe have a good chance of making it to Sochi 2014 (barring any injuries/anything else that forces retirement):

Patrick Chan - As I see it, Chan will be disappointed with his Olympic showing this time around and may well want to improve on that next time. However, despite all his talk, he hasn't exactly showed that he is a particularly good competitor and, depending on how the other guys are doing, he may end up fading away into obscurity. He's been injured this season, so I think his performances next season will likely give a better idea of how he is likely to shape up. He's definitely got age on his side. Also, I'm not sure what the Canadian junior men are like, but it does seem that without Chan, Canadian Men's FS would be without any real stars. Which is a shame.

Nobunari Oda - He has ended up a little lost in a crowd of great competitors this season but I think he may benefit from the retirements that this season will bring, and come into his own a little over the coming years. On the other hand, he doesn't seem to have the same performance quality as some of the other guys and if he can't develop that any further, he might just plateau roundabout where he is now. I'd like to hope that that won't be the case with him.

Takahiko Kozuka - This is a guy that I am very excited about. He is definitely a breath of fresh air and he has the performance quality and the jumps. Seemed to cope reasonably well under pressure, too, so hopefully we don't have another Jeremy-esque headcase on our hands!

Michal Brezina - I love him already. I don't think he has a quad right now but the rest of his jumps are so beautiful and so secure, I don't see why he wouldn't be able to get one. He's very consistent and has a lovely quality to his skating, and his jumps are just absolutely textbook. He does need to work on his spins, though. If he can do that, I think this guy could be phenomenal.

Denis Ten - As long as he doesn't get injured, I don't see this kid going anywhere but the top. I would love to see him win World or Olympic gold one day, partly because Kazakhstan is not exactly a figure skating powerhouse and it'd make a change from USA/Russia/Japan, but also because he is just great, isn't he? He's only 16, so he could easily see another two Olympics, which is definitely exciting.

Florent Amodio - He is definitely ready to step into the gap that Joubert will presumably leave as leading Frenchman - or, if Jouby doesn't retire, just plain overtake him. He had a 4S planned for the Olympics so it appears that he has one, if not quite consistent yet, but it will be. He is gorgeous to watch, he has the jumps, and it looks like he's a sound competitor, too, which is always reassuring.

Artem Borodulin - Hard to believe that this guy was actually the fourth Russian. He actually really surprised me in Vancouver, where I was expecting him to be kind of blah and mid-range, but wow, I can't wait to see what he comes out with next season.

Javier Fernandez - Another exciting prospect. I will miss his Pirates program from this season. I think this guy has potential to be a huge star; he's very watchable, has great presence, and he has a quad. It seems like a lot of these up-and-comers have a quad, so hopefully our old friend Mr Plush won't feel the need to step in and 'save the day' once more.

Adrian Schultheiss - I feel like he's been around forever, but he's only 21, so apparently not. Anyway, he is a little inconsistent but when he's on, he's on, and his programs always stand out from the crowd so he's always fun to watch. With Kristoffer Berntsson out of the picture, and his very respectable showing in Vancouver, we may see a bigger international presence from Schultheiss over the next few seasons.

Then, of course, we have the guys that weren't in Vancouver; namely, Adam Rippon. I could watch him skate forever. If/when Evan declines to skate at Worlds, I think Ryan Bradley will likely take his reserve place, so it looks like Adam's season is over (apparently Johnny has said that he will skate Worlds, which is good), but I am really, really excited to see him next season and for all the seasons after. I think Rippon is definitely a future world champion, if not Olympic. Out of anyone, I think it is Adam that I am most excited about. What's also interesting is that Evan, Johnny and Ryan are all likely/locks to retire after this season, and even my beloved Jeremy probably won't be around too much longer. As far as I can tell, this leaves Adam to take the top spot.

One guy that I am very excited to watch next season, if not all the way until Sochi, is Daisuke Takahashi. He has said that he will not retire now, as planned, but wait until after Worlds 2011, which is in Tokyo, where he hopes to win gold. This is also interesting as it means that all three Olympic medallists will be out of the picture very quickly, potentially leaving any number of the guys above to step forward and take their places at the very top of the international scene.

As well as all these, of course, we have a whole flock of guys waiting in the junior or lower-ranked wings. Guys that impressed at US Nationals include Richard Dornbush, Grant Hochstein and Keegan Messing, so I'll be keeping my eye on them, and there's also Ross Miner, who had to miss Nats due to injury but, I believe, is due to skate at Junior Worlds in March, and a few of the Junior men. There are also a few Japanese boys (Yuzuru Hanyu and Kento Nakamura, Junior champion and silver medalist respectively), a few Russians (Artur Gachinski, current junior national champion), and who knows what beauty might be next to appear out of the Czech Republic. Whatever happens, and whoever ends up on top, it is sure to be an extremely exciting four years.

xxx

Vancouver 2010 - Men's Free

Well. The Men's Olympic competition is officially over. And apparently, in the deepest field I have ever known, Evan Lysacek is the best of the best.

I have to say, as much as I dislike Evan as a person, he deserved the win on the night, because the others all slipped up - even Plushenko (shock horror, the guy is human!), and I can't help but think that if I didn't dislike him so much, I think I would enjoy his skating. I was also delighted for Takahashi's bronze medal. I like how all three of the major continents, and all three of the figure skating 'powerhouses', were represented on the podium. I just wish that the European representative could have been somebody else, e.g Stéphane. Or Joubert.

Before this turns into an aimless ramble, here are my thoughts are the men, in chronological order:

- It was just unnatural to have Tomas Verner kicking things off. He started so well with a gorgeous quad (although according to his elements sheet, it was supposed to be a combination) and then, typically, it all fell apart. He didn't even really perform like he usually does. He still doesn't look healthy. He faceplanted in the steps and for a moment I didn't even think he was going to carry on. That poor, poor guy. As much as I would like to see him achieve redemption at Worlds this year, I don't think that it would be possible for him to at this point. He should skip it, rest, rest, rest, and come back next season like the brilliant Tomas Verner of old.

- I love Bacchini's program. I like how his costume is kind of similar to his SP; he obviously likes black, dark red, and sequins. I don't know how I had never seen him before Euros; has he been around? It doesn't look like he has a consistent 3A, which is probably why he hasn't made much of a splash. I loved the way his sit spin went with the music. He was definitely looking tired by the end, though, and appeared to be really just squeezing the jumps out all the way through. He pulled up two places (granted, more because those above him messed up than because he skated particularly well) and ended up 20th, which is not bad at all, especially when you consider that immediately above him were the likes of Verner, Contesti and KvdP.

-Viktor went down on his quad. He had nice combinations (2A-3T, 3S-3T), but then a hand-down on the lutz; he didn't really look very over his skates. Seemed much better in the second half, though. He really is quite terrifying-looking. I loved him and Priscilla both head-bobbing away to the music in the KnC as if they didn't even realise they were at the Olympics. Overall, not too bad for him.

- Vaughn looked positively terrified. Love his oh-so-Canadian jazzy program and plain shirt-black trousers costume, but he didn't start well with an enormous popped axel. He was still faster and more energetic than at TEB though. REALLY squeezed out the 3L-2T-2T. Definitely a lot more energy than we've seen before. I need to watch his performances from Worlds last year, because I can't see how he ever placed eleventh or wherever he ended up. Honestly I think Kevin Reynolds or Shawn Sawyer would have placed higher.

- Kovalevski was very, very dull. I was sure he was out there for at least an hour. He fell three times and didn't seem to perform at all, which was a shame because he was much better than I expected him to be in the SP. Got to feel sorry for him, really. I wish the North Korean had qualified.

- I live for Schultheiss' program. The music is inspired. He was definitely back on tonight, with a gorgeous quad and 3A, and nice fast spins. I thought his steps could have had a little more energy given how clean he was being, but it's a minor point. It was a great program for him, nice to see him land everything, and he had a great score to reflect that. Pulling up from 22nd after the short to 15th overall and 13th in the free is definitely something for him to be proud of, especially when there were no less than 15 possible medal contenders in the first place.

- Stefan Lindemann was not looking so on it, at all. Apparently he didn't practise this morning due to back pain, which is probably why. He's such a cute little elfin thing, I was really hoping he could skate like he did in the short, but I guess at least his last SP ever was basically perfect. Apparently he's going off to become a coach now. He has great technique and seems like a lovely guy, so hopefully he will see great success.

- I felt really sorry for Voronov not getting to go to Vancouver, but wow, good shout on sending Borodulin. I have definitely become a fan of his. He had to really cling onto a couple of his landings but otherwise he was great. Barring injury/other disaster, definitely one to be looking out for in his home nation in 2014.


- Usually, Jeremy is either spectacularly good or spectacularly bad. When he fell on his quad and then popped the flip, I was sure that it was all over for poor Jeremy, but to his credit, he kept fighting and had a strong recovery, with a very nice 3A-3T and then 3A-2T. His steps are absolutely gorgeous, but he only got level 3s for both - not sure why, I assume they are generally 4s. In the KnC he seemed in pretty good spirits (isn't he always? He's such a sweetie), and he was like, "If I end up 11th I'll be so mad." For a while I thought he would end up 11th, but he managed to pull up (or rather, slid up there on the back of others' mistakes, but hey, top ten finish for my Jeremy) to ninth place, which is definitely not so bad for the first Olympic appearance of one of the biggest headcases around right now. It's a shame he was kind of a late bloomer, because he'll probably have to retire before 2014. Still, if he can pull it together in Turin, that title could be his; I'm assuming that neither Evan or Plush will be there, but even if they are, I think a clean Jeremy could beat both of them.

- I don't know what was going down with everybody's triple axels. I love Contesti's program and his music but it was not a great skate for him, with errors on both his 3As and a doubled loop. He'll probably be disappointed with his 18th place finish.

- Javier's quad looked like it was going to be beautiful but he *just* didn't make the landing and fell, which was a shame. Still, he's only 18, good on him for trying it at the Olys. Nice 3A to recover. His drunken step sequence is probably my favourite of all the LPs. He had a few little mistakes but considering the field, his age, and relative inexperience, 14th place is pretty damn good. I'll definitely be looking out for him over the next few years.

- Devastated for Joubert :(. He looked very confident at the beginning, flashing that fantastic smile of his as he took centre ice, and I really thought that with no pressure, he might go lights out, but then he fell on the quad and turned the second into a triple, and proceeded to make almost too many small errors to count. Seeing his name under the likes of Fernandez and Schultheiss, much as I like those guys, is just not right. Apparently he wants to stay in till 2012 to skate Worlds in Nice; I kind of wouldn't be surprised to see him doing a bit of a Stéphane and taking 2012/2013 out and then coming back for Sochi. He's 25 already though, so it would be a push. Hopefully he will absolutely storm Worlds this year (I already have at least three guys that I want to take the World title. Something tells me I'm going to be disappointed.)

- Kozuka has absolutely won me over this Olys. He had a lovely 4T - which evidently wasn't that lovely in the judge's eyes as he got -1.4 for it, was it double footed? - followed by an equally gorgeous 3A-3T. I loved his spreadeagle into his 3S-2T-2L, and I was just thinking, wow, he could spoil for a medal if the others slip up when he splatted on his second 3A. Still, a fantastic couple of programs from him and he's only eighteen so he'll be another one to add to my list of Ones-to-Watch, which is getting longer by the second. I'm actually going to make a separate post about that.

- Denis Ten's 3Lz was so light and easy I thought it was a double. He had a hand down on the first 3A right at the beginning but recovered right away for the second one. Step out on 3F. Pretty spins. I LOVED his straight line step sequence at the end but apart from that, I preferred Kozuka's performance.

- KvdP had serious bitchface on in his starting position. Both 3As had the exact same landing with a hand down. Love his music though. He had a huge pop on what should have been 3S-3T but then did it perfectly pretty much straight after. Slightly laboured, but less so than he has been before. He didn't look at all happy though, poor guy. That was likely his last competition, which is a shame. It just doesn't look like he has the stamina anymore. I will miss him and his hilarious costumes.

- I love, love, love Amodio's choreography. He has gorgeous spins. In fact, he is just generally gorgeous. He wasn't perfect jump-wise but lovely nonetheless. His techno-Amelie was...interesting. He worked it though. Loved his little dance before giving his bows. I also kind of have to thank him for giving Abbott his top-ten placing.

- I don't like Chan but his 3A was beautiful. He had a couple of step-outs. I found myself drifting off and imagining that it was Meryl and Charlie out there. I have to admit that I was kind of glad when he fell on the 3A, just to make sure that the judges couldn't hold him up too much and give him a medal - as it was, they gave him a ridiculous score that he did not deserve, in my eyes. I was also surprised that, given how nice his edges and general skating are, his spreadeagle is not that pretty. His 2A and steps were lovely, though. But yeah, I definitely didn't think his skate was worth nine points more than Kozuka's.

- I have never seen Brezina mess up as much as he did last night. He started off just as beautifully as ever, with an absolute beauty of a 3A and a gorgeous 3F. I am going to go ahead and call it - Brezina has my favourite jumps of anyone around right now. They are just gorgeous. I love his program, and I loved his spreadeagle into his sit spin, and then I was just stunned when he popped the second half of his combination, fell, and popped the 2A. Still, tenth place is pretty damn good. If he'd skated clean, he could have been right up there, but never mind. I love this guy.

- In the group 4 warmup, the irritating BBC commentator announced that Johnny Weir is the 'one that everyone's here for'. Um, no. I love Johnny as much as the next person - actually more - but I don't think that everybody had come to see him. That woman was supremely irritating throughout, actually. She seemed to think that Plush had the best and most intricate steps and choreography of anyone in the SP. Speaking of dear Plushy, he did a strange gorilla-dance when his name was announced. I kind of love Plush. I will miss him.

- Gahhh Evan was near perfect and I really didn't want him to be. Got to hand it to him though, he brought it. I do generally want all skaters to skate their best but I have to admit that I was wiling him to fall on one of his 3As, which was the only legitimate place he was going to mess up, if he was going to. But he didn't, and he won, and yes, he deserved it on the night. Hopefully he will retire now and stop forcing me to look at his orange face and greasy hair every month or so.

- Oda had the most dramatic program of the night. He fell on his 3L and didn't continue, at which point I thought he'd injured himself and was going to have to quit or something, but luckily (?) it was a snapped lace, which he was able to fix and carry on, and did so perfectly. Unfortunately he couldn't repeat the missed 3L, obviously, so that hurt his score. Still, I love his cute choreography, and he has the most gorgeous jump landings, such nice knees. He looks like such a little boy out there. Good on him for carrying on so well.

- I literally could not breathe as Stéphane started. It was full on heart-pounding-hands-shaking. He didn't fall, at least, and although he didn't get a medal, that program is absolutely, stunningly beautiful and I love him. I really do believe that he is in a class of his own. I can't see him going to Worlds, to be honest, which means that this was likely the last time he will ever skate competitively. Although, this is Stéphane, and I wouldn't put it past him to carry on if he decided that he wanted to.

- Takahashi didn't even feature in my dream podium but, like Kozuka, I now love him, and am genuinely delighted that he got the bronze, as much as I wanted Stéphane to have it. I really would have loved him to steal gold. If he hadn't fallen on the 4T, I think he could have. At this point, I wrote in my notes - 'I really would like them to give out a medal to everybody in this whole group' and that sentiment still stands.

- Johnny absolutely KILLED it. Oh, Johnny. I love him. He aborted a spin but that program was fabulous. I think he was robbed of the bronze. At any rate, he definitely did not deserve to be below Chan. I'm just so glad that he skated clean (spin excepted). He didn't miss a jump this whole competition, and sixth place is pretty damn respectable given that he came very close to missing out on an Olympic spot to Ryan Bradley.

- Oh, Plush. That is the least clean I have ever seen him, I think. His choreography and his blowing-kisses-at-the-judges just cracks me up big time. I was surprised by how tense he looked out there. For all his bravado, he wasn't sure of himself at all, and many of his landings were way off, and I think that allowed me to enjoy the hilarious tackiness of his program. It was patently clear in his face at the end of his skate that he knew that he probably hadn't done enough, which, actually, was kind of sad. Still, a silver Olympic medal in a field this deep, after four years off, is quite a feat. The crowd screaming 'four more years! Four more years!' after he finished was way too funny. And I had to laugh at his comments afterwards, which apparently included such gems as 'Evan needs it more than me'.

And so the gold goes to Evan Lysacek. I find it kind of hilariously ironic that, after everything that's been said this season, the Olympic Champion didn't have a quad. It may not have been the result that I wanted, but it has been one hell of a competition, as expected. If the guys had all brought it like they did on Tuesday, it would have been one for the ages. I think this competition has also been just a preview of what Sochi is going to be. Places 10, 11 and 12 (Brezina, Ten, Amodio) here in Vancouver could easily become 1, 2, 3 in Sochi - but there's also the likes of Borodulin, Rippon, Kozuka, possibly Takahashi, and who knows, maybe even Plushy will pop up again ;). Like I said, I'm going to do a whole post on this, but wow, am I excited for the next four years of men's competition.

I'm not going to bother staying up all night to watch the Compulsory Dance tonight, because there is no way I will make it through however many teams doing the same program over and over. I think that Evan's gold basically rules out Charlie & Meryl getting theirs, so I'm pinning my hopes on Virtue/Moir in gold and D/W in silver, and of course, also sending good vibes to the Kerrs, Pechalat/Bourzat, and DelSchoes, who I am so interested to see skate.

xxx

Vancouver 2010 - Men's Short

Last night was one of the best competitions I think I have ever seen in figure skating. With only three notable exceptions, everybody brought it. I was more nervous in this competition than I think I have ever been before; with everybody that did well, I became more and more convinced that it couldn't last and that everybody coming up was sure to bomb. Luckily, that didn't happen, although obviously, I am devastated for Jeremy, Brian and Tomas. My thoughts:

- Things got off to a fantastic start. I was very pleasantly surprised by Ri Song Chol, who knocked out a 3A easy as you like, the Ukrainian Kovalevski, and even Gregor Urbas looked more energetic than usual. Florent Amodio, of course, was absolutely beautiful. The way his feet move is incredible and his jumps are gorgeous as well. I really, really hope that he, Brezina and Rippon all stay on top form over the next four years. It was also lovely to see my boy Viktor Pfeifer skate clean. It was actually kind of weird seeing him on TV after seeing him live all season/EVERYWHERE in Oberstdorf. Most I have ever enjoyed a first group, I think.

- I surprised myself by how sad I was to see Nurmenkari bomb. He's generally a nice, consistent presence always down at the bottom. I'm kind of assuming that he'll be retiring after this season, so hopefully he can put something down at Worlds to send him out on a (relative) high. In fact, the whole second group was kind of a let down after we'd been so spoiled in the first. I generally find Chipeur quite watchable (although he was almost ridiculously slow at TEB, which I'm putting down to a bad day) but he didn't exactly skate well. According to the notes I wrote while watching, I could have sworn that he mouthed 'call me' in the KnC but I assume he did not.

- I have kind of a fond hatred of Plush now. He's a total love to hate. The little gallop section in his steps is hilarious, and maybe I was just looking for reasons for his score to be lowered but I didn't think his jump landings looked particularly smooth or solid. There was definitely a glimpse of hope for judging in his TR mark, which was actually relatively fair. Shocker.

- Third group got us right back on track, beginning with Paolo Bacchini, who I loved in Tallinn and who has an amazing costume. He kind of messed up his axel - I thought he was headed for a fall for sure so he did well to save that and pull off a double - but he had great spins, footwork and choreography. I thought he was a young one for some reason but he's twenty-four or five, so maybe not one to watch for 2014, but rather one to watch tomorrow night.

- Borodulin was ON, which is good as the Russian Federation sent him over Voronov. I didn't understand the link between his costume and his music, but on the other hand, his hair is supreme. He looked kind of like a cross between a puppy and Charlie White. Stefan Lindemann was also absolutely on form, with a HUGE 3A, a great 3L and an adorable little fist pump after his 3T-3T. Javier Fernandez had a hand-down on the second half of his combination and looked like he slipped a little in his sit spin, but an absolutely stunning 3A and fantastic choreo. He is just inherently watchable, I think.

- I am a huge fan of Sing Sing Sing (ties with William Tell for my favourite music-to-step-sequence) and Denis Ten absolutely worked it. Love him.

- Takahashi = wow. His footwork was incredible. I hadn't even factored him into my favourites but last night, I absolutely got him. He was magical. And I loved his score even more - I would have had him miles above Plush, obviously, but .6 behind without a quad is pretty damn impressive. At this point, I would love to see Taka at the top of the podium.

- I loved that one of Schultheiss' hobbies was listed as 'enjoying life'. Nice outlook, Adrian. Shame he missed the combination.


- I don't think I have ever been so nervous as I was watching Stéphane. I LOVE that program. Such a shame about the messy combo. If only he had a 3A, he's be unbeatable. He smashed Plushy's PCS, as he should (everyone else's, too). Not as close as Takahashi but I don't think the door was completely closed on him by any means. If he can pull off a totally clean free, he is in with a chance to medal, although probably at the expense of Takahashi rather than the flailers.

- Oda was...meh. I was kind of on a post-Lambiel comedown anyway, and Oda has nowhere near the charisma of Stéphane or even Takahashi. I'll be interested to see him skate tomorrow because everyone raves about his Charlie Chaplin free and honestly, it didn't really capture me in Paris.

- Oh, Brian :(. Words can't even describe how sad I was for him. He looked so absolutely devastated. This time last year I would have been honestly delighted to see him bomb but wow, things have definitely changed. His program is absolutely electric when it's clean and he has such incredible charisma. I think that Jouby has tried really hard to work on his artistry and I think that he just tries to think about everything too much now. I kind of get the feeling that he wanted that Olympic medal more than anyone else. Heartbreaking in the KnC. I was trying to listen to what he was saying but I was too much in a state of shock at his epic bomb to tune into the French. One good thing is, he has absolutely no pressure for tomorrow night with nothing at all to lose.

- Kozuka brought it, too. Fantastic program. Good boy. Somehow I completely missed his messed up landing on his 3A, so I was shocked at his lower placement, but that made slightly more sense after I realised what had happened. Still think he was possibly undermarked but I don't really have enough of an interest in Kozuka to argue it.

- I love Contesti but I much, much prefer his FS to his SP. Definitely a shame about the fall, and when he's skating in amongst the big guys you can tell that his quality is much lower, but still, I'm a fan of Contesti. Also, it seems that everytime I see him, he is better looking. I love his long so I am excited to watch him tomorrow, too. He's currently sitting in fourteenth and if he can hold it together, I think that's more than a very respectable placing for him in this field.

- Chan does absolutely nothing for me. I appreciate his nice softness, but he is just very, very obnoxious, and I think what bothers me most about him is that he says all this stuff and seems to think that the whole figure skating world has been living in fear of him and his tremendous skills, but he actually doesn't have the competitive history to back those comments up. At least Plush's arrogance is based on his winning of basically every title in the world. All Chan has is a world silver.

- Johnny is such a diva. I love it. GREAT skate! Yay! Go Johnny! Gorgeous!

- It was fantastic to see Kevin van der Perren skate so clean. He rotates so incredibly fast in the air. I'm assuming he'll be retiring - he looks like he might actually die if he continues - so hopefully he can carry on his clean-ness to tomorrow night. I like his Robin Hood program.

- I was really hoping that Tomas might actually pull it out of the bag and skate clean, but no. Sad, but not exactly a surprise, and when the competition was so good, nothing short of perfect would have held him up. He does a great job of keeping selling it, though. Has he skated that program cleanly at all this season? I'd love to see it. There's always Worlds, I guess.

- I really didn't want Evan to be, but damn, he was near perfect and yes, he probably deserved his score. Except for that spin at the end which almost took him back to LA.

- I commented after Johnny & Evan had skated that it seemed impossible that all three US men would go clean, and apparently I cursed our poor, poor Jeremy. He's looked so strong all season and I really hoped that he had gotten over his stupid headcaseness, but I guess the pressure was just too much. Like Joubert, though, at least he has no pressure for tomorrow and while a medal may be out of the question, I really hope that he can at least turn his experience around a little with the clean and beautiful skate that we know he is capable of. In the mean time, I will watch his US Nats SP and tell myself it's the Olys because that was perfection.

- Brezina was a lovely way to finish a brilliant night of competition. He really does have the most beautiful jumps. They are just absolutely gorgeous. He is wonderful. I love him. Also, his coach has the most hilarious glasses.

It is all to play for on Thursday! I am really hoping that the brilliance of last night does not mean that we are in for a splatfest tomorrow. It is absolutely depressing to look at the start order and see that Verner is kicking things off, when really, based on talent alone, he would be right up there. It also strikes me as slightly unfair that he is currently sitting right under Joubert and yet twelve skaters separate them tomorrow night. I am still hoping for a miracle and that Plush might actually fall (how great would it be if he just completely bombed? The world would implode), although there is only one person that I would like to see Plush beat, and that is Evan Lysacek. It is rare that I have such strong dislike towards a skater, but I really, really cannot stand Evan Lysacek.

At this point, my dream podium (based partly on logic, partly on hope) would go: Takahashi, Lambiel, Weir. It's not going to happen, of course, but hey, I can hope.

xxx

Vancouver 2010 - Pairs Free

Here is my new daily routine: Watch figure skating until 4/5AM. Go straight to bed. Get up next morning (i.e, about six hours later) and immediately read all the fallout from the 'night' before. Attempt to make my own thoughts on the event slightly more coherent. Aimlessly waste the rest of the day, counting down the hours until the next event. Rinse and repeat.

- As well as Requiem, West Side Story should be banned from competition next season, although I do generally like the Estonian's program. Neither were really 'on', though, and she singled the 2T in their combination.

- Strangely, I never get bored of Romeo & Juliet. I really thought the Polish pair were going to skate lights out and make up for yesterday, and then he randomly tripped up right at the end of the program. On a slightly unrelated note, it does make me laugh how BBC commentator Robin Cousins just refers to all the pairs girls as 'the girl' or 'the boy'.

- Kemp and King had nice lifts if nothing else. They had a nice throw 3t at the beginning, but other than that, their jumps were just a general mess. They really, really need a 2A or a triple, but they didn't even land their 2F clean.

- I LOVED James/Bonheur. I've seen this program a lot this season and I've only just realised just how much I like it. Vanessa looked so determined right at the beginning and really excited to go out there and perform. They each messed up a jump but wow, it didn't even seem to matter. One of my performances of the night, for sure.

- Anais Morand looks adorable in her little plaid shorts. I love her 'tano-style double twist, shame about the 2A sequence, which was a complete mess - also for some reason the camera just focused on her for the second one, while he messed up - and then she fell on the throw 3L. It just looked like they lost momentum, although they made an effort to sell it towards the end. They seemed cheerful enough in KnC, anyway.

- Gorgeous triple twist from Caydee and Jeremy. In fact, gorgeous almost everything, except for her singled axel.

- Evora/Ladwig have had such a great competition! They weren't perfect but they definitely got it back together by the end. Lovely throw triple loop. Amanda is adorable.

- Baby Russians forgot their jumps but they're very lovely anyway.

- Morozov = 1/3 clean jumps, which is actually pretty good for him. Throw 3L fabulous as ever. Throw 3S so nice and easy I thought for a second it was a double. Love hearing them call the spins. Actually loved that. I think I will miss Morozov next season/when Tatiana gets a new partner. He is his own special brand of charming.

- The Mission is another overused piece of music that I love. I loved the spread eagle 2A 2A from the Italians. Nice enough, just not really in the same league as the others in their group. Also, there are way too many girls with mid-length blonde hair. When Nicole Della Monica skated out, I thought for a second that Caydee had decided to make a second go of it.

- I have such a soft spot for Langlois/Hay. They had a ovely throw 3S. She is just like a little doll out there. Also, they were very cute in a really sad way at the end/in the KnC. Still, ninth place finish isn't bad for them in a comeback in a deep field. I hope they skate Worlds.

- Scary fall from Zhang/Zhang, I thought she was going to slice his face. GREAT sbs spins and throws but the program just seemed to go on for hours and hours.

- I love M/T's Love Story program. They had a stunning triple twist and gorgeous spins but she fell. Maria was unusually smiley.

- Dubé/Davison look so great together, and I love their outfits, but they were definitely not on form at all. They both looked so sad. I still would have had L/H above them though, by a million times.

- A million depressions for Kavaguti/Smirnov. Their KnC was heartbreaking.

- Her doubled jump (I didn't note what it was last night - 3(2)T, maybe?) and his fall on the 2a aside, S/S were absolutely, breathtakingly beautiful. Which only made their bronze sadder.

- Pang/Tong were wonderful. At the beginning, I was kind of hoping that they'd follow the trend and miss at least one element, just to give S/S silver and/or K/S bronze, but they took their opportunity skated absolutely lights out and good for them for doing it. I really liked their program.

- There were a couple of moments in Shen/Zhao's skate when I thought P/T were going to take the gold and if it wasn't for their short, they probably would have. S/Z were beautiful though, I finally 'got' them and their reaction was just gorgeous. I loved them throwing themselves over the padding at the barriers to hug their coaches/whoever was at the boards, and their faces in the KnC, both before and after their first place was announced, were just great.

It wasn't as specatacular a competition as the short and I was devastated for K/S but P/T saved the night as far as clean programs go and Shen and Zhao's story is one for the ages. I can't believe that the Olympic Pairs champions have actually been named! I am definitely interested to see who will retire (S/Z, obviously - and P/T? Zhang/Zhang?) and who will emerge over the next four years. I would love to see S/S stick around and take gold next time, but who knows what will happen. I'll definitely be keeping my eye on James/Bonheur, Baranova/Larionov, and of course Denney/Barrett.

It's the men's short tonight. I think I'll be a nervous wreck by the time it even begins!

xxx