Urgent Bulletin: Figure Skaters have Injuries

[undeterred]

This took up 5 minutes on ABC World News Tonight... isn't there something more important going on that the world needs to know about?!

[SoCalDem]

1. Bodega Bay is not just for the birds.. Sharks bite people there too

:)

also a bulletin from MSRNC the other day

[shadowknows69]

24. no they didn't

please tell me a person calling themselves a reporter didn't lead a story with that

[SoCalDem]

37. They did a "Breaking News" feature on it

:puke:

[kikiek]

2. Isn't that the truth. Our local news last night showed a wedding that

was done here instead of in Cancun. I really couldn't give a damn about their wedding. What a joke. Like there isn't any news to report. Look around people!

[mohinoaklawnillinois]

3. ABC News was pimping for ABC Sports.

Skate America is this weekend in Atlantic City, NJ and TV rating for figure skating are way down.

[undeterred]

4. And now that they've told me that Kwan

and the other one are hurt, I won't watch either!

[mohinoaklawnillinois]

5. Yeah, I read on the figure skating boards last night that

Sasha Cohen withdrew due to an injury.

I'll watch the coverage, I'm a figure skating freak, but this early in the season it really doesn't mean a whole lot. It'll be interesting to watch just to see who are the up and comers, after all the Olympics are in February and the US Nationals are in St. Louis in January.

[undeterred]

7. Geez. Olympics again already!

I hope everyone is on the mend by then.

[Karenina]

22. Sasha Cohen? Hmmm...

Is that Miss Cattlemen's Association who, seated next to the Chimperor, giggling, speed dialing her mom on the cell asked, "Will you stay for the event?" and received the edict, "Sorry Little Lady but I got a war to fight" 3 or 4 years back?

[GreenPartyVoter]

6. I hate that kind of fluff. They did a "hard hitting" piece a while back

on how "dangerous" cheerleading is. Then more recently they got hung up on how "sexy" it is.

Come on, there are too many _serious_ issues in the world to get hung up on this stuff... particularly when it's just sensationalism that tends to hurt the subject it is dealing with.

Edit: I am sorry to hear that Michelle Kwan is injured; I really like her. (I haven't followed ice skating in some time though, and was shocked to see her all grown up and gorgeous now.)

[undeterred]

8. Michelle Kwan's skating brings tears to my eyes

She is truly an artistic athleate. After all she has accomplished, she is one of the greatest skaters ever and In would love to see her go back and get a gold medal.

[KoKo]

12. When she skated to "Fields of Gold" by Sting when she lost the Gold

Medal at Olympics...at the follow-up event, I cried all night. It was so sad...she worked her butt off and she's a true trooper/hero for staying at it as long as she has.

"When we walked in fields of Gold..." :cry:

[undeterred]

13. She is a true Pro

but gold medal or not, she's still the best female figure skater for several generations. She has a ton of medals and enough perfect performances to inspire millions of future skaters.

She has great choreography, music, costumes... everything is perfect.

[KoKo]

17. Yes, she is. And a cool lady who has class. It's always good to

see her and realize there are still some sports figures out there who work hard and keep up their image in a way that isn't "pandering" to the Corporate Sports Whores.

:thumbs up: Michelle!!

[Inspired]

35. It wasn't Sting singing

It was Eva Cassidy. A lovely singer who died tragically of cancer almost 10 years ago. Her adaptation of Fields of Gold was magical.

[undeterred]

39. thats what I thought too

its a beautiful song whoever sings it

[mohinoaklawnillinois]

9. I agree that this "story" had no place being shown on World News

Tonight.

However, there are some people who really do think this sort of stuff is news, but I'm not one of them.

[undeterred]

10. Yeah, I agree.

I am interested in skating, but I think there is too much going on in this world to treat this as deserving of being some of the only news many people will hear all day.

The evening news shouldn't be "entertainment" but sadly, thats what MSM is.

[Karenina]

52. We live in a culture

that makes us stupid, keeps us stupid, and gives us the arrogance to think that in our stupidity we are superior. -Malcolm X-

[KoKo]

11. ABC/DISNEY....what more does one need to say except Tara Lipinski

tore down an 2.5 Million Dollar house on a barrier Island on SC Coast because it got in the way of the "view" of her new over 2.5 Mil. House she wanted to build and did.

Go to her website. She talks about her "WONDERFUL NEW HOUSE." :puke:

[undeterred]

14. well, I guess she made out like a bandit

and retired at 15!

[mohinoaklawnillinois]

15. Please do not get me started on Tara Lipinski.

How that girl ever won an Olympic Gold medal is still beyond me.

She had the worst double axel I have ever seen on any competitive figure skater and all the rest of her jumps, and that is all she could do, were tiny.

Her mother was a real piece of work as well.

I'd love to see Michele Kwan win a gold medal in the Olys, but I don't think it's going to happen. The new scoring system really works against her artistic style of skating and while I'm not counting her out, she'll probably win at Nationals in St. Louis in January, the Olympics are a completely different ball game. Count on either a Japanese girl or a European to win the gold this time around in Torino. Politics still rules in the figure skating world.

[undeterred]

18. It was heartbreaking when she won and Kwan didn't

Who wouldn't prefer watching a performance by Kwan to Lipinski?

But, there are other great artistic skaters who never won a gold medal at the Olympics, like Kurt Browning.

[amandabeech]

19. Figure skating fan here, too.

I agree with all your comments on Lipinski. Her double axel was "whipped" like you sometimes see at the Juvenile and Intermediate levels.

As to the Oly Gold, all I can see (and all the judges could see, apparently) was triple loop, triple loop and triple toe, half loop, triple salchow. Never mind the cheats.

For the Gold, I'm thinking Irina Slutskaya, Carolina Kostner or Sasha Cohen. A lot depends on Irina's health, IMHO.

Speculation is rife that Cohen backed out of Skate America so that she wouldn't have to do the Grand Prix Final in Japan in December just a week before the Winter Cheesefest in Boston. It's an Olympic season and most skaters will look to pace themselves.

[undeterred]

20. "whipped"

I never heard that term, I just thought thats what it looks like when a girl who doesn't have hips yet does it!

[amandabeech]

21. Any skater can "whip" an axel.

A skater is supposed to step up into the axel; i.e., really jump vertically into it leading with the knee on which the skater WILL NOT land. "Whipping" results from jumping more across the ice by leading with the side of the body on which the skater will land. Hips have nothing to do with it. Awful technique does, and Tara had that in spades on many moves. She prerotated her loops on the ice, and NEVER took off from the correct edge of the skate blade on her "lutz." I don't think that she was even capable of doing a correct single lutz. All hers were flips or, as coaches say, "flutzes".

I attended the National Championships as a spectator in 1998 just before the Olympics. I though that her short program was so abysmal in person that I didn't have her finishing high enough to go to the Olympics. She fell on the triple flip, her lutz was hideous, she whipped her axel, her layback traveled badly, she lacked speed and power, and used only two-thirds of the rink if you exclude her flip. If anyone else, other than Michelle, had skated like that, they'd be buried. But she was the World Champion and the USFSA had to send her.

When she got to Stars on Ice, ice dance legend and choreographer Chris Dean worked extensively with her for weeks before the tour started just to get her basic skating and steps up to the level of the other skaters. She looked infinitely better.

She had awesome talent, but by the time she got to the real high-level coaches, she had developed hideous technique on her jumps. She also spent an inordinate amount of time pounding those jumps instead of working on her basic skating skills, turns and steps and spins. What you ended up with a totally disabled and incomplete skater.

I really feel sorry for her and for the skating fans who were deprived of seeing the skater she could have become. I hold her skate-mom-from-hell as being partially responsible, and the judging community for the rest.

[Karenina]

23. Were you ever a judge?

The push for quads is where I scratch my head, wonderin' WHAT IS THIS? When kids be dragging themsemlves off the ice, suffering permanent damage, I be wonderin' WTF IS THIS?

[amandabeech]

38. I have never been a judge, although I have considered it.

As an adult, I took individual lessons on a fairly regular basis from 1988 to 1999. I was fortunate to have had terrific coaches: one an excellent show skater, another a national senior ladies medalist and yet another a junior world medalist Russian pair skater!

I always paid attention to what my coaches were saying about what I should do and any comments they had on what others were doing. And I asked lots and lots of questions. Fortunately, my coaches were patient, and sometimes even appreciated a student who was genuinely interested in the sport. Unfortunately, my interest never turned into great feats on the ice. I could do single jumps through the lutz, spins through the forward camel and back upright, and turns, etc., through the 2nd of the 7th levels. I loved every minute of it, and hope to go back once I move to an area where it is possible for an adult with an adult work schedule to participate.

I highly recommend you check out Sandra Loosemore's Skateweb site at <www.frogsonice.com/skateweb> for links to everything figure skating. I usu sally read Figure Skating Universe, Unseen Skaters and the Yahoo figure skating list shown on the "News and Features" Page.

Enjoy!

[Karenina]

49. I was an obsessive compulsive ice dancer

who took to the ice after some muse whacked me while attending a T&D show. (They choreographed Holst's "The Planets." It was BRILLIANT. I WANNA BE LIKE JANE!!!) Bought a pair of skates for $50 only to drop $500 3 months later 'cause I was SERIOUS... Being well into my 30's but looking like 20, I eschewed the "adult" route, wanting to push the envelope as far as my body would allow.

After getting down the single jumps, one of our instructors approached me and said "Let's do a throw waltz (his student had cancelled)." 40 minutes later he HEAVED me the width of the rink. I LANDED THAT SUCKER. I KNEW HOW TO DO IT! I made him do it 3 more times just to prove it. ;-) Amanda, I could FLY!!!

I was SOOO excited and the next time Robin came by the rink I asked him, "You think I could get to a triple loop?" He smiled and said "Karenina, don't ever let anyone tell you what you can't do."

Reality quickly set in that I couldn't pay the bodily or financial price for even doubles, so I contented myself with quintuple cartwheels the length of the ice and took up dancing.

There were lots of budding competitors for whom I had much respect who were delighted to tell me what to do, as I seriously let THEM instruct me. They were quite strict and kept me from hurting myself.

My coach had been saying, "Get DOWN INTO the ice" for months. I huffed and puffed to no great avail UNTIL a strapping 14 year old asked me to do a European Waltz, "Don't worry Karenina, I won't let you fall. I can hold you up." I was clinging to this kid going backwards at a BRAZILLION mph. "Don't panic, just get down into the ice." Same words, but INSTANTLY something clicked and there I was on a wickedly solid edge, executing this huge pattern set by the boy holding me up.

I LOVED SKATING! Where I got in trouble with TPTB was with the music (being a professional) and the judges.

[tanyev]

27. Thank you for your insight!

I'm a big fan of skating, although I don't know anything about the technical stuff, I just know what I like. I have some dance background, so the stuff that really appeals to me is strong choreography. I was so disappointed that Michelle lost the gold medal to Tara. Like a couple other posters have said, Michelle brings tears to my eyes when she skates. I think it's her spirit shining through in her performances.

[Darth_Kitten]

40. skate mom from hell?

never heard of her, what was she like? :evilgrin:

[amandabeech]

42. A very, very, very determined stage mother!

Her life was devoted to her daughter's skating, and she became way, way overinvolved. It was reported that she was the one who forced Tara from an early age to keep trying each jump, including triples, over and over until she did three clean ones in a row at the end of the practice when most skaters are tired and not jumping. The repetition is probably the reason why she's had the hip replacements.

She would also badger rink personnel, coaches, USFSA official and the judges. All of this is considered extremely bad form.

[Darth_Kitten]

43. I'm a skating fan, though knew nothing about Mrs. Lipinski.....

:)

[Karenina]

50. The movie "Strictly Ballroom"

will give some good insight into "rink culture."

[kskiska]

28. Lipinski's already had a hip replacement

maybe two. I remember reading about it not long after she turned pro, when she was 18.

On edit: Yeah, she's had two.

http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/figure_skating/113068

(snip)

However, as a health & fitness author, I’m very concerned about the number of injuries and operations our skaters seem to be having at a younger age. Tara Lipinski ended up getting a double hip replacement at age 18.

[undeterred]

44. That's shocking

considering she must have started out perfectly healthy. Hips should last 70 years or so under normal circumstances. I've heard some of the male skaters who do quads have a lot of pain and problems too.

[Karenina]

56. They are KIDS who end up

dragging their bodies off the ice by their elbows in pursuit of WHAT?
Another half rotation?

[LostinVA]

26. Too much scandal in skating medals -- Lipinski, Baiul , etc.

Paul Wylie. And the ice dancers? Jesus. It's a joke. Neither deserved the gold Kwan is probably THE best women female skater of all time, both for her actual skating and her longevity in the completion of the sport. No gold medal? Who cares. Her skating can make me cry (re: "Fields of Gold").

[Karenina]

29. The real fucked up thing is

the mature and artistic skaters get put out to pasture just as they're really getting GOOD in pursuit of "quads." I would rather see Robin Cousins interpret a piece of music doing nothing more than a single than watch these histrionic combinations accompanied by badly cut mediocre muzak.

[undeterred]

31. I love the competitions/performances of the mature artistic skaters

who have turned professional. They are much more enjoyable than the competitions.

Kurt Browning, Brian Boitano, Kristy Yamaguchi... they are fantastic skaters. I guess they all had to go through the competitions to get where they are.

[amandabeech]

41. No kidding. So would I.

I hope that when Michelle Kwan leaves the Olympic eligible world, which could be after this Olympics, the networks will follow.

After the Nancy/Tonya debacle, skating was big on TV, and we saw many, many professional "competitions" and shows. The professional ranks emphasize the artistic and entertainment side of figure skating where folks like Robin Cousins could produce original programs that do not consist solely of jumping passes.

The pairs problem in 2002 soured many people on skating, and Sarah Hughes, the gold medalist, Irina Slutskaya, the silver medalist, and Michelle Kwan, the bronze medalist did not move to professional skating. These two factors really prevented the normal boom in the pros after the Olympics.

This year, Kwan and Slutskaya will likely go pro, or something like it, as might Cohen if she gets the gold medal. Plushenko will probably retire as well due to injuries. Other very accomplished skaters will go too, such as the three top Japanese ladies. All this will provide a "field" for the pro events. We can only hope!

[undeterred]

45. I always liked Slutskaya except that she was Michele's

most serious rival (and I don't like her name)!

[amandabeech]

46. I like Slutskaya a lot too.

I would like her to get another Olympic medal and then turn pro and continue to skate for years right along with Michelle.

[Gormy Cuss]

16. Wow. Who would have guessed?

Thanks for sharing this important breakthrough research:silly: :silly: :silly:

[radfringe]

25. they hates our freedoms!

it's a terrorist plot to make our skaters come up lame in time for the Olympics!!!!

[oldcoot]

30. Did ABC mention whether or not the ice is cold?

Inquiring minds want to know.

[Karenina]

32. Cold ain't the problem

It's the HARD when one's body parts collide with it that's the problem. The cold is good as the 80 yr old Grand Dame of our rink told me, "First you learn how to stay on you feet. Then you realize when you put meat on ice, it keeps!"

[undeterred]

33. I didn't go very far with skating

so I never learned that much about the conditions. I have heard that the condition of the ice makes a huge difference though- and sometimes when a lot of competitors make mistakes, soft or chipped up ice is a contributor.

Even if they don't fall, the force of landing those triples and quads must be pretty hard on the human body.

[Karenina]

34. Skating is a physical/psychic vortex.

The width is 3mm. on my dance blades and 4mm. on my Bauers. The condition of the ice is a HUGE physical factor and being on "home" or familiar ice a HUGE psychic one.

[mohinoaklawnillinois]

36. Karenina, just wondering, did you watch ABC's coverage of

Skate America today? What were your impressions?

I think Alissa Czisny is one young American lady to keep an eye on. Sokolova deserved her first place though, she did have a much better SP and she wasn't too shabby in the LP either. Bebe Liang is definitely a work in progress as is Emily Hughes.

I'm looking forward to the Grand Prix Series this fall. It'll give me a pretty good idea of the top contenders in all the disciplines in figure skating.

I'm wondering about the seriousness of Michelle Kwan and Sasha Cohen's injuries at this point. From what I've read they both seem to be having problems with hip injuries, which does not bode well for either of them. I'm sure this is due to the ladies' obsession with triple-triple combinations.

[Darth_Kitten]

47. Is Peggy Fleming just dense?

I mean, she seems nice enough, but very slow on the uptake, if you know what I mean. :silly:

[Karenina]

48. I've been TV-less for a decade

and off the ice for 4 years. The racism at the rinks (WORLDWIDE) finally became too much to bear...

I remember Michelle as a little kid practicing at my home rink.

[Karenina]

51. Wonder if Undeterred expected

so many skating fans... The original point is well taken. Skating has no business on World News Tonight.

[undeterred]

53. I never expected this post to keep going

for 3 days! But I am interested in figure skating and I've learned some new things here, so that's good!

[Karenina]

54. Did you ever try it?

Forget all the "stars" and their systems. Have you ever experienced the joy of gliding over the ice??? There's something about it that is so freeing. Prolly has to do with the imperative of staying upright, freeing one's mind of ALL EXTRANEOUS BULLSHIT lest you find yo' butt in extreme pain. :evilgrin:

[undeterred]

55. Oh sure, I took skating lessons and skated as a kid

but nothing like real figure skaters do. I was just happy if I could stop without running into somebody or falling! I still have my high school figure skates in the closet but I haven't used them in years.

[Karenina]

57. Maybe we both need

to pull out our skates these days. ;-)

"In skating over thin ice, our safety is in our speed."

[undeterred]

58. I live in WI where the lakes freeze over

and there is plenty of opportunity.

This year, no excuses~!