U.S. Figure Skating Championships
Amy Shipley
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, January 14, 2005; 2:00 p.m. ET
What are the big stories coming out of the 2005 U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Portland, Ore.? Who are the finest skaters on the ice today? How have recent coaching changes effected the sport?
Post staff writer Amy Shipley will be online to discuss figure skating and the U.S. Championships.
The transcript follows.
Editor's Note: washingtonpost.com moderators retain editorial control
over Live Online discussions and choose the most relevant questions for guests and hosts; guests and hosts can decline to answer questions.
Amy Shipley: Hi everybody. I've just logged on.
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Suitland, Md.:
I attended the ladies championship long program 2 years ago at MCI Center. The excitement when Michelle Kwan came onto the ice was palpable, and when she finished and everyone was standing and clapping and cheering, well, I still get chills just thinking about it. It was the most fun I've had at a sporting event in a long time. I taped it as well and when I watch it again and again the thrill has not diminished. I'm so glad Michelle has remained in competitive skating because, for me, pro skating carries no risk and, therefore, no excitement. At almost 25 years of age, she is an amazing athlete. How has she been able to compete with and many times defeat the youngsters she goes up against year after year?
Amy Shipley: Michelle's longevity really has been amazing. She's been sustained by a couple of things: Because artistry has always been her strength, as opposed to pure physicality, she's been able to maintain her character on the ice. In other words, age doesn't catch up on your artistry, though it can hurt you physically. The sport's jumping beans often either outgrow the small bodies that give them success as jumping beans or they sustain injuries that prevent them from succeeding. Michelle is also one of the most level-headed, mature people you could meet. She knows how to be a professional, a big plus in a high-pressure industry like this.
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Arlington, Va.:
Is there anyone out there who is surprising you?
Amy Shipley: The men as a whole surprised me yesterday. There have been some nationals in which it was as if the last man standing earned the gold medal--or, rather, the man who had fallen the fewest times. There were a LOT of clean programs in yesterday's short. Tim Goebel, who had really faded for a while, looked great. He got beautiful elevation on his quad and had a really nicely choreographed program by Lori Nichol. Evan Lysacek, last year's junior world silver medalist, also looked great. He's very elegant, very showy and he, too, was clean. So was Johnny Weir. Granted, neither attempted quads, something both plan to add this spring. But both he and Lysacek have a real grace that Goebel lacked earlier in his career. It was nice to see men's skating that was more than a fall-fest. These guys looked really good, ready, perhaps, to make an impact in the world championships.
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Troy, Mich.:
So it looks as if Sasha Cohen yet again fails to come up with a complete, flawless program. Its almost like a curse similar to the Red Sox. She's defiintly got the goods and the talent but alas, she just can't deliever them when it counts the most. How ironic it would be if say come 2006 in Turin, she finally delivers the performance of her life, overtaking Kwan for the gold medal!
Amy Shipley: Sasha Cohen really is a winning lottery ticket just waiting to be cashed. I am incredibly interested to see how she does in the long program, which has been the bane of her career. Despite finishing second, as usual, to Kwan in the short, the gold is obviously hers for the taking. But she must be clean. She rarely has been when she most needs it. I think she is so intense, so high-strung, she just can't relax and let her mind go blank when she really needs to. Kwan has more experience and confidence to pull it off (except, as you pointed out, in the Olympics!!)...
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Manassas Park, Va.:
Has Kwan overstayed her welcome or is she still the gold standard for the sport? What are her odds in Turin? Which American teenager could take gold from her this time?
Amy Shipley: No American teen looks ready at the moment to overtake Kwan or Sasha Cohen. They really were heads and shoulders above the field yesterday. Baltimore's Kimmie Meissner is strong and has tons of promise but she would have to make an extraordinary leap next year. Watching the short program, you really didn't get the sense that Kwan or Cohen would be threatened by anyone next year. But that's just nationally. There are several Japanese skaters who have pushed the envelope technically. Irina Slutskaya has come back strong. Kwan has not overstayed her welcome, by any stretch, but she lacks--as she has for about eight years now!--the jumping capacity of some of the younger skaters. Of course, if you don't land 'em, you aren't going to beat Kwan.
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Alexandria, Va.:
Is Michael Weiss still competing? I've always liked his skating, but it always seemed like at International competitions, he made some mistake that hurt his standing, even when he was the big favorite. Why do you think that is?
Amy Shipley: Michael Weiss is an enigma. He fell attempting the quad jump in his short program yesterday, which landed him in a giant hole: fifth place. Even his coach, Don Laws, can't seem to figure him out. He is one of the sweetest people you will ever meet, a genuinely good person, yet he seems to lack a certain competitive fire or confidence. He has been good enough for some time to win world medals every year, but he has his work cut out for him now just to make the world team by finishing in the top three here. I suspect, with the pressure sort of off of him tomorrow, that he will skate clean and make a run for it, but with him you never know. He is facing a tough field.
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New York, N.Y.:
What is your opinion about the revised judging rules (which, for some reason, they aren't using here)? Will it make a difference, or is it still pretty corrupt? Also, any word on whether Sarah Hughes will compete next year?
Amy Shipley: Don't know about Sarah, but she obviously has left her options open, retaining her Olympic eligibility. Given the gap at the top of women's skating between Kwan and Cohen and everybody else, I wouldn't be surprised if she tries again. As for the new judging rules, I think they have been great. If you want to know whether they have made an impact, look at ice dance. Years ago, it took forever to make moves up the ice dancing ladder. The standings barely changed from the compulsories to the original dance to the free dance, and from competition to competition. It was laughable. Regardless of performance, the same skaters were rewarded. Now, there is movement. And a young team like U.S. skaters Tanith Belbin and Ben Agosto has actually moved quickly up the performance ladder. It's been great.
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Washington, D.C.:
Hello, can you place this contest in context for me? What's at stake? Does a win here mean going to the Olympics automatically? How good do you have to be to get here?
Thanks
Amy Shipley: The top three in the men's and women's events at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships get tickets to the March world championships in Moscow. The top two in pairs and dance also go. The U.S. Olympic team will be decided at next year's national championships--called the Olympic Trials next year.
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Montgomery County, Md.:
Hi Amy! I am an avid skating fan, and a former skater who stopped due to back injuries. And I was trained when all girls did were axels and double jumps. I really worry that as the physical demands of the sport (triples and quads) have increased, the proportion of top skaters nursing chronic injuries approaches 100 percent. Tim Goebel, Sasha Cohen, Jennifer Kirk, lots of the current competitors have had recent and serious well publicized injuries. I think this is a terrible trend for our beloved sport, one that does not seem easily reversed.
Amy Shipley: You make a good point, but the new judging system offers some hope. Because the new system emphasizes well-rounded technique, you see less of the jump-counting than you used to. Before, if a man landed three quads in a program, that sort of FELT unbeatable just because of the enormity of the feat. You knew the guy was going to win. Now, that man will get a big boost to his score because of the three jumps, but he will STILL have to score well on spins, footwork, choreography, etc. to win. Same with the women. The men are much more relaxed about the quad these days, and Kwan has been more relaxed about her failure to add the triple-triple combination. While having those jumps remains important to keep up with the Russian men and Japanese women, it seems less important than a few years ago, when we programs were almost summed up by the number of jumps in them.
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Washington, D.C.:
I think if Kwan wants to be a contender for '06, she's going to have to insert a triple-triple in her jump arsenal, especially considering that this is the last year for the old judging system. Do you agree? Do you think she'll actually do it?
Amy Shipley: I just sort of addressed this. I don't think Kwan NEEDS the triple-triple to win the gold, but it would give her program a points boost if she were to add it. If she does not do the triple-triple, then she had better have some very complex spins and footwork to compensate.
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Baltimore, Md.:
It seems to me the focus on program "perfection" has somewhat detracted from the sport. Obviously Kwan is a graceful and impeccable skater, however in terms of sheer physical innovation (extensions on spiral sequences, speed, spins, an easthetic that is closest any skater has EVER come to looking balletic on ice) Cohen has her beat. It's hard to reconcile the final marks when one looks so clearly more astounding compared to the other. Shouldn't young skaters be striving to reach the overall appearance and aesthetic of a Sasha Cohen rather than the mechanical perfection of Kwan?
Amy Shipley: Many judges consider Kwan the epitome of figure skating artistry, but others share your view: that Cohen is by far the best in the world in that regard. Hard to get inside the judges' heads on that one. Cohen really is gorgeous on the ice, a true ballerina on skates. Of course, she might be truly rewarded for that elegance and presence if she could put some clean programs together!!
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Arlington, Va.:
I think Michelle Kwan is just breathtaking. I watched her win the 2003 Worlds here in D.C. After 3 minutes, you couldn't even hear her music -- the place was just electric! With or without an Olympic gold medal, I think history will judge her as the sport's best ever in the ladies' event. What do you think? I will be rooting for her this weekend!
Amy Shipley: I think Michelle will go down as among the best in history, but I doubt she would be crowned the best ever without that elusive Olympic gold. It might not be fair, but it is the ultimate achievement in skating. She's like Dan Marino of skating. You can't imagine a better, more effective quarterback over a longer period of time than Marino. He will sail into the Hall of Fame. But best ever? He doesn't have a Super Bowl ring.
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Los Angeles, Calif.:
It seems curious that the nationals are still using the traditional scoring system when the new one will be used internationally, e.g. Worlds and Olympics. Why do you think the U.S. kept the soon-to-be-obsolete scoring system for this competition?
By the way, thanks for taking the time to come online and provide coverage!
Amy Shipley: The U.S. Figure Skating Association really butted heads with Ottavio Cinquanta of the International Skating Union on the new judging system, raising major objections to the anonymous aspect of the judging and accepting it rather begrudgingly. That might have something to do with the organization's late institution of the new system (this likely will be the last nationals with the old one).
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Washington, D.C.:
For the New Yorker who asked about Sarah Hughes, her younger sister Emily is now a senior level skater and is in 9th place after the short.
Amy Shipley: You got it.
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Columbia, S.C.:
What's with the state of pairs skating in the U.S.? For many years, we always had at least one pair who was in the top five or six in the world. Now it seems as though our pairs are struggling to be in the top ten in the world with no chance of medalling there. Any hope for the future?
Amy Shipley: Nobody is leaping out here, that's for sure. The lack of depth in pairs in a real mystery and surely very frustrating for the U.S. Figure Skating Association. There's not a single team here that really has a whiff of a hope for a medal at worlds. They will be shooting for top 10.
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Los Angeles, Calif.:
How do the dancers look? It seems that Belbin and Agosto are at the top of their game. Do any of the other skaters look like that they can mount a significant challenge? I think it helps to have a close challenger to push you to be the best.
Amy Shipley: No, no one is even close to Belbin and Agosto. It's such a shame they won't be able to compete at the Olympics next year because Belbin, a Canadian, won't get her U.S. citizenship in time. It's been forever since the United States had a top dance team. I mean, it's been 20 years!! These two would certainly contend for a medal. Yet the United States will send a couple teams to the Olympics that probably will have no shot of winning a medal, as usual.
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Washington, D.C.:
Weiss has gone from fifth to first before, I think two years ago, but of course that was because everyone ahead of him had a meltdown in the long.
Has the death of Angela Nikodinov's mother affected many of the skaters? Somehow it surprised me that it affected Goebel so deeply. Of course skaters know each other and are friends, and I guess I just didn't know that they were so close. How are the other women skaters reacting?
Amy Shipley: The death of Angela's mother has affected a lot of skaters, none more than Goebel, close friend of her. While female figure skaters don't exactly go out to dinner together--it's a very, very competitive world--they do spend lots of time together and become close if only through their rivalries. Many are also extremely close to their families given the isolation of being in a "singles sport," so all can relate to her pain. I think many, many people here were genuinely affected and saddened.
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Alexandria, Va.:
Long time skating fan... I hear that Tim Goebbels has switched coaches to Audry Weissinger who is associated with the Fairfax Ice Arena. When Michael was there, there were often times you could watch him at the rink, do you know if these still exist?
Amy Shipley: I'm sure you can catch Tim skating at Fairfax Ice Arena, but I don't know his practice schedule. And I doubt he does the Friday night skates for fans that Michael--who was deeply connected to the community there-- was known for.
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St. Louis, Mo.:
Firstly, allow me to thank you and Amy Rosewater
for your effective reporting on figure skating over
the years. The Washington Post coverage is
always a pleasure to read.
Do you think a day will come when figured skating
is covered in newspapers like a sport, with
statistical information as a major part of the story?
For instance, if I don't have time to read about
Skater X's emotional breakdown in the Kiss & Cry,
I would like to see a quick list of the jumps
landed, revolutions on spins, deductions taken,
type of footwork, etc. Currently, unless I have time
to surf the Web for reports from well-informed
fans, one simply cannot find this information from
the media.
Amy Shipley: Interesting question. With the new judging system, it might be possible to do more statistical analyses of skaters' programs. I suspect that newspapers, who are becoming more and more dependent on illustrative graphics, might seize upon the point values and element-by-element grading and attempt to do somethign with it in the future.
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Maryland:
Poor Angela never seems to catch a break, and this (the accident) is the worst thing that could happen to a person. Do you think she will continue to skate, especially with the annual reminder that her mother died at Nationals? Obviously, it's too soon for anyone to make an accurate judgment, but I was just curious.
Amy Shipley: She's proven very resilient but this is a really tough one. If there was ever a year in which she had a great shot of making the world team, this would be it, with the gap between Cohen and Kwan and everybody else, and three world team spots available. I would imagine that would be hard to rebound from. On the other hand, the Olympics is right around the corner. She barely missed an Oly spot in 2002, finishing fourth. She might see that as the perfect motivation to return next year and try to make the team.
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Amy Shipley: Thanks everyone. I have to run!
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