tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12102443737984870602008-07-08T08:11:07.188-04:00Laurahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15077491738568971736noreply@blogger.comBlogger140125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1210244373798487060.post-23137289299077843342008-07-08T08:06:00.002-04:002008-07-08T08:11:07.219-04:00

An update from Johnny Weir's blog. He talks a lot about the shows he's been skating in and how he's spent the off-season. He also mentions training with Stephane Lambiel since Lambiel has switched coaches to Viktor Petrenko. Here is a snippet: ...I don't think anything bad will come out of this arrangement. I trust that my coaches will still work with me the same as they did before. I'm at the

Laurahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15077491738568971736noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1210244373798487060.post-78121257960365206322008-07-07T22:27:00.003-04:002008-07-07T22:29:56.490-04:00

Skating fans, set your DVRs to record the Fairly Oddlympics on Nickelodeon on Friday August 1 at 8 p.m. Eastern. It's a movie of the Fairly Oddparents television show, and Scott Hamilton is featured as both live action and animated character, according to The National Ledger.

Laurahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15077491738568971736noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1210244373798487060.post-31833397812153959942008-07-07T22:22:00.004-04:002008-07-07T22:25:28.476-04:00

In another turn of skaters talking about Olympic politics, Scott Hamilton reportedly said that despite the political issues, the Olympics truly come down to the athletes and their stories, according to The National Ledger. "You look back at people who tried to use the Olympics for their own personal agenda ... Adolf Hitler wanted to use the Berlin Olympics as a propaganda tool (for Aryan

Laurahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15077491738568971736noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1210244373798487060.post-79322205896197481972008-07-07T08:12:00.005-04:002008-07-07T10:04:29.645-04:00

According to Kiira-Korpi.net, the beautiful Finnish skater has been accepted to Tampere University to study corporate management. The site also states that this is quite a competitive university, so congratulations to Ms. Korpi!

Laurahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15077491738568971736noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1210244373798487060.post-61382959735521776762008-07-05T10:33:00.004-04:002008-07-07T11:56:23.469-04:00

Kwantifiable pointed me towards some rule changes by the International Skating Union. It's definitely worth a look, but here are some highlights: For flips and lutzes: Technical panel will use the sign "e" in cases where wrong edge takeoff is severe, in such cases GOE (grade of execution) will be reduced by -1 to -3. In cases where the wrong takeoff edge is not so obvious, the sign "!" will be

Laurahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15077491738568971736noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1210244373798487060.post-34105956789630898532008-07-05T10:25:00.003-04:002008-07-05T10:32:20.696-04:00

Calgary-based art company Artevo will globally market the artwork of two-time Olympic bronze medalist Canadian skater Toller Cranston., according to IceNetwork. You can view more of Cranston's work here; I really like it, especially the colors.

Laurahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15077491738568971736noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1210244373798487060.post-85646742531560659182008-07-05T10:08:00.005-04:002008-07-05T10:22:58.008-04:00

I took a look at Capitol Fourth's Olympic Tribute. Eric Kunzel conducted the National Symphony Orchestra playing John Williams' famous Olympic fanfare, which was first introduced at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. They laid an Olympic montage over part of that, which included such famous summer Olympians as Jesse Owens, Carl Lewis and Mary Lou Retton. Then host Jimmy Smits introduced

Laurahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15077491738568971736noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1210244373798487060.post-21656643657375685982008-07-04T13:59:00.002-04:002008-07-04T14:00:10.536-04:00

Have a great holiday! Don't forget to watch Capitol Fourth tonight on PBS!

Laurahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15077491738568971736noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1210244373798487060.post-12687620532848198442008-07-02T09:00:00.002-04:002008-07-02T09:00:01.071-04:00

I could not snag an interview with Scott Hamilton, who is in town for the Capitol Fourth Independence Day celebration on the National Mall (he'll be leading a tribute to the Olympics and USA Olympic teams). But here's his statement about the event: "I can’t think of a better venue than the U.S. Capitol to honor and pay tribute to my fellow Olympians,” said Scott Hamilton. “These athletes

Laurahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15077491738568971736noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1210244373798487060.post-52448823979097371912008-07-01T16:52:00.003-04:002008-07-01T17:13:20.716-04:00

Don't forget to celebrate Canada today, both for the amazing figure skaters the country has produced over the years and for the massive amounts of love that nation has for skating and skaters in general. Not to mention that Canada is home to several loyal readers of this little blog(And for many other reasons that do not directly relate to figure skating). YAY Canada!

Laurahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15077491738568971736noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1210244373798487060.post-84211010777143185912008-07-01T09:41:00.003-04:002008-07-01T09:45:27.194-04:00

A coffee table book launched Tuesday at Wimbledon celebrates the 20th anniversary of tennis' reinstatement in the Olympics by having tennis stars pose as athletes in other sports. According to Guardian, among the photos is a picture of Serena Williams as a figure skater. The book is titled "Journey to Beijing: Tennis Celebrates the Olympics."

Laurahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15077491738568971736noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1210244373798487060.post-43142736653565074472008-07-01T08:43:00.002-04:002008-07-01T08:47:23.997-04:00

Elvis Stojko has made some more comments seemingly advocating an athlete boycott of this summer's Olympic games in Beijing. The comments were in Sharp magazine, and here's what Stojko said: “Canadians, we live in a bubble. But there are other people around the world, and especially with Beijing hosting the Games, there’s a chance to make some pressure on China in order to change and to move

Laurahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15077491738568971736noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1210244373798487060.post-9876221338296631602008-06-29T14:49:00.002-04:002008-06-29T14:52:47.979-04:00

Sports photographer Walter Iooss has a book of photographs out titled Athlete. It sounds to be full of plenty of amazing images, and you might be especially interested in a gorgeous shot of Michelle Kwan, who appears to be skating in the clouds, but is actually on a glassy rink. Check it out in the New York Daily News article on the book.

Laurahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15077491738568971736noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1210244373798487060.post-15405529252507882132008-06-27T08:27:00.003-04:002008-06-27T13:28:09.720-04:00

UPDATED. I actually have the link now...sorry about that. Here is a great Icenetwork interview with Brian Boitano. There are so many great aspects that I cannot excerpt it all so please go read. Here are some of my favorite parts: ICE: Looking at the skaters around today, a lot of the guys are doing the same elements as you all did in the mid-'80s. BB: Jeffrey Buttle did exactly the

Laurahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15077491738568971736noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1210244373798487060.post-21898081068493241502008-06-27T08:08:00.002-04:002008-06-27T08:12:28.517-04:00

About.com has news about former U.S. pairs skater Roy Wagelin being found dead. He was a 1968 Olympian. No details, but obviously a sad week for figure skating. Jo Ann from About.com also points out that Wagelin was a graduate of the Hollywood Professional School, a private school for kids in arts and entertainment. Peggy Fleming is another famous attendee, along with other skaters and actors.

Laurahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15077491738568971736noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1210244373798487060.post-69100438427332047832008-06-26T17:00:00.003-04:002008-06-26T17:06:58.356-04:00

Why all the coach switching? Bouncing around between coaches is nothing new in figure skating. I’m not even saying it’s a bad thing. But it appears to be happening more and more in recent years (**disclaimer: I have no empirical evidence of this. This assessment is based on observation and a very rough survey that consisted of me google-researching several top skaters of the past 30 years).

Laurahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15077491738568971736noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1210244373798487060.post-4469367060808158082008-06-26T08:26:00.002-04:002008-06-26T08:32:55.999-04:00

Jim Yorke, U.S. ice dancing Skate America bronze medalist and a coach of Mirai Nagasu, among others, passed away at 45 years old the other day, according to Icenetwork. The article does not state how he died but says it was unexpected. From the article: Following his retirement from competitive skating, Yorke embarked on a professional career with five-time U.S. champion and three-time world

Laurahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15077491738568971736noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1210244373798487060.post-43704638778150135462008-06-25T21:56:00.002-04:002008-06-25T22:02:39.320-04:00

Another figure skating video game is hitting the news this week, according to Nintendic. This time it's Imagine Figure Skater for Nintendo DS. Apparently, the stylus is integral in the performance of jumps and spins. The game comes out in August. The game is developed by Ubisoft, which is a European company that was written up in Forbes recently. Ubisoft's Imagine line is geared toward young

Laurahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15077491738568971736noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1210244373798487060.post-62085613123699975212008-06-24T11:31:00.003-04:002008-06-24T11:34:47.511-04:00

AFP is reporting that Mao Asada will be training with Tatiana Tarasova as well (we reported earlier that Lysacek will be working with the famed coach/choreographer). "She will design a programme just for me. That means a lot," Asada told a press conference at the airport in central Aichi prefecture as she returned from Canada. Vancouver will be Asada's first Olympics because she was three

Laurahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15077491738568971736noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1210244373798487060.post-67502364278084554972008-06-24T07:53:00.003-04:002008-06-24T11:35:04.477-04:00

Ashley Wagner, who I have to follow extra closely now because she is a DC-area girl, has left her coach of six years, Shirley Hughes, to train with Johnny Weir's former coach, Priscilla Hill, according to the Concord Monitor. Wagner came in 16th in this year's world championships and she is scheduled to skate in the Cup of China and the NHK Trophy this season.

Laurahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15077491738568971736noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1210244373798487060.post-19766017011044342372008-06-23T15:52:00.003-04:002008-06-24T11:35:19.083-04:00

About.com's Figure Skating Blog has the full text of Janet Lynn's controversial USFS Governing Council speech, which I previously blogged about. Read the transcript here.

Laurahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15077491738568971736noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1210244373798487060.post-81622775278899481962008-06-23T07:50:00.003-04:002008-06-24T11:35:30.641-04:00

Kristi Yamaguchi is all over the place these days. From JustJared.com, she went with her family to the premiere of the new movie Wall-E. There are several pictures of her family, including her two adorable girls. Also, I am digging Bret's stylish look.

Laurahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15077491738568971736noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1210244373798487060.post-88519439719818167382008-06-22T21:23:00.003-04:002008-06-24T11:35:39.879-04:00

USA Today reports about a mysterious flexibility devices that helps athletes (particularly figure skaters) improve their flexibility. About the size of a shoebox, with a domed lid and covered in gray vinyl, the device doesn't do anything except vibrate at a particular frequency when it's plugged in. But when athletes from swimmers to skaters put an ankle, a thigh or a hip to it — or use an

Laurahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15077491738568971736noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1210244373798487060.post-1257446912085356202008-06-22T21:09:00.003-04:002008-06-24T11:35:54.659-04:00

Icenetwork reportsEv that Evan Lysacek is off to Moscow for a few weeks to work on choreography with Tatiana Tarasova. Interestingly, Tarasova choreographed rival Johnny Weir's programs from 2003-2006. Lysacek normally works with Lori Nichol, and will still work with her according to the article, but is looking for a "new perspective." Lysacek's consulting Tarasova may be a sign that he's

Laurahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15077491738568971736noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1210244373798487060.post-73539359158346669222008-06-19T08:18:00.003-04:002008-06-19T08:29:48.129-04:00

Thanks to Ice Charades, I now know that I completely blew it by not letting all of you Long Islanders know about "Cold as Ice," starring Oksana Baiul, which closed the other day. It was playing in Bellport, and had I only known I would certainly have tried to attend while visiting family on the Island a few weeks ago! Sorry blog readers. Apparently, she played a skater in the play during the

Laurahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15077491738568971736noreply@blogger.com