tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12102443737984870602009-02-20T22:36:40.568-05:00The Figure Skating Blog with the News You NeedLaurahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15077491738568971736noreply@blogger.comBlogger146125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1210244373798487060.post-43428152391657133792008-07-11T08:27:00.002-04:002008-07-11T08:30:27.246-04:00

World Champions and Olympic bronze medalists from China, Shen Xue and Zhao Hongbo, carried the torch in the Olympic torch relay Friday morning, and they lit the cauldron at "Sunny Stone" square. Check out the pictures at China's Olympic website.

Laurahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15077491738568971736noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1210244373798487060.post-91622550418899956572008-07-11T08:21:00.003-04:002008-07-11T08:26:49.609-04:00

Olympic silver medalist Nancy Kerrigan will be honored by Ice Theatre of New York this October, according to International Figure Skating magazine. Paul Wylie will MC the event. The benefit gala is at Chelsea Piers, write to itny@icetheatre.org for more information about attending, etc. There will also be a performance by Ice Theatre at the gala.

Laurahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15077491738568971736noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1210244373798487060.post-20611431213150824492008-07-11T08:17:00.003-04:002008-07-11T08:21:40.232-04:00

This IceNetwork article is a nice look at how Todd Eldredge has been spending the summer. And part of it has involved coaching - one of his students is Kimmie Meissner (you'll remember that Meissner started to work with Richard Callaghan, who is also Eldredge's old coach). I can definitely see Todd coaching. He's one of those skaters who always looked like the wheels were turning inside his

Laurahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15077491738568971736noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1210244373798487060.post-57831051781679493842008-07-10T07:55:00.004-04:002008-07-10T08:02:56.090-04:00

Oksana Baiul will be featured on the Internet talk show Latenet, according to Science Fiction Buzz. She is talking about her role in the groundbreaking (or should I say icebreaking? heh!) broadway musical COLD AS ICE (I NEED OPENING NIGHT TICKETS, STAT!).You New Yorkers are in luck because you can buy tickets, and a portion of those ticket proceeds go to Project A.L.S. Check out the link for

Laurahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15077491738568971736noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1210244373798487060.post-46782144056470202432008-07-10T07:53:00.002-04:002008-07-10T07:54:29.674-04:00

Here is a lovely article in the Ottawa Citizen about Elizabeth Manley's mother, Joan Manley, who passed away this week at 73 years old.

Laurahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15077491738568971736noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1210244373798487060.post-23220533955755430622008-07-09T15:42:00.002-04:002008-07-09T15:53:57.977-04:00

Check out this press release from IceNetwork for a look at what Scott Hamilton will look like in the Fairly Oddlympics. It's adorable, and I think Hamilton is such a vibrant, animated personality to begin with, it really is not that far a stretch to see him as a cartoon. He's got a great cartoon voice too. I'm only mad that I missed his other foray into animation where he played a dog in Nine

Laurahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15077491738568971736noreply@blogger.com0tag: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.com0tag: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.com0tag: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 supremacy

Laurahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15077491738568971736noreply@blogger.com0tag: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.com1tag: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.com2tag: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.com0tag: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.com0tag: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.com0tag: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.com1tag: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.com0tag: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.com0tag: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.com0tag: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.com1tag: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 technical

Laurahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15077491738568971736noreply@blogger.com2tag: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.com0tag: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.com0tag: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.com0tag: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.com0tag: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 months

Laurahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15077491738568971736noreply@blogger.com0