First of all, nobody wanted to see Kaori Sakamoto go. They all wanted her to stay forever, amazing us with her power and spirit on the ice, her bubbling joy off the ice. They all knew: If she goes away, she’ll take the sun away. But she was skating to “Je ne Regrette Rien” after […]
Kaori Sakamoto
Alysa Liu, and the Impossible Dream
“What the hell?” said she, who had just accomplished the impossible. Seconds before Alysa Liu finished her MacArthur Park free program at the world figure skating championships, the crowd of more than 19,000 in the TD Centre in Boston, stood up as one, screaming for her. They broke the sound barrier. “What the hell?” Liu […]
Alone
I did not realize, until I watched the NBC broadcast in the evening of Feb. 17, just how deeply ran the emotions of an Olympic women’s figure skating event gone wrong. I had not seen all of Kamila Valieva’s tears when she finished. I had not seen how, when she came off the ice, her […]
Jitters Hit Women in World Short Program
Jitters ruled the day. So many women had not skated in such a long time, and here they were at the world figure skating championships in Stockholm that some weren’t sure would happen at all. None of it went as scripted, except that Anna Shcherbakova ended up in the lead with a healthy 81.00 points […]