The Ultimate Skating Champions
Since today is not Opposite Day, Michael is posting about public health and I am posting about sports. But it's sort of occupational health because, sheesh--can figure skating actually be more hazardous than football?
Back during the 2002 Olympics, Michael explained to me the difference between ice dancing and pairs figure skating. "Pairs is the one where the woman almost dies four times on the ice," he explained. Watching the pairs skating in Turin last night, I realized he was quite right. As the heavily favored Russian pair Totmiyanina and Marinin laced up their shoulder pads (it's almost like they've never seen The Cutting Edge!) NBC generously ran the footage from Pittsburgh 20004. "Wow, they're gonna show it," Mike beckoned me over, "It's brutal." He was right, they showed her falling from his arms at a great height, and her skull hitting the ice. Then her sliding, unconscious, across it.
The Russians skated well last night, and got the gold, but the lead story is Zhang and Zhang of China. The Zhangs were about to attempt a throw-quad somethingorother, when she went down hard, practically spread-eagled from seven feet in the air. She had to stop; in fact, he had to hold her up at the abdomen just to get over to the edge of the ice. My heart was going out to her when...they started the program again. On the one hand, I had to admire her chutzpah. But there's something wrong with that picture when she's jumping triple lutzes and such on an unexamined injury so bad she couldn't stand up just moments before. Most of you know the Zhangs were rewarded for their stamina and got the silver medal. A great story. But only because she didn't fall again, didn't tear her ACL while we all watched, didn't wind up concussed or worse.
I've come to believe it's acutally the conterfactual free skate where the woman dies that provides the excitement of pairs figure skating. It ain't the costumes.
Back during the 2002 Olympics, Michael explained to me the difference between ice dancing and pairs figure skating. "Pairs is the one where the woman almost dies four times on the ice," he explained. Watching the pairs skating in Turin last night, I realized he was quite right. As the heavily favored Russian pair Totmiyanina and Marinin laced up their shoulder pads (it's almost like they've never seen The Cutting Edge!) NBC generously ran the footage from Pittsburgh 20004. "Wow, they're gonna show it," Mike beckoned me over, "It's brutal." He was right, they showed her falling from his arms at a great height, and her skull hitting the ice. Then her sliding, unconscious, across it.
The Russians skated well last night, and got the gold, but the lead story is Zhang and Zhang of China. The Zhangs were about to attempt a throw-quad somethingorother, when she went down hard, practically spread-eagled from seven feet in the air. She had to stop; in fact, he had to hold her up at the abdomen just to get over to the edge of the ice. My heart was going out to her when...they started the program again. On the one hand, I had to admire her chutzpah. But there's something wrong with that picture when she's jumping triple lutzes and such on an unexamined injury so bad she couldn't stand up just moments before. Most of you know the Zhangs were rewarded for their stamina and got the silver medal. A great story. But only because she didn't fall again, didn't tear her ACL while we all watched, didn't wind up concussed or worse.
I've come to believe it's acutally the conterfactual free skate where the woman dies that provides the excitement of pairs figure skating. It ain't the costumes.
1 Comment(s):
- Posted by
at February 15, 2006 7:01 AM |
Permanent Link to this Comment
You know, I was wondering about that injury myself. Some sketchy "trainer" or "doctor" on the sidelines (does skating have sidelines?) said she was OK to skate, so she did? Kinda reminded me of Bill Frist diagnosing Terri Schiavo on TV--how can they tell that quickly whether someone's OK, and based on such a superficial examination? But as you said, nobody died, so... And the Russians always win anyway, so who cares about the Chinese skaters, right?
