Mikko Minkkinen oli erittäin lupaava muutama vuosi sitten, mutta luokkaantumiset ovat estäneet hänen läpimurtoa. Poika on harjoitellut Saksassa useasti.
Jos Alisa onnistuu huomenna kaksois-kolmoishypyssä niin mestaruus on hänen.
MuzaMaza kirjoitti:ALISA!! "Ilmeikäs ja kiinnostava"....
Maatuska sahanterillä.
Siis, voisiko tätä enää paremmin sanoa.
Joskus mä hämmästelen ihan aikuisten oikeasti, miksi jotkut urheilijat vuodesta toiseen roikkuvat näissä kv. arvokisoissakin mukana, vaikka kotimaassa tulokset menevät alaspäin kuin lehmän häntä. No, saavuttihan maatuska sahanterillä hopeaa, mutta silti. Vuodesta toiseen sinne valitaan samat ihmiset edustamaan, vaikka mitään kehitystä ei tapahdu. Maatuskakin on ikuinen lupaus...
...kan inte säga nej,
jag måste släppa tag,
du vinner över mig...
Olisin myös toivonut että Minkkinen tai nuori Valtteri Virtanen olisi napannut SM-kultaa, mielestäni Nurmenkari on useita vuosia edustanut maatamma arvokisoissa.
Onnistueessa Nurmenkari kyllä vielä päihittää edellä mainitut, mutta ehkä olisi hyvää Nurmenkarille jäädä kotiin välillä. Voisi vaan antaa kipinää hänelle jatkoa ajatellen.
Itse kiitän kyllä Alisaa siitä että hän nosti Suomen taitoluistelu siihen tasoon että saimme osallistua kahdella luistelijalla arvokisoihin 1990 luvulla, sillä se merkitsee tosi paljon maan tason kehitykseen.
Uskon että tämä on viimeinen vuosi kun Aliisa on mukana kilpailemassa.
Näin kylässä televisiosta Ukrainan poikien show'n. Oli kieltämättä vaikuttavan näköinen, ja loistavalla tavalla toteutettu. Niillä oli ammattilaisten otteet. Tuli vain mieleen, että taistoluisteluthan ovat nykyään kuin euroviisut kun vaatekertoja vähennettiin koko ajan ja oli muutenkin melkoista "glitter och glamour" -meininkiä.
Jos joskus elämänsä voisi vaihtaa unelmaan.
E troco a minha vida por um dia de ilusão.
Michelle Kwan ei osallistunut USAn kansallisiin loukkaantumisen vuoksi. Ja nyt siellä mietityttää pitäisikö Kwanin saada automaattinen edustuspaikka siitäkin huolimatta Olympialaisiin. Kisan voittajahan pääsee ainoastaan automaattisesti Torinoon....
Diggi-loo diggi-ley alla tittar på mig
Där jag går i mina gyllne skor
Jag dansade omkring på gatan
Och hela världen den log
Diggi-loo diggi-ley
By NANCY ARMOUR, AP National Writer
January 15, 2006
ST. LOUIS (AP) -- Michelle Kwan was given one more chance to chase that elusive Olympic gold. Now she has to prove she deserves it.
While Sasha Cohen earned her spot in Turin by winning the U.S. Figure Skating Championships on Saturday night, Kwan needed an assist from a selection committee.
By a 20-3 vote, it gave the nine-time U.S. and five-time world champion a medical bye under the condition she proves by Jan. 27 that she's fully recovered from a groin injury and able to compete.
"I'm my worst critic," Kwan said from California, where she watched the championships on television. "If I feel that I can't be ready, I will pull myself off the team. I've said that before and I'm sticking to it. If I don't believe I can be 100 percent and at my best, I don't believe it's good for me to go."
Cohen and Kimmie Meissner were givens after their 1-2 finish. But the committee took the better part of an hour to put Kwan ahead of third-place finisher Emily Hughes, who was designated an alternate along with Katy Taylor.
"We looked at basically the Olympic selection criteria we're dealing with ... and we had a healthy discussion," said Bob Horen, chairman of the International Committee that made the decision.
"... We felt she had a better chance to medal."
But Kwan can't start packing for Turin yet.
If a five-member committee decides Kwan isn't healthy or fit enough to skate, she would be replaced by Hughes, the little sister of 2002 Olympic champion Sarah. If Hughes can't go or has had to replace somebody else, Taylor would take the spot. Hughes did get a consolation prize, being put on the world championship team instead of Kwan.
Kwan has been through this before, but she was in Hughes' spot in 1994. Kwan finished second at those national championships, but was left off the team when Nancy Kerrigan was given a medical bye.
"I'm feeling really, really good," Kwan said. "I'm very happy U.S. Figure Skating approved my petition. At the same time, I know how Emily must be feeling. I went through the same situation in 1994."
Kwan said the U.S. Figure Skating doctor who examined her on Friday told her she'd be "100 percent" by the Olympics. She began jumping on Friday, doing a triple toe loop jump and some doubles.
The women's competition begins Feb. 21, with the free skate on Feb. 23.
"All this time, from my petition until today, I said whatever the answer is, just get better and keep on doing what I can on the ice," Kwan said. "I feel I can start jumping any time now. I have to not jump the gun. I have to listen to the doctors' orders and pace myself so I can peak at the Olympics."
And, she hopes, have another shot at the elusive gold medal. She has a silver from the Nagano Olympics and a bronze from Salt Lake City.
Though she's skated sparingly over the last few years and was fourth at the world championships in March, she's been the face of figure skating for the last decade. And while she may not be the same skater who went to Nagano and Salt Lake City as the gold-medal favorite, she remains a contender.
Even though Kwan finished fourth at worlds, only Cohen has higher scores under the sport's new judging system. Hughes' best finish at an international event was a bronze medal at last year's junior worlds.
"I think it's the committee's job to name the strongest possible team and hopefully if everyone's in their top form, they probably made the best decision," Cohen said. "But I also do feel sad Emily won't have a chance to go because the Olympics are an amazing experience."
And Cohen will go with the added cache of being the national champion. She finished with 199.18 points, more than 28 points ahead of Meissner.
"I've got a lot of silvers in different shoeboxes in storage units all over the place. But I think the gold one will have a special place," said Cohen, who couldn't take her eyes off the medal during the awards ceremony.
She's a breathtaking mix of athleticism, grace and beauty. But she didn't always have the psyche to match, finishing second twice at the world championships and four times -- all to Kwan -- at nationals. At the 2002 Olympics, she was third after the short program but dropped to fourth overall.
Trying to find some solution, Cohen left longtime coach John Nicks and her Southern California home for the East Coast in 2002, training first with Tatiana Tarasova and then Robin Wagner. But the change in scenery didn't change her results.
It wasn't until she returned home in December 2004 and reunited with Nicks that Cohen discovered she'd had what she needed all along right inside of her. She began focusing more on her training and performance than the final placement, and the difference is plain to see.
Though she missed three days of practice after coming down with the flu last weekend and was clearly exhausted at the end of her 4-minute program to "Romeo and Juliet," Cohen was a pure delight Saturday night.
"I have not done this version in competition and I haven't done this run-through since last Friday," Cohen said. "It's been eight days so I said, `OK, let's see what happens."'
She tried seven triples, two in combination. But it's her presentation that sets her apart. She doesn't skate so much as float, and her expressions told of all the pain and heartache that Juliet felt.
When she spins, she looks like that ballerina in the music box. And when she did her spiral sequence, about 30 seconds of skating on one leg, the other held high above her head, the audience gasped in delight.
Her only mistakes were step outs on a triple toe loop jump and triple salchow, both minor. Especially since she was the only woman in the last warmup to complete her program without taking a spill on the ice.
"Every year, I always kind of left nationals a bit disappointed, not where I wanted to finish," Cohen said. "This nationals didn't start off too well, but I am able to go home and now prepare for Torino. It feels nice."
Jäätanssin pakolliset menossa. LeuhkisNavka on parinsa kanssa VASTA kolmantena. Ukrainalaiset ksfskdjgfkdsWHATEVER johtavat ja paluun tehneet liettualaiset Drobiazko/Vanagas kolmantena!! Mutta nämähän ovat vasta pakolliset. Kaipa tuomarit jollain keinolla saavat venäläiset hilattua ykkösiksi vaikka ois käytössä mikä pistesysteemi.........
Nyt noi ranskalaiset tinttaa tuolla! Voi voi, kaatuminen, KAKSI KERTAA!! .........
Diggi-loo diggi-ley alla tittar på mig
Där jag går i mina gyllne skor
Jag dansade omkring på gatan
Och hela världen den log
Diggi-loo diggi-ley