Yes, there actually are figure skating stories about competition at this Winter Olympics.
Why, here’s one right now. It may not be as exciting as the latest episode of Dueling Blades, but what is?
This is it.
Da Pairs.
Or, From Russia, With More Lovely Skating.
Two sets of past gold medalists from Russia dominated Sunday’s first phase of the 1994 pairs competition at the Hamar Olympic Amphitheater as thoroughly as expected, although their order of finish was debatable.
Ekaterina Gordeeva and Sergey Grinkov, the ethereal 1988 champions, stand first, even though they clunked through the combination spin that is one of the required elements in the technical program, worth one-third of the final score.
Natalia Mishkutenok and Artur Dmitriev, the inventive 1992 champions, sent the biggest jolt of electricity through the crowd. It must have short-circuited the brains of several judges, for they found enough fault in their seemingly flawless performance to place them second.
Five of the nine judges liked Gordeeva and Grinkov, three Mishkutenok and Dmitriev, and one the reigning world champions, Isabelle Brasseur and Lloyd Eisler of Canada, who are third going into Tuesday’s free-skate final.
The leading U.S. pair, Jenni Meno and Todd Sand, stand sixth after a solid performance. The other U.S. entries, Karen Courtland-Todd Reynolds and Kyoko Ina-Jason Dungjen, are 13th and 15th, respectively.
“We have no reason to be disappointed,” said Meno, 23, of Westlake, Ohio. “We did what we came here to do.”
The Russian pairs had loftier expectations, based on previous performances and consummate skills. A victory in the free skate would bring gold to any of the top three, although few would argue that Brasseur and Eisler have any chance.
The debate over whether G & G are better than M & D may never be settled, no matter whom the judges choose. It is a matter of taste as much as of the skating talent of the teams, both of whom left professional skating for another gold-medal bid.
John Nicks, coach of Meno and Sand, preferred Gordeeva, 22, and Grinkov, 27, a married couple from Moscow.
“If you talk to skaters and coaches and judges frankly, Gordeeva and Grinkov are the example for everyone in pairs skating today,” Nicks said. “They are the epitome of classic pairs skating.”
Paul Wylie, 1992 Olympic silver medalist, was more impressed Sunday by Mishkutenok, 23, and Dmitriev, 26, the couple from St. Petersburg, Russia. They have never beaten Gordeeva and Grinkov, finishing second to them this season at the Russian and European championships.
“They are dramatic and innovative,” Wylie said. “All their moves are original.”
Some say the difference between them is like the old stylistic differences between the Bolshoi (Moscow) and Kirov (St. Petersburg) ballets. An admittedly biased observer, Tamara Moskvina, thinks her skaters, Mishkutenok and Dmitriev, differ in a more important way.
“Gordeeva-Grinkov are classical, easy, beautiful, but no feeling,” Moskvina said. “It doesn’t catch your soul.
“We describe our (free skate) program as `Symphony of Emotions.’ The emotions are expressed not only by open mouths and eyes but the movements themselves. We want another standing ovation (like the one Mishkutenok and Dmitriev received in the 1992 Olympics).”
They may get it and still fail to reach the top stand of the awards podium. That seems reserved for Gordeeva and Grinkov.
Just in time, too. Tonya Harding is supposed to arrive Wednesday.
