I just finished watching the pairs' figure skating long program in the Olympics. It was the best figure skating long program I have ever seen, and that's saying a lot, after many nationals, grand prixes, worlds, and Olympics. It wasn't that the skating itself was magnificent. It was the skaters.
The first (notable) pair, Shen and Zhao, were a little w
obbly in their skating, but it was very minor. Zhao had just a year ago pulled out of Worlds because of a ruptured tendon in his ankle - we saw video footage and it was very gory indeed. He's only been jumping for two weeks before the Olympics and everyone was so goddamn nervous in the short program, especially his partner - on their first jump, her hand touched down though his jump was perfect, no doubt because she was preoccupied with him landing on that ankle. That they managed to do their long program flawlessly was wonderful.
The second pair were the Russians, Totmiyanina and Marinin, famous for her concussion in Worlds the year before last. They were doing a lift and his arm must have slipped because she went crashing to the ice and lay unconscious for a few minutes before getting carted off to the hospital. Apparently he's been the one struggling with the recovery because he's afraid he'll drop her again, and the healing process they talked about was incredibly touching. They are clearly the best pair in the world, beating the other pairs by a long shot, but no doubt that's thanks to their mutual recovery.
The third pair were, I must admit, my favorites... Zhang and Zhang. I was already rooting for them because I thought he was cute, a built Chinese guy. They were novices compared to the others, and had no injuries to sp
eak of... before they went on the ice. They were supposed to be attempting a quadruple throw, but she didn't complete the rotation and landed on her legs, her right knee bearing the brunt of the fall. She could barely stand up - he had to escort her off the ice, the music stopped, and they could have easily forfeited. She could hardly skate. But they didn't forfeit - after consulting the trainer, they went back out, skated around through the first part of their program, and picked up right where they fell. They did another throw, two jumps, and she was perfect. It was obvious she was in pain, but she skated through it. It was heartwrenchingly beautiful. After the fall the Chinese teams were totally mortified, and the Russians were speechless - after all, they have some experience with injury. But they showed incredible gut and heart. He picked her up in the kiss-and-cry area and waved to the crowd.
Anyway, the Russians won, Zhang and Zhang got silver, and Shen and Zhao bronze. A phenomenal competition... actually showed the potential goodness of humanity, as opposed to the bitchy negativity of Salt Lake in 2002. As I told Kim, though figure skating is a little too dramatic for its own good, it's because of injuries like these, and the possibility of either whining about it or skating through it. With pairs, the drama's just pumped up further - and all three of these pairs really just made me feel a little better about the species.
