Days 3 and 4, review/report | Golden Skate

Days 3 and 4, review/report

Kasey

Medalist
Joined
Jul 27, 2003
Skate Canada, days 3 and four

Sorry that this is late, the skater hotel sightings and Newfie Screech (a kind of Canadian rum I think), along with a side trip last night to George street (Canadian Mardi Gras!) kept me a little occupied! So here are results and reviews for the last two days, and a few other little tidbits (Gardenkitty will be filling folks in on the fashion do's and don'ts noted with the skaters banquet tonight, including who can and can't tie a tie! :) )

Original dance:

Gregory/Petukhov (Chacha/Rhumba/Mambo) Very nice choreography, good speed and timing. They have nice closeness on the ice, and good lifts. Nice speed maintained in their dance spin. For being a seemingly "Joke" team for U.S. for a while, they are pretty darn good. 47.19

Aureli/Vaturi (Chacha/Rhumba/Samba) We have boobage alert. Her dress fits (barely) rather snugly, and the left edge kept riding up, giving little mini-flashes. We were just waiting on a costume malfunction deduction, but by golly, it held together! They are a bit slow, and I think he had a small slip in the footwork in the beginning. They rather overdo the "Ice Dance drama expression 101" a little bit, in the Rhumba section, but are rather nice to watch. Good lifts, nice footwork and choreography, but all over, a bit slow. 38.10

Romanovskaya/Grachev (Rhumba/Chacha/Samba) Ok, so they are close personal friends, as Grachev smiled and nodded to us once when we applauded during practice. That earns them a stuffie. (Yeah, I'm easy) I like the fact that he is as expressive as she is, facially. They have nice smooth flow, some nice lifts, including him on one foot and one in spread eagle position. Good character with the music,justa little slow,and footwork is maybe easier. 46.04

Kerrs (Chacha/Rhumba/Samba) Right off the top, there is nice choreography and energy. Some timing issues with twizzles, and he puts his hand down while he has her in a lift...but I don't know that they got a deduction for that. Nice footwork and actually some nice speed in the dance spin. Quite good overall, left a positive impression. 45.16

Dubreuil/Lauzon (Salsa/Rhumba) Not very saucy in the salsa, and some standing/posing for what seemed longer than it should be. Footwork is nice,but a little on the slower side I thought. Lifts and positions were very nice. Seemed rather tame for salsa. 53.87

Girard/Yeager (didn't catch the rhythms) Diagonal footwork, he has a small slip....dance spin and lifts with him in a spread eagle are nice. Straighline footwork is really nice, very good choreography. Then with about 20 seconds left, he falls and kind of tosses/slides her exiting the rotational lift...large AWWW from the audience, who liked them. 37.02

Lefebvre/Markov (Samba/Rhumba/Samba) The neon pink, one of the staples of ice dance, actually looks great on this girl! :) He slipped a little in their footwork, but very nice speed, choreography, and nice edges and lifts. Then she falls on the dance spin, and that kind of took the wind out of their sails. Slower a little the rest of the program. Too bad, because they really sell the Latin dance well. 43.27

Fraser/Lukanin (missed the rhythms again, I think we had a Jamal sighting...it's worth missing the jumbotron) She has skunk hair. Blonde on top, and a small patch in the back, bottom part that is almost black. Hmmm. Otherwise, I'm sure she's a fine person. They have good choreography, and use the latin theme well. Good edges, decent speed, and overall nice presentation....No wedgie alerts! (Her costume looked vulnerable to such, but nope) 45.82

Grushina/Goncharov (Samba/Rhumba/Samba) Ruslan is also a close personal friend, as when I told him "Good luck" when passing by him, he smiled and said "Thank you". Yep, we've bonded. Very good energy, great footwork! There was some kind of fantastic lift in there that warranted a "WOW lift" note. The dance spin is a little slow, but otherwise a great performance. 55.68


Ladies LP:

Joanne Carter (Tango Medley) She actually has on a neon-ish pink and black dress that works for her...the girl is gorgeous. She also is so fast you think she is late for a plane...which makes her crash/falls in practice all the more spectacular. 3lutz two-footed, to 2 toe good. 3 flip with lean. Nice choreography and attitude. Spread eagle to a double loop. Camel is very nice, then it goes to a sit combo and slows a bit, travels. Layback is ok. 3 toe is two footed. 3 sal is popped to a double. camel-combo spin is nice. Straightline footwork is nice speed, but doesn't appear to be a high level of difficulty. Spirals ok, she does not have a lot of extension in the unassisted positions. 2 loop. 2 axel maybe a little 2-footed. Combo spin. Had nice moments and speed. 73.66

Sarah Meier (Bolero for Violin/Orchestra...I noted that this is really neat, different music) 3 lutz-2toe-2 loop great! then it looks like 3 flip, two footed, to 3 toe with hands down. 3 loop with turn out on landing. Sarah Sarah Sarah. SIGH. camel-combo spin is beautiful, nice positions. Layback very nice. 3 toe barely holds the landing. Spirals are nice, great edges, low stretch in unassisted position. 2 axel. sit spin ok. straightline footwork is slow, but well choreographed to the music. 2 salchow. back camel-combo spin nice. She is really expressive and elegant, I wish the jumps had been better for her. 93.98

Yan Liu (My Parents, soundtrack) 3 lutz-2 toe perfect. 3 flip good, 3 loop sequence to 3 salchow! WOW! 3 toe good. Catchfoot spin very nice. straightline footwork a little slow, maybe is easier technically, but is very deliberate and delicate with the music. Layback to catchfoot spin very nice. 3 toe-2 toe combo clean. 2 axel is beautiful. 3 salchow. Spirals I wrote "NICE!!!" Camel-combo spin is a little slow, but beautiful positions. She is a very gentle, light and beautiful skater, and earned a personal best here. Later when I saw her watching the mens as I was coming back in, I told her she was just beautiful and congratulations, and she was very gracious. It was good to see a few minutes later she was signing autographs for fans, so was noticed and hopefully remembered. Personal best, 95.12

Mira Leung (Alexander) At Skate America, my impresion of her was all tricks, no substance. I still have the same impression. She starts with some "Walk like and Egyptian" moves that I mention because that is choreography. 3 flip is clean, with a smile. 3 lutz looked a little 2-footed maybe. 3 salchow is clean. I spin, and that is impressive. Camel-donut spin. Spirals are ok....myself and the person next to me think there is something "off" with her Bman position...hard to explain what, but it just doesn't look right. 3 loop-2 toe a little off on the landing, 2 axel low, but clean. Layback to bman spin is ok, with the same above note applied to the bman. 3 lutz (2ft) to 2 or 3 toe (couldn't tell, but kudos for doing a late combo). Okay footwork, then 3 loop-2 toe-2 loop barely landed, with no flow out, but it was about 3:40 at that point. Combo spin is good. Something about her skating I just will never warm to I guess, because this was a good performance for her. 89.36

Leslie Hawker (The Mission) We were dreading her performance after watching her in practice, because at that time, it was quite slow and plodding. She still is a bit slow, but this was much better. 3 lutz is very high and nice. 3 flip is clean. 3 loop, clean. flying camel to combo spin is nice. then a spiral to 3 toe (I think) with a fall. 3 toe is nice, so maybe the fall was supposed to be a combo. Camel-combo spin. Nice speed in the footwork, then a 3 salchow is good. Spirals are with not much extension, and a little shaky, but ok....also seem to be more on the flat than the edge. Ina bauer with little stretch in the back, into 2 axel nice. Camel, then fly-sit combo spin. It was nice for her, and while not inspired, was not as sluggish as she looked in practice. Personal best of 89.44

Yukari Nakano (Don Quixote) Very good speed, and right into a 3 axel! Looked to be about 1/4 to 1/3 turn cheated...not sure what they marked it as. 3 lutz-2 toe with again, the massive leg wrap. Flying sit spin and we have the first ladies wedgie alert of the night. Spirals are nice, low extension and a little wobble on one edge change. Ina bauer is good, to 3 flip which is nice. Then she pops the 3 loop to single. Layback is ok, her free leg could be a little higher and more open, but her back has nice flexibility. Nice enough footwork, 3 toe solid. 3 toe-2toe-2 loop. Camel to donut spin is ok, then another 3 toe....Maybe the first jump of the combo was a flip. Spin combo is nice. 99.70

Alissa Czisny (La Bayadere) 3 lutz-2 toe clean. Flying sit spin with position changes is of course, beautiful. As the commentators have said of Sasha, this girl can not hit a poor position. 3 flip-2 toe is clean. 3 salchow is good. Camel to combo spin is great, and that is the Bman spin as it SHOULD be! :) WOW! An Ina Bauer that is beautiful, but I wish she would hold it a few seconds more...then 2 axel-2 toe combo. 3 toe with maybe 2-foot landing, then butterfly to camel-donut spin. 2 axel and 3 lutz great! Really fantastic skate, great choreography and very fast, difficult footwork. Standing O from about half the crowd, and 109.78

Carolina Kostner (Winter from four seasons) She had been rough in practice, including a "Midori Ito special" fall, into the pit and laughing, thank goodness.Poor girl has just been looking rough. Very light flow, fast. 3 flip with a HARD *thud* fall, and sounded like she smacked her head on the ice (She didn't, thank goodness, but it was an awful sound). Up and lands a 3 lutz a little shaky, then a 3 sal good. Camel-combo spin is nice, then another camel spin with very nice positions, but slower. 2 loop. Nice spirals, a little low extension in unassisted positions, but beautiful edge, then wobble in the final position. 2 axel. Pops her 3 sal and then lands on 2 feet also. 3 loop to 2 toe nice, but then doesn't get her pick for a flying spin and falls out of that. Footwork is smooth and fast, camel-combo spin ok. Rough outing for the world Bronze medalist. 83.18, and that was perhaps generous.

Joannie Rochette (Les Fourtes Mortes Hymne al'amour....at least that is what I could read, I am not sure of the spelling all being correct!) Gentle start, but almost "overangsty" posing....the drama is not subtle. 3 flip-2toe-2 loop is beautiful. 3 lutz-3 toe, nice but slightly shaky on landing. 3 loop with a lean, but held. Flying sit. semi-Ina Bauer position and some posing in the middle of the program. 3 Salchow is clean, 3 lutz good. Footwork is good speed and flow. Layback very nice. then pops the 3 toe to single. Camel-combo spin is nice. Spirals with some nice positions. 2 axel, 2 in a row, clean, and combo spin is good. Very nice program but the popped jump, but I heard later the judges had downgraded another jump, and her final combo spin was only level 1 because the positions were not held long enough. 107.62

Fumie Suguri (Rachmaninoff #2 in C) She had a rough practice, popping jumps left and right, and was obviously still working under injury, as the hip is still padded. I saw her the following day, and she allowed a picture, and told her please to take care of herself, that she is a beautiful skater we hope to watch for a longer period of time. She is very sweet and gracious, and smiles a lot off the ice. 3 lutz-2 toe and I don't know how she landed that. Wow. then 3 flip, fall. 3 Sal popped. Camel-combo spin is nice but a bit slow. Very nice layback. 3 lutz she comes out after about 2 1/2 rotations, exits forward. Spirals without much stretch, but other positions are nice. 3flip 2-footed, to 2 toe. 2 axel-2 loop is nice. Combo spin is ok, but her positioning seems to be a bit off. Footwork is classic Fumie, gentle and light but with good speed. Camel-combo spin is nice. A rough performance for a poor thing who is still struggling with the injury. 79.88


Men's LP, aka One disaster after another (and then there's Eman!)

Nobunari Oda (Zabouchi, Japanese movie soundtrack) This kid is cute, and he is quite entertaining. IMO, lacking a little in depth and relating to the music, but I'm sure that will come in time. Some very odd moves to the music, which is Klimkin-esque. 3 axel-3 toe-2 loop is GREAT! Spiral to 3 lutz-2 toe is very good. Flying sit spin is good. 3 salchow, clean. Camel-combo spin is good. spread eagle-spiral transition with little wobble. 2 axel-3 toe is nice. Unidentified 3 jump done cleanly. back sit spin with good speed and low position. 3 loop is good. Serpentine footwork is nice. Back spiral to 2 axel, nice. 3 lutz two footed a little.Circular footwork is good, looks like he had one little slip. Camel-combo spin is good. Personal best easily, 133.24

Min Zhang (Alexander, aka the overused music of this competition) 3 axel-3 toe with fallout on landing. 3 salchow with lean, but held cleanly. 4 toe fall. Flying sit spin ok. 3 salchow again, clean....(was one of these meant to be a combo? He repeats the sals and loops.) 3 loop clean. camel-combo spin is nice. All along, there is ok choreography, but kind of bland for the power of the music. straighline footwork is nice, good speed. 3 lutz, maybe 2 footed. 3 loop again. Camel spin is nice. Circular footwork is smooth, a little slow. Back sit spin not very low in position. Some high points, but left little impression. 105.90

Karel Zelenka (Alexander....Oy vey!) Doubles 3 axel. 3 toe (turn out) 2 toe. Spread eagle to 3 lutz is nice. Overall, the choreography is more expressive and involved I think than Zhang's. 3 salchow is clean. Camel-sit combo is slow, but some nice positions. Circular footwork is kind of stop/start (by design) but with ok speed. hydroblade move, to 3 loop is nice. Flying sit spin with a bit of travel. 3 lutz-2 toe good. 3 flip is clean. Serpentine footwork with nice flow. Spread eagle to 2 axel clean. Sit-combo spin at end is nice. Not bad for him. 107.82

Andrei Griazev (Notre Dame De Paris) Okay, so I put away the notepad on this one....I wanted to be able to enjoy my boy's skating. Sigh. It was a rough outing. First, I think we need to take Tarasova's hand out of any costumes. Period. He looks like a bondage slave, and he's too cute and innocent looking for that! He's a beautiful, smooth skater, and I think the program has a lot of promise...he seemed a bit more invested in it during practice. But just was skating with very little energy, landed few jumps (But a nice 3 sal-3 toe combo after the 2 min mark I believe), and had some nice spin positions. Footwork will be good when he is more able to do it well. He rather confirmed an injury earlier in the day, which I did not know about until today, so maybe that is part of the problem. He looked like his dog just died. Yeah, I'm a softie, he still got his stuffie. 101.96

Jamal Othman (El Amor Brulo) I don't know his coach's name, but she is darling. So of course, we root for Jamal. Circular footwork is very nice, expressive. 3 lutz-2 toe is clean. 2 axel with a lean to it, but held cleanly. Combo spin has nice positions (of course, he's a Swiss skater!) 2 lutz. 2 axel. (Does he have a 3 ax?) Very clean, nice position on the camel spin. Back spiral to 3 loop very nicely done. Then does a 2 loop (maybe one was to be a combo....this was a little off on the landing) Camel-camel spin combo. Rather weak split jump to 3 salchow is very nicely done. 2 loop again...please give up on the loop, honey, it's not there tonight. :( footwork is very nice, to a good ending combo-spin, very impressive. To quote GardenKitty, he's a fine young man. And a nice skater. 82.26

Takeshi Honda (Tosca) 3 lutz-2 toe is good. 3 axel-3 toe! Clean, although he puts his free foot down quickly. 3 salchow is good. Choreography is rather Irina-ish, with head rolling etc....Major travel on the flying camel-combo spin, positions are "earned" (he's working for them more than some, but they are ok) 3 axel again! :) 3 sal-2 toe nice. Circular footwork is ok...not a lot of "punch" to it, to match the music, but is clean. 3 loop, then 3 flip, both clean. 2 axel. Flying sit spin...slow a little, and again, he's working at the positions. Straightline footwork is very nice, emotive, camel-flying camel-combo spin great! As he himself later said "Takeshi's back!" Yay....123.88

Emanuel Sandhu (Original composition by George Cobb, aka funky Eman music!) I do not care for the "oooh, look at my buttcheeks and everything else" tights....otherwise, kudos for no pink in the costume this year! Starts with some typical Eman moves...meaning very cool and suiting him well. 4 toe (2 footed)-3 toe, WOW! Good for him going for it! 3 axel clean! And we have the GOOD Eman for this one! Flying sit is great, good speed and cool positions. Great character and choreography throughout. 3 lutz good. 3 sal! Pops the 3 axel, then comes right back to 3loop-3 toe! Oh my! 2 axel. Spin. 3 flip maybe slight two-footed. Circular footwork is great. A spin in what my notes say "Bizarro position"....Hey, it's Eman! Camel-combo spin fantastic, and I am SOOOO glad a skater I really like showed up healthy and able to give a performance like this one! Fantastic! 139.70

Shawn Sawyer (aka, soon to be my new fave Canadian skater!) (Warsaw concerto) Oh my, how can you not love a guy who can twist himself into a tighter pretzel than Cohen??? 3 flip-3 toe with big smile on the landing, good boy. 3 axel fall out. 3 lutz doubled. (Oh no...the new Eman??) Camel in a very nice position, but traveling more than I did to come here. Spiral WOWOWOW!!! Just do spirals all day! 2 axel is good. Footwork is nice, kind of slower, but goes well with music. Reverse walley to split to 3 flip sequence to 3 sal, all clean. Spiral to 3 loop, step out, 2 toe. Spin with great positions but little speed. Spread eagle to 3 flip clean. Good spin, then faster straightline footwork. 2 axel, back camel-combo spin. A little erratic, but he shines! :) Personal best of 117.42

Jeff Buttle (Classical Variations per the jumbotron) 4 toe, fall. 3 axel-step out-3 toe. Nice, held Ina Bauer. I like his spread eagle positions also. Spread eagle to 3 lutz-2 toe-2 loop good. Flying sit spin is nice, but slows. Circular footwork is nice. 3 axel with lot of lean on landing. 2 loop. Back camel-combo spin ok. Then falls on the 3 lutz, rips his pants, slips on the footwork, just forget about it....I give him kudos for having moxie enough to finish the program, knowing your pants are ripped in the groin area and not knowing whether Pokie and the twins are exposed or not. And he had a sense of humor about it at the end. But I'm not at all on the Buttle bandwagon, even if this had been a clean program. 126.66 is a gift (even according to a Canadian coach), and Honda wuzrobbed. (Hey, someone had to be on this one!)

Matt Savoie (Journey of Man (?) and the Mission...I think it's all part of "The Mission" soundtrack) 3 loop with fall. 3 axel-3 toe is very good, and he's back on track. 3 toe-2 toe nice. He has some very unique moves on the circular footwork, and very smooth. 3 sal is good. Camel-combo spin is good. Back sit spin is nice. Straightline footwork is unique, but kind of slow, and then he has a slip on it during a catch-blade move. 3 lutz-single loop. Butterflies to spin, little rough getting into the spin. Spiral to 3 lutz nice. 3 flip ok. Spin combo, and final 3 sal. He is a nice and gentle skater, and has some really nice unique moves and transitions....but SLOWWWW in general, at least here. :( Poor Matty. 117.36

Johnny Weir (Amazonic/Hana's Eyes/Wonderland) Again, I put away my notepad, prepared to see Johnny skate this program to perfection and give me goosebumps, as he often can do. Sigh. Not here. The story I am sure is known. Fall on 3 axel, and then just rough going from there. Deleting jumps and footwork. Popping jumps. Ending in apparant pain, and looked to be crying in the K&C. Later we saw him returning to the hotel with Priscilla on crutches with a cast on his lower leg. Poor boy. Didn't even get the score.

Free Dance: (Just general impressions)

Kerrs (Scottish Medley...how appropriate, as we would later see John in his kilt for the banquet) Things that left impression on me: Spread eagle/handstand lift was cool. Death spiral type move. A little off on their twizzles, and their timing is off at the end. But they have some nice choreography and hand/arm holds intertwined. General impression is nice, fan-friendly, pleasant and cute. 72.09

Girard/Yaeger (Summertime) I was rooting for them because he was so cute reacting to his mistake in the OD. This is kind of bluesy music, and the choreography really nicely matches the program....not overly fond of the arrangement of the music. There is some cool choreography, their timing is off a little sometimes. Very nice lifts, kind of more space apart in the footwork. My note to the side "Left an impression". 71.61

Lefebvre/Markov (Music by Bernd State (? spelling?) Starts with Morosovian steps, toes and heels. Nice timing, good speed. He stumbled a little once, recovered well. VERY nice lifts, good speed in them also. They were off a little on one arm hold change, he kind of slapped her in the back! :) A little slower footwork near the end, and yes, we did have a wedgie alert in one of the rotational lifts. They are rather spunky, and I like them. 73.45

Aureli/Vaturi (Tribute to Frank Sinatra) Unlike the OD, there was no boobage alerts, as she was well covered and dressed very beautifully and classically. Unfortunately, the costumes were the high point for me. They are nice in the lifts, some bright moments in the footwork, but off timing, off positions and little slip here and there. And they are VERYYYYY SLOOOWWWW quite often. And even the music, as much as I like Sinatra, the choice of cuts and how it was arranged, kind of odd. 66.61

Grushina/Goncharov (The feeling begins) Some of the typically expected snaky moves to the music. Very nice lifts, she has nice back flxibility. A nice hydroblade-position lift. twizzles are good, they have good speed, and then Ruslan catches an edge or something and stumbles, into her, and they both fall. :( Bye bye Gold medal. Too bad, because the program was really quite nice until then. 83.06

Dubreuil/Lauzon (The journey back in time, A day together....from the movie Somewhere in Time) A nice, what I call "Blades to crotch" lift (no clue if it has a name). Nice flow, pleasant moves and choreography. Timing is good, but a little off in the middle music transition. Really nice lift positions. Overall impression is very sweet, gentle and romantic program, but not exceptional difficulty. 92.49

Fraser/Lukanin (Blues for Klook) I like this music, so forgive her for scaring me with that strange hairstyle. Nice bluesy dance moves, and very impressive one-foot shoulder type lift. Footwork is a little slow, but matches the music well. Unique lifts, and very nice choreography. They do the program well, and she is quite Navka-esque in her bare skin-bondage outfit. 81.24

Gregory/Petukov (Romeo and Juliet) I like that she looks natural, doesn't overdo the makeup as much as some dancers...although a little more wouldn't hurt her, she is a pretty enough girl to not need garish. Very nice twizzles, good footwork although it slows a little, and he has one little "oopsie" in the footwork. Pair spin is good speed, and the rotational lift with nice position and variety. Overall impression very nice. 85.62

Romanovskaya/Grachev (Flamenco/Gypsy Kings) A little slow on their initial footwork, but both sell this program so well. Again, I am impressed with his expressiveness, which matches hers, but he also presents her well. The ending minute or so, with Gypsy Kings music, is very fan-friendly and sure to get the crowd clapping along (the Pavolovian response we all have). A very nice outing for them, nice lifts and movements. Personal best of 78.54

Couple nice stories: Was standing behind a Canadian coach waiting to get in, and she was telling a very nice story about Emanuel from last Skate Canada. She had three of her students (very young) with her, and the two older ones moved forward to get Eman's autograph. The smaller one, about 5 or 6 I guess, she was too shy, and this lady said, well, he's there anyway, it won't bother him. And Eman I guess heard this, came right over to them and gestured to this little girl, said "Hi, what's your name, have we met"? Picked her up and sat her on the board next to him while he was signing, talking to her for like ten minutes. The girl was dazed I guess, but that sounds like him, what a sweetie! (Now if only he could figure out his tie!)

Then another lady was telling about the day before, her daughter and she were walking on the concourse looking for Buttle I think. And her daughter (she looked about 6 or 7) told her "Look mom, there is a skater", showing her a young man. They didn't know who he was or what country, but the daughter remembered him, that he was a skater. So the mom asked, excuse me, are you one of the skaters here, and he said yes. They asked for an autograph and photo, and the child said "I liked you, even though you were bad" (I think the mother wanted to drag her away at that point, although she was laughing telling the story) The skater laughed a little and said "thank you", then pointed to his leg and said "that's not working well right now". Turns out that was Griazev, so I guess that is the indication of a leg injury, although she didn't say which leg, and I don't think he indicated more specifically what it was.

Kept having Ladwig sightings....Less disturbing than Zhulin I think! :) And had Chuvilaev, Griazev, and Trankov (? I think that's his name, the lesser known Russian pair team male) sitting up behind us heartily clapping for the dance teams. The Kerrs came up and hang out to watch the remainder of the dance teams as well.

Will give impressions of the Exhibition when I get home tomorrow, need to get up around 3:30 am to get to the airport.

Kasey
 
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KwanFan1212

Joey Votto Fangirl
Final Flight
Joined
Jun 24, 2003
This report is actually for Skate Canada, isn't it? I'll move it back to the Skate Canada forum because I think you posted this as a Skate America report and it got moved over there. I don't recognize any of these skaters as anyone who was at SA though so I figured it was a mistyping of the competition name. I edited your posts to reflect the correct competition for you. ;)

Thanks for the great reviews! And Mark Ladwig does tend to get around and talk to a lot of people. He's very much a people person! :yes:
 
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Kasey

Medalist
Joined
Jul 27, 2003
Airport/airplane voids....

St. John's airport, 0400 (yes, majorly ungodly hour).....Takeshi Honda and Nobunari Oda, buying coffee and then browsing books/magazines....Honda was looking into a sport magazine, Oda at GQ. Later, some Japanese fans recognized Honda, asking for a few autographs and pictures. He was very gracious and accomodated them. Oda, sitting right next to him reading a book...unrecognized. Debbie Wilkes. German pair team (I can't spell their names) and Ingo....Aliona was resting with her head on Ingo's arm while Robin walked around a bit.....they all got on the flight about 20 minutes before mine. The lucky ones.

On my ill-fated flight were Yan Liu, Ming Zhang and coaches, Mira Leung (looking still asleep), Joanne McLeod, Marie-France Dubreiul (looking better than ANYONE should at that hour of the morning, the wench!) and Patrice Lauzon (not looking too bad himself)....and then, slightly fashionably late, Emanuel Sandhu. He was directly behind me as we were presenting our boarding passes, and said good morning. I told him the paisley tie the night before was stylin, and he laughed and said a friend had given it to him. I also told him congratulations, of course, and that it was so nice to see him seeming to enjoy his long program and exhibition so much. He said "yeah, that program rocks, I love it". I avoided mentioning the "check out my ***" tights....

We get on the plane and sit in there, packed in like sardines.....and there is something wrong requiring maintenance....they keep coming out, loading in some box of some sort, and then the crew can't hook up something whatever. Back and forth, and we are sitting there...half hour....hour....etc. Finally, Eman goes up to the crew (I'm not sure of his initiative, or if the Canadians voted and he got it)...was a bit irritated, as we all were, but I was surprised....a diva situation, and he didn't diva. He just asked if they could explain perhaps what is delaying us, as some people are getting concerned, and then kind of laughed and said well, can you ballpark it, when we might be in the air? You could tell he was a bit pissed off, but not pissy. Good for him.

Anyway, nearly an hour and half late, we leave, of course, everyone will be missing their connections. I end up on a new connecting flight with Mira and Joanne, but no Eman this time. Mira sat down right next to me while we were waiting at the gate, and the poor little thing looked wiped out (maybe had a cold or something, her eyes and nose looked a little red). I didn't really care for her skating too much, but told her that she came back in the long program well, that she was impressive with that. She looked at me and said, yeah, really? And she smiled for about a tenth of a second. I wonder about that child...maybe she's kind of shy or reserved. But really has a "flat" look about her a lot off the ice....and doesn't really make eye contact with people. Of course, then you have Eman asking strangers to tie his tie for him....I guess we aren't all that outgoing! Anyway, she seemed to appreciate the few words.

That's it for me, other than the fact that I arrived home about 24 hours after the time I was supposed to, thanks to Air Canada in various ways (delays, missed connections, lost baggage, etc.....) Not a great ending to a great event, but still was fun! :)

Kasey
 

Doggygirl

Record Breaker
Joined
Dec 18, 2003
Thanks for another very entertaining report!! I'm sorry that you had a really, really bad airport day though. Bet you're glad to finally be home!

DG
 

emma

Record Breaker
Joined
Oct 28, 2004
I realize that sitting around an aiport at a ridiculous time of day and then sitting on a plane is no fun at all...but it sounded sooooooooooooooo interesting, I actually felt envious for a second ;)

Thanks for the great reports.
 
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