Live - Random posting/musings from L.A.

I lied, this will be my last post about the worlds.

They held the men's medal ceremony at 1pm outside the Staples Center during an intermission for the ladies short. Why they did it again is beyond me. I made my way outside to find a crowd of people and Peter Carruthers on a makeshift stage with the three mens' medalists, about 30 feet from where I was. I missed them being re-medaled (though they had a medal ceremony right after the competition the night before) but I saw them receiving a Citizen watch. Each of them were given an opportunity to speak. Evan was gracious and sincere about how much he loved LA and Staples Center (his favorite arena in the world), and how glad he was everything came together the night before. Patrick spoke about how happy he was about his performance and Brian said that even though he was a Frenchman in America, he felt like an American because the crowd was so obviously behind him during the competition. Truly he does have a large fanbase (myself included), but I think figure skating fans are quick to recognize great skaters regardless of nationality. The three of them were dressed casually, with Brian looking the most casual in a t-shirt that looked like it need washing. He also looked like he needed sleep. Patrick looked the most touristy in his khaki shorts and Evan looked the most athletic in his track jacket. It was obvious that Evan was still glowing from his achievement the night before--he looked fabulous and was the most articulate. Patrick sounded a bit young and Brian looked plenty experienced in the world of PR. Brian mentioned that he shouldn't have changed his program like the way he did and that threw him off. Evan was asked about including the quad, to which he answered that he would only put in a new jump if it was 80% consistent for him. Patrick said he agreed about a jump being consistent before adding it to a program. At this point, I had to leave to get back inside since the intermission was over.

They had the dance public medals outside before the ladies free on saturday. I got autographs afterward. Meryl Davis just as cute in person as on TV. She has little fairy voice and I told her that "we were so proud of you" and she seemed honestly appreciative. Tessa and Scott were also wonderful. Ben is such a funny person...he just makes me smile all the time and Tanith is just so beautiful. She looked like a model. Domina and Shabalin seem to have a very good relationship with eachother, which made me like them more...she and tanith were chatting and i thought that was funny...until i remebered that they train together everyday!

Raatkirani, thank you for your posts and for giving us an idea of what things were like at Worlds this year - for the skaters, the coaches and the fans. I'm so glad you got to have your giggly teenager moment! Johnny is right, we all need those sometimes...

Raatkirani - so glad you had a great time at Worlds and thank you for taking the time to tell us about it. You're right about Johnny and how he treats people. The first time I met Johnny, I asked my son to take a picture of the two of us with my digital camera. After we thanked Johnny and moved aside so others could have a turn, I discovered that my the photo my son took was from the necks down! Johnny must had seen the look on my face because he came over to me and asked if the picture came out. When I told him no, he offered to pose for another photo.

Thank you so much for sharing all these wonderful moments with us.
BTW: When does the exhibition start?

Thank you Raatkirani for all the wonderful reports. So much fun, and very interesting !!!

Thanks to everyone for their reports. It was great reading about all the different experiences you all had. I appreciate all of your efforts you folks made. Not being there myself reading your reports was the next best thing..

WONDERFUL inside glimpses of Worlds from so many points of view. Thanks so much for taking the time to write it all down.

Thank you so much Raatkirani !
A lot of fun reading....

BTW, you know, Fumie hugs Morozov, Morozov hugs Miki, I'm quite sure it's never the other way around, LOL.

The outdoor small medals/ citizen watch ceremonys were one of the highlights for me, and I am wondering if they always do this at worlds. It was so much fun seeing the medalists up close. Also I now know and have seen first hand just how popular skating is in Asian countries right now! After the victory lap in the ladies event, tons of Yu-Na fans were almost out of control trying to get her autograph, it was kind of funny to see. Also before the ladies freeskate people were giving out Korean flags and hats the said V-Day Korea outside of Staples.
During the Ladies event I met Tara Lipinski with her boyfriend and she was incredibly nice!! I later saw her being mobbed by a crowd of people in the lobby, you couldn't see her at all so many people had created a huge circle around her! All in all it was a great event and I seriously hope it makes it way to California again!!
Oh and one more thing Evan's moment was absoulutely amazing!! People around me were saying it was another Rudy moment...although on the world level, I am SO glad I got to see it!!