Don't imitate, too dangerous

I was just watching TV aimlessly, and on an animal variety show called "Shimura's Zoo" they were doing a guess-who game using video clips.

And to reach the answer, which was Shizuka Arakawa, after many hint-clips they finally showed an incredible scene.

Shizuka (her face blurred out on TV screen) stood on a bench, started her layback stretch.
SO flexible! ... gradually bends more ... now her backward bend doesn't stop ... eek... and her hands finally reach the FLOOR below the bench ... oey ... from there she slowly brings her legs one after the other to the other side through handstanding ... and there, she now stands on the floor !!

I'm sure someone will post this vid somewhere soon.

(Maybe there was a similar thread some months ago ... )

That sounds phenomenal. The great thing about Shizuka is that her layback isn't just an acrobat's trick; she's a really graceful skater who does justice to the music. (But I'd still love to see that handstand!) She's definitely not an Olympic champion about whom one thinks "Why on Earth her?" Her medal was well earned, both that week and during her entire career. My only regret about her is that she won the gold at the end of her career, so we don't get to see a lot of her now. Thank goodness for YouTube!

Yes, thank goodness for youtube because I can watch DivaKwara's Ina Bauer all day long... I am really hopeful that this new generation of skaters don't get so focused on a point here, a point there that they forget that at its soul ice skating is about more than a triple jump or a contorted body position on spin....

Just went back and watched Shizuka's Olympic short program. Now, that's skating! Flexible, powerful, graceful. And everything she does belongs together, integrated by the music. Her layback spin and footwork in that program are a joy to behold.