I just watched it again. Let’s see here…just to pick some of Mr. Carroll’s comments at random… Here is his response to the question of whether he was a better teacher of toe jumps than of edge jumps, with particular reference to Michelle Kwan’s loop jump.
But I’ve got to tell you something about Michelle. If you go back and look at 1996 or if you look at the year 2001 and you see her triple-triple, and you look at the year 2000, then you see some of her show programs like to Les Miserables, the On My Own, and even Pocahontas, which I didn’t want her to do because I though t it was such a hokey thing, and you look at her interpretation of the music, and her head, and her use of arms without looking at her feet, the emotion, the beauty of the flow across the ice, the dynamic landings, there’s no one in the world who skates like that.
I’m sorry, I don’t care whether you’re adding up beans in a pot for difficulty…I mean, no one exists like Michelle, with that beauty of movement, that power, that imterpretation, you know, the technical accuracy. You know, she was one of a kind and I don’t see anyone coming up that looks like that. I’m sorry, I just don’t. I don’t.
I just loved how forthcoming and how detailed he was. He managed to be honest without being snide or vengeful, and I love the way he characterized the skaters he discussed in detail, notably Bowman, Fratianne, Chin, and Kwan. Of course being a Kwan uber, I love what he said about her being one of a kind. It's great hearing it from Frank, who in addition to being her most influential coach is one of the finest coaches in the world. It was wonderfully satisfying to hear him mention the details of what made her such a great skater (I loved his contempt for "bean counters"). I also appreciated his heartfelt evaluation of Christopher Bowman as a skater and as a person. It must have been agonizing for him to know so much about Chris's demons at that time, when he had to keep quiet about it all. His mention of Mrs. Bowman coming to him saying that she couldn't find Chris was heartrending.
Yeah robbed by a german cabal that ran figure skating!! But just for ladies of course because Jan Hoffman lost! It's so political! Go against the German cabal! Vote American! Please!
Actually, I liked Carroll's take on U.S. political naiveté. We can't even get Canada to go along with us.
Which was quite true, by the way. For some reason Canadian judges were always murder on Michelle Kwan.