Oh...ueah...OK, I got nothing, then.
You tried
. That was nice of you to do the research. (Although in my city, types of bicycle helmets are regulated. A cyclist wearing one like that would be pulled over by the RCMP until they could prove the hat was indeed a helmet in disguise, that met the regulations.)
Pairs skaing is really quite unique in the sporting world -- two dare-devlis daring the devil as one!
Doubles luge? Or my sons' sport, two-man bobsled?
I'd include show jumping there, as practised by several of my relatives. The horse is an equal partner. One cousin has a horse who does his own mental calculations as they approach a fence, flicks his ears in a "Nope, no can do" warning if his result differs from hers, and puts on the brakes. He's been known to swerve and gallop around the end of the fence all prepared to see if the next one is more to his liking. The first time he did that, he catapulted her sideways and they met up on the other side, to his surprise when he found her there. She was unhurt, but they had Words when they got back to the stable.
And looking gogeous while doing it.
Oh please, can I quote you? Our coach doesn't always agree. Just the other day we were stumbling around like we were wearing our first pair of rental skates, on the wrong feet. Our coach had her head down on the boards. My partner said, "We look like beginners today, right?" and she snapped, "And not even promising beginners!"
In a sport like synchronized diving, OK, if your partner messes up you lose some synchronization points. But you don't break your neck (unless you mess up).
One more question. On the subject of skaters "learning how to fall," do pairs skaters practice how to abort a lift that goes wrong?
In my experience, it's more of a gradual process as you learn lifting off the ice. The lift doesn't go up. Try again. Partly up, but thumps back down, on your feet on the gym mat. Up, but somebody's wobbling and she comes down on his head or shoulder. The severity of the drops increases by small degrees along with the successes and you learn to adjust at each level. I do know some of the men learning to lift practise with sandbags of 100 lbs or so, letting it tip to one side or off the back while they learn how to control it as it goes down. Many of the ladies practise their arm and back muscle control for the aerial position using gymnastics equipment like a low bar or the beam -- that's what I did because I was already on my high school gymnastics team when I took up pairs skating at about 15. Lots practise their core control doing platters on the boards. You have equal responsibility as to whether the lift stays up or not, except for the occasions where he trips on a rut, or, in bygone years, some numbskull in the audience flashes a camera right in your eyes. But basically, he learns gradually, assisted by something non-human like a sandbag, how to get her down while gallantly throwing himself under her to protect her. What she pretty much needs from the start is the personality to have solid trust in a partner, and the ability to hold still and not flail around trying to save herself. Total trust that he'll do it.
Is there anything that you can do in that fifth of a second besides saying to yourself, "Oh, bleep"?
Not really. I was amused to learn, in a brief conversation with Barb Underhill many years ago, that she had the same thought flash through her mind every time as I do as I reach for the hold to be lifted: "Is this going to be the time I end up smash on my face?" But it's a thought that zips past the brain at light-speed and (this is the important part) vanishes as you go up and "Wheeee!" replaces it. If it does go wrong, all I think is "Oops" and keep my core tight even if the elbows have come unlocked (the usual reason for an aborted lift) as it goes down again.
to Paul
.
for this! I'll have to watch the whole performance if I can find it. I don't remember having seen him skate before, but he looks amazingly like my own partner, the one I competed with for almost ten years, in face, body build, and enthusiasm 
