Day Summary
Well that was a really strange day for me. It has been the first time in a few years that I couldnt sit along rink side and actually do my live tweets and interact a bit more with whats actually happening on the ice. I must admit I dont like to sit so far away and do nothing than just watch
Anyways thanks to some of the skaters and the people I met over the years that experience wasnt a total blow, but I hope it will be like in the old days, soon again.
The results today were just as confusing as some of the skates were. When I saw
Isa skate I thought its all over for her, she "blew it" like Paul said. Lucky for her and in that case also me, Estonia already had a spot so that her 12th position was just enough. Sadly that also meant that Inga didnt make it, which was really a shame as I absolutely like her style and it was really awesome to see when she smiled, as I told her that she should exactly do that more earlier.
One of the big upsets for me today definately was the performance of
Kaat. What hapened girl? She was totally not ready to take that spot, I was sitting there with open mouth and just couldnt believe it. She can so so much more, I really dont understand what actually happened there on the ice.
In general the day was full of
tears and bruisers and nothing I could do about it, quite frustrating because you just want to give those a hug that need one...
A big hug I did need as well today, not only because of the issues at ice rink with the seatings, but when
Olga & Ilhan were skating I had tears in my eyes. I couldnt hold them and looked like a mess I guess, but it was one of the most emotional moments in my skating life. Those 2 had a dream and they just couldnt realise it and we all know that not all dreams come true, but their story is just so emotional - I really dont know what to say....
I so wanted them to do good, every second of the program - especially when Ilhan was about to give up, so breathtaking and I am honest with you, the cleanest skate with the biggest WR can not get such an emotional reply of my body & soul.
Some of the other pairs that I wanted to do good, also didnt had their best day, but I was reliefed when I knew that
Andrea and Evgeni were through, likewise
Natalija and Alexandr (Estonia & Israel).
Unfortunately
Maria & Nikita didnt get through, which is a shame as they really have something that I absolutely like.
Also through are at the Ladies, as mentioned
Isa for Brazil, Elene for Georgia, with a big big applaus Kerstin (Austria) - she so deserves that!!! Anne Line for Norway, Elizaveta for Czeska and last but not least Brooklee for Australia which I did abslutely expect to be honest, she was so clean the previous days and always did her full routine in the practice, this is the ability of a Winner!
Besides all that Olympic Games & Seating Drama, there was actually a podium which also means small medals and a very big trophee at least if you are a 14 years old Russian teenager
Elena is quite a character to be honest, I was sitting behind the judges the whole day so I actually got a bit more visual contact than usual and its really funny what skaters actually throw at the judges to get some tiny bit of reaction. We had
kisses, winks, big smiles and even
taunts, they really tried everything.
The for me most amazing gestures were of course by
Dasa who went all out on the judges and tried to flirt with them all! I really love her attitude, just a pity as mentioned earlier that all the judges were women... so I am not sure that it really worked out in the end! Also her dress was really tight and short
, all those little things count in my opinion and make a skater a better skater at the end. (not that all should wear those outfits, but I love it when skaters actually have a plan on the ice, have some type of "role" they play).
Skating for me is some type of art, you may laugh but for me it is. I dont like to watch skaters that do jump, jump, highest difficulty but absolutely nada, niente, nothing in their face. Expression for me is everything in skating, you can totally blew it with your jumps and piourettes - if you are a good acter and tell me a story on the ice, then I will always love you!
A different attempt did
Daniel have, who was skating with his wife and honestly those 2 made me laugh so much. Fantastic choreographie infront of the judges, something you will not see on TV or the other side of the ice unfortunately. Oh right we also had a winner in the pairs competition, well nothing new if I tell you that
Maxim and Tatiana have won is it? What you might not know is that they scored a
new WR; which is quite a suprise for some people in this world.
While I am not a technical specialist, I definately saw a few elements that were really awesome and original. Like that one lift at the very end of their LP. Was it worth a WR? I dont know, but I know that I loved what Maxim did in his face. The Expression was totaly spot on!
Another Skater that did really impress me at Oberstdorf was
Ashley from the USA. Not only her
Bling Bling dress which she for some weird reason never put on in the competition... , but also her attitude.
We all know that Americans have attitude, they love to go out with their emotions, they love to let everyone be part of their feelings and they are also hard workers. Ashley combined all that very well, I loved to sit next to her and the coach during practice, when she was told what went wrong and what she should improve and then she just did it until it was exactly as the coach wanted it.
I must admit that from all the american skaters that I met or saw personally, she is proabably my favorite throughout the past 10 years, together with Sasha. The question in my head right now is, will she be picked for the Olympics? I believe they will do the qualifying again at the US Nationals, so I really hope she can pull it off and go to Sochi!
Last but not least I want to send a few warm words to
Finnland. When I met Tarja, the coach of
Juulia in the morning she was quite confident that it could work out, but she is a positive thinking person anyways, so that didnt suprise me. It is actually quite funny how often you meet people who dont skate anymore, just because they are in some type of relation to a Skater and most of them are really friendly people. This actually doesnt fit to the term Coach does it? I remember my Coaches, they were evil!
If you didnt do as they wanted, you had a big big problem!
But back to
Juulia, I really think that the
pressure was just too high. There is a whole country looking after you, everyone wants that you get that spot, but not for you! No, you must get that spot for everybody´s darling,
Kiira! I have absolute respect that she still tried to give her best, yes it didnt work out in the end - but honestly if you criticise her, ask yourself if you could do better!
Very last but not least I want to congratulate
Zoltan for his great performance! I sadly couldnt watch due the issues in the morning with the seating, but I am very happy for you mate! We all know your story and I tell you this, I liked you already before I knew it! I rememer NRW 2 years ago, when you did compete and I was sitting there with I think some of the Italien team and you crashed infront of us and stood up and smiled at us! That was so impressive!
I would love to see Zoltan at Sochi, while I cant be there myself (too expensive) - he absolutely deserves that spot!
Ultima last, thanks to all the Skaters in the past days, you all gave your best and honestly reporting and or watching figure skating is just fantastic and those 18 hours a day at the ice rink, are nothing I will ever regret!
Since I am pretty much relieved of my journalistic duty during competition this year I will check out Oberstdorf for the very first time in I dont know 5 years? I never had the time before, but now I guess I will do just that tomorrow - wait, its already Saturday morning... so I will do it today then. Good luck to those that still skate for a spot!
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