http://www.examiner.com/x-20118-Figure- ... mpionships
February 7, Figure Skating Examiner, Jackie Wong
Opining on the European Championships
A few thoughts on the European Championships last month as we move toward the Olympics this coming week.
Aboriginal?
This season’s folk/country dance theme for the original dance has certainly seen its share of reactions. While the ISU has encouraged dance teams to skate to music from their home countries, many of the top teams have opted against doing so. U.S. champions Meryl Davis and Charlie White have had much success both with the judges and casual viewers with their Indian folk dance.
But there was quite a lot of hubbub about Oksana Domnina and Maxim Shabalin’s Aboriginal folk dance. An Australian Aboriginal leader even told a newspaper that the dance was “offensive” and was a way of “stealing Aboriginal culture.” While it’s true that to most observers, Domnina and Shabalin’s costumes and interpretations seem cartoonish and almost a bit absurd, it is difficult to imagine that they really meant any harm in their choreography.
Ice dance is a tough discipline, because it does rely so heavily on interpretation and, at times, histrionics. Some writers have commented that these original dances are caricatures. But really, how different is it for ice dancers to be skating to another culture’s music than it is for, say, Michelle Kwan to skate to a flamenco or for Miki Ando to portray Cleopatra?
The Russian pairs dynasty still has some hope of continuing.
Even with a mistake and some shoulder adjustment in the middle of their free skate, Russians Yuko Kavaguti and Alexander Smirnov succeeded in dethroning Germany’s Aliona Savchenko and Robin Szolkowy as European champions. Through the Grand Prix Final, when the two top Chinese teams and the Germans outperformed and outscored the two Russian teams, it seemed like the Russian pairs dynasty would end at 12 consecutive gold medals. But the results at Europeans indicate that there may be hope yet for them.
Probably the biggest shock was how similar the Russians’ Program Components Score (PCS) was to that of the Germans. The leap in their Program Components Score (PCS) from earlier in the season to the European Championships, however, was pretty significant. The Russians have been averaging about one point in average PCS below the Germans, but at Europeans, they were practically the same. It will be interesting to see how Kavaguti and Smirnov stack up against the top pairs in Vancouver with a different judging panel.
Kostner is looking better, but not quite a medal contender yet.
A month of practice and regrouping was good for two-time World medalist Carolina Kostner. After faltering all season, including placing second at Italian Nationals in December, Kostner rediscovered her triple lutz and her triple-triple combination to win Europeans for a third time.
But even with the win, she will still be considered an outside shot for the podium in Vancouver. Her competition at Europeans was sparse at best. But her performances in Tallinn were still a great sign for a skater who, at her best, can beat pretty much anyone else in the world.
The European men's podium could very well be the Olympic podium.
The three medalists at Europeans, Evgeni Plushenko, Stephane Lambiel, and Brian Joubert, could very well be at the top again in Vancouver. But interestingly enough, the men's field will be so deep at the Olympics that it is even possible that none of them end up on the podium. It will likely take two clean performances to just win a medal for the men.