Kim, Mao dazzle; Rochette wins hearts

Wed, 24 Feb 2010 14:25:00 +0000

There is little straightforward about figure skating. It is, instead, a sport of parabolas, of giant curves carved on oval ice, of spirals sparklingly etched in air. It is oblique and obscure in other ways too. Unlike bobsledding, wherein the rubric is time (the less of it the better), or ski jumping where it is distance (the more, the merrier) or, say, ultimate fighting, where success is measured in teeth missing of a beaten foe, the criteria for judging figure skating is not immediately apparent to the common man. Much of the technical nuance that determines who goes home and into history with a gold medal passes by the layman viewer unnoticed. The codex of skating law is Byzantine, rarified and known to few.

Still, last night's Women's Short Program was a joy to watch. When we don't know facts, we tell ourselves stories. Our eyes, unhindered by expertise, can nevertheless discern the line of beauty and if not the line, at least the curve.

Skinny boys go up, big men go down

Sat, 20 Feb 2010 14:21:00 +0000

Deeper truths come fast and furious when you're watching a pair of sequined siblings floating on the blades of desire to an elevator soundtrack stuck on Tango. It's weird to see and triggers soul-searching. Watching Friday's Olympic line-up, a cataract of Ski Jumping, Men's Alpine Skiing, Couple's Figure Skating and Women's Skeleton, itself could have qualified as an Olympic sport. It was exhilarating, difficult and revelatory. Nattering Bob Costas led us not only down large snow-covered hills to weave between flags or to launch into the air. He led us to triple lutz into ourselves, to take a mythic Tango Romantica with our own souls. He's the Virgil of Vancouver 2010. And so halfway through the journey of the Olympic Games, we found ourselves on a snowy hill.

Winter Olympic sports can be divided into three categories: those that go down, those that go up and those that are level. Last night's spread included all three. While Alpine Skiing and Skeleton fall into the first category, Ski Jumping falls into the second and Figure Skating into the third.

Salon.com > Joshua David Stein

Kim, Mao dazzle; Rochette wins hearts

Skinny boys go up, big men go down