Saturday, December 15, 2001
Judges finally fair to Kraatz, Bourne
By STEVE BUFFERY -- Toronto Sun
KITCHENER -- Snow and ice pelted the Kitchener Memorial Auditorium last night, but the fog lurking inside the minds of the ice dance judges seemed to be clearing nicely.
In years past, ice dancing has been judged largely on reputation and past performances, as opposed to what actually happens on the ice, there and now.
That, of course, has been the bane of Canada's Shae-Lynn Bourne and Victor Kraatz, who were widely believed to be jobbed out of a medal at the 1998 Nagano Olympics and the 2001 world championships.
But the times, they are a changin'. Heading into the 2001-2002 figure skating campaign, the all-important Olympic season, the worry inside Canadian figure skating circles was that Bourne and Kraatz would not be medal contenders in Salt Lake, simply because they no longer were deemed medal material by the fickle judges. The old "once you drop out of the race, you can't get back in" theory.
But Bourne and Kraatz, and the judges, are proving that theory wrong. The four-time world championship bronze medallists have climbed back into medal contention for Salt Lake. The Newington, Ct.-based team have posted victories in two Grand Prix events this season, Skate America and Skate Canada, and finished second at Trophy Lalique.
More important, the Canadians finished ahead of the defending world champions, Barbara Fusar-Poli and Maurizio Margaglio last night at the Grand Prix final.
Marina Anissina and Gwendal Peizerat of France, the 2000 world champions, sit first after yesterday's original and opening freedance, while the Canadians are second. Margarita Drobiazko and Povilas Vanagas of Lithuania are third and the Italians, who have not skated strongly, are fourth, heading into tonight's final freedance.
The fact that the judges have scored the top four teams based on performance and not on reputation is cause for celebration. Bourne and Kraatz feel they're back in the game.
"It has taken some time, but we're going to see it happen," said Bourne, when asked about the judging, which came under attack at the 1998 Olympics. "It's getting better and people will be happy to see that, the media will be happy to see that. It's being judged more the way you see it."
BATTLE OF THE RUSSIANS
The battle of the Russians continued in the men's singles competition as defending world champion Evgeni Plushenko, 19, performed an amazing long program, which included two quads and seven clean triples, to take the lead over countryman Alexei Yagudin, 21, on a 4-3 judges' split.
Plushenko received an injection just before his skate to relieve the pain in his sore left ankle.
Yagudin, a three-time world champ, also was magnificent, as were Americans Timothy Goebel and Todd Eldredge, who placed third and fourth respectively.
The problems continued for defending world women's singles champion Michelle Kwan of the U.S. Kwan, who stunned the skating world by dropping her long-time coach Frank Carroll just prior to the season, has struggled all year and again last night in the short and long program, and sits in second-place behind Russian star Irina Slutskaya. Maria Butyrskaya, the 1999 world champion from Russia, is third.
2002 Games Figure Skating Coverage
